To publicise this event in your Parish,
you can download an A4 trifold brochure and an A4 poster.
The brochure contains more detailed information about
the workshops and the presenters, as well as a registration form.
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Liturgy for Disability Sunday
Liturgy for Disability Sunday (3rd Sunday in June)
Call to worship
To the God who walks on wounded feet
and heals with wounded hands,
To the God who stands beside us wounded,
all knowing and all loving,
To the God of imperfections
We offer our imperfect praise,
Trusting in the perfect love of the God
who knows what it is to be truly human.
WOV 10 – All people that on earth do dwell …
Prayer of approach
God of pain and God of peace, Mother and Father of us all,
Created in your image we inherited what makes us human,
The ability to think, communicate, reflect, record and create.
These gifts are precious and we give you thanks.
Though we have gifts in common, we are not all alike,
Each of us is a different individual, unique and special,
We come before you rejoicing in difference.
We come before you knowing each child is given a different blend
of gifts and experiences, that shape, and keep shaping the adult.
Every person in your world is differently abled,
Every person in your world is differently disabled
Help each of use what we can to enhance our lives and your world. Amen
WOV 558 – When I needed a neighbour, were you there …
Bible Reading – Reflection from ‘Oh Light’ – God’s economy (p.9)
Bible Reading – Reflection from ‘Oh Light’ – If a cure were found (p. 27)
Alleluia Aotearoa 158 – Who is my mother, who is my brother … Murray/Render
Reflection: (Given by a person with disabilities – sharing frustrations, passions and achievements)
Promotion of ‘Creating Welcoming Churches’ (a handbook on inclusion – catering for disabled persons at services and on church property produced by the Disability, Spiritual and Faith Network with funding from Presbyterian Women and Methodist Women’s Fellowship)
Offering
God, help us to know the truth of your love in our lives;
Enable us to grow in the grace we need
to be agents of change for a better world.
We dedicate ourselves and our gifts to your service. Amen.
Prayer of intercession
God of our yesterdays
and God of our tomorrows
We ask that you be with us now,
God of our today.
God of Vision and New Possibilities
open our hearts and minds to the reality of your presence.
God of Light illuminate the dark places of our lives.
We are not perfect people.
Come through the cracks of our imperfections
and fill us with your light.
We pray for all marginalised people.
Those who suffer discrimination because of: gender, race,
sexual orientation, physical or mental impairment.
Give them strength and belief in their worth.
We pray for those active in discrimination,
and those who allow it to happen.
May they know what they do.
May they understand the hurts they cause.
We gather our thoughts in this sacred place
knowing that you have heard each sincere desire.
We long for a time when all people are valued.
May our unconditional love flow from us to others
May it swirl and curl through this year
embracing all who seek a better life. Amen
Hope is Our Song 16 – Christians are all kinds of people … Stan Stewart
Affirmation
With your help O God:
We reject victim mentality – we will live as survivors
We will do the best we can – we will be people of faith.
Benediction/Commission
For the God who walks on wounded feet
and heals with wounded hands,
For the God who stands beside us wounded,
all knowing and all loving,
For the God of imperfections,
We go into our wonderful and imperfect world
to reflect God’s perfect love,
and in so doing, claim what it is to be truly human.
Sung Amen
Prepared by Rosalie Sugrue
Prayers for Pentecost
Prayers for Pentecost
by Joy Kingsbury-Aitken
Call to Worship:
We gather together to worship
In observance of an ancient festival
We gather together to worship
In thanksgiving for the gift of Your Spirit
We gather together to worship
In remembrance of the beginnings of the church
We gather together to worship
You our Holy God on this your holy day of Pentecost.
Opening Prayer:
In earth’s wild places
and within the trappings of civilisation;
in moments of wonder
inspired by nature and human creativity;
we experience the Spirit moving
and sense your presence.
In familiar words that encourage
and through acts of loving kindness;
said and done by those we know well
and strangers who are not yet friends;
we experience the Spirit moving
and sense your presence.
In moments of quiet prayer and meditation
alone and listening for words whispered in our minds;
and in times of jubilant praise and worship
singing along with the crowd in adulation;
we experience the Spirit moving
and sense your presence.
These hints of you draw us
to this place in response to you.
In the togetherness of community
and through our worship here today
we experience the Spirit moving
and sense your presence this Pentecost.
Offering Prayer:
Giver of the resources of the bountiful earth
Giver of the hope of the gospel of peace
Giver of the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
Loving Lord,
to you we offer these our gifts in gratitude;
in the belief that even when they are small
you can use them effectively
for the work of your church;
that the good news of Jesus,
first proclaimed long ago
in Jerusalem on Pentecost,
will continue to go out into the world. Amen.
Blessing:
May the Spirit who hovered over the primordial water
bringing into being abundant life on earth
bring light and fruitfulness to our lives.
May the Spirit that appeared as a column of cloud and fire
leading the Israelites through the wilderness
lead us in our daily walk of faith.
May the Spirit that filled the first temple with glory
and came with signs of power to the first church in Jerusalem
fill us with God life, that we may be truly blessed.
And so may God
Father, Son and Spirit,
be with us all now and forever. Amen.
Spirit God – by Joy Kingsbury-Aitken
Spirit God
(a responsive reading of a psalm for Pentecost)
Spirit God, hovering over a watery world
Ordering creation from primordial chaos
Clothing earth’s nakedness with nature’s abundance
Breathing your spirit life into our humanness;
We acknowledge our need for you to
Shelter us under your motherly love
Transform our turmoil into tranquillity
Fill up our emptiness with your wisdom divine
Raise us aloft on the winds of eternity.
Spirit God, dwelling in pillars of cloud and of fire
Alighting on Sinai in flaming splendour
Thundering forth commandments of covenant
Sanctifying holy a nation of slaves;
We acknowledge our need for you to
Guide us on journeys through barren wastelands
Help us climb mountains for encounters with you
Speak laws of love into our consciences
Make sacred a church of commonplace folk.
Spirit God, filling with glory Solomon’s temple
Soaring heavenward on chariots of fire
Inspiring your prophets with visions that challenge
Promising the coming of the Davidic Messiah;
We acknowledge our need for you to
Form from your people your present day temple
Transport us above our everyday thinking
Show us the ways of heaven on earth
Make of us true disciples of the Anointed One.
Spirit God, as a dove descending
Declaring beloved of the Father his Son
Driving the Christ into the wilderness
Inspiring rebuffs to the tempter’s allures;
We acknowledge our need for you to
Fly down upon us the blessing of peacefulness
Proclaim our membership of the family of God
Be there for us in our spiritual barrenness
Grant us release from the enemy’s snares.
Spirit God, on Pentecost coming
Sounding like wind and appearing like fire
Descending upon the hundred and twenty –
Bringing to birth the new covenant church;
We acknowledge our need for you to
Bless our celebration of time that is holy
Full us with the joy that gives light to our lives
Be in our midst as we gather together
Proclaim in and through us the gospel of God.
Amen.
– Joy Kingsbury-Aitken
Training Day in Rotorua – 29 June
Auckland Ecumenical Lay Preachers Gathering
Preaching to our various learning styles
On the 3rd May 2019 Marilyn Welch gave a huge insight into how our individual learning styles are so diverse. Our first question to answer was “What words come to mind when you hear the word ‘preaching’?” Each one of us wrote a list and each list did not contain the same words as the person sitting next to us.
Then we were challenged by further questioning. What were your learning experiences like at school? What frustrates you in a learning experience? Is it that you can’t hear what the speaker is saying? Is the delivery, what is being said, far from clear in content and volume? Is the person speaking too fast and not giving you thinking time to assimilate what is being said?
We played a game: shock horror! However, the outcome revealed that by only being given three rules we could achieve far more than we’d ever imagined. We pooled our ideas and so ways to achieve were diverse but opened our eyes to different routes to success. We had to go through this process to realise that we as adults tend to over- think!
Marilyn introduced us to the work of Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970’s: people tend to have a primary representational system, through which they process information. We examined the visual , auditory ,and Kinaesthetic learning cycles and then went on to examine the Experiential Learning Cycle. We learnt to identify our own style of learning in depth.
We were reminded that our congregations also have diversity in their styles of learning. Should more people be involved in worship? A “hands-on” experience for a kinaesthetic approach? Andrew Gammon’s “Ten Minutes on a Tuesday” on the Methodist Website uses “Stations” where people move around the church to experience tactile interactions. Some of the congregation will want to know the relevance, but if we operate out of only our own learning style then we are not meeting the needs of each individual member of the congregation.
It’s the various personalities that we meet: there are those who are imaginative and ask “why?” and require reasons; those who are Analytical ask “What?” and require facts; those who ask “How?” and display common sense patterns; and those who ask “What if?” and perceive the bigger picture.
Once our learning styles had been revealed to each one of us we were put into groups containing four people, one of each learning style. We then planned a service together. The ideas were wide and implicit to including our preferred learning styles: this ensured that the planned service included all. It would be so uplifting if each church had a worship group who planned a service and took ownership of it with the variety of learning styles. We can now see the value of sitting down with others to prepare a service.
Marilyn has made us question why we do, what we do and how we do it each week when leading worship. In our approaches to planning future Services we will have a sensitivity to others learning styles through what we’ve learnt today!
Linda Hall, NZLPA Correspondence Secretary
Auckland Ecumenical Lay Preachers Gathering – 11 May 2019
A Date to put in your diary:
Saturday 11 May 2019
– 9.30am-12.30pm –
St Paul’s Methodist Church
St Vincent Avenue, Remuera
Cost – $10.00
Workshop/Presentation by: Rev Marilyn Welch
“Each of us takes in information differently. Yet sermons are usually written and delivered as if we all the same. This workshop will help you understand your 
learning-style and the way you process information and, together with others who have different styles, create a worship experience that will be meaningful for most members of your congregation.”
Please register your attendance by
3 May
with Linda Hall
email
Phone: 09 521 5360
Please bring a plate
