12 December 23 Advent 4C

Leader: Hear us, Shepherd of Israel

Children: Shine your light and let the whole world see

All: You are mighty, and we need your salvation. 

Leader:  How long O Lord, will you make us wait? 

Children: Without you, we're sad and crying! 

All: Almighty God, our salvation is in your very presence with us.

 

12 December 16 Advent 3C

Leader: God is our salvation!

Children: We will trust and not be afraid.

All: The Lord, the Lord himself, is our strength and our defense^. 

 Leader: Give thanks to God and proclaim his name

Children: Let's tweet and text and blog and post! 

All: As we joyfully draw water from the wells of salvation, 

Let us shout and sing, for the Holy One of Israel has done it all!

12 Dec 9, Advent 2 C

Leader: Praise the Lord, the God of Israel!
All: He has come to his people and set them free

Children: Praise God who keeps his promises! 
All: He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives

Leader: Blessed be God, who brings salvation through the house of David
All: Who shows mercy to our ancestors, and rescues us from evil. 

Children: We can worship God without fear
All: The Lord himself makes us holy and righteous, so we can serve him. 

Leader: Praise God who raised up John the Baptist, the prophet,
All: He prepared the way, so God's people might know salvation

Children: God chooses to forgive our sin! He is kind! He is gentle!
All: The light from heaven will break in upon us
To shine on those in the darkness, 
And in the shadow of death. 
One step at a time, God will show us the path of peace.

12 December 2 Advent 1C

<sup>Leader: Lord we turn to you
Children: Please don't let us be humiliated!
All: No one who waits for God will be let down, disgraced, or ashamed. 

Leader:  You are the God of our salvation
Children: Show us your tracks and trails, your paths and roads
All: Lead us step by step as we follow your directions, 
You are just and fair, and your kindness lasts forever.</sup> 

12 November 25

Leader: Pay attention! The Lord is King!

Children: How do you know that? How is God King? 

All: The Lord reigns over all the earth from the beginning.

Leader: The Lord on high is majestic and awesome

Children: The Lord is stronger than the sea and louder than fireworks

All: Beauty and holiness are the hallmarks of God's rule. 

Let us praise the King!

12 November 18

Leader: We take refuge in you alone, O Lord
Children: We won't go shopping for another god.
All: We choose to worship God, he is the source of all that is good.

Leader: Let us bless the Lord, who teaches us wisdom
Children: Our first choice and our only choice is the living God
All: You set our feet on the path of life,
And we rejoice with deep joy, for you are with us today.

12 October 21

Leader: Let us find our home in the living God

Children: We can't even see God! How can we make God our home?

 All: God is our refuge because we believe what God says. 

Leader: You do well when you put God first in everything. 

Children: Really? At school? At home? On holiday?

All: Yes! God will be with us in every circumstance, 

He will keep us safe and bring us to life.

12 November 11

Leader: If God doesn't build the house, we're wasting our time.
Children: There's no point burning the candle at both ends!
All: Let us first trust the Lord and then get a good nights sleep!

Children: Guess what! We are God's best gift to you!
Leader: We are blessed when we have many children.
Children: That's right! We will look after you!
All: Let us receive God's good gifts, and praise the name of the Lord!

12 Nov 4

Leader: Let us trust in God, the source of our salvation
Children: God made the sea and the sky, the soil and the sun,
All: God keeps his promises

Leader: God looks after the fragile and the fallen,
Children: He feeds the hungry, opens blind eyes, and sets prisoners free
All: Let us praise God, our King and and Salvation.

12 Oct 28

Leader: Remember God, who brings the exiles home.
Children: God took care of the Israelites.
All: We are all exiles, strangers in a strange land

Leader: Remember us O God and bring rain to our dry lives
Children: Remember us so we too can sing and laugh and dance
All: Let those who wept as they went out to sow
Return singing as they bring in the harvest.

12 October 21

Leader:Come into the presence of God.
Children: It's safe here, safer than a safe room.
All: God is our refuge and our home.

Leader: We are surrounded by the resources of heaven.
Children: We will shoo young lions and snakes from our path.
All: When we call on the Lord, he answers us. Praise God!

12 October 14

 

Leader:God is faithful and wise and full of compassion.

Children: Wow! Who wouldn't want more of that! 

All: Let us shout for joy, for the Lord is good. 

Leader: Let us learn to be wise. 

Children: Every day matters. Don't waste a minute. 

All: Let us open our eyes to the salvation of God, 

In good times and in adversity, let us praise God.

 

12 October 7

Leader: Bring your hearts and your minds to worship!
Children: It's time to learn about God and ourselves
All: Because we trust the Lord, we will look at what really matters.

Leader: God is love! God is truth!
Children: We need God's help to love truth and love truly.
All: We stand on solid ground
Let us praise the Lord together.

12 September 30

Leader: What would it be like if God wasn't on our side?
Children: We'd be lost! We'd be swept away by wild waters!
All: Blessed be God who will not abandon us.

Leader: Praise God, who does not leave us defenseless.
Children: We're not trapped, we are free!
All: God who made heaven and earth is our help and our salvation.

12 September 23

^{Leader: Who is ready to worship?} 

^{Children: We are so ready! We are more than ready!}

^{All:  Let us bring our hearts and minds to worship the Living God.}

^{Leader:  Let us praise God, who is good!}

^{Children:  God is bigger than our worst enemy.}

^{All: The Living God will help us and keep us from falling.}

^{Let us worship God together}

^-

12 September 16

Leader: When you are in trouble, who are you going to call?
Children: Jesus! He will always listen
All: God is gracious and full of compassion

Leader: The salvation of God is absolutely sufficient,
Children: He keeps our eyes from tears, our feet from stumbling
All: Let us walk with God into the fulness of resurrection life.

2 Sept 9 alt

Leader: Come, let us trust in the Lord our God
Children: Those who trust in God are like high mountains
All: They can never be shaken.

Leader: The Lord surrounds his people
Children: As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
All: We will trust in God's unfailing love.

12 September 9

Leader: Let us trust in God!
Children: Those who trust in God are like Mount Aorangi
All: Those who trust in God will never be moved

Leader: As the mountains surround Wanaka and Queenstown
Children: God wraps his arms around us. Hooray!
All: Let us be thankful by obeying God's commands. 

12 September 2

Leader: Who will journey to worship and live in God's heart?
Children: All who try to live right.
All: Let us help one another obey God and love others

Leader: Let us worship God in song and action.
Children: God keeps His Promises. We should too!
All: We will honour God's people and we will worship God together.

12 August 26 alternative

Call to worship

Leader: How lovely are the dwelling places of God!

All: Let God find a home in our hearts.

Leader: Blessed are those who dwell in God’s house

All: Let our worship and our friendship be safe places.

Leader: You are blessed when you find your strength in the Lord

All: Let us turn now to the living God in worship and praise.

12 August 26

Leader: To find yourself at home in God is a wonderful thing.
Children: The heart of God is safe for everyone
All: Let us sing and worship God together

Leader: Let us celebrate the goodness of God
Children: Not because we have to, but because we want to
All: Wherever you are on the road, let us praise God together.

12 August 19

Leader: Come, let us praise God!
Children: Tell us who God is. Tell us what God has done.
All: God is full of mercy and compassion.

Leader: God is famous because he saves his people.
Children: God keeps his promises!
All: God cares for his people and we will praise the Lord.

12 August 12

Leader: Let us bless the Lord together!

Children: Come on everybody, let's make some noise!

All: God meets us more than halfway! He sets us free. 

Leader: Let us look to the Lord.

Children: We called out 'help!' and he heard us. 

All: We are blessed when we take refuge in the Lord our God.

12 August 5

Leader: Bless the Lord who is gracious and kind
Children: God loves us, no matter what.
All: We choose to remember. God gives us our daily bread

Leader: Come, let us worship the Lord our God
Children: Even when we are grumpy, the Lord looks after us
All: God knows the desires of our heart
And blesses us abundantly.

12 July 29

Leader: Does anyone want to know God?
Children: We do! It would be stupid not to!
All: God is real, even though people pretend otherwise
Leader: Be patient, and look for God at work
Children: God is with us and we are not afraid
All: We wait patiently for God's salvation.

12 July 22

²⁰ Leader: Who is our hero?

Children: David of course! He is the servant King!

All: God raised an ordinary person to the highest king of earth

Leader: Who can follow in his footsteps?

Children: We can. We can! We all can!

All: God makes an everlasting covenant with David, 

His loving kindness endures to us forever.

12 July 15

  

Leader: Let us listen to what God says

Children: When salvation comes, it will be good times

 All: Let us all choose to obey God more and more

Leader: The Kingdom of God is good

Children: Love and truth hug each other

Right living and whole living hug each other too!

All: Truth and right living join in!

Let us listen to God and obey his living word.

 

12 July 8

Leader: Where shall we let our attention go?

Children: TV? Computer games? Loud talkers?

All: We look to God, the maker of heaven and earth.

Leader: We watch attentively for the Lord our God

Children: Just as we watch mum cutting cake

Or serving up ice cream,

All: Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy!

 

12 July 1

Leader: Come, let us lift up the Lord our God

Children: You pull us out of trouble

All: You heal us and you bring us back to life

 

Leader: Oh faithful ones, sing your praises!

Children: God loves us no matter what!

All: Weeping may stay all night, 

But joy comes in the morning. 

2012 June 24

 

Leader:  The Lord is our stronghold, our safe place

Children: When life turns to custard, we can always turn to God

All: We choose to trust in the Lord

Leader:Come, let us sing our praise to God

Children: Tell us the stories of how God moves

All: Let us rejoice in the salvation of God

12 June 17

Leader: Come and worship the King, our God, our Saviour
Children: Shout for joy! Wave a banner.
All: Let us worship God in all we do.

Leader: We praise the name of our God
Children: Some trust in Holden's and others in Fords
All: But we trust in the living God,
He will hear us when we call.

12 June 10

Leader: From the deepest, darkest places in our lives, we call out to you
Children: We need help! We need help now!
All: If you kept records of our sin, we would be truly lost

Leader: We worship God whose very nature is love.
Children: We know you make a habit of forgiving us
All: We wait and watch for your light
As we watch for dawn to break on the longest night.

June 3

Leader: Remember the glory and the strength of the Lord
Children: God's voice is louder than trains or tractors
All: Let us join with the heavenly hosts and praise God

Leader: Let us worship God, who is in the world and greater than the world
Children: We can't see God but we see what God does
All: Praise God, who gives us strength and blesses us with peace.

12 May 27 Pentecost

Leader: Come, let us think about our Creator
Children: Geckos and tuataras, kauris and totaras*
All: The earth is full of your amazing creations!
Leader: Your creatures are microscopic and gigantic!
Children: Big and small, we all depend on your loving grace and mercy.
All: Let our whole being bless the Lord! Praise the Lord

* OK, so these are particularly kiwi references! Feel free to adapt to your local flora and fauna.
Oz - Kangaroos and koalas, gums and wattles

12 May 20

Leader: Do you want to be happy? Choose to listen to the Lord!
Children: Don't listen to people who don't listen!
All: Listen to the word of the Lord, all day and all night.
Leader: Let us be like trees planted by the river
Children: Trees that are always green, trees that bear lots of fruit
All: Let us find our life in the loving presence of God.

12 May 13

Leader: Wake up! Sing a new song to our amazing God!
Children: Look at what God does!
All: He created the world! He loves us from the inside out!
Leader: Let everything we are and everything we do praise God
Children: Bring out the recorders and ukeleles, the drums and guitars.
All: See how much God loves us! See the salvation of God!
He will put the world right, and everyone in it. Praise God!

12 May 6

Leader: Come and seek the Lord, come and worship the Lord.

Children: You don’t need money! You don’t need anything

All: Those who seek the Lord will praise him.

Leader: Come, whether you are working or retired,

Children: It doesn’t matter if you’re in or out, if you are messy or neat

All: Let us worship the Lord together

12 April 29

Leader: The Lord is better than Google Maps!
Children: He knows where the best ice creams are!
All: The Lord gives us space to pause and catch our breath.
Leader: Even if we walk through death's dark shadow, God is here
Children: He is our light
All: The living God is our home, our dwelling, our destination. Amen.

April 22

Leader: How long will you listen to lies?

Children: We know the truth – God chooses us!

All: We will trust in the Lord

Leader: It’s OK to ask questions.

Children: But make sure you listen to God’s answers

All: We will trust in God

He alone will keep us safe.

12 Easter Sunday

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good

God’s love goes on forever!

In our pain we cried to him, and God answered us, lifting us up.

God’s love goes on forever!

It is better to be safe in the Lord than to trust in anything else.

God’s love goes on forever!

The Lord is our strength and our song, he has become our salvation

God’s love goes on forever!

We will not die, but live, to tell the world what God has done.

God’s love goes on forever!

2012 April 15

Leader: The Lord has chosen those who are faithful to be his own

Children: Hey you! Respect! Don’t settle for empty wrappers

All: Let your kindness shine brightly on us, Lord

Leader: Let us be quiet and examine our hearts

Children: Let’s say we are sorry. Let’s turn our hearts around

All: The abundance of God is greater than the riches of the world. 

2012 April 15

Leader: How wonderful when brothers and sisters get on

Children: What does that look like?

All: It’s like the finest perfume poured out for all

Leader: How beautiful when there is peace and harmony

Children: What does that look like?

All: It is like rain at the end of a drought,

Like irrigation on the dry plains. 

Easter Sunday

Leader: He is risen

All: He is risen indeed

Children: God wins! Hurray!

All: The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!

Leader: We will not die but live

All: Let us proclaim what the Lord has done. 

12 April 1 Passion Sunday

Leader: Be kind to us O God, for we are in deep, deep trouble

Children: We have cried and cried and cried

All: Our grief has made us tired, our groans have made us old

Leader: We are desperate for you

Children: You are our God and we trust in you

All: Let your face shine on your servants

Save us in your unfailing love.

12 April 1 Palm Sunday

Leader: Open up the gates, and let the music play,

Children: Please don’t let anything get in the way,

All: The Lord himself is our salvation

Leader: The stone the builders rejected is now the capstone!

Children: Surprising stupendous salvation!

All: This is the day the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

12 March 25

Leader: Have mercy on us, loving and gracious God

Children: Our sins are like grass stains and mud,

All: We know that we have broken your law.

Leader: Have mercy on us, loving and gracious God

Children: Soak us in your awesome laundry

All: Make us clean in your sight

And we will  be truly clean.

12 March 18

Leader: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good

All: His love endures forever

Children: It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from

All: His love endures forever

Leader: It doesn’t matter if you have been a fool

All: His love endures forever

Children: It doesn’t matter if you are hurting now

All: God’s love endures forever

Leader: Let us cry out to the Lord

All  Because his love endures forever, he will surely save us.

12 March 11

Leader: How good is God’s word?

Children: God’s word is more important than our teachers or the minister

All: The law of the Lord is perfect, and refreshes our souls

Leader: The revelation of God is life and health

Children: God’s word can keep us safe, so pay attention

All: Forgive our hidden sins, and keep us from deliberate wrong.

12 March 4

Leader: God does not turn away or ignore suffering or the suffering one
Children: There is good news if you are in trouble
All: Every family among all the nations will come back to the Lord
Leader: Remember this: the Lord has the right to rule the nations
Children: He is the boss of ALL the bosses
All: The whole earth will worship the Lord
And we will worship the Lord today.

12 Feb 26

Leader: Lift up your heads, lift up your eyes, lift up your hearts
Children: God will not let us be ashamed
All: Let's put up a sign that says 'God is love,'
And make a banner that declares the mercy of God.
Leader: From now on, every road you travel will lead to God
Children: Look for God signs! Listen for God directions!
All: The Lord takes rejects and failures by the hand,
He will lead us, each one,
Step by step,
Day by day.

12 Feb 19

Leader: Have mercy on us O God

Children: God looks after us when we are sick

All: We will confess our sins, and God will restore us

Leader: Praise God, our healer and our Redeemer

Children: Let us be kind to those who are not well

All: God is faithful, and kind. His love endures forever.

Have mercy on us.

12 Feb 12

Leader: Let us praise God, who saves us and heals us

Children: God hears us when we cry for help

All: Let us sing praises to God together.

Leader: It is God who transforms our imaginations

Children: You turn our tears into tap dancing!

All: We will not be silent, we will praise the Lord our God.

Call to commumion

Call to worship
Leader :         Just before the soldiers took Jesus away, he had some kai with his besties.

Kids :              It was a special meal – Passover – and everyone was stoked.

All :                 But pretty soon, Jesus started to get real serious

Leader:          It’s time for me to die, he said

Kids:               One of you will betray me, he said

All:                  It’s not me, is it?  They all asked

Leader:          But Jesus changed the subject.  He took a piece of the bread they were eating, lifted it up and                 broke in half saying:

Kids:                This is my body – it’s breaking for you. 

All:                  Eat this.  Remember this.

Leader:          He picked up the cup they were drinking out of and said:

Kids:                This is my blood – a promise poured out for everyone

All:                  Drink this.  I’ll drink with you again in God’s kingdom 

Leader:          We’re still eating and drinking like he told us too. 

Still remembering;
Still looking forward to seeing him again;
Still being fed by him. 
Real food. 
Real drink.

This is a guest entry by my talented new colleague, the Rev Rory Grant. This week we are running the whole service as a communion liturgy. "Kai" is a Maori word meaning food. 

2012 Feb 5

Leader: How good it is to sing praises to our God

Children: The Lord puts us back together again,

All: When we are broken hearted, the Lord heals us

When we are shattered, the Lord puts us back together.

Leader: Sing to the Lord with grateful praise,

Make music with drums and piano, with guitars and flutes,

Children: God isn’t impressed with flash toys or fast cars

All: The Lord delights in those who fear him,

Who put their hope in God’s unfailing love.

2012 January 29

Leader: Let us join together with the church around the world

Children: Let us stop and think! God does amazing things!

All: God of grace! God of love! God of right relationship!

The Lord keeps his promises

Leader: The Lord has paid off the mortgage on us, he has cleared the debt!

We belong to God! We are free!

Children: Smart people pay attention! Have respect for God’s word!

All: The Lord keeps his promises!

Let us give thanks and praise forever.

2012 January 22

Leader: Let our souls find rest in God alone

Children: The Lord is our earthquake proof house.

All: The Lord our God is our rock and our salvation.

Leader: Do not trust in money or people or power.

Children: Things that may seem important to you are like smoke

All: Strength comes from God,

And in the Lord’s presence is unfailing love.

2012 January 15

Leader: Come, let us be still before the Lord our God

Children: You know all about us, things even mum doesn’t know

All: You are before us and behind us, your presence is all around

Leader: You have made us inside and out; we are amazing!

Children: You made all 350 bones in our baby body

And watched them join together to become 208!

All: We praise you because we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  

2012 January 8

Come, let us honor God with our hearts and lives and words
Children: How awesome is God!
All: God is greater than mountains and earthquakes,
He is higher than skyscrapers, deeper than Lake Hauroko
Leader: Come, let us submit to God’s rule and cry ‘Glory’
Children: God’s thunder is louder than fireworks
His glory is more awesome than a fireworks display.
All: God makes his people strong
God gives his people peace. 

(Lake Hauroko is the deepest lake in NZ. Feel free to replace with the deepest lake in your continent)