Nancy and Randy St-Andrew and agape meal

PROCESSIONAL:    Amazing Grace (1st verse) - Piper Robert Wailer
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CALL TO WORSHIP:
ONE: At God's table of justice, everyone has a place and none are turned away.
ALL: Here, strangers are welcomed as friends.
ONE: At God's table of abundance, a banquet of righteousness and liberation is
set for all.
ALL: Here, the powerless are heard, the outcast our showered with honour.
ONE: At God's table of life, all people know peace.
ALL: Here the hopeless are nourished with possibility, the complacent are
transformed into advocates for change. Here in our very midst, the
kingdom of God is revealed

OPENING PRAYER & THE LORD'S PRAYER:
0 Glorious St. Andrew, you were the first to recognize and follow the Son of God. With your friend John, you remained with Jesus your entire life, and now through eternity. Just as you led your brother, Peter, to Christ and many others after him, draw us also to Him. Teach us how to lead others, solely out of love for Jesus and dedication to His service. Help us to learn the lesson of the cross and carry our daily crosses without complaint. And now, as Jesus taught you, let us all pray together with His words: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

PIPER:            Robert Wailer

SCRIPTURE READINGS:
Romans 10:8b-18
Psalm 19:1-6
Matthew 4:18-20

OFFERING:   Offering Received:     "Aura Lee" Chenaniah

Offertory Prayer: Dear Lord, we thank You today for Your blessings which You bestow upon us all. No one ever gives a present with reluctance and we should never give what already belongs to You with reluctance either. Bless these cheerful givers and the offerings that they give. Amen.

ST. ANDREW: St. Andrew has been celebrated in Scotland for over a thousand years, with feasts being held in his honour as far back as the year 1000 AD. However, it wasn't until 1320 that he officially became Scotland's patron saint. Even Scotland's flag, the St. Andrew's Cross, was chosen to honour him. The cross, which is the shape of an "1", represents the type of cross that St. Andrew was crucified on. The ancient town of St. Andrews was named due to its claim of being the final resting place of St. Andrew.

November 30 is designated St. Andrew's Day because he is said to have died on that date, crucified on the X-shaped cross. Andrew was the first disciple of Jesus. He seems to have been a natural leader. Andrew, who was a fisherman, was influenced by the preaching of John the Baptist It was Andrew who introduced his brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus. It is also Andrew, faced with the prospect of feeding a very large, hungry crowd, who told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and fishes. Andrew is the disciple who was able to think out of the box, allowing the possibility of new ways to express faith. Thank you Andrew for your service and dedication. We pray that we may follow your example of faith and love.

WHAT 15 AGAPE LOVE?   Agape love is selfless, unconditional love. It is the highest form of love in the Bible. Agape perfectly describes the kind of love Jesus has for God and for his disciples and his followers. Agape is a word that describes God's unboundless love for us all. God gives us this love without conditions and without question. This Bible verse describes agape love: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Agape doesn't love somebody because they're worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love. Agape doesn't love somebody because they're beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.


THE AGAPE MEAL:

PRAYER OF ADORATION:
We will keep on thanking God with constant words of prayer. We will
glory in the living God: the humble will hear and be glad. Let us pray
together:
Living God, You cherish Your creation and we praise You. With earth, air, water, fire: in our element as Your children, we praise You. With our lips, with our lives, in all our diversity, each one made in Your image, we praise You. Because You share our human lives, our sorrow and joy, we praise You. Because You are at work today, encouraging, enabling,
surprising us, in the world's places of beauty and of pain, in the mystery
of the mundane, we praise You. Poor as we are, You give us hope: salt of
the earth, You give us meaning and purpose and we praise You. Amen

PRAYER OF CONFESSION:
Our praise fills us with a sense of God's goodness, beside our struggle to
be good, and of our weakness beside God's great strength. But God's grace meets us now to renew us, reorientate us, restore us. And so in confidence we pray together:

We call on the power of God to meet us in our helplessness. God in our thinking, God in our speaking. We call on the clarity of God to meet us in our confusion. God in our acting, God in our stillness. We call on the mercy of God to meet us in our brokenness. God in our waking, God in our sleeping. We call on the Spirit of God to meet us in our division. God in our meeting, God in our parting. Amen

And now we call on the grace of God to meet us here as share the sign of  peace with each other.


INTRODUCTION TO THE SHARING OF THE MEAL:
Let us pray: We have shared peace, we have shared thanksgiving, and we
now, in solidarity and agape, share ordinary food together. Taste and see
that God is good. Be present at our table, Lord. We pray people everywhere will find Your love. Bless all Your creatures, great and small and bless the food we are about to receive. Grant, that one day, we may feast in Paradise with You. Amen.

On the table in the midst of this congregation with whom Christ is present, we set symbols to remind us of His promise to us. A candle to remind us of the way, "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life." The food representing God's love. "1 am the bread of life. The bread that I shall give is myself for the life of the world."

God, we welcome Your presence with us. May the food and companionship we share nourish ur bodies, hearts and minds. As we live in the tight of Your presence, with us now, and at all times and places. Amen,

PRAYER AFTER SHARING:
Behold, the fragments of our feast, our meal is ended, but God's banquet
continues as we go from this place. With gratefulness to others for all that we have shared and thankfulness to God, we begin to look outwards and ahead to our lives beyond this week and this place, so let us pray together:

Dear God, we give thanks for places of simplicity and peace. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of truth and freedom, of joy, inspiration and renewal, places where all creatures may find acceptance and belonging. Let us search for these places, in the world, in ourselves and in others. Let us restore them. Let us strengthen and protect them and let us create them. May we mend this outer world according to the truth of our inner life and may our souls be shaped and nourished by nature's eternal wisdom, in the country, in the city, and in every place we go. Amen.


BENEDICTION & CHORAL AMEN:        Giving God, bless all who have gathered around this table. May we know the fullness of Your presence at every meal and in all our sharing. May the peace of Christ be upon you, and may you be channels of peace and justice.

POSTLUDE:  Chenaniah

"God loves you for no reason !"