19 November 2023
Stewardship Campaign
God Invites Us To Gather
Words of Welcome
- Welcome to worship here at Maple Grove United
- My name is Rev. Jessica McCrae and I am so happy to be leading this time of worship with you along with our musicians Dr. Deborah Henry and Eran Rozen, Pat McKee on guitar, our choir, our scripture reader Liz Bryant, our greeter Barb Duffin, Charlotte on live streaming and projection, with John on sound. Thank you everyone!
- Thank you to everyone who came out to help with the clean up on Saturday – everything is looking great for the start of winter!
- And many thanks to those who came out to support the silent movie fundraiser. It was a great night!
- Next week I will be away on holiday but the following week we have a lot going on.
- Nov 28 we have Booked for Lunch – Small Things Like These. Noon, Children’s Chapel
- Nov 29 we are beginning our Contemplate prayer sessions – meet at 11 am in the Children’s chapel weekly
- Nov 30 I am leading a 3 week Advent bible study at 11 am in children’s chapel
- Advent begins Dec 3 – if you can help with sanctuary set up on Dec 2 please talk to Sheelagh or Daniel
- If you would like to make a financial donation to the ministry of this church you can leave a donation on the plate near the back of the church, where you entered … or you can do so online through etransfer or Canada Helps.
Acknowledgment of the Land –
Today we are worshiping on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, the Attawandaron and the Haudenosaunee. These are the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We acknowledge the relationship the first peoples have with the land and as a church we commit to the work of reconciliation, through listening and learning.
Our Christ Candle is lit. We give thanks for the light of Christ in our life and in the work and worship we do together. If you are at home I invite you to light your own candle to celebrate the light that lives in our world. Let us prepare our hearts and minds for our worship, as we listen to our prelude.
Prelude:
Call to Worship
God of the open road,
God of the twisting path,
God of the narrow and upward way,
your people are gathered for worship!
Give us gifts for the journey,
courage and faith
wisdom and compassion
Open our eyes to see you walking beside us,
protecting us, encouraging us, loving us.
We do not travel alone!
God is with us!
Let us worship God.
*Hymn: Eternal Unchanging We Sing VU 223
Prayer of Approach & The Lord’s Prayer
God of creation and God of new life
We gather this morning to feel your closeness,
To reconnect with your healing and encouraging energy
that challenges us to recognize our place as your children,
to recognize our place in creation,
to recognize our place in relation to others
to recognize our place in community.
We gather to be nourished by your love and filled with your hope.
Inspire us God to reflect your message of hope and peace
And help us to live with the confidence that what we can do,
What we can offer, matters to you and to the inbreaking of your kindom here, in this time and place.
This we pray in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying
Our Creator
in heaven
Hallowed be your name
Your kindom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
for yours is the kindom
The power and the glory
Forever and ever
Amen.
Anthem: Lord Speak to Me
Prayer of Confession
God, we know we are not always ready to find you as we travel life’s road.
Sometimes, we are lost in sadness and grief.
Sometimes we keep to ourselves, afraid to build relationship, cautious to be in community.
Sometimes we are too busy enjoying ourselves, or working too hard,
or only focused on ourselves.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed with worries.
Forgive us for the times we overlook you.
Forgive us for the times we are not open to you.
Forgive us for the times we do not listen for you.
Forgive us for the times we forget that you are with us.
Awaken us. Help us to see you and hear you and know you
so that we can find the peace and joy that you promise to your followers.
Help us God to be mindful.
Help us God to see you in our everyday.
Forgive us God for our distance from you.
Amen.
Sung Response: I Am Walking A Path of Peace. MV 221
Assurance of Pardon
God hears all our prayers and with a love beyond all understanding God embraces us in healing, forgiveness and hope. God, the perfect mother, forgives us and loves us and brings us to new life.
The Word of God Proclaimed
Prayer of Illumination (Liz Bryant)
Gracious God, open our hearts and minds
by the power of your Holy Spirit,
that as the Scriptures are read
and your hope is proclaimed,
we may hear with joy
what you say to us today. Amen.
Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34 p. 735 in the Old Testament of your pew bibles
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon: Family Dynamics
Hymn: I Am The Dream. MV 106
Our Response to God
Offering: We will take time in our service now to give thanks for the gifts that have been given so generously this week – financial donations, donations to our outreach projects, time, talents, and prayers …. Let us stay seated as we sing …
Offering Hymn: Take Up His Song. MV 213
Offering Prayer
Bless God these gifts that we share, that we might bring hope to your world and nourishment to all who need it. Though our actions may others be opened to see you God, in unexpected and ordinary places. In Jesus name. Amen.
Stewardship Moment – Cameron Serles
Meditative Music
Prayers of the People
God of new life and new beginnings,
We give thanks for the opportunities that you give us to be strengthened with your life giving spirit,
For the nourishing love and hope that you reach out to us with
That helps us to grow into the people you dream of us becoming.
We give you thanks for opportunities you send us to help nurture life and relationships.
We ask that you help us to trust in your presence, trust that you will shine your light of hope and guidance on our path.
Help us to have courage and perseverance when we have a vision of what might be,
Help us to see new life where only old growth seems to exist,
Help us to hear you in new ways amidst all of the noise of our world.
Help us to recognize trecognize the gift we are given
Help us to risk sharing what we have,
using the talents you have given us.
Help us to know that what we give, what we share, can make a difference
Not just in supporting the ministry of this community
But to us, in our spiritual growth, too,
As we listen for yur guidance and respond with courage.
This day as we give thanks for your presence in our own lives and in our community we give thanks too that you know all your children and the burdens on their hearts.
This day we ask you to be with
all who are struggling with ill health and preparing for medical procedures,
all who are grieving,
all who are impacted by the strains of the current economy
all who are losing hope
all who are without adequate housing or food security
all who are struggling day to day and pay cheque to pay chequ.
Be with all who are lonely, all who are afraid, all who dream of new life but do not know where to begin.
As church year begins drawing to a close, and our stewardship campaign continues
We pray for this community.
Help us to celebrate all that we have done together this year God,
Help us to recognize the gifts that have been given, and the ways you have inspired us.
Help us to give life to the dreams you place on our hearts and help us to look to our shared future with hope.
May we be mindful of the ways you call to us, speak to us, guide us and encourage us. May we be awakened to new relationship with you and new creativity and hope for the future.
Thank you God for your infinite patience and love,
for your wisdom and call to us.
May we be filled with love and courage to reach out to others as your have reached out to us.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
*Hymn: If You Will Trust in God to Guide You. VU 286
*Benediction
Sung Blessing: Go Now In Peace