Maple Grove United Church
Sunday November 26, 2023 @ 10:30 am
26th Sunday after Pentecost
Reign of Christ Sunday
God Invites Us To Gather
Words of Welcome
Christ Candle:
Our Christ Candle is lit.
May its light shine with brilliance to remind us of God’s unending grace, peace and love for all.
Let us now prepare our hearts and minds for worship as we listen to some music.
Prelude:
Acknowledgment of the Land
We acknowledge the land we worship and tell our stories upon is the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as well as the Traditional Territory of the Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat and Anishinabek. For over 12,000 years this has been a site of human activity, work and worship, and for over 12,000 years people have witnessed the in breaking of the Creator’s love on this land, and told their stories, as we do again today. May God’s light lead us to live together in respect, peace and right relationship. May it be so.
Call to Worship
The Lord is the first and the last, our beginning and our end.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord our God, who was and is, and is to come.
Blessing and honour, glory and majesty be to our God, now and evermore.
*Hymn: VU# 315 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
Prayer of Approach & The Lord’s Prayer
God most holy,
You are known to us as the Almighty,
Eternal Ruler and Lord.
We call you our Shepherd and Guide.
We praise you with many names,
but you are beyond our imagination, so much greater than our words.
We know you in the stories of Jesus
and in him, we see your love in action, reaching out to the world.
You move in us and through us by your Spirit,
drawing us to you, sending us to live out your word.
God most holy,
Three in One and One in Three,
we praise you with our lips and with our lives
to offer you honour and love, now and always.
And now we pray as Jesus taught us 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.
Children leave for Light Connection
Prayer of Confession:
God most merciful,
We confess that we have failed to love fully or forgive wholly.
You offer us freedom but we settle for the familiar.
You offer us hope but we prefer knowing what will happen next.
Teach us to give up cautious faithfulness,
so that we can offer you our whole lives,
and commit to following Jesus into the future you are creating.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the Good News. God’s compassion never fails. God’s loving kindness is steadfast.
Know that you are forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ. Forgive each other, and live in peace and harmony.
The Word of God Proclaimed
Prayer of Illumination
God of mystery and majesty, your thoughts are not our thoughts; your ways are not our ways. Send us your Holy Spirit, speaking through the Scriptures, so that our thoughts and ways may be transformed as we encounter your Living Word, in Christ, our Lord. Amen
Reading: Matthew 25: 31 -46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon: “Transforming Resolutions”
Hymn: VU# 330 Jesus Shall Reign
Our Response to God
Offering Prayer
Generous God, you envision a world where the hungry are fed and strangers are welcomed.
We bring you our gifts to put your vision into action. Bless them and the lives they will touch
so that the love of Jesus Christ wears a human face again for those who need him in our time. Amen.
Meditative Music
Prayers of the People
Jesus, you proclaimed God’s kingdom among us and within us.
In the power of the Spirit, your love is always at work,
bringing good out of evil and life out of death.
We thank you that your love never lets us go,
for you have known the good times and the hard times of this life before us.
You came as one who was hungry and thirsty.
Where people live on the streets today, suffer from hunger, or beg for a meal:
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
You came as a stranger in need of welcome.
Where people live lonely lives or feel like strangers in a strange land;
where people face rejection for the colour of their skin or the language they speak:
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
You came as one who was naked.
Where people lack enough clothing, shelter, or life’s basic resources;
where people live without dignity, exposed to every kind of pain and hardship:
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
You came as one who was broken.
Where people feel pain in body, mind or spirit;
where someone grieves the loss of a beloved or the future they planned;
in places where disaster has struck and desperation has moved in:
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
You came as one who was in prison.
Where people are treated unfairly, targeted or tortured;
where justice has failed and people are punished with cruelty:
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
You came as a Shepherd.
Where people are led astray or nations are ruled by corrupt or greedy leaders,
where there is no peace in the land:
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
You came to us all, proclaiming the kingdom of God.
And so we lift up these prayers in your name, Lord Jesus,
knowing that your kingdom is drawing near
and that we meet you in the face of those who cry out to us.
Amen.
*Hymn: VU# 211 Crown Him With Many Crowns
*Benediction
Go out into the world with open eyes and open hearts,
watching for lives that need to receive God’s generosity.
And may mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance
through God our Creator, Saviour and Holy Spirit.
One God, world without end. Amen.
Sung Blessing: Go Now In Peace