We welcome everyone to our Service and Celebration of becoming an Affirming Congregation.
If you know anyone who wants to register for the virtual services, they can signup at https://portwallisunitedchurch.ca/virtual as everyone logging in needs their own registration. ALL are welcome!
Masks/vaccinations are highly encouraged for in-person services
Service Documents to view/print at home.
Please be sure to take our Online Music Survey – Adam, Our Choir Director is looking to find out how people in the congregation would like to be involved in our music! https://portwallisunitedchurch.ca/music
Season of Epiphany 12 February 2023
BECOMING AN AFFIRMING CONGREGATION
Port Wallis United Church
is an open Congregation that affirms you as a child of God,
made in God’s Image, and loved by God.
WELCOME / BIENVENUE / FAILTE / PJILA’DIK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LAND
LIGHTING OF THE TABLE CANDLES
As light is a spectrum of many colours, some visible and some beyond our capacity to see or comprehend, so You, O God,
have created humanity in a great and broad spectrum of possibilities and filled us with the Light of your Presence.
May these Candles remind us that You are with us, all of whom You have made in your Image, and all of whom are loved by You. May we remove all barriers that cover your Light
and let your Light shine out through us for your Glory. AMEN.
INTROIT
This little light of mine, I`m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I`m gonna let it shine!
This little light of mine, I`m gonna let it shine,
Every where, any time let it shine!
L G B T Q and more, come let your bright light shine
French and English, many more, come let your bright light shine,
Paired and singled, hoping still, come let your bright light shine,
Every where, any time, let it shine!
In God’s Image we are made, come let your bright light shine.
Tall & thin & short & round, come let your bright light shine.
In God’s House we all are found, come let your bright light shine
Every where, any time, let it shine.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Your Rainbow, O God, is a sign of Promise!
A reminder of the covenant between God and humanity.
Red is the colour of passionate love, the colour of Pentecost and Saints, the colour of your Presence,
Pulsing and powerful – we see You in the rainbow.
Orange is the colour of creation, changing and growing,
ebbing and flowing, moving and dreaming,
the colour of your Presence.
Envisioning change – we see You in the rainbow.
Yellow is the colour of the sun, life giving and warming, bringing joy and enthusiasm, the golden colour of Christmas and Easter, of new birth and resurrection,
Embodying hope – we see You in the rainbow.
Green is the colour of the forest, filled with trees of every description, some with leaves, some with needles, some ever-green and some deciduous but all belonging to the forest. Green is the season of Pentecost, of summer growth in the knowledge that we are all in God and in God`s Love,
Incorporating life – we see You in the rainbow.
Blue is the colour of sea and sky, water and air,
the necessities of life, the colour of Advent
when God becomes incarnate and real for us.
Present in life – we see You in the rainbow.
Purple is the colour of Lent, pondering and professing,
allowing for repentance and renewal, and restoration of right relationships as You imagine them to be.
Redeeming God – we see You in the rainbow.
And yet there are colours we cannot see, but which are present in the rainbow – beyond our sight but real and powerful.
Your rainbow, O God, is a sign of promise.
ANTHEM – TRUE COLOURS
PRAYER OF APPROACH and THE LORD’S PRAYER
God of all, we celebrate your all-inclusive love!
We worship You, our Making One,
filled with imagination and creativity, delighting in diversity.
We worship You, our Loving One,
seen in Jesus walking the margins of life,
embracing and accepting, challenging and confronting
and bringing hope to the lonely.
We worship You, the Enlivening One,
the Spirit, who envisions a future where all are one,
where walls that divide are gone,
and where strength is found to carry on.
Holy One,
help us to join with You and all our brothers and sisters
through the words Jesus taught us to pray.
Our Father….. Notre Père….. Ar n-Athair…. Πάτερ ἡμῶν
Onze Vader… Vater unser… Padre nuestro…
主の祈り 主禱文 أَبَانَا 주님의 기도 Isä meidän
HYMN # 138 (MV) MY LOVE COLOURS OUTSIDE THE LINES
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of all worlds,
We live in a world of Lines,
Lines that divide and lines that encircle,
Lines that are never crossed and lines that go on forever.
You open our eyes to see the lines around us,
to see the borders and barriers, that imprison us and poison us.
From the fringe, from the frontiers of fear, You call out to us and give us courage to approach the lines, to breach the walls,
to cross the chasm and build bridges of understanding.
You take us into places where we’ve never been before
and open doors to worlds beyond the lines.
Forgive us when we are fearful, pardon us when we fail,
restore us when we repent and strengthen us when we are on the right path. Hear our prayers and give us your Spirit to accomplish your Will, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
HYMN ~ QUEERLY BELOVED
Queerly beloved, we have assembled,
Joining in wonder, singing in praise.
Lifting our eyes, raising our voices,
Trusting in hope, in love, and in faith.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, God is great.
Queerly beloved, we have been hated,
Treated as outcasts, ragged and rough.
Still we persist, joyous and grateful,
Trusting that grace is ever enough.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, God is love.
Queerly beloved, we have discovered
Love that is perfect, ending our fear.
There is a truth waiting to claim us.
There is a call so strong and so clear.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, God is here.
TEACHING TIME AND PRAYER
In peace, dear God, I come to You
Through Jesus Christ who makes me new
And while I run or play or rest, be with those whom I love best,
Guide me in your Holy Way, as You walk with me each day.
ANTHEM – DEEP RIVER
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
First Testaments: 1 Samuel 18: 1 – 4
Gospel Lesson: John 17: 20-21
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Dutch, German, French and Gaelic
REFLECTION ~ The hidden love of God which surrounds us
OFFERTORY HYMN # 145 (MV) DRAW THE CIRCLE WIDE
PASTORAL PRAYER
We light a candle for each of the colours of the Rainbow
and we remind ourselves that your Rainbow, O God,
is a sign of Promise!
A reminder of the covenant between God and humanity.
Red is the colour of passionate love
but it is also the colour of blood,
the blood of your innocent children
who are murdered daily in countries around the world,
because they are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, or queer.
We will seek justice for your children, O God.
Page 5
Orange is the colour of creation, changing and growing,
We will change and grow with You, O God,
and we will grow into the new creation you imagined, overflowing with love.
Yellow is the colour of the sun, life giving and warming,
Fill us with the Light of your Son,
loving, challenging, invigorating and reviving hope!
Green is the colour of growing life, imaginative, unique, special and a gift to humanity.
Help us to see your gift of life in all human beings,
made in your image, created with a spectrum of sexualities and uniquely loved.
Blue is the colour of sea and sky,
from the heights and depths You call us
You have placed us in high places as leaders in society
and in low places to bring hope to those who sit in darkness. We remember the wise men and women,
You have placed among us.
Purple is the colour of Lent, pondering and professing, and silent
We remember your children who are still in the closet,
who are still fearful, who are still imprisoned behind bars of public opinion – sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, parents and friends.
There remains this truth:
Evil flourishes when good people do nothing.
Yet, when one person gains liberty, all of us are set free.
Give us your voice, O God, until we stand up with pride, celebrating your Children, celebrating your rainbow
and affirming in a loud voice:
We are not alone. We live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
Who has created and is creating,
Who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
To reconcile and make new;
Who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church;
To celebrate God’s Presence,
To live with respect in creation,
To love and serve others,
To seek justice and resist evil,
To proclaim Jesus,
Crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
HYMN # 26 (MV) YOUR LOVE IS AMAZING
COMMISSIONING and BENEDICTION
EXTINGUISHING OF THE TABLE CANDLES
Mention someone’s name and hold them in your heart.
CHORAL PARTING PRAYER (MV # 214)
May God’s sheltering wings, Her gathering wings protect you,
May God’s nurturing arms, His cradling arms, sustain you,
And hold you in Their love! And hold you in God’s love.
May God’s Sheltering Wings. Words and Music: Judith Snowdon Words and music copyright © Judith Snowdon 2004 All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE CHURCH COMMUNITY
The Bulletin is dedicated to the Glory of God and in loving memory of George, Marion, Ross, and Peter Christie from the Christie Family.
The Bulletin is also dedicated to the Glory of God and in celebration of Port Wallis becoming an Affirming Congregation by Sharron and Michael Thompson.