Service Sunday June 23, 2024

(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link

All are Welcome!

Watch a video recording of the whole service using Youtube below

The Gathering

Welcome and Announcements.
Focusing Moment.

Acknowledgement of Land

As we gather to worship, let us pause to remember that in this region we live and work and worship on lands that are, by law, the unceded territories of the Nishnaabeg people. May we live with respect on this land, and live in peace and friendship with its people.

Call to Worship:

One: How lovely is God’s dwelling place.

ALL: Our souls long to connect with our God.

One: All of earth and heaven tell us of God’s goodness.

ALL: God’s presence can be experienced from sunrise to sunrise.

One: God’s call can be written on our hearts.

ALL: Let us seek God’s will and listen for God’s call to us.

One: Let us pray together.

Written by Beth W. Johnston, Bridging Waters P.C., Nipawin, Sask.

Gathering, Pentecost 2024, p.42. Used with permission.

HYMN: “Come, Let Us Sing of a Wonderful Love” VU #574

1 Come, let us sing of a wonderful love,

tender and true, tender and true,

out of the heart of the Father above,

streaming to me and to you:

wonderful love, wonderful love

dwells in the heart of the Father above.

2 Jesus the Saviour this gospel to tell

joyfully came, joyfully came,

came with the helpless and hopeless to dwell,

sharing their sorrow and shame,

seeking the lost, seeking the lost,

saving, redeeming at measureless cost.

3 Jesus is seeking the wanderers yet;

why do they roam? why do they roam?

Love only waits to forgive and forget;

home, weary wanderers, home!

Wonderful love, wonderful love

dwells in the heart of the Father above.

4 Come to my heart, O thou wonderful love!

Come and abide, come and abide,

lifting my life till it rises above

envy and falsehood and pride:

seeking to be, seeking to be

lowly and humble, a learner of thee.

DEDICATION OF THE LIFT:

One: Giver of all good gifts, it is by your power that all things are made holy.

ALL: We give you thanks for your marvelous wonders, and for the work of human hands.

One: Be with us as we receive this accessibility lift to enable all people regardless of mobility issues to participate fully in the life of our congregation.

ALL: We ask for your blessing as we dedicate it to service in your name.

One: May your face shine upon what we do here this day, that all might draw nearer to you and praise you.

ALL: Amen.

RIBBON CUTTING

Lift Committee: Neil Darby (Unified Board Property Chair), Bruce McClennan (Unified Board Trustee Chair) & Erskine Flook (Unified Board Treasurer)

Erskine, Neil & Bruce: On behalf of the Highland Hills United Church Unified Board, we cut this ribbon for the lift dedicating it to the glory and praise of God.

ALL: With gratitude, we accept the accessibility lift. We will care for it, and we will affirm the gift of service it gives to all people of various abilities.

HYMN: “Rise Up, Rise Up” MV #130 - sing twice

Rise up, rise up, rise up, O my soul.

Rise up and sing this blessing to God’s name.

MINISTRY OF MUSIC

LEARNING TOGETHER

HYMN: “Joyful, Joyful We Adore You” VU #232

1 Joyful, joyful we adore you,

God of glory, life and love;

hearts unfold like flowers before you,

opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,

drive the gloom of doubt away;

giver of immortal gladness,

fill us with the light of day.

2 All your works with joy surround you,

earth and heaven reflect your rays,

stars and angels sing around you,

centre of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain,

flowery meadow, flashing sea,

chanting bird and flowing fountain,

sound their praise eternally.

3 You are giving and forgiving,

ever blessing, ever blest,

wellspring of the joy of living,

ocean depth of happy rest!

Source of grace and fount of blessing,

let your light upon us shine;

teach us how to love each other,

lift us to the joy divine.

4 Mortals join the mighty chorus

which the morning stars began;

God's own love is reigning o'er us,

joining people hand in hand.

Ever singing, march we onward,

victors in the midst of strife;

joyful music leads us sunward

in the triumph song of life.

THE WORD

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:32-49 & Mark 4:35-41

Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.

ALL: Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE

“Giants and Storms”

Listen to an audio recording of the message below or read the message at the bottom of this page.

**OUR RESPONSE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER:**

(sung VU #960)

HYMN: “Will Your Anchor Hold” VU #675

1 Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?

When the clouds unfold their wings of strife,

when the strong tides lift and the cables strain,

will your anchor drift or firm remain?

Refrain We have an anchor that keeps the soul

steadfast and sure while the billows roll,

fastened to the rock which cannot move,

grounded firm and deep in the Saviour's love!

2 It will surely hold in the straits of fear,

when the breakers tell that the reef is near;

though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,

not an angry wave shall our bark o'erflow. Refrain

3 It will surely hold in the floods of death,

when the waters cold chill our latest breath;

on the rising tide it can never fail

while our hopes abide within the veil. Refrain

4 When our eyes behold, through the gathering night,

the city of gold, our harbour bright,

we shall anchor fast by the heavenly shore,

with the storms all past for evermore. Refrain

PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS

Offertory Prayer

We offer these gifts so that people may know that you are there with them on choppy waters and you can help them find abundance when they feel they have come up empty. Amen.

Written by Gord Dunbar, Kindcardine P.C., Kindcardine, Ont.

Gathering, Pentecost 2024, p.47. Used with permission.

SUNG BLESSING: MV #150 v 4

Spirit God: be our breath, be our song.

Blow through us, bringing strength to move on.

Through change, through challenge, we’ll greet the new dawn…

Spirit God, be our song. ©

Sending Forth:

One: Let us go forth now, into a world that is craving healing and wholeness. Let us praise God, whose power is working within us and through us. Let us go now, surrounded by the love of the Spirit who shows us we can do more than we can ever imagine. Let us go now in peace.

ALL: Amen.

Written by Rosemary Godin, First U.C., Trenton, N.S.

Gathering, Pentecost 2024, p.48. Used with permission.

A Time of Fellowship

Sermon 23 June 2024

“Giants and Storms”

1 Samuel 17:32-49 & Mark 4:35-41

Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.

“David and Goliath” - When I was growing up the story of David and Goliath was one of my favourite Bible stories.

I guess it appeals to children.

The hero of the story is a child who faced unbelievable odds and faithfully triumphs while the grown ups just sit around.

You know the story.

The Philistines are making war upon Israel.

Their land and livelihoods are threatened.

And the Philistines have a secret weapon: Goliath - a giant of a man.

His mere physical presence on the battlefield would make others tremble.

So they used Goliath to taunt Israel and ridicule God.

He would strut out onto the battlefield and proclaim that the whole war should come down to a one-on-one combat between him and Israel’s best.

None of the Israelites felt they could face him.

Then David, a shepherd boy, too small to even wear armour, went out with just a slingshot.

And Goliath the giant was slain by David, a mere child.

But there is more to this story than just a small person overcoming the odds.

The story is really about faith.

The Philistines or at least Goliath were trusting in human might.

But so were the Israelites.

They thought they could not face Goliath because he was so big.

They thought that whoever would go out to face Goliath must wear armour to protect him.

Yet the one who did go out could not carry their armour; he had to go out with the Lord as his armour.

David overcame Goliath not with a stone but with faith.

David won not because he was bigger than Goliath but because his God was bigger than any Goliath.

This story has been a favourite of children and parents throughout the ages.

I am sure that Peter and James and John and the other disciples of Jesus heard it when they were growing up.

I am sure they imagined themselves to be the great David as a boy.

They could picture the Philistine giant laughing at the people of God as an unarmoured boy comes out to do battle.

They could imagine themselves dodging the spears as they aimed their slingshot.

They could imagine in their hearts placing their full trust in God in the face of a huge force.

I can see them in their childhood as James got up on John’s shoulders and Peter pretended to slay them.

Then one day the Son of David faced a Goliath of a storm.

And I guess the disciples had left their imaginations at home that day.

They could not imagine triumphing over the storm.

In fact their thoughts were focused on perishing in the face of this giant storm’s power.

Then someone woke Jesus, probably so he could help them bail water.

I can hear them now,

“Jesus! We are about to die and you are taking a nap. Make yourself useful. Grab a bucket.”

But instead of a bucket Jesus lifted his voice and commanded the storm, “Peace! Be still.”

Now some people imagine that Jesus raised his voice in a commanding way and yelled “Peace! Be Still!”

But I imagine that Jesus spoke softly, maybe even in a whisper, “Peace. Be still.”

And at that moment the wind and waves stopped and the sun shone through.

It wasn’t the power of Jesus’ voice that calmed the storm it was the power of the Spirit of God that dwelled in him that calmed the storm.

There was no need for Jesus to raise his voice.

I can think of other times when the followers of the Son of David faced a storm.

This week and last week too, we have seen our share of fierce storms.

We all face storms and trials in our lives.

Often it is in these moments when the storms of life seem too big.

I remember a few years ago when Tornados ripped through Kinmount.

I also remember a few years back when this whole area was hit with some tornadoes or down bursts.

I remember many church people helping their fellow neighbours while crews worked to clear roads and restore power.

I also remember how the Minden UCW served all the hydro workers at a moment’s notice due to the power being out.

Restaurants were closed but the workers needed to eat.

The women used the propane stove and served a huge crowd with using electricity!

Despite the storm, the people were still fed.

Yet this was the little church that could despite the storm.

The devoted congregation served the community in a very special way against the odds of such a powerful storm.

I imagine that there were moments when the task seemed too large but in faith people addressed the needs of others.

Many people would have just given up in the face of such a huge task.

Yet the United Church Women knew that God was larger than the task that they faced.

The faith that enabled the “Davids” of the world to stand up to the “Goliaths” is the faith that drives them.

The same faith that led Jesus to calmly command the wind and sea.

What are some of “Goliaths” we face today?

Can we name some of the huge social and spiritual problems of our world?

War, poverty, racism, drugs, apathy, teen suicide, child abuse and neglect, materialism and selfishness.

What are the “Goliaths” you face in your life: addiction, debt, family problems, loneliness, anxiety, depression or faithlessness.

I am sure there are people with us today that face some of these problems and others.

All these problems are huge.

There is no way that we can possibly defeat all these enemies and there are many we didn’t even name.

These are giant problems that create storms of turmoil in the lives of everyone.

This is a long way from childhood fantasies about David slaying Goliath.

As a child in my imagination David defeated Goliath a thousand times, but mere imagination will not defeat our “Goliaths”.

Our efforts seem minuscule and our power seems so small compared with the power of these storms.

Is it childish and foolish for us to go out against the well-armed powers of the world’s problems as small as we are?

No, it is not!

Not if we go out in faith.

God is bigger than the problems we face.

God can defeat the giants that threaten us and calm the storms that frighten us.

If we can only remember, like David, that it is not by our power alone but by the power of God that we prevail over our problems.

Trust in God.

Thanks be to God. Amen.