ST. COLUMBA
ANGLICAN UNITED CHURCH
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Service of the Word
January 26, 2025
Worship leader: Rev. Bob Gilbert
Mission Statement
As followers of Jesus Christ, our church is a community called to love, honour, worship, and serve God. We invite others to share our Christian journey as we grow in faith and engage in ministry in our town and mission in our world.
9190 Granville Street
PO Box 1260, Port Hardy, BC V0N 2P0
Office Phone: 250-949-6247
E-mail: admin@stcolumbaporthardy.ca
Priest, The Rev. Sheila Cook
(250)-230-7433 scook@bc.anglican.ca
Wardens: Robert Fyles and Heather Jones
Treasurer: Judy Fyles
Music Ministry: Roldan Yuipco
Video: Ammie Yuipco
Community Partner: Cathie Wilson
www.stcolumbaporthardy.ca
~ Leader: regular font
~ All: bold font
~ Sung words: bold italics
~ Asterisk* stand as you are able
Welcome and Announcements
Land Acknowledgement
THE GATHERING OF THE COMMUNITY
Call To Worship
In mystery and grandeur,
we encounter the God of all creation.
In renewed justice and the promise of new life,
we know the deep love of Christ.
In the wonderful diversity in every community,
the Spirit of God moves among us.
Let us worship the God of beauty, love, and wisdom.
We will praise God, ever Three and ever One, now and always.
*Hymn: VU 387 Loving Spirit (v.1,2,3,4)
Loving Spirit, loving Spirit,
you have chosen me to be,
You have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
Like a mother you enfold me,
hold my life within your own,
feed me with your very body,
form me of your flesh and bone.
Like a father you protect me,
teach me the discerning eye,
hoist me up upon your shoulder,
let me see the world from high.
Friend and lover, in your closeness
I am known and held and blessed:
in your promise is my comfort,
in your presence I may rest.
Opening Prayer
Loving God, we yearn to be your faithful people.
We lift our hearts to you, O God.
In this time of worship, we come as we are, with our fears, our secret thoughts, our hidden selves.
We lift our hearts to you, O God.
We ask for courage to embrace new beginnings in our lives.
We lift our hearts to you, O God.
Keep us close in your sacred covenant of love and grace.
We lift our hearts to you, O God.
Help us share your gospel message of love and hope,
as those who hear and act upon your Word. Amen.
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Hutlilala’s! Listen deeply as Scripture is proclaimed.
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 19 VU 740
Refrain 2: Glory and praise to God whose word brings life!
The heavens declare the victory of God; and the vault of the sky reveals God’s handiwork
One day speaks to another, and night shares its knowledge with night,
And this without speech or language; their voices are not heard.
But their sound goes out to all the lands, their words to the ends of the earth.
R2: Glory and praise to God whose word brings life!
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun which comes out like a bridegroom from under the canopy, like an athlete eager to run the race.
Its rising is at one end of the sky, it runs its course to the other, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
R2: Glory and praise to God whose word brings life!
God’s law is perfect, refreshing the soul,
God’s instruction is sure, giving wisdom to the simple;
God’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart;
God’s commandment is pure giving light to the eyes;
God’s fear is clean, enduring forever;
God’s judgements are true, every one of them righteous
More desirable than gold, even much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey, pure honey from the comb.
R2: Glory and praise to God whose word brings life!
By them is your servant warned,
For in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern unwitting sins?
O cleanse me from my secret faults.
Keep your servant also from presumptuous sins, lest they get the better of me.
Then shall I be clean and innocent of great offense
R2: Glory and praise to God whose word brings life!
All: Let the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O God, my strength and my redeemer.
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
*Hymn: VU 699 Live into Hope
Live into hope of captives freed,
of sight regained, the end of greed.
The oppressed shall be the first to see
the year of God's own jubilee!
Live into hope the blind shall see
with insight and with clarity,
removing shades of pride and fear,
a vision of our God brought near.
Live into hope of liberty,
the right to speak, the right to be,
the right to have one's daily bread,
to hear God's word and thus be fed.
Live into hope of captives freed
from chains of fear or want or greed.
God now proclaims our full release
to faith and hope and joy and peace.
*The Gospel
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 4:14-21
This is the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
*Affirmation of our Faith - A New Creed – The United Church of Canada
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.
Prayers of the People
Mission Stories/Alongside Hope
Prayer leader: Gracious God, hear our prayers.
Response: And in your love, answer.
The Lord’s Prayer
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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Peace
The peace of Christ be always with you.
And also with you.
(We share a sign of peace with one another)
Invitation to the Offering
*Offertory Hymn: VU 697 O for a World (v.1,2,4,5)
O for a world where everyone
respects each other's ways,
where love is lived and all is done
with justice and with praise.
O for a world where goods are shared
and misery relieved,
where truth is spoken, children spared,
equality achieved.
The poor are rich, the weak are strong,
the foolish ones are wise.
Tell all who mourn: outcasts belong,
who perishes will rise.
O for a world preparing for
God's glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more,
and all but love will cease.
Words: Miriam Therese Winter
*Response: VU 537 Your Work, O God, Needs Many Hands
Your work, O God, needs many hands
to help you everywhere,
and some there are who cannot serve
unless our gifts we share.
Because we love you and your work,
our offering now we make:
and pleased to use it as your own,
we ask for Jesus’ sake.
*Prayer over the Gifts
Creator God, you made each of us in our uniqueness, and together, you made all of us to bear your image in the world.
Accept our gifts, unique as they are, and bless them for the sake of your Son, Jesus.
May they bear his grace and mercy into the world you love so your purposes will be fulfilled. Amen.
*Hymn: MV 218 May the Love of the Lord
May the love of the Lord rest upon your soul.
May God’s love dwell in you, throughout every day.
May God’s countenance shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May God’s Spirit be upon you as you leave this place.
Commissioning and Benediction
Go forth as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
We will do our best to live according to the example and teachings of Christ.
Go, embraced by the Source of life, love and hope; following in the way of Jesus, just and compassionate; encouraged by the Spirit of grace and wisdom.
*Three-fold Amen
Dismissal
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God! Gilakas’la!
Announcements
Coffee following the service!
Canned and dried food are always appreciated
Mission Focus: Our Place, Victoria
February 2 Congregational meeting to vote on the recommendation of the Search Committee
February 9 Annual General Meeting after church and lunch
Positions to be filled
1. Church Council Member
2. Ministry and Personnel Committee Member
Liturgical Resources:
“Call To Worship” from the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Worship Planner – January 2022
“Opening Prayer” adapted from a resource in Gathering, 2022, Epiphany, p. 45
“Prayer over the Gifts” from the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Worship Planner – January, 2025.
Commissioning & Benediction – adapted from a resource in Billabong Worship Resources by Jeff Shroeder.
Sermon Resources:
“The Sermon” by The Rev. Dr. Edward R. Riegert in Preaching – Word and Witness, Vol. 01:1 (Year C),pp. 287-288. Editors: Paul Scott Wilson and John M. Rottman. Liturgical Publications Inc. New Berlin, WI. 2001.
“Nehemiah 8:1-10” by Scott Hoezee in http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/epiphany-3c/?type=old_testament_lectionary January 18, 2016.
“Pastoral Perspective” by W. Carter Lester in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 1, p. 268.
Editors: David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Westminster John Knox Press. Louisville, Kentucky. 2009.
Music copyright:
Words for hymns reprinted, streamed and/or podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 or CCLI License # 11033010. All rights reserved.
Voices United 387 Loving Spirit Words: Shirley Erena Murray 1986; Music: Corner’s Gross Catholisch Gasangbuch 1631; Arrangement: William Smith Rockstro ca. 1895. Words copyright © 1987 The Hymn Society Used by permission of Hope Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted, streamed and/or podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 (#00087). All rights reserved.
Voices United 740 Psalm 19 Refrain 2 (tune: WATER-END) Music: Geoffrey Shaw (1879-1943) Used by permission of Oxford University Press, copyright now public domain.
Voices United 699 Live Into Hope Words: Jane Parker Huber 1976; Music: Thomas Williams’ Psalmodia Evangelica, Vol. 2 1789; harmony: Lowell Mason. Words copyright © 1980 Jane Parker Huber. Used by permission of Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted, streamed and/or podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 (#40211). All rights reserved.
Voices United 697 O for a World Words: Miriam Therese Winter, 1987; Music: Carl Gotthelf Gläser 1828; arr. Lowell Mason, 1839. Words copyright © 1990 Medical Mission Sisters. All rights reserved. Reprinted, streamed and/or podcast with permission as found on Miriam Therese Winter’s website http://mtwinter.hartsem.edu/permission.htm. All rights reserved.
Voices United 537 Your Work, O God, Needs Many Hands Words: Calvin Weiss Laufer 1927, altered; Music Nick Dougall ca. 1831. Copyright: Public domain.
More Voices 218 May the Love of the Lord (Wei yuan Shen di ai) Words: Maria Ling Poh Choo; Music: Swee Hong Lim. Words and music copyright © 2000 General Board of Global Ministries. GBGMusik. All rights reserved. Reprinted, streamed and/or podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 (#55465) or CCLI License # 11033010 (7128481). All rights reserved.
