Hybrid Worship Service, November 2,2025

Hybrid Worship

2 November 2025

Minister: Rev. Suzanna Bates

Music: Pat Armstrong & Peggy Twyman

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey,

you are welcome here!

Words for Worship

Words of response are in bold & italics

Prelude: Handbell Choir

    Jubilant Fanfare                                            by Kevin McChesney

                Hymn to Joy                                            by Ludwig van Beethoven

Gathering

Call to Worship

On this All Souls Sunday, we gather to remember teachers and storytellers who made God’s stories come alive for us.

We give thanks!

We remember choir members, organists, pianists and all the musicians who sang and played your praises. We remember preachers and lay leaders who led our worship through the years.

We give thanks!

For leaders and helpers and workers who gave their love.

We give thanks!

We remember parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings who showed us how to hold fast to the faith. 

We give thanks!

We remember our church families – this one and others we have loved. We remember all those who have been a part of this faith family with whom we grew our faith and our love for God and neighbour.

We give thanks!

We remember our ancestors in the faith whose courage enables us to be here today. 

We give thanks for the saints who came before us, are present here with us, and will continue after us. Thanks be to God!

Acknowledging the Land

As we gather to worship together, let us respectfully pause to remember we live and work and worship on lands that are the unceded territory of the original peoples, the Snuneymuxw First Nation. May we live with respect on the land and live in peace and friendship with all its people.

We acknowledge the Elders and community

members who have told the sacred stories and

nurtured faithfulness to the Creator.

Lighting the Candle

We light this candle today, to shine a light into the sacred stories we tell and re-tell. We remember the light and love that Jesus shared with so many.

For generations upon generations this light has been shared, and love continues and is with us today. And so, in love, we welcome the light.

We are here.

God is here.

This place is sacred ground.

Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Centre                                  VU #374

Prayers of Remembering

Mandala Mosaic: The Second Circle

Hymn: Spirit Open My Heart                                                       MV #79

Prayer Before the Reading of Scripture

Gracious God, we release our hearts to you.

First, we remove the pressure,

For release requires the freedom to be moved.

Then we allow our hearts to return to their original resting position—

In sync with you, with the rhythm of winter rainfall,

and this whole wild creation.

Then, we pray that you will find our hearts available—

Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

So, like the sparrow releases her song,

we release our hearts to you.

Move in them.

Stir us awake.

Speak to us now.

We are waiting.

Scripture Reading                                     Reader: Nancy Hetherington Peirce

Ezekiel 47:5-12.                       (New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)

The Tree of Life!

Again, he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?” Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. Wherever the river goes,  every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to

En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

This is God’s Word.

We open our hearts to this Word today!

Gospel Reading                                         Reader: Nancy Hetherington Peirce                         

As is your custom, please stand or sit for the reading of the gospel.

God be with you.

And also, with you

The Good News of Jesus the Christ according to John.

Glory to you, Christ Jesus

John 14:1-6                             (New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)

In God’s House

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

This is the Gospel of Christ.

We open our hearts to Good News today!

Word: For those who walked with us

For Those Who Walked With Us                                      (Jan Richardson)

For those who walked with us, this is a prayer.

For those who have gone ahead, this is a blessing.

For those who touched and tended us,
who lingered with us while they lived, this is a thanksgiving.

For those who journey still with us
in the shadows of awareness,
in the crevices of memory,
in the landscape of our dreams,
this is a benediction.

Hymn of Response: Take This Moment, Sign and Space  (John l. Bell &                                                                                                                                   Graham Maule)

Take this moment, sign and space;
Take my friends around;
Here among us make the place
Where your love is found.

Take the time to call my name,
Take the time to mend
Who I am and what I’ve been,
All I’ve failed to tend.

Take the tiredness of my days,
Take my past regret,
Letting your forgiveness touch
All I can’t forget

Take the little child in me
Scared of growing old;
Help me here to find my worth
Made in God’s own mould.

Take my talents, take my skills,
Take what’s yet to be;
Let my life be yours, and yet
Let it still be me.

Offering

Offertory Response: We Give Thee But Thine Own               VU #543

Prayer of Dedication for the Offering

Holy God, you knit us together, threading our lives to the generations before us and the

generations after us. May these gifts be used to continue the work our ancestors began

and to build on what we are doing now. Into your hands, we entrust these gifts so that our

unfinished work will one day be complete. Amen

Life & Work of the Church

Prayers of the People                                                         Paddy Waymark

Your Light sustains us,

            Hear our prayers.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours now and for ever.
Amen.

Hymn: Live Into Hope                                                                VU #699

Sending & Blessing

People of God, as you leave this place,

know that you are not alone.

You are surrounded by the company of the saints,

held by the God who made you,

and led by the Spirit who binds us all together.

Now go forth to love and serve the risen Christ.

Go in peace. Amen.

And may the abundant love of God surround you,

may the extravagant grace of Jesus Christ sustain you,

and may the constant presence of the Holy Spirit inspire

and encourage you in every good deed and word. Amen.

 

The peace of Christ be always with you.

And also with you.

 

Postlude

 

 

 

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