Hybrid Worship Service, November 5,2025

 Hybrid Worship

5 October 2025

Minister: Rev. Suzanna Bates

Music: Pat Armstrong with John Bullas

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:

Gathering

Singing Bowl

The singing bowl is played to awaken us to the presence of God in this sacred space and gathering and to centre us in the embrace of the Spirit.

Call to Worship

Acknowledging the Land

From before recorded time, the First Peoples of the Snuneymuxw Nation cared for this Land.

We praise the Creator for the beauty of this Island and honour those who have cared for it.

We acknowledge the Elders and community members who have told the sacred stories and nurtured faithfulness to the Creator.

We ask God’s blessing on those who continue

to work for the healing and restoration of this Land

and all Communities who live here.

Lighting the Candle

We gather this morning in the love and light of the Creator, whose justice and peace gives light to our paths and hope in our lives! In the light of this candle, we rejoice, and the hope of our hearts is rekindled this day.

We are here.

God is here.

This place is sacred ground.

Opening Prayer

Hymn: Come Touch Our Hearts                                                 MV #12

Prayer of Reconciliation

Magnificent mystery, in a world full of wonder,

where humankind feels small amidst the vastness of a universe unknown and eternally unknowable.

We pause, giving thanks for all that we are and have.

We are eternally Loved, embraced by the Creative Force,

felt through our feet, expressed in our sighs and burning in our hearts at the sight of a sunset, or tiny drop of dew.                    2

God, understood in our struggles and joys,

our hidden places of fear, sorrow, and shame,

in disappointment and delight, present in our very essence.

We recognise our failings,

actions regretted,

words spoken harshly,

impulses poorly controlled,

harm caused.

We fail to show Love, and we are sorry.

May God grant us forgiveness and release.

Met with truths of reality, we explore,

trying to understand, desiring to embrace

and longing to heal.

Following the words and example of Jesus,

we open our senses to encounter God,

in every individual,

every living thing,

giving thanks for all that we are,

and all that we can be,

in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Hymn: All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded                                  VU #654

Prayer Before the Reading of Scriptures

Holy Breath, living Spirit, open our senses to perceive your loving presence and your will so we have a fresh understanding of what you would have us glean from your word. Amen.

Psalm 137: By the Rivers of Babylon                                    (VU #858)

Scripture Reading:                                    Reader: Nancy Hetherington Peirce

Lamentations 1:1–6                 (New revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)

The lonely city grieves.

How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become subject to forced labor. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations; she finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her

distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals; all

her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her

lot is bitter. Her foes have become the masters; her enemies prosper because the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe. From daughter Zion has departed all her majesty. Her princes have become like stags that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.

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 Luke.

Glory to you, Christ Jesus.

Luke 17:5–10                                                                         (The Message)

Faith as a mustard seed

The apostles came up and said to Jesus, “Give us more faith.” But he said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it. “Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat’? Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I’ve finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper’? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.’”

This is the Gospel of Christ

We open our hearts to Good News!

Word: Seeds of Faith

Hymn: Like a River of Tears                                                       MV #98

Season of Creation 2025 Prayer

Creator God, let there be peace on earth - one world -
living in harmony, caring for one another,
delighting in the wonders around us, tending your creation.

Let there be peace on earth,

and yet…
ours is a world at war,
a world of enmity and hatred,
a world of greed and destruction,
a world of hunger and homelessness.

God, forgive us.

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with you and me -
our words and actions,
our priorities and passions,
our love for our neighbours nearby and far away,
our care for land and air and sea.

God, help us.

Let there be peace on earth - the peace that was meant to be:
a world of justice and joy,
a world of fairness and respect,
a world of kindness and compassion,
a world of plenty for all.

Creator God, for this we pray, amen.

Life and Work of the Church

Prayers of the People                                                              Tim Leadem

We pray to out God,

            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 forever.

Amen.                                                                                                 5

Offering

Holy One, whose breath is our life and whose grace is our hope, receive the gifts we offer. Bless them that they may be a blessing, - faith lived out, hope lived, and love given for this world. Amen.

Hymn: My Soul Cries Out                                                         MV #120

Blessing & Sending

May the God who weeps with the wounded earth surround you with the comfort of the wind through the cedar trees.

May your tears, like the early rains, water the soil of hope and awaken new life.

May your hands be strong like the hands of the potter, shaping justice, peace, and healing in all you do.

And may the blessing of the Creator, the Compassionate Christ, and the Spirit who dances through creation go with you through every island path, mountain trail, and sea crossing, now and always.

Amen.

Go now, in peace with creation—

And may the blessing of the Creator,

the Christ, and the Spirit surround you and all living things,

now and for evermore

Amen!

To the glory of God, and the care of creation, amen.

Postlude:

 

 

 

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