Hybrid Worship Service, September 7, 2025

Hybrid Worship

7 September 2025

Minister: Rev. Suzanna Bates

Music Director: Dorothy Dittrich

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: Creative Spirit Come to Us   9th C poem, T Williams Music 1890

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. 

Opening Prayer
The world around us is full of beauty:

We praise you Creator God!

For the gift of life on earth:

We praise you, Life-giving God!

Open our eyes to see your artistry,

Your image in all that you have made.

Where our praise is short or silent:

All creation sings out with joy.

Here we join creation’s song:

We praise you, Generous God!

God, our Creator, we come together

to celebrate your creation:

the bright beauty about us,

the abundance of your providing;

accept this offering of praise

as we worship you, the Maker of all. Amen

Hymn: Praise With Joy The World’s Creator                 VU #312

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.                            2

Lighting the Candle

We gather this morning in the presence of the Creator, whose love 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. 

Psalm 139: God, You Have Searched Me                    (VU #861)

Prayer of Thanksgiving & Reconciliation          (Based on Psalm 139)

Loving Creator, Word of God, Sustainer of life, you reached out of the void and created light and life - You spoke and the beauty of creation in all diversity came to be. 

We are grateful for the abundance of blessing which drips with each rain to water our crops, the harvests that offer more than enough food to go around, the seasons which remind us of your loving Spirit of providence. 

We are in awe of what you have created; every aspect of creation bears your fingerprints like a sculptor with clay. The art of creation is magnificent and reflects the artist’s majesty.

We pause to ponder all the beauty you have created. 

Pause

And yet, we have not treated your creation with love and respect. We confess the ways we have collectively harmed what you have made and called “very good.” 

Pause

We confess the ways that we have individually sinned against you by harming one another - your people, by harming the planet which houses your creatures, and by harming the land, which you repeatedly ask us to care for and serve.

Pause                                           

We confess there have often been times where we have not cared enough to appropriately care for creation and our complicity in not using the power we have to support the common good of all creation. 

Assurance of Release and Renewal

Who is a God like ours, who pardons sin and forgives? God delights to show mercy. 

In the faithfulness and loving-kindness of God, may we receive the blessing of God’s grace, poured out for us in abundance. 

Hymn: Let Us Build A House (vs. 1,2,5)                             MV #1

Prayer Before the Reading of Scriptures

Holy Breath, 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.

Scripture                                                            Reader: Susan Brockley

Jeremiah 18:1–11 – The Potter and the clay    (NRSV, Updated Edition)  

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, 

 

I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

This is God’s Word.

We give thanks to God for this Word today!

Gospel Reading                                                 Reader: Susan Brockley

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 14:25-33 - The priority of discipleship                   (The Message)

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters - yes, even one’s own self! - can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple. “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘You started something you couldn’t finish.’ “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce? “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.

This is the Gospel of Christ

We open our hearts to Good News!

Word: The Potter’s Clay

Response

God, like a thoughtful grandmother you knit each of us a life.

Like a weaver at her loom of beauty you weave us together.

Like an artful potter you shape us for your purposes.

And when we are distorted you re-shape us again.

You are the beauty that draws us toward life.

You are the love that beckons us out of self-centeredness and toward all our relations in compassion and gratitude.

You are the treasure that is worth the greatest cost.

We give up all and turn to you.
Bless us, and transform us by your grace. 

Hymn: I Have Called You By Your Name                       MV #161 

Prayers of the People                                                      Tim Leadem

We pray to our 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 for ever. 

Amen.

Invitation to Offering

Let us present our offerings in full and certain understanding that everything that we have is from God. When we give our gifts and offerings, let us do so with open hands and open hearts, giving a piece of what we have been so freely given. 

Offering

Prayer of Dedication

Gracious and loving God, help us know how to act to safeguard this world you love and give us the strength and determination to follow through on that knowledge. Help us to come with grateful hearts before you always. May you receive these gifts and offerings and help us, the church, to use these gifts to your glory in the world. 

From your abundance, we harvest. 

And from your creativity, we create. 

We recognize that what we have given is small in comparison 

with your gift of life and self-sacrificing love.

May we ever live gratefully, always sharing your abundance with others. Amen.

Life & Work of the Church

Hymn: Peace Be With You                                              MV #215

Closing Prayer: 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.
God, for this we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen

Blessing & Sending

May the God who formed the mountains and rivers,

who shapes the clay and breathes life into dust - 

bless you with strength to protect the earth’s fragile beauty. 

May you go forth renewed and reshaped,

carrying the Spirit’s power to nurture and restore all creation.

May your heart and the heart of your people be moved,

as the trees of the forest are moved by the wind.

 

And may God bless you - 

Sustainer, Shared Flesh, and Wild Wind

to the glory of God, and the care of Creation, Amen.

 

Postlude: Turn, Turn, Turn                                        Pete Seger 1959

 

 

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