Welcome to Worship at Kamloops United Church
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

We Gather as People of God

Hymn Sing
Welcome and Congregational Announcements and Celebrations
Music for Centering with Lighting of the Christ Candle & Procession of the Prayer Box
Call to Worship

God invites us to gather.
We worship the Creator who is present in all.
God invites us to come as we are for the sake of who we may become.
We worship the Christ who calls us to new ways of being and doing.
God invites us to journey in awe and trust.
We worship the Spirit in our midst who blesses and commissions us for the good of all.

Opening Prayer

O Holy One, on this fifth Sunday of the season of Pentecost we gather to offer you our worship and to be together in this Christian community. We gather with followers of Christ around the world centered upon your presence in our midst. Gather us together around your word and witness in the world. Open us to the movement of your empowering Spirit we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Singing: Voices United # 224 ‘Sing a Happy Hallelujah’

Prayer of Confession with Response:

In our good times and in our bad times, In our ups and in our downs,
We confess you are with us, O God.
You are the one in our moments of transformation, inviting us to new life.
When we are running away, when we are searching for home:
We confess you are with us, O God.
When we are feeling proud and self-satisfied, when we are wracked with guilt or shame;
We confess you are with us, O God.
You steady us with your ways, when we are wrestling, when we are striving;
We confess you are with us, O God.

 An Assurance of God’s Love

As the Psalmist says:  ‘O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from far away.’
My friends, our God knows us and loves us as we are.  We do not need to do anything to earn God’s love.  Indeed we cannot earn it.  All we can do is accept it.  Thanks be to God.

Family Story Time – ‘Jacob’s Dream’ – Genesis 28:10-22
Singing: Voices United # 229 ‘God of the Sparrow’

We Listen for God’s Living Word

Scripture:

Psalm: 139 – Voices United page 861 ‘God you have searched me and known me.’
The Book of Romans 8:12-25 ‘Creation groans with labour pains.’
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.  Thanks be to God!

Singing: More Voices # 21 ‘Open Our Hearts’ (x3)

A Reflection – ‘Sacred Space’ – Rev. D. Bruce Comrie

 

 We Respond in Faith

Hymn: Voices United # 307 ‘Touch the Earth Lightly’
A New Creed: Voices United page 918

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..

Our Offering with the Offertory
Doxology: More Voices # 115 ‘Behold, Behold, I Make All Things New’

Behold, behold, I make all things new, beginning with you and starting from today.
Behold, behold, I make all things new, my promise is true, for I am Christ the way.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Our Pastoral Prayers with the Lord’s Prayer (Sung: Voices United # 959)

We Are Sent Forth

Hymn: Voices United # 226 ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’
Commissioning and Benediction

We have come to this place of worship, a special place, a sacred space.
But we do not stay here.
Like Jacob, the journey continues.
Like Jacob, God goes with us.
Go forth from this place to journey with God in all the sacred spaces of our lives.
Go forth in peace.

Sung Closing: More Voices # 156 ‘Dance with the Spirit’

Dance with the Spirit early in the mornin’
walk with the Spirit throughout the long day.
Work and hope for the new life a-born’,
listen to the Spirit to show you the way.

(Portions of today’s service were adapted from the ‘Seasons of the Spirit’ curriculum.)