Order of Service / Pentecost 13 / September 7, 2025

 *Gathering Hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty (#315 VU |vs. 1, 2, 3)

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship

One: We are clay in the Potter’s hands,

All: worked on the wheel of life,

One: moulded and shaped by God’s touch,

  All: sometimes gently turned,

One: sometimes forcefully moved,

  All: always being changed by God’s love.

One: We offer ourselves to God Most Holy this day.

All: We offer our lives, our fears, and our loves,

One: trusting that God will mould us as God wills.

  All: We come to worship God the Potter.

*Richard Bott, Gathering Pentecost 2 2025. Page 32.

Opening Prayer

*Opening Hymn Come Touch Our Hearts (vs 1, 2, 3 | #12 MV)

Prayer of Confessional and Renewal (Unison)

Holy God, in your gracious presence, we confess our sin and the sin of this world. Although Christ is among us as liberation and peace, we are a people divided against ourselves, as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies that we harbour set neighbour against neighbour, and nation against nation. We abuse your gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and have turned them into bonds of oppression. Heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love. (a time of silent confession) Amen.

*Celebrate God’s Presence. Page 36.

Words of Assurance

One: The proof of God’s amazing love is this:

  All: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

One: So, with confidence, we say: 

All: in God’s great mercy, receive forgiveness for our sin. Thanks be to God!

*Celebrate God’s Presence. Page 43.

Announcements and Minute for Mission

Time for God’s Children (Hymn – Like a Rock, #92 MV)

Like a rock, like a rock, God is under our feet

Like the starry night sky, God is over our head

Like the sun on the horizon, God is ever before

Like the river runs to ocean, our home is in God evermore.

Prayer for Illumination

Proclaiming the Scriptures

Jeremiah 18:1–11 God is the potter; we are the clay.

Psalm 139:1–6, 13–18 (VU pp. 861–862) God has searched me and known me.

Luke 14:25–33 The cost of discipleship

This is the Good News from the Bible.

  Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Sermon

*Hymn Breathe on Me, Breath of God (#382 VU)

*Offering

*Offertory Hymn (#542 VU, We Give You But Your Own)

We give you but your own, whate’er the gift may be,

all that we have is yours alone, we give it gratefully.

*Offertory Prayer (Unison)

Loving God, you have blessed our lives in so many ways. You have been our strength every step of every day. Now we offer you our lives, our all. With every gift, you have blessed us, so now our every gift we offer to you. Amen.

*Carman McClelland, Gathering Pentecost 2 2022. Page 48.

Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer

*Closing Hymn Jesus Calls Us (#562 VU)

*Commissioning

One: Go now into the world, shaped by the hands that form us again and again.

All: We are clay in the potter’s care. We are people of hope, made ready for new life.

One: Carry the promise with you and me and us, that we can change, that our world can be renewed.

  All: The Spirit is not finished with you or me or us.

One: Let us walk together, trusting the One who shapes us.

  All: We will live with courage, compassion, and love. Amen.

*Commissioning Song Peace Be With You (#215 MV) Peace be with you, peace forever, peace be with you my friends. Till we meet again, may God be with you. Peace, peace, peace.


 

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