Order of Service / Epiphany 5 / February 8, 2026

 *Gathering Hymn Arise, Your Light is Come (#79 VU)

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship

One: What does it mean to be salt and light to the world?

  All: Salt preserves. Light keeps things from being hidden.

One: What does it mean to be salt and light to the world?

  All: To hold on to what is good. To hold on to what is right. To hold on to what is just.

To shine in the back rooms of oppression. To shine in the prisons of fear. To shine in places that have no hope.

One: This is salt and light to the world.

All: This is Christ’s people— salt and light— hope and wonder— in and with the world!

One: As salt and light, as hope and wonder, let us worship God!

All: Alleluia!

*Richard Bott. Gathering ACE 2025/2026. Page 43.

Opening Prayer

*Opening Hymn O Splendour of God’s Glory Bright (#413 VU)

Prayer of Confessional and Renewal (Unison)

Source of our being, you know us intimately. You know our gifts and our strengths, our weaknesses, and the ways our inner conversations build us up or break us down. You know how much we wish to be in closer communion with you and to live your call to bless our world. You know our fears that we are unworthy or unprepared. Help us to believe that your concern is about going forward in grace and compassion, that in going forward with you, our past thoughts and actions are purified and we can put our energy into finding and being the blessings you call us to be this day. In silence, we bring before you our personal prayers of confession. (a time of silent confession) Amen.

*Karen Boivin. Gathering ACE 2025/2026. Page 45.

Words of Assurance

One: When we turn toward God, we are met not with condemnation, but with welcome.

All: We are received with mercy.

One: Christ does not measure us by what we regret, but restores us to what is life giving.

All: We are forgiven and made new.

One: The Spirit loosens what clings to the heart and teaches us a freer way to live.

All: We are renewed for faithful living. Amen.

Announcements and Minute for Mission

Time for God’s Children (You Are Holy, MV 45)

You are freedom, you show us the way. (x4)

You show us, you show us, you show us the way (x4)

Prayer for Illumination

Proclaiming the Scriptures

Isaiah 58:1-9a The fast that God chooses.

Psalm 112:1-9 (VU p. 834) Delight in God’s commandments.

Matthew 5:13-20 You are salt; you are light.

This is the Good News from the Bible.

  Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Sermon

*Hymn Jesus Bids Us Shine (#585 VU)

*Offering

*Offertory Hymn (#540 VU | Grant Us, God, the Grace)

Grant us, God, the grace of giving, with a spirit large and free,

That ourselves and all our living we may offer faithfully.

*Offertory Prayer (Unison)
God of light, receive these offerings as signs of our gratitude. Make them like salt that preserves life and brings healing where communities are worn down. Make them like lamp light that cannot be hidden, shining through acts of mercy, justice, and truth. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.

Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer

*Closing Hymn There’s a Spirit in the Air (#582 VU|vs.1-5)

*Commissioning

One: We are the salt of the earth. We will preserve what is good and tend what is hurting.

All: We will go with courage and care.

One: We are the light of the world. We will shine in ways that guide and give hope.

All: We will share the light God kindles in us.

One: We go in the peace of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit.

All: We will be steady in word and deed. Amen.

*Commissioning Song I Am Walking a Path of Peace (#221 MV)

I am walking a path with light, I am walking a path with light

I am walking a path with light, lead me home, lead me home.

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