Order of Service / Creation 1 / September 13, 2026

# Gathering Hymn This Is God’s Wondrous World (#296 VU)

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship

One: Joining with light and shade, we will praise our God.

  All: The blue of the sky, the glow of the beckoning dawn, sing God’s praises.

One: With flowing water and pounding seas, we will praise our God.

  All: The mighty ocean, the trickling stream, proclaim their Creator’s marvellous power.

One: With hills and valleys, we will praise our God.

All: With the dazzling heights, the lowest valleys,

One: with soaring eagle and busy ant, we will praise our God.

All: Each bird, each animal, each tiny insect, and each person of humankind makes clear God’s creative presence, and so we praise our God.

*David Sparks. Gathering Pentecost 2 2026. Page 25.

Opening Prayer

*Opening Hymn All Praise to You (#297 VU)

Prayer of Confessional and Renewal (Unison)

Loving God, we are gifted to experience this wonderful world. Trees that whisper your name

in the wind, the earth in which we grow food, the water to quench our thirst, and the air to fill our lungs. We made our lives good with your gifts, but sometimes we forget these gifts. We have sinned in our thoughts and actions, turning our backs and closing our spirits, not in

prayer but in arrogance. May our hearts be opened to the needs of Creation, to all who need our care, and to all with whom we need to share. In silence, we bring to you our own confessions and our hope for a new beginning. (a time of silent confession) Amen.

*Eileen Masse. Gathering Pentecost 2 2026. Page 27.

Words of Assurance

One: God receives us with compassion and calls us back into right relationship.

  All: We are forgiven, renewed, and invited into a new beginning.

One: God restores our connection with one another and with all Creation.

  All: We will live with gratitude, compassion, and generosity.

One: God leads us toward lives of care, justice, and sharing.

All: Thanks be to God, who makes all things new. Amen.

Welcoming and Covenanting with Voluntary Associate Minister

Chair of Joint Council: In 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul explains that there are varieties of gifts given but it is the same Spirit who gives them. There are varieties of ways that we may serve God and varieties of ministries, but it is the same God we serve. To each is given a gift for the common good. Some are called into ordained and diaconal ministry in order to offer their gifts for the common good.

Incumbent Minister: All ministry personnel must have a formal association with a community of faith in order that they may carry out the functions of ministry within the United Church. If they are not currently serving a congregation and wish to engage in certain ministerial functions, they are asked to establish a formal association with a congregation and to be accountable to that congregation and its governing body. Retired ministers, ministers who are working in other areas of church life, and those who for various reasons have taken a leave from paid ministry may choose to become Voluntary Associate Ministers (VAMs) in relationship to a particular congregation.

Chair of Joint Council: Rev. Erin McIntyre, is an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada, who has requested to become a Voluntary Associate Minister of this community of faith. Our Joint Council and Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Council have approved her request. Erin serves the Office of Vocation as Vocational Minister Standards and Accountability, supporting five regional councils (Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls, Western Ontario Waterways, Shining Waters, and Canadian Shield) and that remains her primary work in ministry. This will establish a relationship with this faith community and Rev. Erin, allowing her to engage in various aspects of ordered ministry, such as presiding at weddings and funerals and providing pastoral coverage for Rev. Min when he is away. This agreement also supports a strong collegial relationship between Rev. Min and Rev. Erin, and helps us all maintain a healthy pastoral relationship.

Chair of Joint Council asks the following questions:

To the Voluntary Associate Minister: Rev. Erin McIntyre, will you commit to being in relationship with South Stormont Pastoral Charge as a Voluntary Associate Minister and be accountable among us for your ministry

I will, God being my helper.

Rev Erin, will you commit to supporting Rev. Min and his relationship with us as the Incumbent Minister?

I will, God being my helper.

To the incumbent minister:

Rev. Min Hwang, will you commit to supporting Rev. Erin in her relationship with this pastoral charge?

    I will, God being our helper.

To the congregation:

People of South Stormont Pastoral Charge, will you commit to supporting Rev. Erin in her relationship with us as a Voluntary Associate Minister?

We will, God being our helper.

Chair of Joint Council: May God bless us all in the relationship we have established this day! Amen.

Hymn: We have this ministry (VU 510. v.1)

Announcements and Minute for Mission

Prayer for Illumination

Proclaiming the Scriptures

Romans 14:1-12 Whether we live or die, we belong to God.

Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 (VU p.876) Miriam and Moses lead the people in singing.

Matthew 18:21-35 How many times must I forgive?

This is the Good News from the Bible.

  Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Sermon

*Hymn The Earth and All Who Breathe (#295 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.

Until life’s work is done

*Offertory Prayer (Unison)
 Loving God, through the life you give us and the bounty therein, we encounter the amazing web of interconnection and of interdependence in your good Creation. Bless us and our giving as we give back some of that bounty. May we find purpose in all our relationships. Amen.

*Gord Dunbar. Gathering Pentecost 2 2026. Page 29.

Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer

*Closing Hymn In the Bulb There Is a Flower (#703 VU)

*Commissioning

One: God’s Spirit moves among us, bringing courage, hope, and love.

All: We receive these gifts and carry them into the world.

One: We belong to one another, to the earth, and to the whole community of Creation.

  All: We go with gratitude, ready to nurture life wherever we are.

One: Go in peace to heal what is harmed, protect what is precious, and build relationships of care.

All: With God’s help, we will walk gently, act faithfully, and share love with all Creation.

*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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