Service Sunday December 28, 2025

HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH

Minden, Ontario

All are Welcome!

First Sunday after Christmas

Worship Leader: Rev. Max Ward

Music Director: Melissa Stephens

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The Gathering

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LAND: 

As we gather today for worship, we remember with gratitude that this traditional territory is cared for by the Michi Saagiig Peoples, “those who lived at the mouth of the rivers, where the waters flow out,” who are part of the Anishinabek Nation.  The Creator, in infinite wisdom places the territory and waters at the very centre of the lives, language, culture, and spirituality of Indigenous Peoples. We acknowledge their stewardship and commit to join with them to care for the territory and the waters.

THE APPROACH

CALL TO WORSHIP: 

One:    This is the season of Christmas.  With the birth of Jesus, this is the time of hopes fulfilled and love made real.  This is the day that the Lord has made.

ALL:  We celebrate the birth of the Messiah, God’s chosen one.

One:    This Sunday marks the end of one year.  This is a time of recollecting past accomplishments and failures, a time of remembering former events, good and difficult.  This is a day that the Lord has made.

ALL:  We celebrate the birth of the Messiah, God’s chosen one.

One:    This week anticipates the beginning of a new year.  This is a time of seeking new perspective and being open to new opportunities.  This is a day that the Lord has made.

ALL:  We celebrate the birth of the Messiah, God’s chosen one.

                                                                Written by Bill Steadman, Goulais River U.C., Goulais River, Ont.

                                                                Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.36.  Used with permission

HYMN: “Joy to the World!”    VU #59

1     Joy to the world! the Lord is come:

       let earth receive her King!

       Let every heart prepare him room,

       and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,

       and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

2     Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:

       let all their songs employ,

       while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

       repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,

       repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

3     No more let sins and sorrows grow,

       nor thorns infest the ground:

       he comes to make his blessings flow

       far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found,

       far as, far as the curse is found.

4     He rules the earth with truth and grace,

       and makes the nations prove

       the glories of his righteousness

       and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love,

       and wonders, wonders of his love.

 A SONG OF FAITH:                                 Read In Unison

We sing of Jesus, a Jew, born to a woman in poverty in a time of social upheaval and political oppression.  He knew human joy and sorrow.  So filled with the Holy Spirit was he that in him people experienced the presence of God among them.  We sing praise to God incarnate.  Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign — a commonwealth not of domination but of peace, justice, and reconciliation.  He healed the sick and fed the hungry.  He forgave sins and freed those held captive by all manner of demonic powers.  He crossed barriers of race, class, culture, and gender.  He preached and practised unconditional love — love of God, love of neighbour, love of friend, love of enemy — and he commanded his followers to love one another as he had loved them.  Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus.  He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and execution.  He was crucified.  But death was not the last word.  God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope.  We sing of Jesus raised from the dead.  We sing hallelujah.

MINISTRY OF MUSIC

LEARNING TOGETHER

HYMN: “In the Bleak Midwinter”  VU #55

1          In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

            earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

            snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

            in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

2          Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;

            heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign;

            in the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

            the Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ.

3          Enough for him, whom cherubim worship night and day,

            a breast full of milk, and a manger full of hay.

            Enough for him, whom angels fall down before,

            the ox and ass and camel which adore.

4          What can I give him, poor as I am?

            If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

            if I were a wise man, I would do my part;

            yet what I can I give him - give my heart.

THE WORD

Scripture:  Matthew 2:13-23

  Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.

   ALL:      Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE:

“Do You Have Room? The Innkeeper’s Monologue”

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and

A CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATION OF THE LORD’S PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, heavenly Mother,

       Holy and blessed is your true name.

       We pray for your reign of peace to come,

       We pray that your good will be done,

       Let heaven and earth become one.

       Give us this day the bread we need,

       Give it to those who have none.

       Let forgiveness flow like a river between us,

       From each one to each one.

       Lead us to holy innocence

       Beyond the evil of our days —

       Come swiftly Mother, Father, come.

       For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy:

       Forever your name is All in One.

       Amen.

HYMN: “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”    VU #58 

1     Infant holy, infant lowly, for his bed a cattle stall;

       oxen lowing, little knowing Christ the babe is Lord of all.

       Swift are winging angels singing,

       noels ringing, tidings bringing:

            Christ the babe is born for all.

            Christ the babe is born for all!

2     Flocks were sleeping; shepherds keeping vigil till

            the morning new

       saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of a gospel true.

       Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow,

       praises voicing greet the morrow:

            Christ the babe was born for you.

            Christ the babe was born for you!

YOUR GENEROSITY MATTERS:

PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY PRAYER:         In Unison

Servanthood is hard, O God, yet you call us to serve.  Following through on commitment is challenging, O Christ, yet you call us to reach out to others in love.  Giving to others beyond our own needs and wants is demanding, O Spirit, yet you give us the direction and the purpose.  Bless what we offer here as signs of our servanthood, of our commitment, and of our self-giving in Jesus’ name.   Amen.

                                                Written by Gord Dunbar, while in Kincardine P.C., Kincardine

                                                Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.37.  Used with permission

SUNG BLESSING:  (MV  #220)                          

Hope shines as the solitary star. 

Faith is the inner light. 

You and I together mirror the Light of Lights,

and illumine the pathway home. ©

SENDING FORTH:

A Time of Fellowship

© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2025 - 25/10/2026; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches.