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
Watch a video recording of the whole service using Youtube below.
(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)
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”
Listen to an Audio recording of the message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
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.
Sermon 28th December 2025
“Do You Have Room? The Innkeeper’s Monologue”
Matthew 2:13-23
Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.
Today’s message is a monologue from the perspective of the Innkeeper.
Imagine me and yourself as the Innkeeper on that very special night.
“Do you have room?”
Really?!
“Do I have room?”
What is this couple thinking?!
It’s the census for goodness’ sake.
Everyone has returned home.
“Do you have room?”
Have they looked around?
Don’t they see that you can barely move through the streets of Bethlehem?
“Do I have room?”
Sure...how about under the table in the kitchen?!
There’s already my husband, two children, and the cat in our bed.
I have lots of room!!
Well, that’s what my husband and I were about to say to this couple, but then my husband looked up as he was in the middle of the next sentence,
“This is the census...no, we do not...”
And it was at that point he stopped, staring at this young couple with their loud donkey.
And then he gave me “the eye” with the nod of his head.
He wanted me to look.
I didn’t want to look.
If I looked, then I might find a corner for them, and I knew we couldn’t take another two people, let alone a donkey.
But of course, I had to look.
I shouldn’t have looked.
It wasn’t just two people; it was like two and nine-tenths of a person, as she was so pregnant.
I thought maybe she would have her baby right there and then.
“Do you have room?”
Sigh.
“Yes.
Follow me.
Right over here.
Leave the donkey there.
Don’t just stand there, Ishmael, help her off the donkey.”
My husband and this young woman’s husband helped her into the barn.
There was something different about the barn that night, though.
It was usually filled with deep shadows at night.
I never really liked going in there.
Figured I’d step on a chicken or bump into one of the cows.
But the animals were all really quiet.
No noise, no mooing.
And the barn was not shadowed at all.
It was bright.
It felt like there was a star right in it.
But the star was outside.
Brilliant.
I have never seen such a star.
Seemed like it was shining just on our little barn.
“Do you have room?”
That question will haunt me forever.
It was nothing much.
Wasn’t really a room.
But it was safe.
It was out of the cold.
It was dry.
And more than that, it was private...even with the cows, chickens, horse, and the mice.
I guess we did have room that night.
Something happened in that room-in that room, underneath the star.
I’m still trying to understand it all.
Caesar’s army was patrolling the streets, collecting taxes from everyone.
People were angry and scared.
There was a rumour that Herod wasn’t happy, either, and that he was sending his forces out to do some very evil business, but I won’t get into that.
In the midst of all this chaos, there was this star, just shining.
People were talking about it.
Finally, I had everyone taken care of, everyone bedded down for the night.
I thought I could finally collapse in bed and get a few hours’ sleep before having to get up to make some porridge in the morning.
But then, I heard a sheep.
I thought, Oh, isn’t that nice.
Closed my eyes.
More bleating.
I opened my eyes and thought,
We don’t have sheep.
Why are there sheep?
I sat up.
More bleating and now talking.
I looked out the window and there were sheep.
Everywhere.
I dragged Ishmael to look out.
He yawned and agreed that there were sheep, and then he crawled back into bed.
Sigh!
So, I went down to see what was going on.
They were all in the barn.
Sheep and shepherds, everywhere you looked.
I was about to shoo them all out when I heard a couple of the shepherds talking, and what they said shook me.
They were talking about angels, the star, our stable, and God’s Messiah.
It wasn’t making much sense.
So, I kept listening.
They were remembering the writings from the scroll of Isaiah, that a prophet would be born, and he would be the saviour of the world.
I was about to laugh...and then I saw it.
I saw the light from the star shining on the manger, and in the manger, there was a baby.
A baby!
And in that moment, I knew.
How could I not know?
This baby was the hope of the world.
This baby was God’s love...in the flesh.
Even though this baby was the child of this peasant man and woman, I knew that this baby was also mine.
In that brief moment, I knew I had room.
I HAD room!!
I had room for love.
I had room for hope.
I had room for forgiveness.
I had room for God.
Of all the things that happened that night, I knew I would always have room.
But I still needed some sleep.
As I returned to my room, to my life, I knew that Bethlehem would be waking up soon, wanting food in their belly and wanting to get into their own little world.
And they would not even realize that a saviour had just entered into the world.
I wondered if they would have room for him.
What a night that was...a silent night...a holy night.
And to think I almost missed it, in our own home.
We had room.
We had room not only in our home, but in our lives.
The difference that has made in our relationships with one another and in our faith...well, it’s just so hard to explain, except to say, there is always room.
Sometimes it’s an unexpected place that we might not normally have thought to make room... like my stable!
Do you have room?
Maybe not in the guest bedroom or even the garage or the shed that stores your snow blower!
Where might the Christ child find room?
May you make room in those places in your life where you help friends get to a doctor’s appointment, or when you find time to visit them.
Maybe you will find room to greet someone who is new to you at church.
Maybe you have room in the busiest parts of your life, when you stop whatever it is you’re doing to take a moment to breathe and to notice what is around you.
We may not always realize where or when it is that we are to make room.
Our stable turned out to be the most important part of our inn.
What about you?
I hope you will find room…it will indeed be so worth it!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Gathering, 2019
Evelyn McLachlan, King City U.C., King City, ON
