Service Sunday January 18, 2026
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
All are Welcome!
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:
For millennia, Indigenous peoples have lived, worked, played, and worshipped here. They have stewarded this land. Over time people from other parts of the world came to this region and made their home here. Together, Indigenous people and Settlers share the care for land, water and sky. May we learn together what this land and its people need. We desire to live in right relations with each other.
Written by Laura J. Turnbull, Penticton, B.C.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025/26, p.42. Used with permission
THE APPROACH
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Why are we called to this place?
ALL: To be God’s people.
One: What is required of us?
ALL: To seek justice, to love kindness, to live humbly with God.
One: And how shall we do this?
ALL: With our prayers, with our thoughts, with our actions, and with our love.
One: Then, as people who are both blessed and blessing:
ALL: Let us worship God!
Written by Richard Bott, Grace U.C., Burlington, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025/26, p.43. Used with permission
HYMN: “Come In, Come In and Sit Down” VU #395
1 You know the reason why you came,
yet no reason can explain;
so share in the laughter and cry in the pain,
for we are a part of the family. Refrain
Refrain Come in, come in and sit down,
you are a part of the family.
We are lost and we are found,
and we are a part of the family.
2 God is with us in this place,
like a mother's warm embrace.
We're all forgiven by God's grace,
for we are a part of the family. Refrain
3 There's life to be shared in the bread and the wine;
we are the branches, Christ is the vine.
This is God's temple, it's not yours or mine,
but we are a part of the family. Refrain
4 There's rest for the weary and health for us all;
there's a yoke that is easy, and a burden that's small.
So come in and worship and answer the call,
for we are a part of the family. Refrain
OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison
Creator of All, this is the day that you have given us. We join together this day, each of us coming from our own lives, with our own diverse experiences, to celebrate the feeling of being together as your people. We seek a faith that will create in our hearts the hope found in the blessed promises you have made to us. Our emotions, ranging from joy to sorrow, we offer to you. You know our hearts and welcome us into your presence. Forgive us, guide us, and teach us as we give thanks to you for this new day. Help us to keep you securely within our hearts this day and always. In the name of our Redeemer and Saviour, we pray. Amen
Written by Robert J. Murdock, St. James U.C., Stroud, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.43. Used with permission
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
LEARNING TOGETHER
HYMN: “We Are Pilgrims” VU #595
1 We are pilgrims on a journey,
fellow travellers on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
2 Sister, let me be your servant,
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.
3 I will hold the Christ-light for you
in the night-time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.
4 I will weep when you are weeping,
when you laugh I'll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow,
till we've seen this journey through.
5 When we sing to God in heaven,
we shall find such harmony,
born of all we've known together
of Christ's love and agony.
6 Brother, let me be your servant,
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.
THE WORD
Scripture: Isaiah 49: 1-7
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE:
“Servant of God”
Listen to an audio recording of the message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
OUR RESPONSE
Your Generosity Matters
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and
THE LORD’S PRAYER: sung VU#960
HYMN: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” VU #651
1 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty,
hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more,
feed me till I want no more.
2 Open now the crystal fountain,
whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield,
be thou still my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death, and hell's destruction,
land me safe on Canaan's side:
songs of praises, songs of praises
I will ever give to thee,
I will ever give to thee.
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER: In Unison
May these gifts open our hearts and those of others to Christ’s continued presence in our world. Make these gifts into invitations to come and discover your desire, O God, for the abundant living of all people. Amen.
Written by Karen Boivin, Melville U.C., Fergus, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.46. Used with permission
SUNG BLESSING: (VU #87 vs 4)
Refrain 'I am the light of the world!
You people come and follow me!'
If you follow and love you'll learn the mystery
of what you were meant to do and be.
4 To bring hope to every task you do,
to dance at a baby's new birth,
to make music in an old person's heart,
and sing to the colours of the earth! Refrain ©
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 18 January 2026
“Servant of God”
Isaiah 49:1-7
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.
Before I begin with today’s message, I would like to tell you about a book that Amanda and I read together a little while ago.
It was actually an audio book and we listened to it together while we ate popcorn after the kids had gone to bed.
The book is called, “The Gifts of the Jews”, by Thomas Cahill.
I was reminded of it while starting to get into the new book that we are reading for our book study, “Do I Remain Christian?”
When I first heard the title, “The Gifts of the Jews”, I wondered why Amanda had picked this religious book.
You know, she gets enough of that stuff living with me!
Yet after listening to it for only a few moments, I was riveted by the stories of the Old Testament.
Believe it or not, but I actually learned a lot about the Old Testament.
Anyone interested in a captivating modern retelling and interpretation of the Old Testament would enjoy this book.
I would recommend it to anyone for its philosophical thoughts alone.
Back when I was at Emmanuel College, I didn’t like the Old Testament professor so I only took the minimum required courses.
That is one of the reasons why you don’t hear me preach on the Old Testament very often.
Also, I don’t feel as comfortable interpreting the Old Testament compared to the New Testament.
And, as Christians, we tend to focus on the life of Jesus and his philosophy found in the gospels.
Much of what Jesus says has a basis in the old testament.
In today’s text, the author of this portion of Isaiah is keenly aware of the role the people of Israel play in the plans of God.
In this passage we have the source for the baptismal affirmations used by Mark and the other gospels that we heard about last week.
In the book of Mark and Matthew, the worldview, the mission of Israel is placed upon Jesus.
Jesus has come to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament.
He has come to be the Messiah.
The passage from Isaiah contains an interesting dialogue between God and the servant.
God promises great things while the servant laments that his labours have been in vain.
The servant mentions twice that his mission has been shaped from his conception,
“God called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb.”
We can all relate to the servant’s frustration in trying to serve God.
As Christians, we try to do what is right and help others.
We even try to spend our money and give our offerings to what we feel is important.
Yet we’re never perfect.
We mess up.
And we all have idiosyncrasies that irritate other people.
We need to keep things in perspective that we are all human.
I found a narration pertaining to our humanity.
It is called, “The Rules for Being Human” by Cherie Carter-Scott.
1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire journey.
2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life.
Each day in the school you will learn lessons.
You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error: experimentation.
The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works.”
4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.
Once learned, you then go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons.
If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. “There” is no better than “here.”
When your “there” has become a “here,” you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need.
What you do with them is up to you.
The choice is yours.
9. The answers to life’s questions lie inside you.
All you need to do is look, listen and trust.
These “Rules for Being Human”, could have similarly been written by the Jews.
In The Gifts of the Jews, Cahill argues that it was the Jews who gave us a new world view.
The old way of thinking was that everything happened in cycles.
Individuals and time had no lasting meaning in the eternal turning of the cycles.
The new philosophy of life that the Jews developed, through their experiences with God, was that we live in the present.
We have a past that we cannot change, but can only learn from.
The future is full of possibilities and choices but is not predetermined.
It is in the present, through the making of choices, that we begin to determine what the future will hold.
What does this have to do with being a servant of God?
We are co-creators with God.
Through the decisions that we make in the present, we determine what opportunities are available in the future.
As we serve God, we need to be mindful of how our actions affect others and our future.
Who is the servant in the Isaiah text?
Is the servant a special someone?
While there is good reason to see this person from Isaiah as a unique individual, I would like to suggest that this servanthood is intended as the birthright of all humanity.
It begins before we are born.
The very act of creation is an act of commissioning.
We don’t require voices from heaven or burning bushes.
We are all potential servants of God.
Servants are human, not superhuman.
This one in Isaiah is not beyond a little self-pity or doubt about how hard it is to get anything done.
That gives a colouring of reality to our role as disciples.
This journey of faith is not about hero worship; it’s a story of ordinary people who face challenges.
The Jews were ordinary people like you and me, just in a different time and place.
Nevertheless, God has faith in the servant and in us, to “do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”
Thanks be to God.
