Service Sunday July 26, 2026
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
SUNDAY, July 26, 2026
All are Welcome!
Worship Leader: Rev. Dr. Anne Beattie-Stokes
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
Watch a video recording of the whole service using YouTube below
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
SUNDAY, July 26, 2026
All are Welcome!
(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)
(For Rev. Peter’s Musings PDF version click this link)
Worship Leader: Rev. Dr. Anne Beattie-Stokes
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
THE GATHERING
Welcome and Announcements
Focusing on the Light of Christ
Acknowledgement of Territory ((Unison)
With gratitude and respect we acknowledge that our sacred space is located on Treaty 20 territory in the traditional lands of the Williams Treaties First Nations.
We acknowledge that we as settlers and newcomers are party to these treaties, and so we seek to live in right relations with all as stewards of these lands and waters and as those who care for the needs of all people.
THE APPROACH
Call to Worship
One: Let us lay down our troubles – our worries, concerns
and fears, and enter into this time of worship
with open and trusting hearts.
All: We lay our troubles before God
who is our confidence and our peace.
One: Let us open ourselves to calm and quiet,
and be centred in Love.
All: We open ourselves to the Holy One, known in Jesus,
and with us in the Spirit.
One: Let us worship God together.
Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Centre VU #374
1. Come and find the quiet center
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
2. Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, face to face,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
3. In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other’s pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there’s a place for deepest dreaming,
there’s a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit’s lively scheming
there is always room to spare!
Opening Prayer
Ministry of Music
Learning Together
THE WORD
Scripture: Matthew 6:25 - 34 (NRSV)
Poem: I Worried Mary Oliver
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God
Hymn: Bathe Me In Your Light MV #82
1. Bathe me in your light,
O God of All, Creator;
let it shine upon my soul
with healing and with grace.
Be to me a beacon bright
through shadows of life’s wounding,
showing me the way to live in faith,
in your embrace.
2. Bathe me in your love,
O Source of Awe and Wonder;
help me walk the sacred path
of harmony and peace.
May I be attentive to
the musings of your presence,
drinking from the well of hope that brings
the heart release.
3. Bathe me in your grace,
O One of Spirit’s longing;
teach me of your gentle ways
that fill the soul with strength.
Guide me on the pilgrimage
that leads to truth and wholeness,
Fill me with your promise of a love
that knows no length.
Message
The Birds of Worry
OUR RESPONSE
Prayer Music: VU 400
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Lord send your spirit in this place,
Lord listen to your children praying,
Send us love, send us power, send us grace.
Prayers of the People and
The Lord’s Prayer (spoken)
Hymn: Great is Thy Faithfulness VU #288
1. Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.
Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.
2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]
3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside. [Refrain]
Offertory Prayer (Unison)
Holy One, our offering is an act of gratitude and a cry for our hurting world.
Bless us and what we offer – our money, our gifts, our time, our prayers –
and use all that we give for the sake of the world you love. In Jesus’ name
we pray. Amen.
Sung Blessing Christ Has No Body Now but Yours MV #171
Christ has no body now but yours. Here on this earth
yours is the work to serve with the joy of compassion.
through ev’ry gift give back to those in need:
as Christ has blessed, so now be his blessing,
Christ has no body now but yours. Here on this earth
yours is the work to serve with the joy of compassion.
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 Church
