Service Sunday October 12, 2025

Services

Oct 8

Written By Highland Hills

HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH

Minden, Ontario

All are Welcome!

Happy Thanksgiving Sunday

Worship Leader: Rev. Max Ward

Music Director: Melissa Stephens

(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)

The Gathering

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

FOCUSING ON THE LIGHT OF CHRIST:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LAND:

As we gather here on the ancestral territory of the Nishnaabeg, let us be thankful that God/Creator is with us, calling us to be ministers of reconciliation as light for all God’s people.

THE APPROACH

A MUSICAL CALL TO WORSHIP: by the Choir “Thanksgiving Song”

HYMN: “Come, You Thankful People, Come” VU #516

1 Come, you thankful people, come,

raise the song of harvest home!

All is safely gathered in,

safe before the storms begin;

God, our maker, does provide

for our needs to be supplied:

come to God's own temple, come,

raise the song of harvest home!

2 All the world is God's own field,

harvests for God's praise to yield;

wheat and weeds together sown,

here for joy or sorrow grown;

first the blade, and then the ear,

then the full corn shall appear:

Harvest-giver, grant that we

wholesome grain and pure may be.

3 For our God, one day, shall come,

and shall take this harvest home;

from the field shall in that day

all offences purge away;

giving angels charge at last

in the fire the weeds to cast;

but the fruitful ears to store

in the garner evermore.

4 Even so, God, quickly come

to your final harvest home!

Gather all your people in,

free from sorrow, free from sin;

there for ever purified,

in your presence to abide:

come, with all your angels, come,

raise the glorious harvest home.

OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison

Creator God, provider of seed, water, and sun, we give you thanks! For the health and energy of bodies to complete the harvest, we give you thanks! For the support of families as we labour, we give you thanks! For neighbours who pool resources to bring in the harvest, we give you thanks! For your amazing love and grace, we give you thanks!

Written by Anne Mathewson, St. David’s Trinity U.C., Saskatoon, Sask.

Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.43. Used with permission

NEW HYMN: “We Give Our Thanks” MV #187

1. We give our thanks to God, (4X)

2. We give our hands to you, (3X)

because you reached for us.

3. Re - a - mo le - bo - ga, (3X) (Tswana)

Mo - di – mo ro – na.

4. We give our eyes to you, (3X)

because you looked for us.

5. We give our feet to you, (3X)

because you walk with us.

6. Nous ren – dons grâce à Dieu. (4X) (French)

7. We give our hearts to you, (3X)

because you first loved us.

MINISTRY OF MUSIC:

THE WORD

Scripture: John 6:25-35

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

ALL: Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE:

“Like a Tim Horton’s on the Highway”

OUR RESPONSE

CANDLE LIGHTING LITURGY

**PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER: spoken VU#921

HYMN: “We Plough The Fields” VU #520**

1 We plough the fields and scatter

the good seed on the land,

but it is fed and watered

by your almighty hand;

you send the snow in winter,

the warmth to swell the grain,

the breezes and the sunshine,

and soft refreshing rain.

Refrain All good gifts around us

are sent from heaven above;

we thank you, God, O holy God,

for all your love.

2 You only are the maker

of all things near and far;

you paint the wayside flower,

you light the evening star;

the winds and waves obey you,

by you the birds are fed;

much more to us, your children,

you give us daily bread. Refrain

3 We thank you then, O Maker,

for all things bright and good,

the seed-time and the harvest,

our life, our health, our food;

accept the gifts we offer

for all your love imparts,

and, what from us you long for,

our humble, thankful hearts. Refrain

PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY PRAYER: In Unison

Great Giver, God of the Harvest, Creator of All—miigwech for this day. Miigwech for the harvest. Miigwech for each other. Thank you very much, chi miigwech, for your love. Let our commitments be blessed by you and let all we give and receive be in love. Amen.

Written by Whitney Bruno, Little Curent & Sheguiandah U.C., Little Current, Ont.

Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.44. Used with permission

SUNG BLESSING “God Be with You till We Meet Again” VU #422 v3

God be with you till we meet again;

when life's perils thick confound you,

put unfailing arms around you;

God be with you till we meet again.

Till we meet, till we meet,

till we meet at Jesus' feet;

till we meet, till we meet,