Service Sunday October 19, 2025
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
All are Welcome!
World Food Day
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:
FOCUSING ON THE LIGHT OF CHRIST:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LAND:
For thousands of years, First Nations people have walked on this territory; their relationship with the territory is at the centre of their lives and spirituality. We are gathered on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg and acknowledge their stewardship of this territory throughout the ages.
THE APPROACH
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: We come as ordinary people, with ordinary lives.
ALL: Ordinary we are, but your call to us is powerful.
One: We come to be fed at your table or grace.
ALL: We come to be fed, knowing that we are also called to feed others.
One: We come remembering your commissioning to us, to live out our faith as presence in this world.
ALL: As your called people, we proclaim justice and encourage generosity.
Written by Gord Dunbar, Kindardine, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.45. Used with permission
HYMN: “Let All Things Now Living” VU #242
1 Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
to God our Creator triumphantly raise;
who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
by guiding us on to the end of our days.
God's banners are o'er us, pure light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night;
till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into Light.
2 By law God enforces, the stars in their courses
and sun in its orbit obediently shine;
the hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
the depths of the ocean proclaim God divine.
We, too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
with glad adoration a song let us raise:
till all things now living unite in thanksgiving,
to God in the highest, hosanna and praise.
OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison
Holy One, your people are here. Your people are everywhere. May the Spirit be with us in our worship. May the Spirit be with all humanity and all creation, until your abundance is truly shared. We open our hearts in word and in song, in hope and in faith. Let our worship be full of your love, O God. Amen.
Written by Robin Wardlaw, Toronto, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.45. Used with permission
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
LEARNING TOGETHER
HYMN: “I’ve Got Peace Like a River” VU #577
1 I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river in-a my soul.
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river in-a my soul.
2 I've got joy like a fountain,
I've got joy like a fountain,
I've got joy like a fountain in-a my soul.
I've got joy like a fountain,
I've got joy like a fountain,
I've got joy like a fountain in-a my soul.
3 I've got love like an ocean,
I've got love like an ocean,
I've got love like an ocean in-a my soul.
I've got love like an ocean,
I've got love like an ocean,
I've got love like an ocean in-a my soul.
THE WORD
Scripture: Colossians 3: 1 - 11
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE:
“An Inclusive Christianity”
Listen to an audio recording of the message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
OUR RESPONSE
CANDLE LIGHTING LITURGY
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER: spoken VU#921
HYMN: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” VU #664
1 What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.
2 Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
3 Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Christ the Saviour is our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do our friends despise, forsake us?
Are we tempted to despair?
Jesus' strength will shield our weakness,
and we'll find new courage there.
YOUR GENEROSITY MATTERS:
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER: In Unison
These gifts are to provide living water for lives that are parched, Life-Giving God, and actual food and water for any who live with a scarcity of these essentials.
These gifts are offered to encourage those who wonder if their hopes will ever come to fruition, and to support the gardeners who lovingly tend your world and its peoples in so many ways. Amen.
Written by Karen Boinin, Bells Corners U.C., Ottawa, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.45. 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,
God be with you till we meet again.
SENDING FORTH:
A Time of Fellowship
© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2024 - 25/10/2025; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches
Sermon 2025 10 19
“An Inclusive Christianity”
Colossians 3: 1 - 11
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.
The New Testament reading I have chosen for today focuses on instructions for Christian living.
These verses mostly tell us what not to do.
For example, as Christians we are to “killing off” sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever we feel like whenever we feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts our fancy.
We must get rid of bad tempers, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
This may seem a little preachy.
I know that I don’t particularly like being told how to behave.
Perhaps it’s because I know that I am not perfect.
I have faults just like anyone else.
The first important thing to consider in Paul’s letter to the Colossians is that Paul is addressing those who have been converted to Christianity.
He is preaching to the converted.
This is good, because his message is timely and appropriate to those whom he is addressing.
In fact, he begins his message with “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.”
However, while Paul’s message is geared towards Christians, it is not an exclusive message.
He emphasizes that there is no longer Greek and Jew, slave and free.
In some other epistles he includes male and female.
Paul is attempting to break down barriers and to emphasize that Christ’s love is available to all.
Christianity is meant to be an inclusive faith.
Of course, there are many themes in today’s reading: putting to death evil desires for example, and being born again.
But the one I wish to emphasize is the idea of inclusivity.
Often, when I was younger, particularly in university, I noticed a form of exclusive Christianity.
Christians identified themselves as a separate group and kept in their own clique.
Of course, people were invited to join, but first you would have to give a “testimony”, or at least tell others how you “found Jesus”.
The last time I was asked if I found Jesus, I replied:
“What do you mean, ‘found Jesus’? I didn’t realize he was lost.”
Learned that one from Bishop Spong.
Perhaps that response was a little short.
I should have replied that, in reality, it’s Jesus who found me, not the other way around.
Perhaps because I still feel so young, I struggle with this concept of “finding Jesus”.
That is, the idea of leading a life of Godlessness, suddenly having a spiritual experience, and then being born again.
I know these experiences do happen though, and I don’t want to undermine them.
This type of experience of knowing God is a valid one.
Having a sudden spiritual change happened with Paul, on the Road to Damascus.
Life-changing experiences do occur.
But my own faith is more subtle.
No spiritual sudden revelations, just a continuing walk with God, me tripping along the way a little, sometimes walking, sometimes running.
The important thing for me is to feel God’s presence, even during those rough periods, during which time I stumbled along on my own faith journey.
We all go through these rough stretches,
The church at Colossae did.
Paul did what he could to help them through it.
And one of those things was his advice to be inclusive, and inviting to others.
What does Paul’s message about being inclusive have to do with us today?
At a time when we worry about membership numbers, our national church is actively encouraging us to “Live the Welcome”.
I attended a workshop awhile back that really encouraged me that there are people that are still very much interested in knowing about Jesus.
People want to hear what he had to say, and know the way that he treated others and the way that he lived.
As Christians, we must live the Christ-Centered life to be a living example of a follower of Jesus.
An important part of living the Christ-Centred life is to be welcoming and include all people.
Being inclusive is a way of life not simply a way of thought.
Even the way we speak indicates the degree to which we include people.
By saying things like “us” and “them”, it points to our biases.
Even who we talk to during social times and who we don’t talk to is a form of inclusive or exclusive behaviour.
Being inclusive takes a primary focus given to us by Jesus.
Love God and love others like yourself.
I remember reading through the Torah part of the Old Testament sometime during my teen years and I was amazed by all the rules in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
I knew that Jews had certain regulations regarding food and clothing but I hadn’t realized how deeply these rules went.
At first, I thought that the rules were there as a mark to exclude others.
It had always seemed to me that the Jewish faith was rather closed, since, unlike Islam and Christianity, they don’t overtly seek converts.
In fact, these rules were a way to identify themselves.
Not to exclude others, but to identify themselves.
So it also seems with the guidelines which Paul gives.
If we see these behaviours in others they can indicate this Christ-Centered life.
Then we can become open to knowing others.
That is one of the reasons why it is so important to “clothe” ourselves with these virtues – to be identifiable to others.
Imagine how bad it would look on Christianity if we say that we are Christian but then act in ways not consistent with our faith.
It would certainly turn people off of Christianity.
Of course, this isn’t the main reason for following the words of advice that Paul gives.
The main reason is for the glory of God.
Remember, love God and love others like yourself.
That commandment will offer all the guidance necessary when trying to be the Inclusive Christians that we are all called to be.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
