ST. COLUMBA
ANGLICAN-UNITED CHURCH
PO Box 1260, Port Hardy, BC V0N 2P0
Office Phone: 250-949-6247
E-mail: admin@stcolumbaporthardy.ca
Minister: Rev. Christine Muise
E-mail: cmuise@bc.anglican.ca
Wardens: Robert Fyles & Priscilla O’Neil
Treasurer: Judy Fyles
Music Ministry: Roldan Yuipco
Video: Ammie Yuipco
Community Partner: Cathie Wilson
www.stcolumbaporthardy.ca

25th Sunday after Pentecost Year A
November 19, 2023
Anglican Service of the Word

Mission Statement
As followers of Jesus Christ, our church is a community called to love, honour, worship, and serve God. We invite others to share our Christian journey as we grow in faith and engage in ministry in our town and mission in our world.

~ Leader: regular font
~ All: bold font
~ Sung words: bold italics
~ Asterix* stand as you are able

Welcome and Announcements
Land Acknowledgement

THE COMMUNITY GATHERS BEFORE GOD

*The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
And also with you.

*Almighty God,
to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

*Hymn: VU 686 God of Grace and God of Glory

God of grace and God of glory,
on your people pour your power;
now fulfil your church’s story;
bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour.
For the facing of this hour.

Lo! the hosts of evil round us,
scorn your Christ, assail your ways.
fears and doubts too long have bound us,
free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days.
For the living of these days.

Cure your children’s warring madness,
bend our pride to your control;
shame our wanton selfish gladness,
rich in goods and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.
Lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.

Set our feet on lofty places,
gird our lives that they may be
armoured with all Christ-like graces,
pledged to set all captives free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
that we fail not them nor thee.
That we fail not them nor thee.

Trisagion
Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have mercy upon us.
Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have mercy upon us.
Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have mercy upon us.

Collect Prayer

THE STORY OF FAITH IS PROCLAIMED
Hutłilala's! Listen deeply as Scripture is read.

Psalm 123 VU 847
Refrain: To you, O God, our eyes we raise until your mercy we may praise.
To you I lift up my eyes,
to you who are enthroned in the heavens.
As the eyes of servants look to their master’s hands,
as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to you, O God,
as we wait till you show us your favour.
R: To you, O God, our eyes we raise until your mercy we may praise.

We have had more than enough of contempt.
Too long we have suffered the scorn of the wealthy, and the contempt of the arrogant.
R: To you, O God, our eyes we raise until your mercy we may praise.

Epistle 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11

*Hymn: VU 626 I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto me and rest;
lay down, O weary one, lay down
your head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
weary and worn and sad;
I found in him a resting place,
and he has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water; thirsty one,
stoop down and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
look unto me, your morn shall rise,
and all your days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
in him my star, my sun;
and in that light of life I’ll walk
till travelling days are done.

May God be with you!
And also with you!
The Holy Gospel of Jesus the Christ according to Matthew.
Glory to you Christ our Saviour.
*Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-30
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you Jesus the Christ.

Sermon Reflection

Hear, O Israel
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
This is the first and the great commandment.
The second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.

Intercessions and Thanksgivings
Minute for Mission/PWRDF
Prayer response:
We pray to you: God hear our prayer.

*The Lord’s Prayer
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Peace
The peace of Christ be always with you.
And also with you.

*Hymn: VU 248 When Long Before Time

When long before time and the worlds were begun,
when there was no earth and no sky and no sun,
and all was deep silence and night reigned supreme,
and even our Maker had only a dream…

…the silence was broken when God sang the Song,
and light pierced the darkness and rhythm began,
and with its first birthcries creation was born,
and creaturely voices sang praise to the morn.

The sounds of the creatures were one with their Lord’s,
their harmonies sweet and befitting the Word;
the Singer was pleased as the earth sang the song;
the choir of the creatures reechoed it long.

Though, down through the ages, the Song disappeared,
its harmonies broken and almost unheard,
the Singer comes to us to sing it again:
our God is with us in the world now as then.

The Light has returned as it came once before;
the Song of the Lord is our own song once more;
so let us all sing with one heart and one voice
the song of the Singer in whom we rejoice.

To you, God the Singer, our voices we raise;
to you, Song Incarnate, we give all our praise;
to you, Holy Spirit, our life and our breath,
be glory forever, through life and through death.

Words and music: Peter Davison

Response: VU 22 Wait for the Lord

Wait for the Lord, God’s day is near.
Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart!

Words and music: Jacques Berthier

Prayer over the Gifts

*Doxology
Glory to God
whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen. Gilakas’la. Amen.

*Hymn: VU 380 She Comes Sailing on the Wind

She comes sailing on the wind, her wings flashing in the sun;
on a journey just begun, she flies on.
And in the passage of her flight, her song rings out through the night,
full of laughter, full of light, she flies on.

Silent waters rocking on the morning of our birth,
like an empty cradle waiting to be filled.
And from the heart of God the spirit moved upon the earth,
like a mother breathing life into her child.

Many were the dreamers whose eyes were given sight
when the Spirit filled their dreams with life and form.
Deserts turned to gardens, broken hearts found new delight,
and then down the ages still she flew on.

She comes sailing on the wind, her wings flashing in the sun;
on a journey just begun, she flies on.
And in the passage of her flight, her song rings out through the night,
full of laughter, full of light, she flies on.

To a gentle girl in Galilee, a gentle breeze she came,
a whisper softly calling in the dark,
the promise of a child of peace whose reign would never end,
Mary sang the Spirit song within her heart.

Flying to the river, she waited circling high
above the child now grown so full of grace.
As he rose up from the water, she swept down from the sky,
and she carried him away in her embrace.

She comes sailing on the wind, her wings flashing in the sun;
on a journey just begun, she flies on.
And in the passage of her flight, her song rings out through the night,
full of laughter, full of light, she flies on.

Words and music: Gordon Light

Dismissal

Three-fold Amen

Announcements:
Local mission focus: Gazette Hamper Fund
“Then Let Us Sing” sing along for new hymns in an upcoming new United Church hymn book.
Dec 2 Advent set up 10 AM – 1 PM. Lunch will be served

Liturgical Resources:
The Book of Alternative Services (BAS). Copyright © 1985 by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. All rights reserved. Reproduced under license from ABC Publishing, Anglican Book Centre, a ministry of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, from Anglican Liturgical Library. Further copying is prohibited.

Eucharistic Prayers, Services of the Word, and Night Prayer: Supplementary to the Book of Alternative Services. Copyright © 2001 by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. All rights reserved. Reproduced under license from ABC Publishing, Anglican Book Centre, a ministry of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, from Anglican Liturgical Library. Further copying is prohibited.

Music copyright:
Words for hymns reprinted and podcast or streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 and CCLI License # 11033010. All rights reserved.

Voices United 686 God of Grace and God of Glory Words: Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930; Music: John Hughes, 1905. (alternate tune VU 651 CWM RHONDDA) Words and Music: public domain.

Voices United 847 Psalm 123 Refrain Words: Public Domain. Music: Hughes M. Huffman. Portion from the hymn: To You, O Lord, I Lift My Eyes. Music copyright © 1976 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA, c/o InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.

Voices United 626 I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say Words: Horatius Bonar, 1846; Music: English/Irish traditional melody, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Words and music: Public Domain. Arrangement by permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Arrangement used and podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 (#592e04d31a0aa). All rights reserved.

Voices United 248 When Long before Time Words and music: Peter Davison 1981; arrangement and harmony: George Black 1981. Words and music copyright © 1981 Peter Davison. Arrangement copyright © 1981 George Black (1931-2003). [Now administered by Augsburg Fortress]. All rights reserved. Reprinted and podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 (#13989). All rights reserved.

Voices United 22 Wait for the Lord Words and music: Jacques Berthier, 1984. Words and music copyright © 1991 Les Presses de Taizé. G.I.A. Publications Inc, exclusive agent. All rights reserved. Reprinted and podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 (#00172). All rights reserved.

Voices United 380 She Comes Sailing on the Wind Words and music: Gordon Light, 1985. Arrangement: Andrew Donaldson 1994. Words and music copyright © 1987 Common Cup Company. Arrangement © 1994 Andrew Donaldson. All rights reserved. Reprinted and podcast with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-720359 words and music (#117717). Permission on file from Andrew Donaldson to use his arrangement. All rights reserved.