09/07/2026
This week's Order of Service for the 6th of September 2026, the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Strathearn United Church welcomes you to our Morning Worship.
6th September 2026, the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Musical Prelude
WELCOME & GATHERING
The Kingdom of God is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven.
Walter Rauschenbusch
LIGHTING THE CHRIST CANDLE
OPENING HYMN
Joy, Joyful We Adore You
Voices United 232
PRAYER OF APPROACH
In You, Father all-mighty, we have our preservation and our bliss.
In you, Christ, we have our restoring and our saving.
You are our mother, brother, and Saviour.
In you, our Lord the Holy Spirit, is marvelous and plenteous grace.
You are our clothing; for love you wrap us and embrace us.
You are our maker, our lover, our keeper.
Teach us to believe that by your grace all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. Amen
Julian of Norwich
A UNITED CHURCH CREED
We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We believe in God
Who has created and is creating
Who has come in Jesus,
The Word made flesh
To reconcile and make new
Who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church
To celebrate God’s presence
To live with respect in Creation
To love and serve others
To seek justice and resist evil
To proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Voices United 400
“No one heals themselves by wounding another.”
St. Ambrose
God, You invite us to confess
To You
To one another
To ourselves
To confess our brokenness, in faith that we will be healed through Your grace
(Silence)
God have mercy
Christ have mercy
God have mercy
Let us pray
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
Forever and ever
Amen
HYMN
O Christian Love
Voices United 594
WE SHARE IN GOD’S WORD
God, we give thanks for Your Word
As we listen, may these words challenge and renew our faith so we may continue Your story in the world around us.
Amen
RESPONSIVE READING
From Paul’s Letter to the Romans 13:8-12
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep.
For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers
The night is far gone, the day is near.
Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
A READING FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 18:15-20
The Word of God for the People of God
Thanks be to God
SERMON
THE WORD OF GOD ENACTED
PRESENTATION OF THE OFFERING
Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow
Voices United 541
The Dedication of Gifts
God, You bless us with gifts of time, talent and treasure and in doing so, You invite us to share these gifts as a witness to our faith in Your Kingdom.
Amen
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
God, receive, we pray, the prayers of Your people.
Grant that we may not only understand the things we ought to do but have the grace and power faithfully to do them.
This we pray through Jesus Christ.
8th Century Sacramentary
God, You touch our lives with healing and with justice
New life is your gift.
We give You thanks for Your Good News
Revealed through Your Son Jesus Christ.
Good News that invites and challenges us to be living witnesses to Your hope for a better world
And so in silence we give thanks for those who have been such witnesses in our lives
(Silence)
God of compassion
We pray for this troubled world
For people who struggling with sorrows
Who struggle with injustice
Who struggle with despair
Who struggle with uncertainty
Who fear the future
Who yearn for hope
And God we pray that You be with us
As we do what we can
To be your presence in this world
And God we come to You with the prayers of our hearts.
For those who we know who struggle with illness of the mind, body and spirit.
For those who are alone
For those who yearn for connection
These names we bring to you
(Silence)
Amen
CLOSING HYMN
To Show by Touch and Word
Voices United 427
SENDING FORTH
Grace is a gift from God that flourishes when we share it with others.
Amen
POSTLUDE
World Council of Churches Prayer Cycle
Benin, Ivory Coast and Togo
Northern Spirit Region Prayer Cycle
Community United Church, Telfordville
Winterburn United Church, St. Albert
Recently I was working on one of my model projects. I was making good progress, everything looked good.
I just finished aligning a pair of Vickers K machine guns on a SAS jeep, and I was pleased that my patience had paid off.
And then I dropped the model.
The pieces I had spent quite a bit of time working on had snapped off.
I sat there, muttering some unclerical words.
And I was disappointed, I had spent so much time getting this section of the model done right.
Now I was back at square one. In fact, as the model was broken I had more work to do.
I even wondered for a moment was God testing me?
Then I remembered a quote from one of my favourite novels, Spice and Wolf, and here was the wisdom of Holo the Wise Wolf,
“You learned a valuable lesson, remember the lesson and not the disappointment.”
And I paused, stopped the unclerical language, the pouting at God and realised that the show must go on.
I found the missing parts.
Then looking overall at the kit, I realised that there were some bits and pieces that I needed to work on that had been exposed by my clumsiness and now I was able to fix them.
So, I not only learned to be careful when holding the model, but also reminded not to rush when working on the whole project.
Though it took longer than I expected, the model was now looking better.
My disappointment had been replaced with excitement because now I knew it would look better.
And I will continue on with the project.
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