October 6, 2024
World Wide Communion Sunday 

Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements 

Call to Worship
God whose love is pouring over us, welcomes us here today.
Praise be to God!
God whose healing power is ready to bind up our wounds, welcomes us here today.
Praise be to God!
God whose transforming presence offers us hope and peace, welcomes us here today.
Praise be to God who loves, heals and restores us. AMEN. 

 

Hymn:  267  Rejoice the Lord is King

 

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Lord, we come to you today with so many things on our hearts. We have come to reaffirm our trust that you are above all and in all.  We praise you for the love you give us day in and day out.  We are grateful for your watchful care over us.  As we worship you this day, show us how to be open to your mercy and healing love, and then lead us forth to share that love with all whom we meet.  That we may fulfill your will we now confess before you our sinfulness… 

 

 
Prayer of Confession: 

Holy God, it is easy to boast of our faithfulness
when life is easy and your blessings cascade over us
like ever-flowing streams. Stop our mouths when we brag of our integrity and judge others for their wayward feet.
Show us how to live like Jesus lived.  Proving to you our love, bringing our hearts and minds into line with your ways.  May our faithfulness speak louder than our words, that others may see in our example
the joys of walking in your way. Amen.
 

Assurance of Pardon 

Hear these words from the book of Hebrews: 

“The one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’ ” 

Not only does he praise us, he forgives and saves us.  Thanks be to God. 

Passing the Peace
 

Hymn:  338 Let all things now living

 

 

Scripture:

Psalm 8 (responsive)  p 848
Hebrews 2: 5-13 p 1864
 

Sermon:  A Great Salvation 

When we gather on World Wide Communion Sunday we are reminded of many things. 

We are reminded that we are but one congregation of the whole people of God.  Our unity in Christ is shared with congregations in this town, this province, this country and the whole world.  Together we are the Church—the body of Christ. 

 

We worship differently, we sing different hymns, but our unity is found in our love for God and his church and our commitment to the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

None of that would be possible with out the greatest gift God has ever given us—A great salvation, given in Jesus for the forgiveness of all people on earth.   

The writer of Hebrews outlines this universal truth; that it is God the Son who reveals the fullness of God to us. 

 

This salvation is centred in Jesus, who fulfills the promise of the Messiah, and shared our humanity, suffering and dying on the cross bearing the punishment of our sins.  All of this, just to give us forgiveness and salvation.  

As great as that is, it also provides so much more for us.  God didn’t stop at forgiving our sins.   This Great Salvation has benefits that we could never have dreamed of.  

 

Through this gift Jesus not only provided for our forgiveness, he also made us equal with him, giving us all the rights of heaven itself.  He became a little lower than the angels so that we may become God’s exalted children and receive from God the holiness of Jesus.   

Equals.  Heirs.  And more than that, Co-Heirs with Jesus.  We don’t get a lesser share of the gifts of God—we get a FULL SHARE.   

Some days we believe that truth more easily than other days.  On those other days we are aware of our sinfulness and the ways in which we let God down.   We are aware that when we let God down, and choose sin we make living more difficult for ourselves and for others.  

The commentator Kanundzandu writes:  human beings are creatures of habit and pride and suffer greatly from the perennial sin of amnesia.   

Which really is just another way of saying that we forget God and all his benefits.   Sadly, we forget all that Jesus has done and forget the great salvation that is ours today and forever.  

The good news that we find in Hebrews is that God’s faithfulness and grace are always available to us.  Not just when we earn it, but at all times.  God’s compassion and love are with us when we walk with God AND when we stray from God.    

At every stage of our lives God is always calling us back into alignment with his heart.  

That forgetfulness that is a hallmark of human life means that we can be absorbed by our own cultural and traditional preferences and neglect to consider the claims that God has on our lives.  What we can find in the Book of Hebrews is a warning of what can happen and a summons to commit and recommit ourselves to faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

 

That emphasis on the Great Salvation that keeps coming up in Hebrews is a reminder of the cost of our salvation.  More importantly it is a reminder of the greatness of the love God has for us.  Jesus went through all of it:  human life, human death, and the weight of sin, because and only because of the love that God has for us.   

 

We are reminded that our trust in the Great Salvation is always shaped and informed by our trust in God.  When we believe that God saved us by the death and resurrection of Jesus, we understand the great cost for God, and for Jesus.  In that realization we are reminded of just how great a love God has for us.   

It is like that spiral of faith that grows continually upward and outward.  We trust God and we believe.  We believe and our trust in God grows stronger.  We trust God and our confidence in faith grows stronger.   

 

That is what the Great Salvation is about!  It brings us closer to God, it fills us with goodness.  We get drawn into the very heart of God and then our hearts are filled with God’s love.  The benefits and the growth of that great salvation never end.  We hold firmly to the faith we have, and we never take our eyes off of Jesus.   

When we believe the Great Salvation, we embark on a life filled with spiritual lessons. 

First we remember that Jesus is Lord.  He is our God and our King and we owe him our loyalty. 

Then we remember that Jesus calls us to be disciples and that he commissions us to be ambassadors of the Gospel.  It is our job to bring the story of the Great Salvation to all people—so that they can also be a part of the great mercy and love of that salvation. 

 

Then, as that faith continues to grow, we begin to understand that God confirms the Gospel with signs and wonders.  In Jesus God fulfills all the promises he made in the Old Testament Scriptures.  More than that God fulfills and continues to fulfill all the promises of Scripture in our lives.   

And finally we believe that the Holy Spirit gives us the gifts promised to all believers and calls forth in each one of us to grow in faith. 

This Great Salvation is full of promises, full of opportunities and forgiveness today and everyday of our lives.  We can never exhaust this Great Salvation.  More than that, this Great Salvation will continue to grow in us and the benefits will come day after day for all eternity.  

In Jesus God is with us, now and forevermore.  Amen 

 

 

Hymn:  372 Praise Him, Praise Him

   

Offering and Doxology 830

Offertory Prayer 

God of everything in Heaven and on earth, we gratefully receive the blessings of your hands.  We recognize that we are blessed to be a blessing, and when we view the evils that befall our sisters and brothers, we are compelled by your love to give.
Open our hearts to rejoice in the blessings we have received,
that we may share them for the ongoing work of this congregation and our commitment to be walk with those in need.
Amen. 

 

 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

O holy God, we thank you that we stand in a long line of believers who have been faithful through the ages. We are grateful that you have been leading your people through trial and difficulty and have always set before them hope for today and hope for a better tomorrow. We pray that you would bless us as we seek to be as faithful to you as you are to us. May we live in the fullness of the  faith which is filled with hope. 

We pray bringing you our JOY 

 

 

 

 

 

We pray bringing you our CONCERNS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We pray bring you the concerns of your WHOLE WORLD 

Ukraine/Russia 

Middle East/Israel/ PEACE  in Jerusalem 

Those recovering from Hurricane Helene 

 

 

 

 

Give to us a faith which has a vision of a new world where peace and love characterize the transactions of people and of nations and where war is no more. 

God, give us faith to walk with you through the ebb and flow and the victories and the defeats of life and to achieve victory and mastery of life.  

We ask all this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying  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 debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever.  Amen 

 

 

 

Invitation to Communion (in person worship only)

Come to the table, you who are scattered and torn.
Here we find hope.
Come to the table, you who are scared and lonely.
Here we find love.
Come to the table, you who are tired and tense.
Here we find rest for our souls,
and food for our journey.
Come to the table, you who are lost and are searching.
Here we discover guidance,
and light for our darkness.
Come to the table, you who are happy or sad.
Here our lives are embraced by God’s grace. 

Hymn:  530 I come with joy

 

Benediction  

Go in confidence and peace, joyfully serving the Lord who walks with you. Bring hope to the hopeless, joy to those who sorrow, peace to the afflicted. Be true witnesses to the love of God through Jesus Christ. AMEN. 

Blessing Song:  Go now in peace