Below is the service I ha



center0Below is the service I have created for this Sunday. I hope this is something you can use for personal/family worship. We are all worshiping together, no matter where we are. If you are joining us online this week then please have this resource with you so you have the words to the responses and hymns at your fingertips in case you can’t see the screen.Rev. Mary-JaneThe words provided for the hymns are done with permission under One License # A-727596.00Below is the service I have created for this Sunday. I hope this is something you can use for personal/family worship. We are all worshiping together, no matter where we are. If you are joining us online this week then please have this resource with you so you have the words to the responses and hymns at your fingertips in case you can’t see the screen.Rev. Mary-JaneThe words provided for the hymns are done with permission under One License # A-727596.NEWCASTLE UNITED CHURCHNovember 1, 2020 10:30 a.m.All Saints’ Day“As followers of Christ, we are called to be a worshipping and learning, receiving and giving community of faith, hope and love.” – Newcastle United Church Mission StatementSurely God is in this place. Help me notice.We Approach GodLighting The Christ Candle 505206013906500A Time of Centring – “Take, O Take Me As I Am” MV # 85 (Words and music Copyright 1995 WGRG, Iona Community, Scotland)Take, O take me as I am; summon out what I shall be; set your seal upon my heart and live in me. (sung through twice)Call to Worship (Responsive) Who are the saints?The people through whom God’s love shines.God has given us reason to shine.For we are called children of God, and that is what we are.The saints we celebrate are past, present, and future.They are the ones through whom God’s love has shone, is shining and will shine.Thanks be to God!Hymn of Praise “God Of Grace And God Of Glory”# 6861371601016000God 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.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.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.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.Prayer of Approach (Unison) Transforming God, we thank and praise you, for you take ordinary people, just like us, and name us saints, though we are far from perfect. We bring our lives, as faithful as we are able, and you allow us to shine your light and share the story. You are able to use whatever we have to offer. Be with us as in this worship as we give thanks for saints, past, present, and future. In the name of Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.We Hear God’s WordHymn “Bring Many Names” # 268 (v. 1,4,5,6)(Words and music copyright 1989 Hope Publishing Company)3810000635000Bring many names, beautiful and good, Celebrate, in parable and story, holiness in glory, living, loving God. Hail and hosanna! Bring many names!Old, aching God, grey with endless care, calmly piercing evil’s new disguises, glad of good surprises, wiser than despair:Hail and hosanna, old, aching God!Young, growing God, eager, on the move, saying no to falsehood and unkindness, crying out for justice, giving all you have:Hail and hosanna, young, growing God!Great, living God, never fully known, joyful darkness far beyond our seeing, closer yet than breathing, everlasting home:Hail and hosanna, great, living God!A Time To Be Childrenleft44386500You have all probably sung the song, “If You’re Happy And You Know It.” You know the one I mean, it goes: “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, and you really what to show it, if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.”I wonder what the words would be if a bunch of birds were singing it? “If you’re happy and you know it, flap your wings”? I am pretty sure if it were sung by a bunch of cats, well, they just wouldn’t because they don’t usually let on they are happy. But maybe, “If you’re happy and you know it, you should purr”? What about dogs? “If you’re happy and you know it, wag your tail”? I think that would be it because I have never seen a happy dog without a wagging tail.I heard a story about a little puppy who noticed that whenever he was happy, his tail wagged, so he thought he had found the secret to happiness. One day he shared the secret of happiness with an older dog. He said, “I have learned that the best thing for a dog is happiness, and that happiness is in my tail. So I am going to chase my tail; and when I catch it, I shall have happiness!” The older dog replied, “I too, believe that happiness is a marvelous thing for a dog, and that happiness is in my tail. But I have noticed that when I chase it, my tail keeps running away from me; but when I go about my business, if follows me wherever I go.”4175760342900In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes. He lists a bunch of ways that people are blessed. Sometimes the word ‘blessed’ gets translated as ‘happy’. They are not always the same thing. Happy might be like the dog chasing his tail to catch happiness. Blessed is more like the dog who has stopped chasing and realizes that his tail always comes along. Blessings follow us. They are not something we can chase after and catch. They come from God as we go about being who we are and doing what we do. We are blessed when we spend our days helping others, showing mercy, being peacemakers, and being faithful to God. We just have to be who we are and we are blessed. That may or may not always make us happy like the puppy chasing his tail. But it does always help us feel a happiness that comes from knowing that God is with us.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 that 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.Revelation 7:9-17 They will hunger and thirst no more. Psalm 34:1-10, 22 Taste and see that God is good. VU # 761Sung Response:Taste and see, taste and see the goodness of our God. 2133601968500I will bless God at all times,God’s praise will continually be in my mouth.My soul will glory in God, the humble will hear and be glad.O magnify God with me, let us exalt God’s name together.I sought God, who answered me, and freed me from all my fears.Look to the Most High, and let your light shine, and your faces will not be ashamed.This poor soul cried out and God heard, and saved me from all my troubles. RYour angel, O God, keeps guard over those who fear you and delivers them.Taste and see that our God is good.Happy are those who take refuge in God.Fear God, you who are the saints, for those who fear God lack nothing.Strong lions suffer want and go hungry, but those who seek God lack no good thing. RCome, my children, and listen to me, I will teach you the fear of God.Which of you delights in life, and desires many days to enjoy prosperity?Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking lies. Turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.God’s eyes are upon the righteous,God’s ears open to their cry.God’s face is set against evil-doers, to blot out their remembrance from the earth.The righteous cry out and God hears them, and rescues them from all their troubles. R43053004318000God is near to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God sets them free from every sorrow. God guards every bone in their body; not one of them will be broken.Evil brings death to the wicked; those who hate the righteous will be condemned.But you, God, redeem the life of your servants; none who take refuge in you are condemned. RMatthew 5:1-12 The Beatitudes.This is the Word of the Lord.Thanks be to God.Hymn “Let Us With A Gladsome Mind” # 234457206667500Let us with a gladsome mind praise our God, forever kind, whose great mercies still endure, ever faithful, ever sure.God with all commanding might, filled the new made world with light; for God’s mercies still endure, ever faithful, ever sure.God has with a gracious eye looked upon our misery; for God’s mercies still endure, ever faithful, ever sure.All things living God does feed, with full measure meets their need; for God’s mercies still endure, ever faithful, ever sure.Let us then with gladsome mind, praise our God, forever kind, whose great mercies still endure, ever faithful, ever sure.Message It was just another Sunday. Well, that is not completely true. This Sunday found John, the author of the book of Revelation, in prison. Why, because he was a worshipper of Christ. One of those members of a new religion who were called Christians. The Romans didn’t like Christians. So, John is in prison for being a Christian. And yet, he still gets up before dawn on Sunday to spend time in prayer and worship. This time before his jailers come to put him to work in this Roman prison. A prison more concentration camp than prison as we know it.But John, he knew that God hadn’t promised us a rose garden. And yet, as that old song goes: “Along with the sunshine, there’s got a be a little rain sometime.” So, maybe we do get a rose garden. God’s people are not promised a life without trouble. Life won’t have fewer troubles because you are closer to God. Sometimes, it actually seems like the closer you are to God, the more troubles your life holds. John might agree with that, given his situation. When we think about the most ‘godly’ people we know, their lives are not trouble free. In fact, many of them were persecuted, or suffered great hardships. But your closeness to God, gives you the strength to face those hardships.2499360248920John is proof of this. He was in prison because he had been sharing the Gospel of Good News that Jesus had brought. And while we do not know details, it seems he was in prison because of his faith. John may have been in prison, but he was still close to God. He continued to pray and praise, even though it was dangerous. One day, while spending time in prayer, John receives a vision of hope from God. What he sees is unlike anything he has ever seen before. It was so far beyond his experience that he has to use metaphors to explain this vision. John was suffering, but he was also given comfort beyond imagination. God hadn’t promised John a rose garden. Jesus hadn’t been given one either. And yet, sunshine and rain were part of both their lives. And they are part of our lives too. For John and Jesus, it may seem rain happened far more than sunshine, but there was both.Sometimes, people read this passage from Revelation and assume that because they are a Christian their lives will be perfect. That they are somehow protected from all the hardship that may befall them in this life. We have heard it most often and most clearly lately from Christians who believe their faith with keep them safe from COVID, so there is no need to practice safe behaviours. And yet, we know that good, faithful people have contracted the virus, even while trying to stay safe. Some people honestly believe that if they profess to be a Christian, they won’t suffer at all. But Christians get cancer and Alzheimer’s and AIDS and COVID and die in horrible accidents, and, and, and… Awful things happen to Christians.God didn’t promise a rose garden. God did promise to always be with us. God promises to raise us up when the world is beating us down. God promises that we will get through whatever comes.I am not saying that if someone is a follower of Christ, they will suffer great tribulations. Some do, some do not. Sometimes we do suffer for our faith, sometimes we don’t. Times of healing and comfort do not only come after death, as seen in John’s vision. Maybe things are best summed up with this saying: “Life is hard, but God is good.” How true!1143006096000Back to John’s vision. He is shown this huge heavenly gathering. I imagine he saw some faces he knew in that crowd. Friends and acquaintances who had tried to live faithfully in their new-found faith. There would have been faces of brothers and sisters in the faith who had given their lives in God’s service. Some may have been fed to the lions, killed by gladiators, or died in the work prisons. And John’s vision gave him hope. Hope in the here and now. Hope to continue in his earthly life despite his dire circumstances. Hope that pain, suffering and hardship will end. Hope that God continued to walk with him and would give him strength and peace in all that came.Today is just another Sunday. But it isn’t. We are not gathered as we used to do. We cannot gather and do as we used to. But, like John, who prayed and worshipped where he was, we find a way. We gather around our screens to share together. We read the services written to bring us closer to God and one another.The world doesn’t always make being faithful easy. Even before now, gathering for worship was becoming increasingly more difficult for many. The world was making so many demands. There are so many other things we could all be doing Sunday morning. There are children’s games to go watch (which means they have to be there to play in them instead of being at church), there is work you could be getting done, especially now that you work from home, there is always online shopping to be done, or maybe stores to enter just so you can be around other people, and there is always that enticing warm bed you could stay in just a little longer. There is always something that can tempt us away from prayer and praise. Yet, we faithfully set aside time and place value on worshipping God, whether Sunday morning or another time.And like John, we find ourselves given hope. Lifted beyond our daily existence as we draw closer to God. When we put our trust in God, we receive a promise not for the ‘sweet by and by’ but for here, for now. God promises to wipe every tear from our eye. When we trust we know that sunshine will follow the rain.Maybe God didn’t promise us a rose garden. But maybe we get one. Gardens thrive with both sunshine and rain. God promises to be our gardener. If we trust in the gardener, the roses will bloom. What a vision of hope! We will bloom where we are planted when we place our trust in the gardener who created all. And our flowers will inspire others to trust in the Gardener too. Amen.We Respond To God’s WordOffering InvitationEvery day is a new beginning. Every day is another gift from God. God gives us life in abundance. In gratitude we share what we have for the work of God in our church and our community…The Offertory We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;in grateful devotion our tribute we bring.We lay it before you; we kneel and adore you;we bless your holy name, glad praises we sing. (#218 v. 1)Dedication Prayer (Unison)Creator God, in love you have given us these gifts to share. Please accept these offerings of who we are and what we have. May your blessing multiply the work they do. Amen.Prayers of the People Living God, in whom there is no shadow or change, we thank you for the gift of life eternal, and for all those who having served you well, now rest from their?labours. We thank you for all the saints remembered and forgotten, for those dear souls most precious to us.??We bless you for their life and love, and rejoice for them “all is well, and all manner of things will be well.”367284011176000God of Jesus and our God,?mindful?of all those choice souls who have gone on ahead of us, teach?us, and each twenty-first century disciple of every race and place, to?follow their example to the best of our ability:?to?feed the poor in body or spirit,?to?support and comfort the mourners,?to?encourage the meek and stand with them in crises, to?affirm those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,?to?cherish and learn from the merciful,?to?be humbled by, and stand with, the peacemakers.Let us clearly recognise what it means to?be called the children of God, and?to know we are to be your saints, not by our own strength, but?simply by your call.The compassion of the Spirit of God within our hearts compels us to reach out in prayer to other people.From around the world we hear many children crying, O God; crying for food and drink and someone to enfold them in loving arms.We see the desolate eyes of refugees, O God; plodding along war devastated roads, or looking from transit camps, and from behind barbed wire, for glimmers of hope.We read about the abused sisters and brothers, O God; cringing from family violence or assaulted in their own homes by strangers.We hear the sobbing of the broken hearted, O God; betrayed by spouse or lover, deserted by parents, watching at the bed of the dying, or gathered in the cemetery.We know about the disasters that afflict others, O God; the bodies mangled in road accidents; those devastated by disease or war, and the minds that have cracked under pressure.We read about your church, O God; in some places overcrowding its buildings, in others battling to maintain services, struggling these days for find connection and togetherness, or in some countries meeting secretly.We look on the faces of both friends and enemies, O God.??Some of our friends are doing it hard, while enemies seem to be getting it easy; yet all are souls for whom the Christ came to extend love.Hear their prayers, dear Lord, and hear our prayers for all who lie upon our hearts…Holy Friend, while we have been praying, you have been busy answering our petitions with an unknowable wisdom and an unending love. Thank you. Through Christ Jesus our Saviour, we pray. Amen. (Inspired by and adapted from Bruce Prewer. Used with permission.)Closing Hymn “For All The Saints” # 705 (v. 1-3, 6)11430013081000 For all the saints, who from their labours rest, all who by faith before the world confessed, your name, O Jesus, be forever blest.Hallelujah, hallelujah!You were their rock, their fortress, and their might: you were their captain in the well-fought fight; you, in the darkness drear, their one true light.Hallelujah, hallelujah!O bless communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one within your great design.Hallelujah, hallelujah!From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:Hallelujah, hallelujah!Commissioning and Benediction As we go, we are surrounded by a great multitude.Saints of the faith: past, present and future.Together with them, we go to proclaim:We are all God’s children!And may the grace of Christ attend you, the love of God surround you, and the Holy Spirit keep each one of you, now and always. Amen. Sung Blessing “Go Now In Peace” (Copyright 1988 by Harold Flammer Music, a Division of Shawnee Press, Inc.)7620030480004747260444500Go now in peace. Never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of every day. Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.Know God will guide you in all you do.Go now in love, and show you believe.Reach out to others so all the world can see.God will be there watching from above.Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.Amen, amen, amen.And online we end together (wait for folks to get their mics unmuted) And the people say:Hallelujah and Amen!Please note: Although working mostly from home, Rev. Mary-Jane is always available on her cellphone (905-244-8453), through the church email (newcastleunitedchurch@bellnet.ca) or confidentially on her personal email (revmj@hotmail.ca). Please feel free to be in touch.Pen Pals – If you are interested in being part of our new connecting initiative please send an email to the church office letting us know.left-254000 685800FundScrip is back! Get ready for Christmas shopping! Order forms can be downloaded from the church website. They can also be dropped off to you if you do not have internet access. Payment by E-transfer, cash or cheque. First order can be dropped off to the church on Friday November 6th from 11am to noon or Saturday November 7th from 2pm to 3pm at the Emily Street entrance. Pick up will be Friday November 13th from 11 am to noon and Saturday November 14th from 2pm to 3pm. When you come, please wear a mask and follow the signs and directions to maintain physical distancing.Second order can be dropped off to the church on Friday November 27th from 11am to noon or Saturday November 28th from 2pm to 3pm at the Emily Street entrance. Pick up will be Friday December 4th from 11 am to noon and Saturday December 5th from 2pm to 3pm.Cheques should be made payable to Newcastle United Church. E-Transfer to nucetransfer@, security answer/password is SHOPPING. If you have any questions, please call Julie A. Kellman at 905 446 0168 or email julieak40@. Please click on file below for the order form and for the Holiday Specials:When you come to drop off your order or pick it up, please wear a mask and follow the signs and directions to maintain physical distancing. Thank you.446532000 Poinsettia Flower Sale. Please watch your email this Sunday or Monday for information about our Poinsettia sale. We will be selling a variety of Poinsettia for you to decorate your home or gift to others this holiday season. Flowers will be available for pick up on Friday Dec. 4 or Sat. Dec. 5. -99060191135Outdoor Christmas PlantersHeather Griffin will be creating outdoor Christmas planters and they are available for $30 OR 2 for $50. Please contact Heather at 905-440-0038,? or email Heather at hgriff551@ALL FUNDS RAISED WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THE EXPENSES OF OUR CHURCHTHANK-YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORTOur church YouTube channel. Is where you can find recordings of weekly worship services, Music to Wash Dishes By and episodes of our show “Investigation: Exodus” where we hear about the story and interview a character from the Exodus story. Here is the link - 5920740762000Bible Study – Our weekly, Wednesday morning online Bible Study starts at 10 am. Please contact Rev. Mary-Jane if you would like to join us.From the Stewards:As we continue with a large overdraft, we would ask that during this time, and if you are able, please continue giving your church donations regularly. You can contact Lorna McSwan, our treasurer, at 0351155le.mcswan@ or 905-987-3940. You can arrange to register for Pre-Authorized Remittance (PAR) which can be cancelled at any time. You can mail your donations to the church at: 84 Mill St. South, Newcastle, ON L1B 1H2. You can donate via CanadaHelps: through this link or the link on our website: “Donate” page, e-transfer: nucetransfer@. Post-dated cheques are yet another option.Thank you for considering these options. While we may not be gathering together, our expenses need to be met.Thank you to all who continue to send in their church givings – we very much appreciate it. “After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language.” – Revelation 7: 9aNewcastle United Church ................
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