October 25, 2026 

WE GATHER TOGETHER

Welcome

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

​Gathering Song  MV#2 Come All You People (see screen)

Call to Worship

Voice 1 from offstage:

God is Holy Mystery,

beyond complete knowledge

above perfect description.

Voice 2: God’s still, small voice of comfort

God’s still, small voice of comfort;    pause

All: God’s rushing whirlwind of challenge.

God’s rushing whirlwind of challenge;    pause

Voice 3) God’s still, small voice of comfort

calls us to worship

All God’s rushing whirlwind of challenge 

calls us to worship.

♪ one note piano, organ, voice or guitar brings a single held note

May the Spirit move!

Voice 4: Welcome, bienvenue, welcome.

For twenty years The United Church of Canada has been celebrating God and our identity with A Song of Faith. We read A Song of Faith in Board meetings, confirmation classes, baptisms, ecumenical gatherings, political rallies, global church deliberations. We read it in the quiet reflective time in a chair beside a window with the light of all creation streaming onto the page. We read it in times of anxiety as we prepare prayers in the shadow of the nighttime.

Voice 1: We listen to A Song of Faith for wisdom.

We listen to A Song of Faith as we consider the mystery of God. We listen to A Song of Faith as we consider our own identity as people who follow Jesus.

Lighting the Christ Candle

Voice 3) We sing of Jesus

  Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign —

     a commonwealth not of domination

     but of peace, justice, and reconciliation.

Light the Candle

All The Risen Christ lives today,

present to us and the source of our hope.

Opening Prayer

All:      Holy One, we bring to this prayer

  the fullness of our lives:

     moments of unexpected inspiration and courage lived out,

     experiences of beauty, truth, and goodness,

     blessings of seeds and harvest,

          friendship and family, intellect and heart,

     the reconciliation of persons through justice

          and communities living in righteousness,

     and the articulation of meaning.

Brief pause

Voice 1) Holy One, in the joy of worshipping you, may we

     create beauty

     share wonder

     become more holy

     present our worries

     restore the world

     bless this congregation

     honour You.

     Amen.

Learning Time

Hymn: MV82 Like a Rock

Prayer of Confession

All:          We sing of the Spirit

     who speaks our prayers of deepest longing

     and enfolds our concerns and confessions,

     transforming us and the world. 

pause

Voice 2)  We are all touched by brokenness:

     the rise of selfish individualism

        which erodes human solidarity;

     the concentration of wealth and power

        without regard for needs of all;

     the toxins of religious and ethnic bigotry

     the degradation of the blessedness of human bodies

        and human passions through sexual exploitation;

     the delusion of unchecked progress and limitless growth

     which threatens our home, the earth;

     the covert despair which lulls many into numb complicity

     with empires and systems of domination.

All            We sing lament and repentance.

Assurance of Grace

Voice 3) God forgives,

     and calls all of us to confess our fears and failings

     with honesty and humility.

God reconciles,

     and calls us to repent the part we have played

     in damaging our world, ourselves, and each other.

All God transforms,

     and calls us to protect the vulnerable,

     to pray for deliverance from evil,

     to work with God for the healing of the world,

     that all might have abundant life.

We sing of grace.

Hymn: Make a Joyful Noise VU828

Scripture        Psalm 137 VU859

Scripture        John 1: 1-5,14,16

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ^{14 14}The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 

Sermon - On the Purpose and Status of the Statement of Faith (Appendix A)

It may be worth asking, “Who is this statement of faith for?” Knowing who it is for may provide a clearer sense of what it is for. The short answer is that it’s written for The United Church of Canada—its members, congregations, and courts—as a means to help the church clarify and discuss its beliefs. Of course, it may very well be read with interest by individuals and bodies outside the United Church, and as such it serves more than one purpose.

            Our ecumenical partners will find areas of common ground. They will find an affirmation of the Holy Trinity, of scripture as a source of revelation, and of the significance of Jesus Christ in our communal life. They may also find places where the interpretation or emphasis placed on particular aspects of the Christian tradition differs from theirs. We hope they will see in this document an invitation to ongoing dialogue.

            Likewise, members of non-Christian faith communities may find an openness to conversation and cooperation. The statement of faith makes an explicit claim that the Spirit is active in all peoples, not merely in those who call themselves Christian, and that the church is challenged to recognize and celebrate the holy in all its expressions, both familiar and foreign.

            Those who come to this statement of faith from no faith community in particular will find some insight into the essential beliefs of the Christian tradition, and into The United Church of Canada’s particular way of interpreting and living out those beliefs. There may be times in the statement of faith when the concepts or terminology used seem unfamiliar to an individual with no background in religious matters; if the document had been composed specifically as a primer in the faith, it would have been written quite differently. Nonetheless, such a reader will hopefully discover an adequate summary of the assumptions and values that ground the church.

            Those who work for justice in our society and in the global context will find in this statement an expression of common goals and a desire for solidarity. The statement of faith names human diversity as a blessing and identifies as sinful those forces that threaten, oppress, and exploit. While it is an expression of faith and not a policy statement, it does name religious and ethnic bigotry, the concentration of wealth at the expense of the vulnerable, complicity with empires of domination, and the harming of the earth as areas of dire concern.

            Those in the church and outside of it who have experienced hurt at the hands of the institution, or who continue to struggle with the role the church has played in historical injustices, will find in the statement of faith an acknowledgement that the church often failed to live up to its vision and a desire to repent, to reorient itself, and to work for the healing and reconciliation of all.

            This statement of faith, clearly, will be different things to different people.

            But first and foremost it is a document for the church itself. It is intended as a means by which the church can express its beliefs to itself and to the world, and a tool to help the church’s members reflect on their individual and collective faith. It is more descriptive than prescriptive, which is to say it does not claim to tell the church what it should believe so much as it attempts to put forward in an orderly and evocative way what the church seems to believe, based on its actions, its discourse, and its relationship to the Christian tradition in general and its own history in particular.

            The expression of a denomination’s collective faith is not necessarily identical to the particular faith expressions of its individual members. The United Church has a long tradition of spiritual freedom, and this statement of faith should not be seen in any way as a condition of membership in The United Church of Canada. There is a wide theological spectrum in the United Church and a diversity of interpretations and understandings. This statement of faith seeks to be something of a metaphorical “tent,” encompassing the many divergent perspectives in the denomination. At times the “tent” can get stretched quite tightly. Members of the church are encouraged to find their own particular place in the theological tent, and are challenged to recognize the value of their tent-mates’ faith even when expressions and emphases differ. If this statement of faith facilitates greater understanding among members of the church, it will have achieved something quite remarkable.

            In addition to being a tool for reflection, it is hoped that this statement of faith will provide theological grounding and support to the church’s work in the world—its various congregational and social ministries, its political witness, and its global partnership work. The statement may also prove useful in study groups and confirmation classes, again as an entry into a discussion of the relationship between personal faith and communal faith. Parts of this statement of faith may also find their way into the church’s worship life, although the statement was not intended to serve the same sort of liturgical function as A New Creed.

            In the end, the practical purpose of this document will have to be determined not by the intentions of the committee charged with drafting it but by the use it ultimately finds in the life and work of the church.

The status of this statement of faith as a document of the church will be determined formally by the General Council and practically by its usage in the church. It is up to the church to say what this statement, as it stands, is. The drafters of the statement, however, offer some suggestions and clarifications as to what it is not.

            This statement is not intended to be in any way a replacement of the beloved New Creed, which is used in congregations across Canada. A New Creed (adopted in 1968) is a concise and usefully open-ended creedal statement for use, primarily, in liturgical settings. And people in the United Church love it. This current statement of faith is obviously longer and goes into more detail about the church’s understanding of itself and its faith convictions. It does not aspire to the same liturgical standing as A New Creed.

            This statement does not seek to replace the Twenty Articles of Faith included in the United Church’s 1925 Basis of Union. The Twenty Articles have historical significance for the church, being an expression of the theological agreement negotiated among the founding denominations, which allowed significantly different bodies (the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist denominations and the Local Union Churches) to come together as one united church.

            Nor does the statement seek to replace the United Church’s 1940 Statement of Faith. Each statement—the Twenty Articles of Faith (1925), the Statement of Faith (1940), A New Creed (1968), and this current document—has its own particular character, use, and place in the church’s life. Each speaks to its time and context in its own way.

            It will be up to the church to determine what place this document will have in relation to these other expressions of the church’s shared faith, and whether all of these statements can stand comfortably side by side.

Offering Invitation

Sometimes, the great vision God has given us will not come to pass in our lifetime. Yet it is still our generosity which moves the vision forward. As you make your offering today, think about the impact it will have for generations to come. Let us give.

Hymn: What Can I Do? MV191 MV

Prayer of Dedication

God of the past, the present, and the future, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. That reassurance inspires us to present these offerings. With our thanks and our hope for the future, we ask your blessing. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

Holy Mystery, Wholly Love,

      We bring our prayers of gratitude, concern, and praise.

Voice 1) We are grateful for the movement of your Spirit in the hearts and minds of your church over the generations and for the great expressions of faith: the creeds, the hymns, the actions, the love. For the curiosity and discernment which congregational members bring to living in community and to ethical questions we thank you. For church organization that encourages the questioning of faith, sharing of doubts, and wonder of discovery we thank you. For theologians, academics, and historians who explore creeds ancient and new, we thank you. For the mix of conversation and opinion and debate that comes from deep experiences of life, we thank you. For the Spirit-filled expression in word that comes close to expressing the truth of our souls and inspires us to further inquiry about the presence of Christ among us, we thank you.

Voice 2) We are concerned about movements in our world that would pit one expression of faith against another, one religion against another, one way of life against another. About our divides, we are concerned. About the ill-will that results from othering, we are concerned. About the violence that results from entrenched hostility, we are heartbroken. May our faith in you, Holy Trinity - Creator who blesses this world with diversity, Christ who walks along the margins as well as in the centre, Spirit who moves through generational and cultural shifts - may this faith reside in our intentions. May our concern for a broken and divided world bring the healing of which we are capable.

Voice 3) We finish by praising you, Holy Mystery, Wholly Love: Grateful for your loving action,  we cannot keep from singing.

Voice 4) Grateful for your loving action, we cannot keep from singing.

All) Grateful for your loving action,  we cannot keep from singing!

Hymn My Life Flows On VU 716

Benediction

Voice 1) Divine creation does not cease

       until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration

       with the common ground of all being.

Voice 2) As children of the Timeless One,

       our time-bound lives will find completion

        in the all-embracing Creator.

Voce 3)  In the meantime, we embrace the present,

       embodying hope, loving our enemies,

               caring for the earth,

  choosing life.

Voice 4) Grateful for God’s loving action,

       we cannot keep from singing.

All   Creating and seeking relationship,

       in awe and trust,

  we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.        

Voice 1) Amen!

Voice 2) Amen!

Voice 3) Amen!

Voice 4) Amen!

All   Amen!