Sunday, January 8, 2023 - Worship Service
Order of Service
We continue our live broadcast this morning and welcome in-person worshipers into the Sanctuary (with socially distanced seating). Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this morning’s service, both online and in person.
Join us on our St. Andrew’s Guelph YouTube Channel, select the live service, and remember to invite your friends and families. You can also join us via Zoom by following the link in your Friday or Sunday morning email. If you’d like to begin receiving our weekly emails, you can sign up here.
Announcements
Words of Welcome
Prelude – "All glory be to God on high" arr. F. Zachau
Call to Worship
Hymn #170 "What star is this"
Opening Prayer & Assurance of Forgiveness
Responsive Psalm 72: 1 - 7, 10 - 14
Scripture Reading:
Sermon: “We Keep Seeking”
Hymn: # 173 "We three Kings" Kings of the Orient
A Time for Reflection
A Blessing for the Seekers (Prayer by Rev. Sarah Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org)
Blessed are you who turn your face up to the sky,
who open your arms to feel the wind,
who notice all the things that we should notice.
Blessed are you who are fluent in wonder
and familiar with awe.
Blessed are you who, even now, dream dreams,
who have not lost hope,
who swear the glass is still half-full.
Blessed are you who plant trees
and sing the harmony,
who tell the children how this world can be magic.
Blessed are you who
walk and seek
and turn over every stone,
pointing out all the corners and colors
that God lives in.
Blessed are you.
Amen.
Hymn "Always seeking" ( from Sanctified Art) Regent Square
Offering
You can still mail cheques to St. Andrew’s Guelph, 161 Norfolk Street, Guelph, ON N1H 4J8, Or you can donate to St. Andrew’s through CanadaHelps.
Click Here to Donate to St. Andrew’s via Canada Helps here.
You are also invited to sign up for Pre-Authorized Remittance (PAR). Instead of using offering envelopes or giving online, you can set up a regular donation through your financial institution. To learn more, click here.
Presbyterians Sharing is how we support our denomination as a whole. Your gifts the variety of missions and ministries that The Presbyterian Church in Canada supports throughout Canada. It also ensures that we are well resources by our National Office staff.
If you are able, the MOCC would encourage you to consider donating to Presbyterians Sharing. You can do so by clicking here. (Make sure that you indicate that you are from St. Andrew’s Guelph on the online form in order for it to count towards our commitment)
Or you can make a donation directly to Presbyterians Sharing through St. Andrew’s Guelph. Please mark your donation: Presbyterians Sharing.
We are making a difference TOGETHER.
If you’d like to make a donation to Presbyterian World Service and Development (PWS&D) you can do so by clicking here.
Offertory - "How brightly shines the Morning Star" arr. J. Leavitt
Prayers of the People
Hymn #179 "Arise, shine out, your light has come Vom Himmel Hoch
Blessing
Postlude – "Vom Himmel Hoch" arr. G. Young
Pick a star word for Epiphany… and then pick another one for each day of the season of Epiphany until Transfiguration Sunday (Feb. 19)… that’s 45 star words to encourage you each day.
The use of star words, also called “star gifts,” is a prayer practice connected to Epiphany and the new year that has been growing in popularity in Protestant churches for nearly a decade now. The idea is that a list of intention words, or guiding words, are written or printed on paper stars. You can simply pick one word and have that word be your guiding word for this coming year… or a collection of words. You can also print out all the words - cut them out, and lay them face down and pick one or more. Or pick a number between 1 - 160 and then count out what word becomes yours for this year. Get creative if you like and place these star words in a place where you will see them regularly. May they guide and shape your prayer life for 2023.
