Third Avenue United Church

CHRIST CANDLE LIGHTING:
These short days of January, we yearn for light. We must wake up before dawn breaks, and night descends upon us early in the evening. Oh, how we crave light. Into this reality has come Jesus the Christ, the One we call the Light of the World.
It is with that assurance that we light the Christ candle.
Adapted and used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2025-2026; Laura J. Turnbull

All sing: VU 87 “I am the Light of the World” refrain only
Refrain: I am the light of the world!
You people come and follow me!'
If you follow and love you'll learn the mystery
of what you were meant to do and be.

1. CALL TO WORSHIP:
In the quiet darkness of night, God comes to us.
God calls to us, inviting us to a life of deep spirituality and bold discipleship.
And so, we respond to God's call by coming and worshipping this day, that we might be inspired, equipped, and sent forth to live the gospel out in the world, by loving and serving our neighbours.
Let us worship the God made known in Jesus Christ.
Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2025-2026; Taylor

2. OPENING PRAYER:
God of abundance and generosity, you call us to celebrate your love each and every day, so love will overcome divisions and build a bridge to unity. You call us to lift our hearts in prayer and praise and to raise our spirits in holy song. Lift our worship to greater heights this day. Make our prayers deep enough to plumb the depths of our souls and bring us to your throne of overflowing grace. Amen.
Adapted/Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2025-2026; Beth W.Johnston

4. HYMN: VU 357 “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus”
1. Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear,
things I would ask him to tell me if he were here:
scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea,
stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

2. First let me hear how the children stood round his knee,
and I shall fancy his blessing resting on me;
words full of kindness, deeds full of grace,
all in the lovelight of Jesus' face.

3. Tell me, in accents of wonder, how rolled the sea
tossing the boat in a tempest on Galilee!
And how the Master, ready and kind,
chided the billows and hushed the wind.

4. Into the city I'd follow the children's band,
waving a branch of the palm tree high in my hand;
one of his heralds, yes, I would sing
loudest hosannas! Jesus is king!

5. Show me that scene in the garden of bitter pain;
and of the cross where my Saviour for me was slain.
Sad ones or bright ones, so that they be
stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

5. PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION:
God of kindness, may your Spirit gently open our spirits with understanding and our hearts with compassion, as we receive your words to us today. Amen. .
Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2025-2026; Susan Girard

6. PRAYER OF CONFESSION:
Dear God, we come to you today, though many of us are tired and discouraged. Give us relief from our distress. Lord, we ask for your guidance and intervention, so that we may be reconciled and made new. We put our trust in you. You know our innermost thoughts and aspirations. We ask you to shine your face upon us and fill our hearts with joy. Let us put our troubles aside. We lay our burdens to rest, safely held in your care. Amen.
Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2025-2026; Aaron Palmer

7. WORDS OF ASSURANCE:
People of God Jesus is with us today, offering us God's kingdom and healing. God is our light and our salvation, everything we need to be fully alive. We have nothing to fear.
Thanks be to God!
From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2026.
Copyright @2025 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

8. PASSING OF THE PEACE:
Jesus calls us to follow him, sharing with one another the good news that God has drawn near to us. Let us begin by greeting one another with the peace of Jesus Christ.
From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

9. INVITATION TO OFFERING:
God has come to us as light, shelter, and unity, reminding us that the kingdom of heaven is very near to us. Let us respond immediately, offering ourselves and our gifts as signs of our joy.
From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

10. OFFERTORY VU 540 “Grant Us, God, the Grace”
Grant us, God, the grace of giving,
with a spirit large and free,
that ourselves and all our living
we may offer faithfully.

11. OFFERING PRAYER:
Generous God, you have blessed us with your call to follow Jesus. In return, we rejoice as we give our offerings and gifts. May they be used for the work of proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of heaven come near. Amen.
From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

Please give by contributing online using “E-transfers” or PAR (Pre-Authorized Remittance) or by placing your offering in the plate.

12. SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION:
Invitation
Come as people invited to follow Jesus. Come as people who have seen the bright star of Bethlehem not just in the sky. Come as people who gather at Christ's table, for all are welcome and none are excluded.

Call to Give Thanks
May God be with you.
And also with you.
Open your hearts.
We open our hearts to God.
Let us give thanks to God our Creator.
It is right to give God our thanks and our praise.

The Great Thanksgiving
Blessed are you, gracious God, Creator of light, Giver of all life, Source of love. At your word creation dawns. Under your rainbow the floods recede. With a burning bush you hallow the earth. By a pillar of fire, you guide your people. We praise you that you do not abandon us.
We remember that our story is carried within God's good Creation.
You place a child in Mary's womb and a star in the eastern sky. You send Jesus to be a light to all the nations. He brings sight to the blind and healing to the sick, hope to the despairing and justice to the oppressed. And yet we reject him, betray him, crucify him. But you, O God, bring forth light raising him from the grave, the first born of your new creation. Therefore, we join with all creation, and all the heavenly hosts who dwell in light inaccessible, to say:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God. Hosanna in the highest.
In our worrying about how to make ends meet, we couldn't understand your belief in us, O God. In our desire to continue to do things as we have always done, we couldn't receive your call to transformation. In our need to build ourselves up in order to tear others down, we couldn't pay attention to the Spirit's truth within us.
We forgot our story. We forgot that you, O God, are with us in your gifts of love.
Remembering now, we proclaim,
Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.
And we open our hearts to you in prayer-both for ourselves and for one another:
(a time of silent prayer)
Yet, fire and division still rend us asunder when we turn away from you.
In Love, in Jesus, you gave your own self-unconditionally- that we might once again remember our story and our identity.
In response to our fear and our divisions, Love Incarnate modelled a different Way.

A Communion Hymn: MV 12 “Come touch Our Hearts” Verses 4-5
4. Come touch us in the moments we are fragile,
and in our weakness your great strength reveal;
that we may rise to follow and to serve,
steady now our nerve,
come touch and bless our wills.

5. Come touch us now, this people who are gathered,
to break the bread and share the cup of peace;
that we may love you with our heart,
our soul, our mind, our strength,
our all, come touch us with your grace.

Prayer for Transformation
Help us, Loving Spirit, to remember our story-which is your story of love.
As we share these elements at Christ's table this morning,
may you bless us with your constant companionship, with your guiding light, with your embrace of grace, with your inspiration into transformation. Amen.
Let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught, which reminds us of who and whose we are: “Our Father…”

Breaking of the Bread and Pouring of the Cup
The bread which we break and the cup which we give thanks
is our sharing in the life of Jesus. Amen.

The Distribution

Prayer after Communion
With thanks, we dedicate our sharing at this table to you, O God,
who is Creator, Christ, and Spirit. Bless all that we give to you,
strengthening us to fashion bridges of understanding across divides.
May what we have shared here transform us, in Jesus' name. Amen.

13. HYMN: VU 483 “Now Let Us from This Table Rise”
1. Now let us from this table rise renewed
in body, mind and soul;
with Christ we die and live again,
his selfless love has made us whole.

2. With minds alert, upheld by grace,
to spread the word in speech and deed,
we follow in the steps of Christ,
at one with all in hope and need.

3. To fill each human house with love,
it is the sacrament of care;
the work that Christ began to do
we humbly pledge ourselves to share.

4. Then give us grace, Companion-God,
to choose again the pilgrim way
and help us to accept with joy
the challenge of tomorrow's day.

14. BLESSING:
Go and proclaim the simple message of hope:
that God is Love, always sustaining all creation.
Go and live out the complex reality of faith:
that Jesus calls us to live with compassion and generosity in a world that struggles to perceive Love's power.
Go and become disciples that live :
for the Spirit guides and prods and enlivens, but always accompanies us.
Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2025-2026;Gord Dunbar.

Next Sunday: Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
        February 1, 2026:
         Micah 6: 1 - 8;   Psalm 27: 1, 5 - 13;
         1 Corinthians 1: 18 - 31;  Matthew 5:1-12.

Note: Don't have a Bible? By Clicking on the button below, you can open a new window in an Online Bible. By entering the BOOK and CHAPTER, you will be able to look up the references in the sermon. Copy and paste will work as long as there is no other words between the book name and chapter number. Try it and Enjoy!