14 th Sunday after Pentecost August 26, 2018 ST. JOHN S UNITED CHURCH WELCOME! A warm welcome is extended to all. Your presence enriches both us and this time of celebration together. DEEP IN OUR HEARTS 1. Deep in our hearts there is a common vision; Deep in our hearts there is a common song; Deep in our hearts there is a common story, Telling Creation that we are one. 2. Deep in our hearts there is a common purpose; Deep in our hearts there is a common goal; Deep in our hearts there is a sacred message, Justice and peace in harmony. 3. Deep in our hearts there is a common longing; Deep in our hearts there is a common theme; Deep in our hearts there is a common current, Flowing to freedom like a stream. 4. Deep in our hearts there is a common vision; Deep in our hearts there is a common song; Deep in our hearts there is a common story, Telling Creation that we are one. The bulletin is dedicated in Loving Memory of Ron Bryant, who passed away last summer, by N. Fred Bryant
NOTICES, UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS Aug. 26 Sun. 10:00 a.m. Worship Sept. 2 Sun. 10:00 a.m. Worship Sept. 3 Mon. Office closed Labour Day Sept. 6 Thur. 7:00 p.m. Choir (weekly-sanctuary/fellowship Room) Sept. 8 Sat. Facility rental Sept. 9 Sun. 11:00 a.m. Worship (note time change) Sept. 14 Fri. 1:30 p.m. Karing Kitchen Board (Owen Fraser Hall) Sept. 15 Sat. UCW Fall Retreat at Camp Ta-Wa-Si Sept. 17 Mon. Deadline for submissions in the Thanksgiving Newsletter. Email your news/updates/reports to the Church Office. Sept. 17 Mon. 7:00 p.m. Christian Development Committee (Owen Fraser Hall) Sept. 19 Wed. 12:30 p.m. Finance Committee (Owen Fraser Hall) Sept. 20 Thur. 12:00 p.m. Ministry & Personnel Committee (Owen Fraser Hall) OFFERING FROM August 19, 2018 Local $1,857.00 (32) Memorial $40.00 PAR Local $6,554.20 (57) M&S Memorial $10.00 Mission & Service $100.00 (6) Parking $150.00 PAR M&S $862.46 (14) Karing Kitchen $12.00 Plate Loose $75.00 Grocery Cards $225.00 VBS $712.97 Thank you for your generous and continued support! SOBEYS & SUPERSTORE GIFT CARDS are sold each Sunday at the sales table in the Owen Fraser Hall after Worship during fellowship and coffee time or at the Church Office on weekdays during office hours. We make 4% on every card sold. ~ Your support is needed & appreciated. Year-to-date sales: $13,350.00 Profit: $534.00 2
M&S UPDATE: Goal: $23,500.00 Givings to date: $14,437.68 (61%) This week, as part of our ecumenical prayers, WE PRAY for the congregation of the Notre-Dame-de-l Assumption Cathedral, their pastors, and their ministry. NO PARKING ON VICTORIA STREET - Please note the City of Moncton has recently removed the "For Church Purposes Only" parking sign on the south side of Victoria Street, due to the no parking restriction by-law being enforced. As a result, we will no longer be able to park or offer Handicap parking on this side of the church on Sunday mornings. Handicap parking will still be available on the Alma street side. DID YOU KNOW? The church offers a hearing loop system for anyone who would like to enhance their listening experience during the Sunday morning service. Please feel free to speak to one of the volunteers on the sound board on Sunday morning AUDIO RECORDING OF SUNDAY WORSHIP - We offer audio recording of our Sunday Church Service on-line. If you find yourself missing our Sunday Worship, just check it out on our Church website - www.stjohnsmoncton.ca. Recordings will be posted each week after the morning service. If those of you without a computer, a CD copy of the service can be obtained from the Church Office. DIME BLITZ - Don't spend a dime this summer - save them for the UCW summer fundraiser. Plastic pill bottles have been placed at the church entrances for your convenience. Deposit in the offering plate in the fall. Thank you for your continued support of UCW projects. HEALTH & SAFETY - We have a wheelchair here at St. John s and it is located on a permanent basis in the unused entrance way at the back of the Sanctuary (corner of Alma and Victoria Streets). We also have an AED - automated external defibrillator. It is wall mounted and located right outside the Church Office NEWS FROM THE PEWS - We invite you to share news of special events, memories, newspaper clippings of our church family for all to enjoy. You may leave your "clippings" in the box on the table below the bulletin board in the Owen Fraser Hall. Your participation is appreciated. Thank you. 3
UPDATED CHURCH HISTORY - Back in the year 2000, St. John's published Gerry Dayton's wonderful book "A Monument of Faith", a history of the St. John's congregation from 1838-2000. We are currently working on updating our church history to bring us to the present day as a way of celebrating our church's 180 th anniversary this November. If you have any news clippings from the Times and Transcript or photographs from the year 2000 to the present, we would gratefully receive them (and return them once they have been copied.) Please see Roberta Bunker, Valerie Roy or Aaron Billard if you are able to share any articles or photographs. Thank you in advance! We look forward to sharing our progress with you! The History Book Committee BULLETINS are available on our website and by email; check the bulletin online at: www.stjohnsmoncton.ca. If you would like to receive a copy of the bulletin by email prior to Sunday Worship (Fridays), please email your request to church office at sjuc@nb.aibn.com. SERMONS - Printed copies of the sermons are available by email and at our main entrances. Please contact the church office if you want to be added to the email list. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SCENT FREE ENVIRONMENT - We encourage all people to help us maintain a scent-free environment by not wearing perfumes, aftershaves, and other scented products when attending services & meetings at the church. Many people are extra sensitive to these scents and suffer allergic reactions as a result of being near them. Thank you for making this a healthy place for others to meet and worship. ST. JOHN S UNITED CHURCH CARES... To notify the Minister of personal concerns, anxieties, illnesses, hospitalizations or deaths, to pass along a prayer request, or to arrange homebound communion, contact Rev. Aaron Billard at 858-8289 or sjucrev@gmail.com Announcements from other United Churches, Chignecto Presbytery, Maritime Conference and the Community are located on the bulletin boards located at the Alma St. entrance and outside the Church Office. 4
WORSHIP (The congregation is invited to join in responses printed in bold) Children are asked to remain with their parents throughout the service. The Nursery is available for parental use. Sunday School and Nursery Care will resume in late September. PRELUDE WE GATHER IN THE SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS CALL TO WORSHIP In this house you will find bread for your life s journey. In Jesus we find life anew. Come. Stay awhile and eat this bread so you will never hunger. In Jesus we find life anew. Come. Be strengthened in God to withstand the present night and the spiritual forces of evil. In Jesus we find life anew. PRAYER OF INVOCATION O God, we have no life apart from you. We do not come here to eat bread that fills us for a day. Rather we come to be nourished by you and that the love you have for us fills us for a lifetime. May this food strengthen our discipleship. Grant that it will renew in us our commitment to proclaiming the gospel of peace through our ministries of peace and justice in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen. PRAYER OF CONFESSION We profess that you are God, O Holy One. We have no other gods, and yet, we do not always serve you with sincerity and faithfulness. Our other gods are not the ones of our ancestors the ones beyond the River, or in Egypt. 5
We struggle with other gods here and now who seek to fulfill us by consumerism and with self-importance. We hear gods who instill in us such fear of our enemies that we seek power from weapons of destruction. Help us, O God, to find fulfillment in you. Forgive us that we are skeptical of love s transforming power. We repent of our sins and turn our hearts again to you. Amen. (Moment of silence and reflection) ASSURANCE OF PARDON No other god cares for us as God does. No other god loves us as God does. No other god forgives us as God does. Thanks be to God. HYMN # 220 PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY (LOBE DEN HERREN) WE REFLECT UPON OUR COMMON STORY SCRIPTURE LESSONS Psalm 84 (VU pp. 800 801) How lovely is your dwelling place, O God. Ephesians 6:10 20 Put on the whole armour of God. John 6:56 69 To whom do we go? You have the words of eternal life. God's story is for all people. It is ours to receive and share. HYMN # 154 MV (front of bulletin) DEEP IN OUR HEARTS (FREED) SERMON WE RESPOND TO GOD S LOVE CALL TO OFFERING Have you ever thought why the Doxology follows the offering? Doxology comes from the Greek doxologia, meaning words of glory It follows an ascription of praise. Seen this way, this offering is an act of praise to God. It is through this offering that we honor God. Let us be generous in our praise to God. 6
OFFERING OFFERTORY # 115 MV BEHOLD, BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW (BEHOLD) Behold, behold, I make all things new, beginning with you and starting today. Behold, behold, I make all things new, my promise is true, for I am Christ the way. PRAYER OF DEDICATION Accept our offerings of praise in grateful thanksgiving for your presence in our lives and the many blessings you bestow upon us. Consecrate our offering, O God, that it may become bread to fill the emptiness and heal the brokenness of the lives in this community and beyond. And may we be reminded that our real life begins when we give with generous hearts to proclaim the gospel in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD S PRAYER HYMN # 337 BLESSED ASSURANCE (ASSURANCE) BENEDICTION Go forth from here filled with the bread of life. Share that bread with those you meet so they may taste the bread that will never let them know hunger. May God s blessing be upon you. May Jesus love attend to you. POSTLUDE Offerings of Praise: Service Prayers for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost was written by the Rev. Quentin Chin, member of Church on the Hill in Lenox, MA. You are invited to join us in the Owen Fraser Hall after Worship for a time of fellowship and refreshments. 7
MEMORIALS A donation has been made to St. John s United Church in Memory of: Kathleen Allaby (Wife of Cedric Allaby) by Grant Dayton and Evie Wadman Marg Kennedy (Wife of Jerry Kennedy) by Evie Wadman & Girls A donation has been made to the Mission & Service Fund in Memory of: Fay Schofield (Brother of Alberta MacLellan) by Roberta Bunker Today s Team Greeters & Ushers: South Door Alma St. North Door Victoria St. Greet: Alvin Edgett Greet: Sonja Buck Offering: Alvin Edgett Offering: Sonja Buck Scripture Reader: Tellers: Elevator: Pat Arsenault Sound Board: Don Sage Grocery Card Sales: Kimberley Buck de Jesus CHURCH MINISTRY PERSONNEL AND STAFF Rev. Aaron Billard, Minister email: sjucrev@gmail.com Branden Olsen, Music Director Karen Geldart, Office Administrator email: sjuc@nb.aibn.com Pat Arsenault, Custodian Rev. Dr. Douglas MacEachern Minister Emeritus email: dougjune@nb.sympatico.ca 75 Alma Street, Moncton, NB E1C 4Y3 T: 858-8289 E: sjuc@nb.aibn.com W: www.stjohnsmoncton.ca FB: St. John s United Church, United Church of Canada Office Hours: M-F, 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. 8