CHRIST CANDLE LIGHTING:
We light the Christ candle on this Sunday of Epiphany,
recognizing how far Christ's light shines:
outwards to help those around him,
inwards to heal those he seeks.
The healing light of Christ dwells also in each one of us.
Christ within us-we too are the light of Christ.  Amen.
     Adapted and used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2024-2025; Kate Gregory

All sing: VU 82 “A Light is Gleaming”
Refrain:  A light is gleaming, spreading its arms throughout the night, living in the light.
Come share its gladness, God's radiant love is burning bright, living in the light.

1.  When light comes pouring into the darkest place,
it hurts our eyes to see the glow.
Sometimes a word of hope reminds us of our fears,
our memories and tears.  Refrain

2.  When night is round us and every shadow grows,
a star is there to light our way.
It tells a story of Jesus who came near to say:
'God's light will ever stay.'  Refrain

3.  And Jesus showed us a brighter path to walk.
He showed us things we hadn't seen.
Now we, like Jesus, can help creation shine,
and this will be a sign:  Refrain

4.  So let us live in the brightness God has giv'n,
and let us rise to see the dawn.
We trust that God is here asparkle and ablaze,
- warming all our days.  Refrain

1. CALL TO WORSHIP:
Come, let us gather together in expectation
We come hoping to find Jesus in our midst.
The one who opens our hearts
and helps us discover God.
The one who calls us to faith
and reminds us of God's love.
The one who delights in surprising his people
a giver of good gifts,
turning water into wine,
giving hope when our hope has run out.
Come, let us gather together in expectation.
We come searching for Jesus in our midst.
     Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2024-2025;Faith Centennial U.C. Selkirk, Ont.

2. OPENING PRAYER:
In the flurry and fluster of these winter days, Holy One, we pause to gather ourselves around your word of life. Pay attention to us, O God. Do you notice our hearts longing for good news? Do you notice the emptiness and our desire to be filled and fed? Do you notice our exhaustion and the worry that we don't have enough and can't provide for the future without your help? Do you notice the way our faith reminds us to never stop expecting you to provide exactly what we need so that we may continue the feasting and dancing of your spirit in us? In these days of Epiphany surprises, enlighten us with your stories. Open our lives to the miracles around us. Bless us with the joy of your banquet; turn our water into wine. Turn our hearts to you until we rejoice in the good news of your life in us.  Amen.
     Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2024-2025; Wendy MacLean

3. LEARNING TIME:

4. HYMN: “Joyful, Joyful We Adore You”   VU 232
1.  Joyful, joyful we adore you,
God of glory, life and love;
hearts unfold like flowers before you,
opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,
drive the gloom of doubt away;
giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day.

2.  All your works with joy surround you,
earth and heaven reflect your rays,
stars and angels sing around you,
centre of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
flowery meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain,
sound their praise eternally.

3.  You are giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blest,
wellspring of the joy of living,
ocean depth of happy rest!
Source of grace and fount of blessing,
let your light upon us shine;
teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the joy divine.

4.  Mortals join the mighty chorus
which the morning stars began;
God's own love is reigning o'er us,
joining people hand in hand.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music leads us sunward
in the triumph song of life.

5. PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION:
Holy God, we have gathered in this place today, wanting to experience something greater than ourselves. We praise your greatness and mercy without hesitation or question. May we be granted the wisdom you offer as we receive the words of your scripture today.  Amen.
     Used with permission from Gathering: ACE 2024-2025; Marie Slivocka

6.  SCRIPTURE LESSON:
Isaiah 62: 1 - 5
Jerusalem Will Be Saved
62 Jerusalem, I will speak up for your good. I will never be silent till you are safe and secure, sparkling like a flame. 2 Your great victory will be seen by every nation and king; the LORD will even give you a new name. 3 You will be a glorious crown, a royal headband, for the LORD your God. 4 Your name will no longer be “Deserted and Childless,” but “Happily Married.”You will please the LORD; your country will be his bride. 5 Your people will take the land, just as a young man takes a bride.
The LORD will be pleased because of you, just as a husband is pleased with his bride.

Responsive Reading  Psalm 36: 5 - 10 page 762
Refrain: “Your steadfast love, O God extends to the heavens.”

Your steadfast love, O God, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains, O God, your judgements are like the great deep; all living things you save.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
Continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright in heart.

7.  REFLECTION:

8.  HYMN “Come, O fount of every blessing” VU 559
1.  Come, O Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing your grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing
call for songs of endless praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount; I'm fixed upon it,
mount of God's unfailing love.

2.  Here I pause in my sojourning,
giving thanks for having come,
come to trust, at every turning,
God will guide me safely home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God,
came to rescue me from danger,
precious presence, precious blood.

3.  O, to grace how great a debt
or daily I am drawn anew!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to you.
Prone to wander,
I can feel it,
wander from the love I've known:
here's my heart, O, take and seal it,
seal it for your very own.

9. SCRIPTURE LESSON:
1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 11
Spiritual Gifts
12 My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. 2 I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. 3 Now I want you to know that if you are led by God's Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus. 4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. 5 There are different ways to serve the same Lord, 6 and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do. 7 The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. 8 Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. 9 To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick 10 or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present.[a] Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. 11 But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

The Gospel of John 2:  1 - 11
Jesus at a Wedding in Cana
2 Three days later Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited and were there.
3 When the wine was all gone, Mary said to Jesus, “They don't have any more wine.” 4 Jesus replied, “Mother, my time hasn't yet come:[a] You must not tell me what to do.” 5 Mary then said to the servants, “Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.”
6 At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast.” The servants did as Jesus told them, 9 and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over 10 and said, “The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!” 11 This was Jesus' first miracle,[b] and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

10. REFLECTION:

11.  HYMN: “We Meet You, O Christ” VU 183
1.  We meet you, O Christ, in many a guise;
your image we see in simple and wise.
You live in a palace, exist in a shack.
We see you, the gardener, a tree on your back.

2.  In millions alive, away and abroad;
involved in our life you live down the road.
Imprisoned in systems you long to be free.
We see you, O Jesus, still bearing your tree.

3.  *We hear you, O Man, in agony cry.
For freedom you march, in riots you die.
Your face in the papers we read and we see.
The tree must be planted by human decree.

4.  You choose to be made at one with the earth;
the dark of the grave prepares for your birth.
Your death is your rising, creative your word:
the tree springs to life and our hope is restored.

12. PRAYER OF YEARNING:
Beloved One, thank you for loving us. Help us sense your steadfast love, even when we feel unsure or unworthy. Help us sense your presence, especially when we are feeling alone. Guide us home when we wander off. Claim us as your delight and your crown of beauty, that we might shine with your love and readily share your gifts with others.  Amen.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

13.  WORDS OF ASSURANCE:
You are no longer abandoned, deserted, or defeated. In God's steadfast love, and through the Spirit's powerful presence, you are claimed as God's delight. Your gifted to serve God's world with love.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

14.  SUNG RESPONSE: MV 161 “I have called you by your name” Verse 1 only
I have called you by your name, you are mine;
I have gifted you and ask you now to shine.
I will not abandon you; all my promises are true.
You are gifted, called, and chosen; you are mine.

15. AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: “A New Creed ” VU 918
We are not alone,
we live in God's world.
We believe in God: who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
     The United Church of Canada, General Council 1968, alt. 1998

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

18.  OFFERING PRAYER:
God of steadfast love and faithfulness, thank you for the gift of your love and the gifts of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the gifts we return to you, this day and every day. Helps us share as generously with others as your have shared with us, that your love might be known throughout all the world.  Amen.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

19. PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND LORD'S PRAYER

20.  HYMN:  VU 578 “As a Fire is Meant for Burning”
1.  As a fire is meant for burning with a bright and warming flame,
so the church is meant for mission, giving glory to God's name.
Not to preach our creeds or customs, but to build a bridge of care,
we join hands across the nations, finding neighbours everywhere.

2.  We are learners; we are teachers; we are pilgrims on the way.
We are seekers; we are givers; we are vessels made of clay.
By our gentle, loving actions, we would show that Christ is light.
In a humble, listening Spirit, we would live to God's delight.

3.  As a green bud in the springtime is a sign of life renewed,
so may we be signs of oneness mid earth's peoples, many-hued.
As a rainbow lights the heavens when a storm is past and gone,
may our lives reflect the radiance of God's new and glorious dawn.

21.  BLESSING:
As miracles of God, go to be God's miracle for the world.
We are blessed with God's gifts.
Let's share those gifts with the world.
Amen, and Amen.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

22. THREE FOLD AMEN.

Next Sunday:  Third Sunday after the Epiphany
        January 26, 2025:
         Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10;  Psalm 19;
         1 Corinthians 12:12-31a;  Luke 4:14-21.

1. SUNDAY, January 19, 2025  “Second Sunday after the Epiphany”  Rev. Jo-Ann Hills  “REFLECTIONS”  ALL ARE WELCOME!


2. SUNDAY, January 19, 2025  “SUNDAY BRUNCH”   11:30 AM - 1:00 PM   ALL ARE WELCOME!
   [SEE POSTER ON “HAPPENINGS” TAB FOR FULL DETAILS]


3. TUESDAY, January 21, 2025  HANDBELL PRACTICE  6:30 PM.  Choir Room  We always welcome new members.  If you enjoy music please join us.


4. TUESDAY, January 21, 2025  “YOUTH ACTIVITY CLUB (YAC)”  7:00 - 9:00 PM.  Logie hall GYM  All Youth 12 years and older are welcome


5. THURSDAY, January 22, 2025   “THIRD AVENUE UNITED CHURCH YOUTH GROUP”   7:00 - 8:00 PM.  Logie hall GYM  Ages 9 - 13 yrs  To Register Contact Kaileigh at: kaileighhargreaves@gmail.com


6. SUNDAY, January 26, 2025  “Third Sunday after the Epiphany”  Rev. Jo-Ann Hills  “REFLECTIONS”  ALL ARE WELCOME!


7. TUESDAY, January 28, 2025   BIBLE STUDY  10:00 AM  Board Room  ALL ARE WELCOME


8. SUNDAY, February 9, 2025  ““TEA FOR TWO””  Duet Concert w/ Casey Peden, Lisa Hornung & Gary Gansauge  “A Fund Raising Event for the Whole Family”  Refreshments and Dessert Auction  PLEASE JOIN US!
   [SEE POSTER ON “HAPPENINGS” TAB FOR FULL DETAILS]