Eldad – Hampton Pastoral Charge
of the United Church of Canada.
Rev. Doug Ferris
Music Director: Evan Funnell
February 22, 2026
Services are recorded, contact eldadunitedchurch@gmail.com,
if you wish to receive a link each Sunday to the service.
PRE-SERVICE: WE PREPARE FOR WORSHIP
PRE-SERVICE SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Psalm 32 (Selected Verses)
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity and, in whose spirit, there is no deceit. While I kept silent, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long…Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress…You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE LAND
We light this Christ candle today remembering that: ‘To fall in love with God is the greatest romance, to seek God the greatest adventure, to find God, the greatest human achievement. May we each seek the light of Christ while God’s light may be found and may we each call upon God while the light of the Spirit is near’ (St. Augustine, Isaiah 55). Thanks be to God, Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS & CELEBRATIONS
LIGHTING THE CHRIST CANDLE
Jesus said: “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth, for God seeks such as these to worship. God is Spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth.” Today, we light this candle as the light of Christ, calling all to worship. Thanks be to God, Amen.
WE GATHER FOR WORSHIP
GATHERING IN WORSHIP
One: Good Morning and welcome! This is the Day that the Lord has made!
ALL: Let us rejoice, and be glad in it.
One: The heavens are telling the glory of God
ALL: and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
One: Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge
ALL: there is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard, yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
One: Thanks be to God, for the voiceless word of God’s Spirit!
All: Amen.
GATHERING IN PRAYER
One: Loving and Generous God, as the sun rises and as a new day unfolds with all of its promise and hope we commit ourselves and our community to you:
ALL: We commit to respond in Christ’s love, in whose love we are made whole. We commit to embody Jesus in whose Spirit we live, move, and have our being.
One: We commit ourselves as a community of believers to Your divine mission:
ALL: We commit to offer our generous best, to witness blessing, and to seize opportunities for gratitude;
One: We commit to change and to be changed, to regard ourselves with grace;
ALL: We commit to advocate for justice, to exercise compassion and to love others without reserve every day, and for all our days. In Christ we pray, Amen.
GATHERING IN SONG: More Voices #1 “Let Us Build a House”
WORDS FOR THE YOUNG–AND EVERYONE: Carrying “The Weight” (Song by Robbie Robertson and The Band)
FAMILY IN PRAYER:
One: Joyful God, we feel your Spirit moving in our lives. We thank you for the promise of renewal, for the hope in a new vision, for peace in our community, for joy in worship, and for love in action throughout our community.
ALL: We pray for our families and loved ones. We give thanks for times of celebration, for times of friendship, and for times of blessing. In this Lenten Season, may we reflect more and more on the calling to be lie Jesus, in humility and in ministry. Help us remember, gentle God, that all experience unresolved pain, unspoken hurt, and unquiet memories. Through Christ, we ask forgiveness for the times when we fall short of offering the fullness of forgiveness and the restoration of relationship. May your Spirit of understanding prompt us in love, peace and patience to extend forgiveness and reconciliation with all our relations. In Christ we pray, Amen.
PASTORAL AFFIRMATION:
The Promised Messiah, the Baptized One has come. Through Christ, we are redeemed, forgiven, and restored in relationship with The Ground of All Being. Thanks be to God, Amen.
FAMILY IN SONG: Voices United #371 “Open My Eyes That I May See”
MINISTRY OF THE WORD
PRAYER OF ENLIGHTENMENT:
Psalm 32 [Link to Scriptures]
Galatians 5, selected verses
One: The Word of God for the people of God.
ALL: Thanks be to God for the Word.
MINISTRY OF THE WORD IN RESPONSIVE PRAYER:
Words of Assurance:
RESPONDING TO THE WORD IN THE UNITED CHURCH’S EXPRESSION OF FAITH, “A SONG OF FAITH”:
With Christians throughout time, we affirm our belief in the Old and New Testaments as primary standards of Christian faith and life. The United Church of Canada also affirms these timeless truths as expressed for our day in the poetic phrases of “A Song of Faith.”
ALL:
We place our hope in God. We sing of a life beyond life and a future good beyond imagining: a new heaven and a new earth, the end of sorrow, pain, and tears, Christ’s return and life with God, the making new of all things. We yearn for the coming of that future, even while participating in eternal life now. Divine creation does not cease until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration with the common ground of all being. As children of the Timeless One, our time-bound lives will find completion in the all-embracing Creator. In the meantime, we embrace the present, embodying hope, loving our enemies, caring for the earth, choosing life, we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Grateful for God’s loving action, we cannot keep from singing
of the One on whom our hearts rely, the fully shared Life at the heart of the universe. Amen.
THE CHURCH RESPONDS TO THE WORD
THANKSGIVING AND DEDICATION: Offertory
We bring our Gifts of Service and Support before God and for the Work of the Church.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER:
One: God of light, you revealed Christ in glory on the mountaintop.
ALL: Lead us from the brightness of that moment into the path of faithful service.
One: In the valleys of need, shine your light.
ALL: Where there is hurt, bring healing; where there is injustice, bring peace.
One: As we enter the season of Lent, guide our steps.
ALL: Give us courage to follow Jesus, even to the cross.
One: As we follow, may we also remember the work of the body of Christ beyond the church walls. For those who serve our community, for those who lift up the disadvantaged, and for those who care for others.
ALL: May the work of the Spirit be transfigured in our thoughts, words and actions for others.
One: In all our journeys, keep us close to you. As we consider the ministry of reconciliation in our own place and time, may we offer ourselves into ministry of reconciliation in our own circles of family and community, as we join together in the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
All: For you are our light and our salvation. Amen.
RENEWED, COMMISSIONED AND SENT FORTH INTO THE MINISTRY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
BENEDICTION & BLESSING
Hampton United Church 