Hybrid Worship May 10, 2026 SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Christ Church Gabriola

A Collaborative Anglican – United Church

Open to All

Hybrid Worship

May 10, 2026

Sixth Sunday of Easter
Mother’s Day/Christian Family Sunday

Presider: Rev. Sally Bullas

Music: Ian Cox

We acknowledge that these lands upon which we worship are the

traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw

First Nation. Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey,

you are welcome here!

Words for Worship

Words of response are in bold & italics 

Prelude

Acknowledgement of the Land

We prayerfully acknowledge with thanksgiving that we

gather on the unceded territories of the Snuneymuxw people. Gracious God, help us to seek a new relationship with the first peoples here, one based in honour and respect. Amen.

Centering & Stillness                                               (Attributed to Pope Francis)

The Lord is knocking at the door of our hearts. Have we put a sign on the door saying: 'Do not disturb'?

(invitation to sit in silence)

Introit: Gather Us In (x2)                                                               MV #7

Gather us in, ground us in you. 

Gather us in, gather us in,

ground us, ground us in you.

Call to Worship                                                          (Rex AE Hunt, adapted)

We have gathered in this sacred place once again.

May we continue to create here a circle of love,

ever expanding, ever growing.
     A place of wisdom.
     A place of connection.
     A place of hope.

Lighting of Candle (candle is lit)

Christ is our Light.

Thanks be to God!

Opening Hymn: Praise Our Maker                                            VU #316 

Prayer of Forgiveness                                                  (Robert Kleinhekse, adapted)
The Spirit of Creativity is all around us.

We are grateful for the possibility of being ever more aware, human and alive.

Our world touches us in so many ways.

May we consider all that is - the beautiful,
and that which we don't want to read of and think about.          2

May the joys and the concerns of this present day
move and jolt us to our greater selves
and our greater thoughts.  

       May it be so.

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.

Peace of Christ

May the peace of Christ be with you.

And also with you.

Let us share the peace of Christ with one another.

Prayer Before the Reading of Scripture  
By the gift of your Spirit, calm and quiet our souls that we may hear your Word today and be lifted up to walk with you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

 

Scripture: Acts 17:22-31 (NRSV)                               Reader: Paddy Waymark

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we, too, are his offspring.’ “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

This is the Word of God.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel Reading                                                                           Reader: Paddy Waymark

As is your custom, please stand or sit for the reading of the gospel.

God be with you.

And also with you

The Good News according to John

Glory to you, Christ Jesus.

John 14:15-21 (NRSV)

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my

Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

This is the Gospel of Christ.

Thanks be to God

Word: “In God We Have Our Being”

Hymn of Response: Deep in Our Hearts                                 MV #154

Life & Work of the Church

Prayers of the People                                                              Tim Leadem                                   

To follow

            Hear our Prayers.

Prayer of Jesus                                                                       (William L. Wallace)
Most compassionate Life-giver,
may we honour and praise you:
may we work with you to establish
your new order of justice, peace and love.

Give us what we need for growth,
and help us, through forgiving others,
to accept forgiveness.

Strengthen us in the time of testing,
that we may resist all evil.
For all the tenderness,
strength and love are yours, now and forever.
Amen.  

Offering (offering now to be collected)

Offering Prayer                                                                                                               (Francis Macnab)

We give thanks to God for our life and the courage we are given to live it.

Let our gratitude for life be expressed in our generosity.
Let our faith be expressed in good causes. 
Let our belief in the future find full expression 
in our daily attitude of mind.

Communion Hymn: As We Gather at Your Table                   VU #457 

Holy Communion

 

Invitation

For the power of love in human life and history, we give thanks and praise.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

God be with you all.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts;

We lift them up to God.

Let us give thanks to God!

It is right to give God our thanks and praise!

Sanctus:         (sung)                                                                              MV #203

O holy, holy, holy God, O God of time and space.

All earth and sea and sky above bear witness to your grace.

Hosanna in the highest heaven, creation sings your praise.

And blessed is the One who comes and bears your name always!

Long ago our ancestors knew love’s power, and they became the tellers of love’s tale.
            Love bound them in covenant, teaching them to live in             community with compassion and concern for the poorest             among them.

Yet centuries of domination and violence shaped a different kind of community based on selfishness and inequality. In the struggle against oppression, Jesus became the face of love,
            showing us the way to abundant life.
In word and deed, he announced love’s new reign of justice, reconciliation, and peace.
            Filled with the courage and passion of love’s spirit,
            he gave his life to challenge the unjust systems of this world.

On the night of his betrayal and arrest, as he shared a meal with his friends,

            Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it,

and gave it to his followers, saying:
“Share this bread among you; this is my body which will be broken for justice. Do this to remember me.” 

 

(bread is broken) 

When supper was over, he took the cup,

            gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
“Share this wine among you; this is my blood which will be shed for liberation.  Do this to remember me.” 

(wine is poured)

God of love, spirit of compassion, bless us and this bread and wine.  May this meal be food and drink for our journey—
            renewing, sustaining, and making us whole.

When we eat this bread and drink from this cup we experience again the presence of Jesus in our midst.

Memorial Acclamation (sung)                                                                MV #204

Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

The table is ready. All are welcome. Come, for the feast is spread.       

Communion is Served

The bread of life…
             for all who hunger.
The cup of compassion…
             for a broken world.

Prayer after Communion

God of love,

 we give you thanks for satisfying our hungry hearts with this meal. 

     Send us from here to reveal your love in the world. 
Inspire in us the resolve and the courage, the compassion and the passion, to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with you. 

     Amen

Closing Hymn: This Day God Gives Me (vs 1,2,3)                  VU #410

Blessing & Sending                                                            (Rex AE Hunt, adapted)

May God the heart of life be deep within us,
God the Christ be present in our history,
and God the Spirit empower us 
as we leave this place

strengthened by the power of God’s love.
       Amen! May it be so!                                                                      

Postlude

______________________

 

"Spirit of Life"

Spirit of life, in us and around us,
here is our chance, once again,
to live like we wish the world would live.

 

May we find within ourselves
the courage to be who we are.

May we know when it is time to listen
and when it is time to speak.

May we trust ourselves to be the ones to find
the words that need to be said
or to do what needs to be done.

May we trust one another
and know there are many ways to go through life.

May we know that
though we cannot change some of what life gives to us,
we can choose how we deal with what we are given.

 

We are coming into our power,
and together we can make possible justice and love.
We are all connected;
we depend upon one another more than we know.

We are one body.

So be it.
Blessed be.

 

By Barbara Hamilton-Holway