Trinity St. Andrew’s United Church
Order of Worship
Sunday, August 30th 2026
The Gospel According to Munsch: Love You Forever
Prelude
Welcome & Telling Our Story
GATHERING
Introit
Call to Worship
Come, beloved children of God. Some of us come feeling strong and some of us come feeling tired. Yet God says,”I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Before we knew how to walk, before we knew how to speak, through every growing-up, every letting-go, every beginning and ending, God has loved us. So come as you are; children of every age. For the God who has loved us all along call us close again. Let us worship God together.
Hymn Your Love is Amazing (Hallelujah) MV 26
- Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging,
your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet.
Your love is a myst’ry, how you gently lift me.
When I am surrounded your love carries me.
Refrain: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
your love makes me sing. (2x)
(last time only) … Hallelujah.
- Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising,
all the joy that’s growing deep inside of me.
Ev’ry time I see you
all your goodness shines through.
I can feel this God song rising up in me. Refrain
- Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging,
your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet.
Your love is a myst’ry, how you gently lift me.
When I am surrounded your love carries me. Refrain
Gathering Prayer & Assurance of Grace
Everlasting God, there are so many ways to love. There is the love that rocks a child in the middle of the night. The love that packs a lunch, waits by the door, and worries when someone is late coming home. The love that watches someone grow and wonders, How did the years go by so quickly?
There is the love that holds on. And the love that learns, sometimes with tears in its eyes, to let go. Today we gather before you as people who have loved and been loved, people who have sometimes gotten it right and sometimes gotten it terribly wrong. And still, beneath it all, around it all, and through it all, is your love.
You say to us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” So gather us in, O God. Quiet what is restless within us. Mend what is hurting. Awaken what has grown weary. And help us to remember that there is nowhere we can go, no season we can enter, no change we can face, where your love does not already go with us. We are yours. You are with us. And your love will not let us go. Amen.
Time for the Young & Young at Heart
Hymn The Care the Eagle Gives Her Young VU 269
- The care the eagle gives her young,
safe in her lofty nest,
is like the tender love of God
for us made manifest. - As when the time to venture comes,
she stirs them out to flight,
so we are pressed to boldly try
to strive for daring height.
- And if we flutter helplessly,
as fledgling eagles fall,
beneath us lift God’s mighty wings
to bear us, one and all.
WORD
Prayer for Illumination
God of everlasting love, as your Word is read and proclaimed, open our ears to hear what we need to hear today. Amen.
Scripture Jeremiah 31:1-5, 12-13 Margo Aubert
Sermon “Always and Again”
Special Music Mike Gorman
Hymn: Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ VU 573
- Eternal Spirit of the living Christ,
I know not how to ask or what to say;
I only know my need, as deep as life,
and only you can teach me how to pray.
- Come, pray in me the prayer I need this day,
help me to see your purpose and your will,
where I have failed, what I have done amiss;
held in forgiving love, let me be still.
- Come with the vision and the strength I need
to serve my God, and all humanity;
fulfillment of my life in love outpoured –
my life in you, O Christ, your love in me.
RESPONSE
Thanksgiving & Offering
Everything we have comes, in one way or another, from your generous hand. The breath in our lungs. The people who have loved us. The hands that have held ours. The strength that carried us through days we thought we could not get through.
For all of it, we give you thanks. And now, we offer back a portion of what we have received. Receive these gifts, O God— and receive our lives along with them. Bless these gifts and bless those who give them, that love may keep moving through this community and into the world.
Offertory Hymn Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow VU 541
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures high and low;
give thanks to God in love made known;
Creator, Word, and Spirit, One.
Prayers of the People & The Lord’s Prayer
Creator God, you have loved your people with a love that does not run out. And so today, we bring before you the people and places we love. We pray for those who are hurting.
We pray for those who are grieving. For those who miss a mother or father, a child or partner, a friend or someone whose voice they would give almost anything to hear one more time. And for those whose grief has come back unexpectedly— because sometimes love does that. A song plays. A familiar smell drifts by. A photograph is found in a drawer. And suddenly, there they are again. Be close to those who grieve, O God.
We pray for families. For parents doing their best. For children finding their way. For grandparents and grandchildren. For families that are close and families that are complicated. Bless those who are learning how to hold on, and those who are learning how to let go. We pray for those who feel alone. For those who long for someone to call. For those sitting quietly with worries they have told no one about. For those who wonder whether anyone notices. Remind them, through us if necessary, that they are not forgotten. We pray for our community and our world. Where there is violence, bring peace. Where there is hunger, bring enough. Where there is fear, bring courage. Where people have stopped believing that things can change, plant hope again. And, O God, we pray for ourselves.
Help us to love one another—not perfectly, because we cannot—but faithfully. Give us patience when people are difficult. Give us tenderness when someone is hurting. Give us courage to say, “I’m sorry.” And generosity to say, “I forgive you.” And when life changes, as it always does, when the children grow, when the years pass, when we find ourselves in seasons we never expected, help us trust that your love remains.
You have loved us with an everlasting love. Hold us in that love today and always. And now, with the confidence of beloved children, we pray together the words Jesus taught us: Our Father…
SENDING
Hymn: Precious Lord, Take My Hand VU 670
- Precious Lord, take my hand,
lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
through the storm, through the night,
lead me on to the light:
take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
- When my way grows drear,
precious Lord, linger near,
when my lift is almost gone,
hear my cry, hear my call,
hold my hand lest I fall:
take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
- When the darkness appears,
and the night draws near,
and the day is past and gone,
at the river I stand,
guide my feet, hold my hand:
take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
Sending Forth
Go now into the week ahead. Go knowing that you are loved because you belong to God. Go and share that love. Hold someone close. Make the phone call. Offer forgiveness. Say the words while you can. And when you cannot find the right words, let kindness speak for you. For the God who has loved you from the beginning will love you still. You are held in an everlasting love. Go in peace. Amen.
Sung Blessing: Choral Amen VU 974
Amen! Amen! Hallelujah, amen!
Amen! Amen! Hallelujah, amen!
Amen! Amen! Hallelujah, amen!
Postlude
