Trinity St. Andrew’s United Church
Order of Worship
Sunday, July 5th 2026
Gospel According to Disney
Prelude
Welcome & Telling Our Story
GATHERING
Introit
Call to Worship
Some have come carrying hopes. Some have come carrying worries. Some arrive with dreams still waiting to unfold. Others come wondering if their prayers have been heard. Today we gather before the One who hung every star in the heavens, yet knows each of us by name. God welcomes our longings, hears our prayers and fills us with hope that reaches beyond our own imagination. Together let us worship the God who is always faithful.
Hymn Sing a Happy Hallelujah VU 224
- Sing a happy hallelujah,
sing it out with heart and style,
we’re the echo of God’s laughter,
we’re the image of God’s smile.
Hallelujah, all creation,
hallelujah, everyone!
Hallelujah, all creation,
hallelujah, everyone!
- We’re the proof of God’s good humour,
we’re the twinkle in God’s eye,
made to shine, reflect the glory,
given light and space to fly. Refrain
- Sarah laughed at God’s good timing,
Mary sang and David danced,
Jesus smiled and hugged the children,
so is life for us enhanced. Refrain
- Every day sign hallelujah!
We are loved, though so absurd,
human, foolish, chosen people,
God still takes us at our word! Refrain
Gathering Prayer & Assurance of Grace
Holy and loving God, we come before you with hearts full of hopes, questions, dreams, and disappointments. So often we place our trust in chance, in luck, or in our own ability to make everything work. Forgive us for the times we forget that our lives rest in your loving hands. Quiet our anxious hearts. Open our minds to your wisdom. Help us to seek not simply what we want, but what leads to life, justice, peace, and joy. Fill this place with your Holy Spirit, that our worship may draw us closer to you and closer to one another. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.
Friends may you hear this good news: God is not distant from those who call upon them. Before our prayers are fully spoken, God is already listening. Before we find the answers, God is already walking beside us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Time for the Young & Young at Heart
Hymn God of Grace and God of Glory VU 686
- God of grace and God of glory,
on your people pour your power;
now fulfil our church’s story;
bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage;
for the facing of this hour.
- Lo, the hosts of evil round us
scorn our Christ, assail your ways;
fears and doubts too long have bound us;
free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days.
- Cure your children’s warring madness,
bend our pride to your control;
shame our wanton selfish gladness,
rich in goods and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.
- Set our feet on lofty places,
gird our lives that they may be
armoured with all Christlike graces,
pledged to set all captives free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
that we fail not them nor thee.
WORD
Prayer for Illumination
O God, your Word is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path. Give us the grace to receive your truth in faith and love. Amen.
Scripture Psalm 20: 1-5 Jane Lambert
Response This is the witness of the Church.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon When You Wish Upon a Star – Pinocchio
Anthem
RESPONSE
Thanksgiving & Offering
Everything we have is from God. Today we return a portion of what has first been entrusted to us. Our offerings become more than dollars and coins. They become meals shared, children nurtured, hope proclaimed, and love made visible. May we give not out of obligation, but with grateful hearts, trusting that God continues to work through ordinary people and generous gifts. Let us receive this morning’s offering as we sing our offertory hymn.
Offertory Song For the Gift of Creation VU 538
For the gift of creation, the gift of your love,
and the gift of the Spirit by which we live,
we thank you and give you the fruit of our hands.
May your grace be proclaimed by the gifts that we give.
Offertory Prayer
Generous God, we offer these gifts, along with our time and talents. Bless all that has been given today. May all we have and all we are be dedicated to your work in the world. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Hymn Live into Hope VU 699
- Live into hope of captives freed,
of sight regained, the end of greed.
The oppressed shall be the first to see
the year of God’s own jubilee!
- Live into hope the blind shall see
with insight and with clarity,
removing shades of pride and fear,
a vision of our God brought near.
- Live into hope of liberty,
the right to speak, the right to be,
the right to have one’s daily bread,
to hear God’s word and thus be fed.
- Live into hope of captives freed
from chains of fear or want or greed.
God now proclaims our full release
to faith and hope and joy and peace.Prayers of the People & The Lord’s Prayer
God of every hope, We thank you for hearing the prayers that are spoken aloud and those that remain quietly within our hearts. Today we pray for those who are waiting. For those waiting for healing; grant strength. For those waiting for employment; open new doors. Soften the hearts of those waiting for reconciliation. Grant patience and peace for those waiting for answers. We pray also for those who have begun to lose hope and we ask that you surround them with people who will remind them they are loved and never alone. We remember those facing illness, grief, loneliness or financial hardship. May they know your comfort and your presence. We pray for our community of Renfrew and the surrounding valley. Bless our neighbours, our health-care workers, our first responders, our farmers, our local businesses, and all who work to strengthen this community. And where our own dreams differ from your greater vision, give us the wisdom to trust that your love is leading us toward what is truly good. Together we offer all these prayers, spoken and unspoken, in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying together Our Father…
SENDING
Hymn Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples VU 507
- Today we all are called to be
disciples of the Lord,
to help to set the captive free,
make ploughshare out of sword,
to feed the hungry, quench their thirst,
make love and peace our fast,
to serve the poor and homeless first,
our ease and comfort last.
- God made the world at its birth
ordained our human race
to live as stewards of the earth,
responding to God’s grace.
But we are vain and sadly proud,
we sow not peace but strife,
our discord spreads a deadly cloud
that threatens all of life.
- Pray justice may come rolling down
as in a mighty stream,
with righteousness in field and town
to cleanse us and redeem.
For God is longing to restore
an earth where conflicts cease,
a world that was created for
a harmony of peace.
- May we in service to our God
act out the living Word,
and walk the road the saints have trod
till all have seen and heard.
As stewards of the earth may we
give thanks in one accord
to God who calls us all to be
disciples of the Lord.
Sending Forth
Go now, not trusting in wishes or luck, but in the God who created the stars and faithfully walks beside you. Go with hope. Go with courage. Go and be a blessing to others. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you today and always. Amen.
Sung Blessing Make Me a Channel of Your Peace VU 684, sung twice
Make me a channel of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me bring your love;
where there is injury, your healing power,
and where there’s doubt, true faith in you,
Postlude
When Hope Has an Address
Gospel According to Disney
When You Wish Upon a Star- Pinocchio & Psalm 20:1-5
First and foremost I need to apologize to Debbie and Carolyn as I was humming the tune to this one most of the week going to and from my office to the main office and really anywhere else. Most of us know the words: “When you wish upon a star…” It’s a beautiful song because it captures something deeply human. Every one of us wishes. We wish for healing. We wish our children would be okay. We wish cancer would disappear. We wish our anxiety would quiet down. We wish someone would call.
On the other side of that coin, or star I should say, there’s this nostalgia that hits me when hearing that tune. It’s what plays as every Disney Cruise ship disembarks from the park and sets sail during their “Sail Away Party”. If you’ve seen Disney movies then you know in almost every opening credits as the castle animation appears there’s that melody once again. It’s this sense of bringing you back to a time where that magical, giddy and hopeful feeling got you ready and really psyched up for the upcoming movie and experience. And as you age you come right up to the tension that comes with unfulfilled wishes. That tension that comes with what we hope so deeply for might not come true. And in the midst of all that hope and promise, we are confronted with those white knuckled prayers. Where there’s hope but it’s barely hanging on. And I use the term “white knuckle prayer” to refer to that experience I think we’ve all had. Those moments when you’re praying to intently that your knuckles change from their regular tone to that ghostly white. Where your nails have dug a bit into your palm so they left little indents. Those prayers when you’ve prayed so hard yet silently that you need to take several deep breaths to catch your breath? I’ve been there and I suspect that you have as well. Yet, despite the outcome I still pray. And I believe that you all do as well. But perhaps the intensity or frequency that we pray has decreased a bit. Perhaps that coincides when we stopped making wishes when we blew out our birthday candles … (kidding). And what I’m not trying to do here is speak against making wishes or put wishing vs praying on opposite ends of the spectrum. But, as I’ve spoken about throughout this Disney series, it’s getting at the intention of what we do and how we do it as people of faith or those curious about Jesus’ way of being in the world…
As children, wishing feels magical. As adults … we realize life is much harder. Eventually we learn stars don’t answer. And perhaps there feels like magic in prayer we put it into storage, believing that wishes and prayers are the same thing, believing that we are the only ones capable of bringing dreams, wishes or desires to fruition … yet … we keep reaching beyond ourselves. Because we were made to. Not because we are hopeless optimists or detached from reality. But because we are species rooted in that loving hope that allows us to accomplish more than we ever could by grumbling away in resignation. And in some ways our prayers become a routine done out of obligation rather than a counter-cultural and hope filled expression of our hearts.
Here’s the thing, friends. Whether someone believes in God or not … everyone prays. Maybe they don’t call it prayer. They hope. They plead. They bargain. They whisper: “Please let everything be okay.” While in hospital waiting rooms, during sleepless nights. Before difficult conversations. On airplanes during turbulence. Prayer seems to be written into the human heart. But many of us quietly wonder … Does anyone hear? And if God hears … why aren’t all prayers answered the way we ask? That’s where Psalm 20 meets us. Psalm 20 is fascinating. It isn’t a private prayer. It’s communal. If you read through Psalm 20 in its entirety you’d notice how often it says “may the Lord answer you …” The people are praying for their king. They’re carrying one another before God. And in some ways and for some people we don’t like to share what it is that we pray for and even tell others what we’d like them to pray for on our behalf. It’s almost like that phrase we all heard that you can’t say what you wishes for after you blew out the birthday candles because it won’t come true. But, I think it’s more vulnerable than that. We almost don’t want to risk saying it out loud because we have this sense that there’s less disappointment or at least less people that know that it wasn’t fulfilled. But in expressing our prayers, our wishes and our longings we invite others in and create intimacy with one another and our Creator.
Prayer isn’t just individual. It also creates community. Author Richard Foster wrote that prayer makes our love flow freely, both vertically and horizontally. As we pray, we are drawn into the love of God which irresistibly leads us to our neighbours and to our innermost selves. It reminds us: I don’t carry life alone. Others pray with me. I pray for them. Together we stand before God.
But in that assurance, the Psalm also never promises that you’ll always get what you ask. But promises something deeper. Something more relatable, something arguably more real. It promises that God hears. God remembers and that God strengthens. God is with God’s people- and we are ALL God’s people. That’s a different promise altogether. Prayer is not a heavenly vending machine. It’s communion. It’s relationship. Think about your closest friendships. The healthiest relationships aren’t built on getting everything you ask for. Imagine saying to your spouse or best friend: “If you loved me, you’d always say yes.” That’s not love. Love is presence. Conversation. Growing together. Prayer works the same way. Prayer slowly shapes us even as we speak honestly to God. And we need that honesty- especially when some prayers seem to go unanswered, or at the very least unanswered in the way we want them to be. We all know them. Parents praying for children. People praying for healing. Loved ones praying beside hospital beds. People praying for reconciliation that never comes.
If you’ve lived long enough or experienced a lot of life in a short period of time- you’ve carried unanswered prayers. And trying to solve that mystery is a whole lot more complicated than Scooby Doo and the gang solving mysteries all across America. Instead of asking “why wasn’t a prayer answered?” we can try to say something like “I don’t know why some prayers unfold the way they do and others don’t. I don’t know why miracles happen sometimes and not others. But I do know this. Jesus never promised we’d understand everything. He DID promise that we would never face life alone. That distinction matters. And for me, that promise is a deeply more empathetic and present response. Something that can at that moment or a time in the future offer strength and comfort.
One of the most beautiful thing about prayer is who gets to pray. Not just pastors. Not just saints. Not even just Christians; but everyone. Psalm 20 never says: May the Lord hear the perfect people. The Gospel says: Come and pray. Children pray. Seniors pray. The wealthy, the poor, those with poetic words, only those who can whisper “help”. People whose prayers are angry, confused. Those who believe and those aren’t sure what to make of the world. No one is excluded from speaking with God. Prayer isn’t earned- that relationship with God isn’t something bought or worked towards. It’s grace; freely and abundantly given. So perhaps this week don’t begin with long prayers. Just begin honestly. Tell God what you’re carrying. Tell God your fears. Tell God your hopes. Sit quietly. Listen. Pray for someone else and allow someone to pray for you. Ask that they do, request it. Dallas Willard wrote that “A request, by its very nature, a demand, by contrast, immediately separates”. Prayer changes us because relationship changes us.
Let the song from this morning “When You Wish Upon a Star” awaken a longing in you. Imagine a church known not for having all the answers but for praying together. Imagine people who carry each other’s burdens. Imagine children knowing they can always talk to God. Imagine seniors whose quiet prayers have shaped generations. Imagine neighbours discovering they don’t have to earn God’s attention.
Our hopes and prayers do not simply wander through the constellations in the night sky. But our hope has an address. The God who made the stars already knows your name. Already hears your voice and welcomes you with grace. And perhaps that’s one of the greatest miracles of prayer, not that we always receive everything we ask for but that the God of the universe always invites us into the conversation.
Amen.
