jULY 12, 2026
SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
wORSHIP ON THE LAWN / COWBOY SUNDAY
A Service of Prayer, of Song, of Celebration,
and, of Worshiping Out in Nature.
Lead Minister: The Rev. Jope Langejans
Music Director: Cody Obst
Minister Emeritus: Rev. Gerry Scharff
Honorary Associate Ministers: Rev. Clint Mooney & Rev. Kelley Warner
Licensed Lay Worship Leaders: Bob Gibbenus & Fiona Hayes
Chair of Council: Vacant
Reader: Nancy Gillean
Special Musical Guests: Barry Luft
And here’s a couple of Cowboy quotes for today: “If lawyers are disbarred and Clergy are defrocked; shouldn’t it follow that cowboys would be deranged?”
and then there’s this important bit of wisdom: “Always drink upstream from the herd.”
Gathering
(*Indicates that you may stand if you are able…)
PRELUDE
WELCOMING / ANNOUNCEMENTS / INTRODUCTIONS
*INTROIT MV # 3 “River (Riviere)”
ACKNOWLEDGING THE TERRITORY (Unison)
(Words taken from the 1986 Apology to First Nations Peoples & words from 1998)
Long before my people journeyed to this land your people were here and you received from your Elders an understanding of creation and of the Mystery that surrounds us all that was deep, rich, and treasured.
We tried to make you like us and in so doing we helped to destroy the vision that made you what you were. As a result, you, and we, are poorer and the image of the Creator is twisted, blurred, and we are not what we are meant by God to be.
We ask you to forgive us and to walk together with us in the Spirit of Christ so that our peoples may be blessed and God’s creation healed.
We pray that you will hear the sincerity of our words today and that you will witness the living out of our apology in our actions in the future.
A SPECIAL GIFT OF MUSIC - BARRY LUFT
CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive)
(Nora Vedress, Calvary UC, Prince Albert, Sask. – Gathering 2017)
Rev. Jope: We gather as people of the living sky and the rolling foothills…
ALL: to worship the One who fills the prairie nights with stars too abundant to count, who dances with the wind among the willows, who paints the clouds as if to say to us, “Look at all I’ve created for you.”
Rev. Jope: We gather as people of the living sky and the rolling foothills and the majestic mountains…
ALL: to place our prayers before the One who is as large as the sun but as gentle as a summer breeze; to open our hearts to the One who moves in the rhythm of the ocean tide and seasons, and who understands the rhythms and cycles of our lives just as well.
Rev. Jope: We gather as people of the living sky, the rolling foothills, the majestic mountains, and of Stampede wonder…
ALL: to listen for the Spirit moving among us as we worship God together for we now open ourselves to words of prayer as we invite the presence of the Holy One into this time and into our lives:
OPENING PRAYER: (Unison)
O God of the open prairie and the green valleys; of the crystal-clear mountain lakes and the crashing waterfalls; of bison herds and lonesome coyote call; of city busy and hamlet quiet; of hearts open and minds at ease, we call upon you in love.
As your Spirit falls upon us, let it be as the first drops of rain falling on parched forests, rains which douse the fires and awakens new seeds to begin that newness of abundance. Let it be like ripples in the lake: reaching out through minds and through bodies and through souls. Help us to listen and to see your creation all around us so that our ripples may stir the calm of complacency, splash on the face of oppression and surge through barriers and through divisions, that all the world may come to know your living water which satisfies our souls and refreshes our inner beings. On this summer morning, this last official day of the Calgary Stampede may each of us be the ripple of peace, the ripple of love, and the ripple of friendship
…Amen.
AFFIRMATION of OUR FAITH (Unison)
We dare to believe these things:
that God is the God of all the earth,
both the living and the dead;
that God has revealed the divine nature in the man Jesus Christ,
in order that we may follow his teachings and live in love;
that the Spirit of Christ is with us on the lawn today, inviting us
to a greater commitment of our lives and bestowing the
power to live in that commitment;
that the church, for all its shortcomings, is still called to love
those who are loved by God and to call to fellowship and
forgiveness those who walk in loneliness or darkness;
that the world of our immediate vision is but a poor shadow of
the world that is to be where God is all in all….Amen.
*HYMN MV # 46 “Bless the Lord”
Engaging
(Reader: Nancy Gillean)
OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGE
GENESIS 25:19-34 Esau gives up his birthright for Jacob’s stew…
PSALM 119: 105-112 Your word is a lamp for my feet….)
ANOTHER GIFT OF MUSIC - Barry Luft
GOSPEL PASSAGE
MATTHEW 13: 1-9, 18-23 The parable of the sower and the seed
MESSAGE Where Are Our Seeds Thrown?
Responding
Rev. Jope: In gratitude for the love that we have received, we have offered our lives and our living to carry God’s message of love into the world and into the communities in which we live, including this wonderful faith community. Our offerings, which we give in so many different ways, have always come from our hearts, and so we offer blessings upon them…
PRAYER of BLESSING (Rev. Jope)
*HYMN MV # 144 “Like a Healing Stream”
Blessing
Sunday’s Reflections of the Heart:
ALL: O Holy One, we open this prayer-time with a short piece from C. M. Kao who resides in Taiwan:
You saw the sun rising from the sea, I saw the sun rising from the mountains…we argued for a long time, until you visited me
and I visited you…..we saw the different facts.
You say it’s summer, I say it’s winter…we argued for a long time, then you visited me in the South, and I visited you in the
North…we saw the different facts.
You say, ‘white is beauty’….I say, ‘black is beauty’…we argued for a long time….then you saw the black forest in my country
and I saw the eternal snow on your mountain peaks.
We agreed that the beauty of white is in its clear brightness
and the beauty of black is in its mysterious darkness.
Sharing, face to face, friends we shall become…you and me.
O God, can we share as these two have shared? Can we finally look each other in the eye and say, ‘we are all equal and our differences make us who we are’? With your help and your guidance, we can all accomplish this and our world will reconnect…this is our Sunday’s reflection to you – together, and we now offer the words which Jesus had taught us:
THE LORD’S PRAYER
*COMMISSIONING (unison)
For the sowing to be effective, the seeds must be scattered broadly and in quantity. Go into your world, sowing the love of God by scattering your love unconditionally far and wide among all your neighbours…go in the Spirit…go with God…Amen.
BARRY LUFT’S CLOSING GIFT OF MUSIC
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES for SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2026
GENESIS 28: 10-19a (Older Testament)
PSALM 139: 1-12, 23-24
ROMANS 8: 12-25 (Epistle passage)
MATTHEW 13:24-30, 36-43 (Gospel passage)