What to Expect on a Sunday Morning at Glen Abbey United

Worship services at Glen Abbey United Church start at 10AM each Sunday morning. People will arrive any time between about 9:30 and 10:00. At the door you will be asked a couple of standard screening questions. If you haven’t provided proof of being fully vaccinated, (or a negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours), you will need to show it to the recorder. Another greeter will highlight your name on the contact list. From there you can enter the sanctuary, where worship takes place, and quietly reflect, pray, or just enjoy the prelude. Seating is marked with 2 metres distancing between each household.  If you are new to Glen Abbey, we’re happy to talk with you outside, with no masks, after service, and you’ll always find a willing ear.

At 10:00, service begins. Reverend Ted Vance, our minister, will proceed to the front of the church and welcome everyone. The service itself will vary from week to week, but in general it will follow this structure:

• Call us to worship, as church leaders have done for 2000 years, to set the mood for the service.
• Prayer, to renew our communication with God and bring us into worship
• Hymns, or modern praise songs, to allow us to hum along in praise
• Rev. Ted spends time with our youngest participants by talking with Buford, a very popular dog. Sunday school will resume later when it is safe to do so.
• Scripture, reading passages from the Bible ranging from the Old Testament through the Gospel of Jesus and the letters that his earliest disciples wrote to the first churches
• A sermon, where Rev. Ted opens the Scripture readings and interprets them for our lives today
• Prayers and closing thoughts from Rev. Ted to carry with us through the week.

There is a wide variety of worship styles, because everyone comes into communication with God in different ways. For some it will be the prayers, for some the hymns, and for some the sermon.

And we know that some weeks, it may be none of these or it may be all of them.

We look forward to the day when we can safely resume to partake in Holy Communion. One of 2 formal sacraments in the United Church of Canada (the other being Baptism), this is a time when we remember the Last Supper that Jesus Christ spent with his disciples the night before He was crucified. We will together share a very simple meal of bread and grape juice, in memory of all that Jesus has done for us. At Glen Abbey United, as in the rest of the United Church of Canada, the Communion table is an open table. We believe it is the table of Jesus Christ, who welcomes all, and as such it is open to all, with no obstacles of minimum age or membership required.

All are welcome at Glen Abbey United Church, no matter who you are. We do not discriminate, as Jesus Christ did not discriminate. Please check us out soon!