Patrick’s Covenanting Service

November 4, 2018                                Patrick’s Covenanting Service

(Portions of the service that are in BOLD are to be said by all.

All points marked * those who are able are invited to stand.)

Approach

Gathering song MV #12 – “Come Touch Our Hearts”

Gathering prayer

Lighting the Christ Candle – MV #12 “Where Two or Three are                                                                                      Gathered”  x2

Scripture

Meditation (Teresa Moysey)

*     Hymn MV #161 – “I Have Called You by Your Name”

Covenant

New Creed – VU #918

Introduction (Winnipeg Presbytery Rep)

Presentation of the Minister (Congregational Rep)

Questions of the Minister (Winnipeg Presbytery Rep)

You are responding to a call within Winnipeg Presbytery. You have accepted as your vocation the service of God through the service of people, that they might become firm in faith, confident in hope, and creative in love. To achieve this will require on your part the diligent exercise of Christian study, meditation, prayer and action; care of your body, mind and spirit; and deep emotion, laughter and tears. You are called to be a part of a community of faith within Windsor Park United Church, and within the wider Church. On behalf of Winnipeg Presbytery, the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, and The United Church of Canada, I ask you:

Q: Do you commit yourself to this trust and this responsibility?

A: I do, God being my helper.

Q: Will you accept the discipline of Winnipeg Presbytery, and together with its other members, be responsible for the oversight of the church’s life?

A: I will, God being my helper.

Q: Will you accept the support and encouragement of your pastoral charge, that is Windsor Park United Church, and this Presbytery?

A: I will, God being my helper.

*   Questions of Windsor Park United Church (Winnipeg Presbytery Rep)

(Please Stand) You have called Patrick Woodbeck to serve as your Minister. He will need your support, love and encouragement. You will worship together, study together, teach together, and minister together.

God invites us into communities of faith where we can work and pray together with openness and integrity, where we can experience grace and forgiveness, where gifts are able to be offered and received, and where in spite of differences, we gather around the table Christ sets in our midst.

On behalf of Winnipeg Presbytery, the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, and The United Church of Canada, I ask you:

Q: Will you respond with him to God’s call in a ministry of worship, study, prayer and action within the Church and in the world?

A: We will, God being our helper. (Please be seated)

Promises of Presbytery

(Members of Winnipeg Presbytery stand as able)

Q: Will you, as members of Winnipeg Presbytery, join with this minister and this congregation in a ministry that is both theirs and ours?

A: We will, God being our helper.

Q: Will you exercise oversight for their work and witness, and support and encourage them in this ministry?

A: We will, God being our helper.

Laying on of Hands

Prayer of Consecration

Good and gracious God, in every age you have chosen servants to speak your word and serve your people. We thank you for this minister whom you have called to serve. Give him special gifts to do his work. Fill him with the Holy Spirit so he may be strengthened and worthy of his call, and a faithful disciple of Jesus so long as he shall live.

All: Amen!

Declaration of the Covenant (Winnipeg Presbytery Rep)

In the name of Jesus, and by the authority vested in me by Winnipeg Presbytery, I declare that the covenant which has been made today has been duly witnessed, and the relationship duly constituted. May God bless the ministry of Patrick Woodbeck, the members and adherents of Windsor Park United Church and all others who gather here this day.

*   Closing Hymn VU #509 – “I, The Lord of Sea and Sky”                                                                *   Benediction – The covenant is complete. The presence of God reaches beyond this place…and so may we involve ourselves in the grander issues of life: those issues which make a compelling difference, which create the good life for all humanity. Amen.

*   Benediction VU #964 “Go Now In Peace” x2

See video from Patrick’s ordination at:  https://youtu.be/NjWkFG3RYoE