Cedar Park United

We gathered for worship and began our fall stewardship season — a time to reflect on gratitude, generosity, and the many ways each of us contributes to the life we share at Cedar Park United. Our Gospel reading comes from Matthew 22, where Jesus is confronted with a question about money, taxes and loyalty. Looking at a coin bearing the image of the emperor, Jesus says, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

And that leaves us with a much bigger question: What belongs to God? The coin bears the emperor’s image. But Scripture tells us that we bear the image of God. And that changes the conversation. Stewardship is about much more than money. It is about our whole lives — our time, abilities, relationships, resources, compassion, and our willingness to care for one another. It is about recognizing what we have received with gratitude and asking how we might use those gifts to make God’s love visible in the world.

Connect with Cedar Park United: cedarparkunited.org

Our Thanksgiving worship centred on the Gospel story of the ten people healed by Jesus, and the one who turns back to give thanks. It is a story that invites us not simply to be grateful, but to pay attention—to notice the grace and goodness already present in our lives.

Our theme was “Thanksliving.” Thanksgiving is about more than counting our blessings. Gratitude can change the way we live. It can lead us to greater generosity, deeper care for one another, concern for the earth, and a renewed commitment to reconciliation and justice. The gifts we receive are not meant to stop with us; they are meant to flow through us into the lives of others.

Connect with Cedar Park United: cedarparkunited.org

On Sunday, October 4, Cedar Park United joined Christians around the world in celebrating World Communion Sunday. Our service centred on Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33–46 and its invitation to consider what God has entrusted to us, what we may be holding too tightly, and how we can share the fruits of God’s generosity.

At Christ’s table, we remember that communion is personal but never private: we are gathered into one body and sent out to care for one another and for creation.

-----

Connect with Cedar Park United: cedarparkunited.org

On Sunday, September 27, Cedar Park United observed Orange Shirt Sunday, a time to remember the Indigenous children who were taken from their families and communities through the residential school system, to honour Survivors, and to renew our commitment to truth and reconciliation. Our worship reminded us that remembering must also lead us to listen, learn, and act. Our Gospel reading is Matthew 21:23–32, Jesus’ parable of two children—one who says yes but does not act, and another who initially says no but changes direction and goes. The story invites us to consider the distance that can sometimes exist between our words and our actions and asks what it means for our commitment to reconciliation to become visible in the way we live.

Rev. Dr. Michael Caveney's reflection, “When Yes Means Yes,” includes his personal experience of living in Kamloops, across the river from the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, and the impact of the 2021 announcement concerning 215 potential burial sites.

Connect with Cedar Park United: cedarparkunited.org

On September 20, Cedar Park United celebrated the second Sunday in Creation Time and prepared to mark the International Day of Peace. Our worship centred on Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20:1–16.

In the story, a landowner hires workers throughout the day, including some who have waited until the final hour because no one else has given them work. When evening comes, everyone receives a full day’s wage—enough to live on. The landowner’s generosity challenges us to consider fairness through the lens of human need rather than simply calculating what each person has earned.

This story also helps us explore the biblical meaning of flourishing. In Scripture, flourishing is shared. People flourish when everyone has food, shelter, dignity, and a place to belong. Creation flourishes when waters run clean, soil remains healthy, and other creatures have room to live. One part of creation cannot truly flourish through the deprivation or destruction of another.Connect with Cedar Park United: cedarparkunited.org

On Sunday, September 13, Cedar Park United began a new chapter in our shared ministry as we celebrated the first Sunday in Creation Time.

Our worship centred on the story of Moses and the burning bush from Exodus 3. In the middle of an ordinary day, Moses turns aside, discovers holy ground beneath his feet and hears God call him by name. Although Moses feels uncertain and unprepared, God offers a sustaining promise: “I will be with you.”

As we began this new pastoral relationship, the story reminded us that ministry does not belong to one person. God calls each of us to participate, offering the gifts, experience, compassion and abilities that are ours to share. Together, we considered where God may already be at work among us—and how Cedar Park is being called to help our neighbours and the whole community of creation flourish.

.

.

.

Connect with Cedar Park United: cedarparkunited.org

On August 23, 2026, the Cedar Park United community worshipped for the first time with our new minister, Rev. Dr. Michael Caveney. He introduced the service with this:

"Today we are putting our big toe into the waters of this Season of Creation, a time, this year, when we will be exploring a simple but profound conviction: God’s dream is for all creation to flourish. God’s desire is that people flourish, communities flourish, relationships flourish, and the whole of creation flourish. That dream is at the heart of the Gospel and at the heart of who we are called to be as followers of Jesus.

Today, as we begin this new chapter together, may we open our hearts to the God who is already at work among us, inviting us to grow, to hope, and to flourish together."

In his reflection based on Exodus 1:8–22 , Flourishing in a Land of Fear, Michael encourages us all to "be a people who help one another flourish. May we become a church that nurtures life wherever we find it. And may our neighbours discover, through us, something of the abundant life that God desires for all creation."

▶️ Watch the scripture reading and sermon on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/qOHF16YBavY?si=OMdF4Gor1PTLUaCm&t=1743

🌐 Connect with Cedar Park United: www.cedarparkunited.org

🎶Music: Fernando Sor via Creative Commons - Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International CCBY-NC 4.0

Today, you’ll hear a retrospective of gratitude from lay leader Elizabeth Chown Lafreniere on the last Sunday before the arrival of our new lead minister, and before we begin two months of sharing worship with our local cluster of United Churches. As she looks back over the past year of ministry at Cedar Park United, Elizabeth says, “Our reward for welcoming and being welcomed is God’s grace: the joy of knowing and sharing that we are loved by God.”

Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.

Connect with Cedar Park United: 

❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠

🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠

💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠

💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠

💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠

💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

This was Jessica Gauthier's last sermon at Cedar Park United before she headed out on her next adventure. The text, from Romans 6 asks whether in order to receive more of God's grace, we should sin more! In this sermon, listen as Jessica flips the script and hear those words not as a threat but as an invitation for us to live as our authentic selves.

Hear the scripture text.

Want to find out more about Cedar Park United?

❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠

🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠

💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠

💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠

💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠

💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

Jesus sends  us out to be conspirators of grace.  All we need is Love!  In today’s reflection, Rev. Cathy Hamilton reminds us that Jesus did not come to solve humanity's problems for us, but rather to encourage and empower us to solve them. Nothing, she says, is impossible with God. All you need is love.

Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.

Connect with Cedar Park United: 

❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠

🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠

💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠

💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠

💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠

💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠