Cedar Park United

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...

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 o...

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 Unite...

Today, we jump into a follow-up interview with Jessica Gauthier, a roundtable discussion as she prepares to embark on the next pathway of her pastoral ministry. Our first interview with Jessica was back in September 2025: Around the table with Jessica were Joanne Kalan, Amy Barratt and Martha Randy. The conversation turned to song at several moments. We gratefully acknowledge these musicians for t...

Today we hear Abram’s threshold story: a call to leave, to trust, and to become a blessing. In this threshold time at Cedar Park United, faith means thinking carefully, praying honestly, learning from what has been, receiving what is new, and taking the next step together. In her next-to-last Sunday with this community of faith, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to open ourselves to th...

On this Trinity Sunday, we gather in the mystery of God who creates, accompanies, and renews. We open our senses to joy, recognition, and hope as we tell the story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. We celebrate Love that lifts the lowly, restores community, and turns the world toward mercy. In her reflection, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier reminds us that Love knocks. Love waits. Love recognizes....

In her Ascension Sunday reflection, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier notes that “Out of sight, out of mind.” is usually said as a criticism, naming something painfully human: that when someone or something disappears from view, we may begin to forget. Not because we stopped caring, but because attention is fragile. We are shaped by what is in front of us. And, she says, that is one of the questi...

In her reflection on God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, today’s lay worship leader, Susan Winn, invites us to remember that the Holy Spirit dwells within each of us, is there to guide us, and is always present to remind us of Jesus’ teachings. When we are open to God’s will for us, and aware of God’s presence in our lives, we may come to see that God is in constant communication with us. What a gift i...

Our guest speaker in worship today was Julia Asselstine, Executive Director of Literacy Unlimited, a non-profit serving English-speaking families, youth, adults and seniors from Verdun to the Ontario border. Literacy, Julia explained, is agency; it is power; it is allowing people to fully participate in society. If you can read and write, you can fly like a bird, and nobody can stop you. This is t...

We are not alone.  We do not always see where the path is going, or how it will unfold. Yet the One who walks with us has already taken this path. Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to remember: The Good Shepherd leads us into life.  Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording . Connect with Cedar Park United:  ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 🧡 ⁠Make a donati...

The first Sunday after Easter is “Holy Humour Sunday”. Today, lay worship leader Elizabeth Chown Lafreniere invites us to walk with Thomas, and all those who doubt, or hesitate, or feel a little bit out of step. But first, we’ll sing and dance.   Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording . Connect with Cedar Park United:  ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 🧡 ⁠Make a dona...

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! On Easter morning, what was buried begins to rise. New life unfolds, even before we can see it clearly. We gather at the table where death and life meet: where love is broken and shared, and nothing is lost to God. On this Easter Sunday, with Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier we rise together in life made anew. Hear the scriptures readings from the l...

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Branches rise. Voices shout. The city stirs. The Way becomes a public journey. Yet, even in the crowd, the Way is chosen in love. On this sixth Sunday of Lent, Palm Sunday, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier asks, What does it mean to walk with the One who abides? Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording . Connect with Cedar...

On this fifth Sunday of Lent, we walk with the knowledge that the human life of Jesus is close to completion. Death is near.  Yet, we enter spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The dying in the winter transforms into rebirth. Snow becomes water again, even as the Southern Hemisphere enters the Fall season, slowing down and dying. The whole planet lives into death and rebirth simultaneously. And so d...

Lent is a spiritual journey of prayer, honesty, and renewal. We remember both our fragility and our belovedness. Though the journey may sometimes feel solitary, we do not walk it alone. Jesus goes before us, leading us on the Way that leads to life. Today, on this fourth Sunday in Lent, Rev. Cathy Hamilton invites us to meet Nicodemus and a Samaritan woman, two who are searching for new life.  Hea...

We hunger for certainty and thirst for relief in this season of Lent. And yet, it is in the wilderness that God meets us –and communities experience wilderness seasons, too. Times of change and uncertainty. Moments when the question rises again: Is God among us… or not? Sometimes the answer only becomes clear when we look back. We check the rear-view mirror of our shared life and begin to notice t...

On this second Sunday of Lent, we gather in faith that spring is near, that each seed of justice will grow, that caring for the homeless, feeding the hungry, and nurturing community moves the world towards compassion, even if it is beyond what we can see. Our guest speaker, Kirstie Jagoe, speaks to this from her perspective as the founder of the Montreal-based charity Bread and Beyond. During the...

We're so glad you found this podcast! Welcome. Lent is a spiritual journey of prayer, honesty, and renewal. We remember both our fragility and our belovedness. Though the journey may sometimes feel solitary, we do not walk it alone. Jesus goes before us, leading us on the Way that leads to life. On this first Sunday of Lent, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to consider that this s...

The Transfiguration is a pivotal New Testament story where Jesus becomes radiant with divine glory on a mountain. Together with Peter, James, and John, guest worship leader Vincent Randy invites us all to reflect on its deeper meaning for our lives.  Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording . Connect with Cedar Park United:  ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 🧡 ⁠Make a...

It is a wondrous thing to be able to share salt and light. Today, Rev. Cathy Hamilton invites us all to consider what the world could be like if each of us used the valuable salt we have been given to restore sanity– to be joyous and hopeful, generous, creative and kind. Just imagine!  Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording . Connect with Cedar Park United:  ❤️ ⁠Find out more a...

Today’s guest speaker, Suzanne Scarrow, is Executive Director of West Island Mission, a cherished community partner of Cedar Park United. Suzanne invites us to reflect on the real needs in our community and how we can respond, recognizing that food is only the beginning. “Enough for everyone”, she says, doesn’t start with a warehouse full of supplies–it starts with a heart that notices. It starts...

“I give thanks to God for you, for you have been enriched, and you have enriched my life, and the lives of many here and across the world,” says worship leader Rev. Cathy Hamilton, reading to the people of Cedar Park United the words that St. Paul said to the people of Corinth. But, she goes on to ask: In a world that seems to have gone mad, what if all of that is not enough? This is where she inv...

On this Sunday of Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ, we gather at the meeting place of star and water, between seeking and choosing. God reveals love not only in dazzling signs, but in shared commitments and trusted relationships. Worship leader Jessica Gauthier invites us to listen for the Spirit who names us beloved, calls us into covenant, and invites us into the future. Hear the scriptures re...

On this first Sunday of 2026, guest worship leader Sam Farrugia invites us to consider the strange promise of the New Testament – that as we go about this humble, selfless work, of modeling our lives after the life of Jesus, we may well find ourselves experiencing true, unquenchable…joy. Hear the scriptures readings from Isaiah 45:20-23 and Philippians 2: 5-11 in the livestream recording. Connect...

On this holy night, we gather to tell the ancient story of Christmas and to sing it into our hearts. With the shepherds and angels, we proclaim the Word made flesh, who came to live among us. With candles, carols, and communion, we make space for wonder, for silence, and for welcome. We pray that Christ, born long ago in Bethlehem, may be born in us today.  ▶️ Listen to the scripture reading here...