#BlackLivesMatter is in the news and in our hearts
We celebrate our partnership with 1JustCity and recognize their part in leadership in #BlackLivesMatter and in helping us to live the words of the New Creed of the United Church ‘to seek justice and resist evil’. May we live God’s call as we journey together.
Part of our ZOOM conversation this week included remembering some of the words we have used in public worship. We want to acknowledge our place on Treaty One lands: We are gathered for worship and work in Treaty One territory, which is the traditional land of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dené peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation. For thousands of years Indigenous Peoples walked this land and knew it to be the centre of their lives and their spirituality. We respect the Treaties that were made on these territories, we acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past, and we dedicate ourselves to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.
We hope that you are well as we share this COVID-19 journey.
We are grateful for your ongoing care for us, for one another, for the community around us and for our world.
We are also grateful for your donations on PAR, through www.canadahelps.org and in cheques mailed to the church. You are making a difference. Thank you.
Even though we cannot be together in one place, let’s continue to be a community at prayer together. On Sunday at 10:00, let’s think about the gifts we have in our lives, and needs of our world, and then let’s all pray the Lord’s prayer (you can pray silently, or out loud).
And, sometime, when you want to have a longer worship time, we are including some words and videos for your use.
Worship for Sunday, June 7, 2020
We come to worship with ‘Spirit God, Be Our Breath’ (which is 150 in More Voices if you have a hymn book and want to sing along)
We gather together although we are apart.
We gather in community although we are alone.
We gather asking for God’s blessing on our lives, and on our world.
We gather knowing God is with us.
Opening hymn – “Oh a Song Must Rise”
This week would normally be Pride Week — now rescheduled for September if things continue to go well in Manitoba’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Pride Week is about inclusion. It is about building a community where everyone is welcome and where everyone belongs. Are there ways in which you see that happening in our community? Are there ways that you think that we could grow to be more inclusive?
Even though this is not Pride Week, it is still Pride Sunday.
In preparing for worship, Steve McKendry-Smith has recorded “True Colours” as an offering of Special Music to help us think about being welcoming and inclusive.
Scripture Reading – Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Reflection
Carol’s Printable Version
Reflection_June 7
Let us pray:
Eternal God, we are your people. Hear us as we pray.
We thank you for the gifts of diversity. We thank you for the diversity of people – stories and ancestries; identities and experiences. We thank you that in the midst of diversity there is the truth that we are all made in your image. We are loved and held in grace and care.
We thank you for the diversity of creation – for plants and animals, for seas and sky. We thank you for the glories of the universe that remind us of the depth and breadth of your being and your love.
Hear us as we offer our prayers for people in need.
We pray for those who are overwhelmed with injustice and violence, and who are committed to an end to racism and oppression.
We pray for those who are courageous in their living and continue to care for others in this pandemic.
We pray for those who are vulnerable and afraid. Bring peace and strength O God.
We pray for those who are addicted or abused. Bring healing and wholeness O God.
We pray for those who are dying, and those who are grieving. Help them to know that nothing can ever separate them from your love.
Hear our prayers O God. Hear our silence and our sighs; and fill us with hope. We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Closing Hymn – “Lord, You Give the Great Commission”
We are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thanks be to God.
God bless you and keep you.
God’s face shine upon.
God grant you peace and joy.
Be in the peace of Christ, this day and always. Amen
We keep you in our prayers,
Carol and Jeff