Hope that you received the news that Messy Church is re-ZOOM-ing as a Messy Church at Home project and are sharing it with any and all who may be interested! 
We want to collect the registrations by Tuesday, September 22 so we can be set for a wonderful time for everyone!
And,
Hope that you have marked your calendar and are getting set for TMUC’s annual Scrap Metal Drive. Here’s the announcement:
Scrap Metal Drive
TMUC will be hosting a scrap metal drive on Saturday, September 26 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm in the parking lot behind the church. We’ll be accepting any metal material. If it pings or clanks when you tap it, we’ll accept it!
Once again, Meridian Hauling has been very generous and is donating the use of one of their bins.
To keep everyone safe, we ask that you;
• Wash your hands at home before loading up your scrap
• Wear a mask while you’re at the event
• Enter the driveway at the back of the church from the west and exit to the east
• Take advantage of our hand sanitizer stations if you’re going to help unload
For our part, volunteers will be wearing masks, sanitizing tools between users, and frequently sanitizing our hands.
We look forward to seeing you on the 26th.
We continue to be so grateful for those who continue to financially support the ministry of TMUC, through 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.
Once each week, the Prayer List will arrive in the ‘Inbox’ of those who want to read the names of those we know need and want our prayers. If you want to add a name to the weekly Prayer List, please do – ask for a person’s permission if you are adding their last name – and let us know by sending a note to tmuc@shaw.ca And, if you want to receive the list, please be in touch with that request as well.
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.
Worship for Sunday, September 20, 2020
We come to worship with the first verse of ‘Come Touch Our Hearts’
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.
Our opening hymn is ‘I Saw the Rich Ones:
Jeff is reading ‘Jeremiah and the Letter e’ which was written by David Giuliano, a past Moderator of The United Church of Canada.
Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same.
And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’
They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’
When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.
And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Carol offers a reflection:
Printable Version:
Reflection_Sept20
Let us pray:
God of child’s amazement
God of blazing autumn leaves
God of gurgling stream
God of quieting dusk
God of black holes and orbiting asteroids
God of sand and soil
God of orchestral crescendo
God of desert quiet
God of ALL.
God dancing within ALL.
God dancing amongst ALL.
God containing ALL.
Bless us with the heights and depths of AWE!
Awaken awareness of our identities as children of the Creator,
as unique words in Your story of Life,
as elements of ALL that exists;
Awaken in us the historic awareness that shaped indigenous communities’ respect for all creation, all creatures, for land and water and air;
Awaken us to a world that is suffering – a world of rapidly melting icecaps, of increasing extinctions of species, of oceans filling with discarded plastic…
God, free us from the spirits of greed and power that lead us to treat Your creation as a commodity to be owned and manipulated and discarded.
God, forgive us our failure to live in harmony with Your Spirit and Your creation. Awaken Your image within us.
God, we pray for this world. We pray for the world’s healing. We pray or the well-being of the world.
We pray, God, for those experiencing creation’s suffering. We pray for those who have died in fires on the west coast of the United States, for those evacuated from their homes, and for firefighters trying to contain the fires. We pray also for those whose lives are impacted by the fires in British Columbia, in Indonesia and other regions of the world.
We pray, God, for those who have no permanent place of shelter – who are displaced, who are refugees, whose ‘home’ is wherever they can find a place to rest.
We pray for all who live with physical, emotional, mental health challenges and illnesses. We pray for healing, we pray for the love and support of caregivers, and of family and friends.
We pray for humanity to be healed of our racism; healed of our fear and oppression of people who differ from us in appearance, cultural practices, gender identity, social status…
We pray for wise and responsible and safe choices in this time of COVID-19.
God, awaken the Christ within us;
recreate within us hearts of compassion and reconciliation and hope,
let us be born anew as companions of peace, vessels of the sacred, and sharers of Your love.
In Christ’s name we pray. AMEN.
Our closing hymn is ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’:
May God bless you and keep you.
May God’s face shine upon you.
May 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