Happy Mother’s Day!
It is still Mother’s Day weekend, even though current COVID health regulations in the province of Manitoba (and in other places throughout the world) mean that many people will not be able to visit their mother, or hug, or sit at a table to share a meal. Perhaps our gatherings are limited to waves through windows, meals over ZOOM, or phone chats.
For some, this might be a happy weekend with painted macaroni popsicle stick boxes as gifts, or roughly coloured cards. It might be a weekend of delight with a bit of togetherness time.
And, for others, Mother’s Day is a time to remember a mother who is deceased, or to think of a mother they never knew, or to pray for a mother who is hospitalized or a mother whose memories of her children have been clouded by dementia. It is also a day to care for those who long to be mothers and to care for those mothers whose child or children have died.
This Mother’s Day weekend is a time of care. Perhaps we should remember when we cannot gather as we otherwise would, the advice of Dr. Teresa Tam. In response to questions about this weekend and the restrictions on gatherings, Dr. Tam said that we should remember that it is mothers who invented the phrase ‘it’s the thought that counts!’.
It is a day to remember the mothers who have birthed us into life, and then have done the best they could to love us into life.
For all of us, Mother’s Day is a time to be thankful for the gift of life we have received.
For Christians, Mother’s Day is a time to think of the ‘Mother’ love of God – the love of the Creator who has birthed all life. The love of God that affirms every person as a child of the divine, a precious bearer of the sacred, a gift of life.
On this Mother’s Day, we remember that mothers have raised some of the most persistent and profound voices calling for peace in this world. Peace is God’s dream for the world.
We invite you to listen to a prayer for peace in the hymn “May the Peace of God be Your Peace”
As we continue during this pandemic time, we continue to share worship resources through our weekly emails.
Thanks again to everyone for engaging with us on this COVID-19 journey. We are grateful to share ministry with you and really appreciate your efforts to stay in touch and to continue to care about TMUC with your prayers and your financial support. Donations on PAR, through www.canadahelps.org and in cheques mailed to the church 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, please think about the gifts we have in our lives, and needs of our world, and then 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.
The Prayer List is distributed separately and allows us to remember specific people with our prayers. If you want to receive the Prayer List, or add a name (with their permission), please be in touch.
Again and again we are called to listen to words of reconciliation:
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, May 9, 2021
Introit: “And On This Path”
You call us, O God, to be Your people.
Again and again you invite us to journey with Jesus.
Again and again we declare
Christ is Risen,
Christ is Risen indeed!
We come to worship knowing the tomb is empty,
Jesus has been raised from the dead,
Christ is alive!
Hallelujah!
Our opening hymn is “What a Friend we Have in Jesus”.
Esther and Emmett have a ‘lovely’ conversation about love:
Printable Version:
Esther and Emmett_May9
John 15:9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy mabe be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
No one ahs greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit; fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Carol and Jeff offer a reflection on Mother’s Day and how we are called to love one another:
Printable Version:
Reflection_May9
Let us pray:
Our Mother, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name…
Help us God to hallow Your many names
To declare that You are the holy, the sacred, the wonder, the love at the heart of all creation
That You are in heaven, and on earth, and throughout creation
That all creation is in You
God, help us to welcome the many names and ways we refer to you – as Mother, Father, Lord, Ground of Being, Holy Mystery, shepherd, ruler, judge, spirit…
God, on this Mother’s Day weekend, may we experience the blessing of Your love that nurtures, guides, inspires, and births the sacred nestled within each of us.
We join our prayers with those across the United Church using a prayer shared by the Reverend Eleanor Scarlett of Bolton United Church:
Loving God, help us make Mother’s Day more meaningful.
Help us make it a time of generosity through our Mission & Service that helps change the lives of families at home and around the world.
Help us make it even more of a celebration of those extraordinary people in our lives we call mom, who are like mothers to us, and to people of all genders, as well as trans and non-binary persons who offer mothering care.
Help us make it more supportive of mothers who have lost children, children who have lost mothers, women who long to be mothers, and those who choose not to be mothers.
Help us make it more open to those who don’t fit the traditional model of family and feel left out during this holiday.
Help us make it more caring of single moms, new moms, and those looking after their moms during the pandemic without the social supports that are usually in place.
Help us make it more aware of those whose mothering responsibilities stretch across decades to span a lifetime.
Help us make it more loving for those who want to draw closer to their mother and more healing for those who need to keep a distance.
Help us make Mother’s Day more, O God.
More generous…more open…more caring.
We pray this in your holy name.
God, in the spirit of such love we offer our prayers for Your creation.
We pray for the health and healing of this world – for air, water, soil, minerals, plants, for birds, animals, fish…
…and for humans, that we may learn to live in harmony with the other creatures and creation with which we share this earth, that we may learn new practices for using renewable resources, for respecting creation and not polluting, exploiting, and stripping the world of the vegetation and life that sustains all life on this planet
We pray for a global distribution of the Covid vaccines. We pray for all who test positive for the virus. We pray for countries in which Covid is spreading so rapidly. We pray for the people of India and the people of Brazil. We pray for leaders to make wise and compassionate decisions and to work together to ensure the health of all people.
We pray for peace. We pray for a world in which we seek reconciliation rather than conquest. We pray for those living in places of conflict and war. We pray for the people of Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen.
We pray for those who are poor; for those who are hungry; for those who are homeless. We pray for a world where resources and wealth are shared, not hoarded. We pray for a world in which everyone can live in health and safety.
We pray for all who seek to forgive. We offer our hurts, our angers, our hatred to You God. Bring healing. Bring peace. Bring forgiveness.
We pray for all who feel inferior, neglected, unwelcome. Let them know Your love that identifies them as a child of our Creator. Give to them courage, and affirmation of their worth and sacredness.
We pray for all who grieve. In the places of loss and sorrow may they know that are not alone; that even there they are held in Your love.
We pray for a world attuned to Your presence, God – our Father, Mother, Creator, Sustainer and Life Spirit.
In Christ’s name we pray. AMEN
Our closing hymn is “Jesus, Joy of Our Desiring”
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