Grace and peace to you in the name of our loving God.
Transcona Memorial United Church gathers for in person worship this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. TMUC’s policy on being vaccinated and wearing a mask remain in place, and there is Sunday School too!
For two years we have sent out a weekly ‘Church at Home’ that has included short videos for your personal worship time. Again this week, we are sending ‘Church and Home’ that includes a ZOOM link for a livestream of Sunday’s service – which we hope that you will join if you prefer worship at home to being present on Sunday. After the service, the service will be posted on our YouTube Channel and the tmuc.ca website.
Here’s the ZOOM link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
or by phone:
Meeting ID: 753 844 9219
204-272-7920
We are also including words for worship as you follow along on Sunday at the end of this message.
We want to live a safe way to be together for in-person worship and to find a way to support worship at home. The Worship and Welcome Team is meeting this Wednesday evening and we appreciate your feedback on ‘Church and Home’. Please send a note to the office, Carol, or Jeff, or give us a call.
Our Lenten word is REfocus. Again and again we are called to REfocusourselves to God. Again and again we are reminded that God’s love invites us to care for others, to care for our planet, to make a difference by how we life love where we are. We are blessed and called to be a blessing.
In addition to what you will hear on Sunday, the Music Team of Cheryl Jackson, Lynne Mavins, and Crystal Schau have prepared music for Church at Home.
Hymn: O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (Voices United 326)
Anthem: Womb Water, Tomb Earth
Hymn: In Loving Partnership We Come
And Esther and Emmett have a reflection on Jesus and John:
We are thankful for the grace and blessing of everyone 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. In addition to Sunday offerings, donations on PAR (Pre-Authorized Remittance), Canada Helps, e-transfers (tmuc@shaw.ca), and cheques are making a difference. Thank you!
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.
We keep you in our prayers and look forward to gathering in person!
Let there be peace on earth!
Carol and Jeff
Words for Worship for Sunday, April 3, 2022
REfocus
Welcome and Announcements
- Highlighting the daily prayer for Ukraine at 6:00 p.m.
- An invitation to be part of a Prayer Service at All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church on April 7 or April 12 at 7:00 p.m. – More details and to RSVP please contact the TMUC office in advance
- The Glenlea Greenhouse fundraiser,
- Mordens’ Chocolate Easter Bunnies – the last orders are today
- The ongoing need for greeters and members of the choir!
Land Acknowledgement
Introit: More Voices #15: Holy Sacred Spirit
Holy sacred Spirit, breathe your breath on us.
Reproduced #605666, OneLicense
Call to Worship:
One: Come, Holy Spirit!
All: Come to awaken our faith,
to inspire our hope
One: Come, Holy Spirit!
All: Come to embolden our love
and to let Christ live in us!
One: Come, Holy Spirit!
Hymn: O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (Voices United 326)
Gospel Reading:
Luke 7:24-35
When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)
“To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Anthem: Womb Water, Tomb Earth
Meditation
Offertory prayer
Holy God, our faith is deeply rooted.
Even in the midst of changes and chances
You speak to us as if offering
A love letter that we can cherish.
So it is that we present these,
Our love offerings.
They represent our willingness
To share abundantly and confidently.
Through us,
May our world be blessed.
Amen
(From the back of the printed bulletin, written by Laura Turnbull)
Call to Prayer: VU#400 Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Lord, send your Spirit in this place;
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Send us love, send us power, send us grace!
Reproduced #605666, OneLicense
Pastoral Prayer
The prayer that Jesus taught…
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.
Forever and ever.
AMEN
Hymn: In Loving Partnership We Come (Voices United 603)
Blessings and Sending Forth
Choral Blessing:
221 More Voices I Am Walking a Path of Peace
I am walking a path of peace,
I am walking a path of peace,
I am walking a path of peace,
Lead me home, lead me home. (X2)
Ending – lead me home, I am home.