Twenty-five years ago, there were few trees in our neighbourhood.
The trees that were in the neighbourhood were new trees, young trees, small trees.
Twenty-five years ago our neighbourhood was still relatively new.
Then the city planted trees along the curbsides.
Now those trees tower in the air, casting leaf-cluster shadows on sections of the street.
Throughout those 25 years, we sometimes made comments like, “That tree is getting tall” or “the trees certainly are growing.”
But we never actually ‘saw’ any tree growing. We never looked at a tree and said, “Did you see that? The tree just grew another inch!”
We don’t usually notice the actual moments of growth, the actual moment-by-moment changes happening in trees.
Which is generally true of growth. We are aware of growth having occurred (‘When did you get to be so tall?’) more than we are aware of growth- in-process.
This is also generally true of our ‘growth’ or experience of faith. We pray but may feel no connection to God. We experience times of challenge and stress. The church in North America seems less influential and prominent than in did a few decades ago.
So we may wonder if God is actually here, if God is doing anything.
Which is a Biblical ‘wondering’. After Moses led the slaves out of Egypt, they entered a wilderness that seemed harsh and unwelcoming. There seemed to be no water or food, no accessible life supports. They wanted to go back to Egypt.
The cross reminds us that the hopes and expectations of Jesus’ first disciples were shattered by crucifixion. Before they got to Easter, they found themselves in Good Friday.
The biblical story is one of faith dancing with hope; of trust joining hands with expectation!
It is story of discovering that God has been with us, even in the times of wilderness and loss and uncertainty, even the times of death. It is a story of God active in history, but not always in immediately visible ways. It is a story of trusting God despite the history we are experiencing, and then experiencing history changing!
We didn’t see the trees grow, but now we can’t look at the street and not see the trees.
We don’t always see what God is doing, but then we can’t see another person without seeing a child of God; but then we can’t hear cries of suffering and not be aware of God’s tears; but then we can’t experience unjust relations, and not envision new relations grounded in compassion and respect.
So, as we head into our summer months, let us do so in faith, trusting that today is held in God’s love, trusting that all future days are held in God’s love.
This Sunday we again intend to livestream our worship service via YouTube. We began to do so last Sunday, and then YouTube stopped livestreaming due to an “unstable network.”
We think we have figured out what happened and have found a solution, so we will try again this Sunday to livestream via YouTube!
Here is the link You can access it starting at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday (July 3)
This weekend will be the first of the summer Church-orama Sundays for the seven United Church faith communities of northeast Winnipeg — the T’BJIGGIN group (Transcona Memorial, Bird’s Hill, John Black Memorial, Gordon King Memorial, Grey Street, Immanuel, and North Kildonan). This week’s designated service is Bird’s Hill UC. TMUC and North Kildonan are also open for worship. Church-orama offers passports! If you plan to visit some of the other churches, we invite you to take a ‘passport’ and collect a stamp! Passports are available from the TMUC office. The passport lists service times and locations.
Please continue to pause to offer Prayers for Peace in Ukraine at 6:00 p.m. daily. And, please continue your prayers for reconciliation, and for refugees everywhere. These are difficult times in our world, and our thoughts and prayers connect us to others and to the healing of this hurting world. #StandWithUkraine
Please remember the TMUC projects:
- The pop can recycling fundraiser
- Old batteries recycling
- The TruEarth fundraiser – here’s the link
As a welcoming faith community we are looking for volunteers to welcome people to worship on Sunday mornings. We would like two greeters each Sunday to welcome people, give them a Sunday bulletin, put that week’s hymn numbers in the hymn boards etc. If you can help, please contact the church office to learn which Sundays still need greeters and to volunteer.
We continue to be grateful for your generous support of the TMUC community. If you are wanting to make a donation online, here’s the link
Our puppet ministry of Esther and Emmett is taking the summer off. Esther and Emmett wish everyone a good summer.
For this holiday weekend worship service, we offer our music team’s recording of ‘O Canada’:
and a Blessing:
I Am Walking a Path of Peace
Words for Worship for Sunday, July 3, 2022
Welcome and Announcements
Land Acknowledgement
INTROIT: There is Room For All – More Voices#62
There is room for all in the shadow of God’s wing;
there is room for all, sheltered in God’s love.
And I rejoice and sing,
My refuge and my rock in whom I trust.”
There is room for all, there is room for all.
REPRODUCED #605666, ONELICENSE
*CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
One: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them up to the Lord.
One: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
Hymn:VU#524: ‘O Canada’
Opening Prayer: God, guide us into creative and compassionate living. Let us be people of hope, people of healing, people of joy, people of just relations. Let us be disciples of Jesus. Let us be companions of the Christ. Let us be sources of Your love in this world. In Christ’s name we pray. AMEN
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
The Mission of the Seventy
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’
“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
The Return of the Seventy
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
HYMN: VU#510 “We Have This Ministry”
Meditation
OFFERTORY: Your Work, O God, Needs Many Hands – Voices United #537
Your Work, O God, needs many hands
to help you everywhere,
and some there are who cannot serve
unless our gifts we share.
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ANTHEM:
CALL TO PRAYER: O God, Hear my Prayer – Voices United #948
O God, hear my prayer, O God, hear my prayer;
When I call, answer me.
O God, hear my prayer, O God, hear my prayer,
come and listen to me.
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: VU#227 “For the Fruit of All Creation”
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.