Sunday School – April 4 at 9:30 am
Zoom – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
We start with a story from Jeff:
I thought they might knock me over as they ran past!
In this case, ‘they’ were two professors of The School of Journalism at the University of Western Ontario.
The occasion was an afternoon sometime in 1981. Looking out one of the school’s second-storey windows, they had noticed the Canadian flag flying at half-mast atop a building across the campus.
They said, almost in unison, “Who died?”
Then, being journalists, they both dashed to the school’s newsroom to begin scouring the daily newspapers.
After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to find news of the death of a prominent person, they concluded that the flag must have been lowered in memory of someone connected directly to the university.
I remembered this incident as I was driving past a park in Transcona last Friday and saw the flag at half-mast. I presumed it had been lowered to mourn the death of HRH Prince Philip. In Canada, government flags are lowered to mourn the death of a member of the Royal Family.
I was moved by the sight of this tradition of respect.
I also thought that we all lower flags throughout our lives…if not actual flags, emotional ones, when we mourn the death of a loved one.
Perhaps we should, at least in our imaginations, lower flags when anyone dies,
If we believe that every person is a child of God, a part of creation and therefore a part of God, the Creator.
There is an amazing passage in the Talmud (a collection of interpretive writings of Jewish laws and traditions, compiled and edited from the third to sixth centuries).
The passage comments on the story of Moses leading the escaped slaves across the Red Sea. The Sea parts, allowing the slaves to cross safely, and then closes again on the pursuing Egyptian army, drowning them.
Seeing this happen, the angels in heaven begin to praise God and sing of God’s greatness. Weeping, God looks at them and says, “How dare you sing for joy when my children are dying? The Egyptians are my children too!”
The people we tend to categorize as ‘them’ or ‘they’ are God’s children too!
God lowers the flag whenever any of God’s children die or suffer or are denied the dignity of being one of God’s children.
The COVID pandemic has reminded us that national boundaries are human creations not God creations. We are all related, all members of one human race, all children that are loved by God too!
We might be mindful of our shared with us on such musical blessing: “Peace Be with You.”
This Sunday (April 18) Brenda LeBeau will be leading Sunday School online at 9:30 a.m. You can join through this ZOOM link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
Thank you to everyone who participated in TMUC’s Glenlea Greenhouse fundraiser. Orders will be Delivered to TMUC May 14. If you have any questions, please email our project coordinators, Cathy and Breanna, at tmucflowers@gmail.com
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, 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, April 18, 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 “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Give Thanks to the Risen Christ”
Esther and Emmett play “I Spy’ – the way Jesus might have played it!
Printable Version:
Esther and Emmett_April 18
Luke 24:36b-48
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I, myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
and he took it and ate it in their presence.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures
and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,
and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name at all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses to these things.
Jeff offers a reflection entitled “Open Up”
Printable Version:
Jeff Reflection _ April 18
Let us pray:
God, open our minds
open our hearts
open our imaginations
open our souls
open us again and again to the wonder of Creation;
open us to new discoveries of Your love in this world;
to Your love embracing and welcoming and affirming this astounding diversity of humanity;
Your love giving us vision and courage to love others, to care for others, to seek the well-being of all persons.
Open us to our deepest identity as Your children, as people capable of giving forgiveness, welcome, healing and hope to others.
Open our minds God to comprehend Your love embodied in men and women throughout history who have been sources of hope for a world of peace and neighbourliness.
Open our minds to care for this world as Jesus cared, to care as You care, to care in the places of suffering.
Open us, that we may open ourselves in prayer:
We pray, God, for a world gripped by COVID.
We pray that people in Canada and throughout the world receive vaccinations quickly; that supplies of vaccines be available and that leaders create efficient and comprehensive ways of distributing vaccines.
We pray for people to have patience, and understanding and senses of humour as we continue to live by COVID protocols and restrictions.
We pray for those who live with diseases of body, mind, emotion and spirit. We pray for healing. We pray for courage. We pray for awareness of Your presence with them. We pray for supportive communities of family, friends and health careworkers.
We pray for a world in which we embrace our shared humanity, a world without attitudes and systems of ‘racial superiority’; a world in which differences of culture, ancestry and experience are celebrated and enrich our awareness of being members of the human race.
We pray for personal and systemic compassion to create a world in which all have a home, all have medical care, all have access to education, to employment, to friendship and to safe and nurturing environments.
We pray for an end to war. We pray for all who are victims of gun violence and all who are victims of hatred, fear and abuse. We pray for a world of Peace, a world of shared resources, a world of supportive communities, a world of profound grace and love.
We pray for all who follow the way of Christ, that we may trust Your love embodied in Jesus, and that we may be people of amazing grace, transforming friendship and healing presence.
We pray in the name and spirit of Jesus, the Christ. AMEN.
Our closing hymn is “Sent Forth by God’s Blessing”
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