Sunday School – June 20 at 9:30 am
Zoom – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
Monday Musings – June 21 at 7:00 pm
Zoom – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
Today (June 20) is the Indigenous Day of Prayer
The United Church of Canada continues to seek ways of walking with our Indigenous brothers and sisters. In 1986, the United Church offered an apology to Indigenous people. As part of the apology, the church confessed: “We imposed our civilization as a condition of accepting the gospel.
At the next gathering of the General Council in 1988, the Indigenous church acknowledged the apology. Mrs. Edith Memnook, presenting the apology on behalf of the All Native Circle Conference, said:
“We only ask of you to respect our Sacred Fire, the Creation, and to live in peaceful coexistence with us. We recognize the hurts and feelings will continue amongst our people, but through partnership and walking hand in hand, the Indian spirit will eventually heal. Through our love, understanding, and sincerity the brotherhood and sisterhood of unity, strength, and respect can be achieved.
The Native People of The All Native Circle Conference hope and pray that the Apology is not symbolic but that these are the words of action and sincerity. We appreciate the freedom for culture and religious expression. In the new spirit this Apology has created, let us unite our hearts and minds in the wholeness of life that the Great Spirit has given us”.
May we all say ‘AMEN’ as we continue the journey of healing and reconciliation.
June 20 is also Father’s Day! So, for all those who are celebrating — Happy Father’s Day!
And (yes, there’s more…!!!)
June 20 is also Sunday School with Brenda at 9:30! All are welcome — we are using the same ZOOM link as for the Monday Musings — June 21 from 7 to 8 pm!
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
or by phone: 204 272 7920
Meeting ID: 753 844 9219
As we share this week’s TMUC worship service, we are called again to listen to our faith community’s 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, June 20, 2021
Introit: “Come All You People”
Come, Holy Spirit!
Come to awaken our faith,
to inspire our hope
to embolden our love
and to let Christ live in us!
Come, Holy Spirit!
Our opening hymn is “It’s a Song of Praise to the Maker”
Esther and Emmett talk waking up to God’s Love.
Printable Version:
Esther and Emmett on Waking up to God
Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”
And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.
A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.
But he was in the stern, asleep on a cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing!”
He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.
He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Jeff offers a reflection:
Printable Version:
Reflection June 20
Let us pray:
God, disturb us.
God, give us peace.
God, rock our boats.
God, anchor our lives.
God, teach us the way of right relations.
God, teach us the way of right relatedness.
God, be with us in both our places of fear and and our places of faith.
God, we remember the stories of our faith;
we remember the texts that shape us;
we remember Your creating, healing, renewing Spirit present throughout all creation.
We remember, and we are thankful!
Our remembrance, our gratitude, our faith shape our prayers.
We pray, God, for healing and reconciliation on this Indigenous Day of Prayer, and tomorrow as we celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day.
We pray for wisdom and courage to listen, lament, unlearn and then learn anew. We pray that people learn to walk together on a path of reconciliation.
We pray for wisdom as the Canadian government discerns a way of new relationships after the Senate approved Bill C-15, directing that Canada’s laws be brought into harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We pray for peace in this world. We pray for peace in places of conflict and violence. We play for the people of Mynamar, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Afghanistan, and all people living in places of war and violent conflict.
We pray for nations and individuals to disarm – to dismantle nuclear weapons, to direct the resources of military budgets to programs to feed, educate and heal people; and to surrender hand guns and assault weapons that they might be transformed into farm implements and musical instruments.
We pray for this earth. We pray for forests, air, water, soil. We pray for humans to learn to live in right relatedness with the rest of Your creation, to bring healing to a wounded environment.
We pray for humanity as the world continues to live with COVID. We pray that people throughout the world have access to life-saving vaccinations. We pray for people to live responsibly in following health guidelines and in living in ways to keep everyone safe and healthy.
We pray for all who experience physical pain, disease, or limitations. We pray for healing, for courage, for those who offer medical aid and those who offer friendship and support.
We pray for courage to live in a time of change, of uncertainty, of unravelling. We pray for courage and faith to embrace new ways of following Christ and of experiencing and embodying Your love in the world.
We pray for those whose lives are compressed by poverty, by having no place to call home, by not having access to clean water or to opportunities for employment. We pray for societies grounded in compassion and for life-affirming distributions of wealth and resources.
We pray for migrant workers, who demonstrate such hope and love in finding work in other countries in order to financially support their families.
God, deepen our faith, that we might live with hope, love and courage, knowing that You are with us, amongst us and within us.
We pray in the spirit of the resurrected Christ. AMEN.
Our closing hymn is “Abide With Me”
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,
Jeff (and Carol)