Church at Home – Sept 19

Church at Home – Sept 19

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What is the longest word that can be spelled using the letters on the top row of letters on a standard computer keyboard?

The answer is: ‘typewriter’

We smile when we think that we write emails etc on a keyboard that reminds us of the past technology which we used to write letters and school essays! (oh – so long ago!!)

We smile because we are blessed with a reminder that amongst the new is the old and that new methods contain familiar practices.

The church always lives in old and new times. We read scriptures telling stories over 2000 years old; but those stories continuously accompany us into new ways of loving and living in community with one another.

We worship a God who is older than creation; yet a God who lives anew in our hearts each day.

And as TMUC prepares to continue online worship while also offering some in-person worship, we step into a dance of old and new expressions of worship, dancing the old and new to the melody of God’s grace and love.

As we move into this transition time, we are deeply grateful for your prayer, care and support!

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.

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 (note: the PAR program now accepts monthly credit card donations as well as automatic monthly bank withdrawals), CanadaHelps through www.canadahelps.org, e-transfers to the church’s email address: tmuc@shaw.ca, and 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.

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, September 19, 2021

Cheryl and Crystal sing the Introit: “Lord, Prepare Me to be a Sanctuary”

 

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 sung by the Carillons, “Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord”:

 

Esther and Emmett talk a broken cracker and God:

Printable Version:
Esther and Emmett – Sept 21

 

Scripture readings:

Psalm 54

Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
For the insolent have risen against me, the ruthless seek my life; they do not set God before them. Selah
But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will repay my enemies for their evil. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

Mark 8:1-10

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.”

His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?”  He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”

Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd.  They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.  And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

 

Our second hymn is played by Lynne and sung by Crystal and Cheryl and follows the reading of the Gospel: “For the Crowds of Thousands”:

 

Jeff offers a reflection:

Printable Version:
Jeff’s reflection – Sept 19

 

Let us pray:

God, giver of life,
bestower of blessing
present in both our brokenness
and in our giving;

we are thankful that we experience Your compassion in the life of Jesus;
in Jesus’ healing friendship,
in Jesus’ feeding of body and soul;
in Jesus’ truth in Your deep and wondrous love.

We are thankful, God, that we can offer to You all or our life experiences, our emotions, our hopes, our fears, our cries and our dreams;

that we can offer them trusting that all of our humanness is enfolded in Your love; and that all life is held in Your grace.

We again offer our prayers, God, for this world and Your creation:

We continue to pray for humans during the continuing time of COVID. We pray for all who are hospitalized with COVID. We pray for all medical personnel providing care. We pray for everyone throughout the world to have access to vaccinations.

We pray for Canada as we prepare for a Federal Election next week. We pray for all candidates, and we pray for all who will elected to lead with wisdom, responsibility, compassion and integrity.

We pray for healing amongst all the people of Canada.

We pray for the healing of this world as the effects of climate change are experienced around the globe. We pray that humans, as individuals and societies, change our practices and lifestyles in order to live in harmony with the rest of Your creation.

We pray for all people dealing with earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and storms.

We pray for peace in the world. We pray for nations to disarm of nuclear weapons. We pray for those in live in places of war and conflict. We pray for the people of Afghanistan, Syria, Yemeni, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea Ethiopia and Sudan.

We pray for all who hunger.  We pray for those whose lives are shaped by poverty. We pray for a world in which the resources of Your creation are shared and distributed justly and equitably.

We pray for all who are coping with illness. We pray for those who grieve.  We pray for them to know Your healing presence and abiding grace.

We pray for hearts to be reborn that we be freed of attitudes, actions and structures grounded in racism, prejudice and oppression.

Open the eyes of our hearts, God, that we may see the world with the eyes of Christ, and might love the world with the heart of Christ.

In Christ’s name we pray. AMEN

 

Our closing hymn is Cheryl and Crystal singing “O God, Send out Your Spirit”:

 

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