Thanksgiving at Home

We had hoped to be able to gather for in person worship in the Sanctuary of TMUC this Sunday.  As you know, the Church Council decided that trying to gather in a time of Code Orange was not wise.  It will happen another time.

In the meantime, our Building and Property team has been part of a critical project to change the Sanctuary lights.  The original wiring needed to be replaced – a few fraying spots had made it a fire hazard.  Here is a glimpse of their share of ministry in action:

When we are able to be together, we will be in a place with new and safe lights.  Thanks to everyone for their work and support of this important project!

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.  If you are not on the ZOOM, please consider following the Communion Service at home, or 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.

Once each week, the Prayer List will arrive in the ‘Inbox’ of those who want to read the names of those we know need and want our prayers.  If you want to add a name to the weekly Prayer List, please do – ask for a person’s permission if you are adding their last name – and let us know by sending a note to tmuc@shaw.ca  And, if you want to receive the list, please be in touch with that request as well.

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.

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Worship for Sunday, October 11, 2020

We come to worship with the first verse of ‘Come Touch Our Hearts’

We gather together although we are apart.
We gather in community although we are alone.
We gather asking for God’s blessing on our lives, and on our world.
We gather knowing God is with us.

 

Our opening hymn is ‘All Creatures of Our God and King’  
(Please be patient with this link – it begins after 30 seconds of a blank screen but it is completely worth the wait!)

 

Esther and Emmett talk about Thanksgiving.

Printable Version
Esther & Emmett_October 11

 

For Thanksgiving, Annette and her son-in-law Corey share ‘Come You Thankful People Come’:

 

Matthew 22:1-14

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.
He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.

Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’

But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.

The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’

Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

For many are called, but few are chosen.”

 

Jeff offers a reflection:

Printable Version
Reflection_October 11

 

Let us pray:

God,
…holy
…sacred
…divine
…eternal

God,
…of soil
…mineral
…air
…water
…vegetation
God of all creatures
God of all creation

We worship You in thanksgiving

We are thankful for Life
For a world blessed with beauty and with the bounty of harvests to be reaped and to be shared

For a world that has birthed and sustained such a diversity of life

We are thankful for Your Spirit around, amongst and within Your creation

We are thankful for the Christ-spirit embodied in Jesus – healer, peacemaker, prophet of forgiveness and compassion.

We are thankful, God, for all who shape communities of caring friendship, reconciling justice and healing hope.

On this day of offering You thanks, God, we also offer our prayers for the sufferings in this world.

We pray for all who grieve – grieve the death of a loved one, grieve a loss of employment, grieve the ending of relationships, grieve being unable to be with family and friends during this COVID time, grieve the losses in their lives.

We pray for the refugees throughout the world; for all who daily must seek shelter and a place of welcome; for all who struggle to obtain food, medical care or safe community.

We pray for peace.

We pray for the healing of creation. We pray for the healing of human attitudes and fears, so that we learn to live as caring and wise companions of the rest of Creation.

We pray for those in places of fires, floods, storms and drought.

We pray for all who seek a world of just relations, affirming relations, and loving relations.

We pray, God, that we be a thankful people – appreciative, affirming, faith-embodied and hope-filled people.

We pray in the name and spirit of Jesus the Christ. AMEN

 

Our closing hymn is ‘Grateful’

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