BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH
CREATION TIME 5 / THANKSGIVING SUNDAY
ALL-AGES WORSHIP SERVICE
October 10, 2021
The video recording of this service can be found here.
You can also dial-in by phone to listen to the audio recording at 613-820-8104.
Gathering Music: Touch the Earth Lightly VU 307
(Words: Shirley Erena Murray, 1991; Music: Colin Gibson, 1991)
1 Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care;
gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,
trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
2 We who endanger, who create hunger,
agents of death for all creatures that live,
we who would foster clouds of disaster,
God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
3 Let there be greening, birth from the burning,
water that blesses and air that is sweet,
health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children,
regeneration that peace will complete.
4 God of all living, God of all loving,
God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,
Teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us,
Using us gently and making us one.
Welcome & Centering for Worship Rev. Kim Vidal
Good day everyone! On behalf of BCUC, I welcome and greet you in the name of Jesus Christ on this Fifth Sunday of Creation Time in the Season of Pentecost. Today, we are celebrating Thanksgiving Sunday. Wherever you are, whether you are joining us via online, or onsite, or even reading the printed text of the service in the comfort of your homes, we are glad that you have joined us today.
We continue worshipping in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings at 10 am with a maximum number of 50 people. Due to the Covid variants that continue to pause some health threats to the community, the Public Health recommends staying at home, but if you wish to attend the service, you are most welcome. As a faith community called to love and serve others, let us be mindful of the health protocols such as masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. It is also highly recommended to get vaccinated as one of the best precautionary measures to protect yourself and others.
During this time of pandemic, the work of the church carries on. Please take time to keep in touch with each other through prayers, phone calls, emails or via Zoom. Check also the many announcements on our website including Sunday School resources for your children at bcuc.org to keep you informed and give you opportunities to respond.
Friends, on this Thanksgiving Sunday, we come with grateful hearts, not just for all the blessings that we have received, but for who God is within us. We gather now in worship to show our gratitude in song, in word and in prayer.
Lighting of the Christ Candle Acolytes: Amelia & Georgia Baynes
The Light of Christ brings hope.
It is the Light of Life and Love.
A beacon of Creation fire.
Let us give thanks for the Light
That shines for all of us!
Call to Gather[1] Rev. Lorrie Lowes
We gather this morning to celebrate the Harvest Home!
We are surrounded by the beauty and bounty of the earth.
We gather with hearts filled with gratitude as our senses take in all that we’ve received;
the warm embrace of our church family;
the sight of produce fresh from garden, orchard and field;
the aroma of roast turkey and fresh baked pumpkin pie;
the sound of wild geese overhead and the crush of leaves beneath our feet;
the expectation of a feast awaits us.
For the bountiful blessings, in praise and thanksgiving,
Let us gather as friends and neighbours.
Embodied Echo Prayer [2] Berard Family
Please repeat after me…
Holy God,
you were with us when we were born,
you are with us as we grow,
you are with us when we hurt,
you are with us when we are whole.
Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!
Would you help us to see?
Would you help us to hear?
Would you help us to love?
So we might change ourselves.
So we might change the world! Amen.
Hymn: This is the Day that God Has Made MV 122 (English & French)
(Words & Music: Bruce Harding, 2003; French trans. David Fines, 2005)
1 This is the day that God has made; we will rejoice and be glad!
This is the day that God has made; we will rejoice and be glad!
Singing hallelu, singing hallelu, singing hallelu!
We will rejoice and be glad!
Singing hallelu, singing hallelu, singing hallelu!
We will rejoice and be glad!
2 Voici le jour que Dieu a fait; nous le vivrons dans la joie.
Voici le jour que Dieu a fait; nous le vivrons dans la joie.
Chantant Al-le-lu! (3x); nous le vivrons dans la joie
Chantant Al-le-lu! (3x); nous le vivrons dans la joie.
Repeat 1
Storytime Rev. Lorrie
“The Secret of Saying Thanks” written by Douglas Wood and illustrated by Greg Shed, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2005.
From the cover flap:
“Perhaps you’d like to know a secret, one of the happiest ones of all. You will surely find it for yourself one day. You’ll discover it all on your own, maybe when you least expect it. If you’ve not yet discovered the secret of saying thanks, it’s waiting for you. The secret can be found in the sunrise that offers promises for the day ahead, or in the gentle shade of a tree sheltering you from the hot rays of the sun, or on the rock that offers rest from a long walk. In the inspirational text that made him a bestselling, internationally acclaimed author, Douglas Wood offers a spiritual homage to nature, home, and family. Greg Shed’s stunning portraits of the natural world tenderly portray all of the many ways in which we can say thanks for the wonders we sometimes take for granted in life.”
Here is the secret if you’ve not already guessed it…
“The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time… We don’t give thanks because we’re happy. We are happy because we give thanks.”
Hymn: Ev’ry Day is a Day of Thanksgiving MV 185
(Words & Music: Leonard Burks)
Ev’ry day is a day of thanksgiving, God,
you’ve been so good to me.
Ev’ry day you’re blessing me.
Ev’ry day is a day of thanksgiving.
I will glorify you, O my Lord, today!
Repeat
You keep blessing me, blessing me, blessing me.
You opened the door that I might see,
you’re blessing me.
And you keep blessing me, blessing me, blessing me.
I will glorify you, O my Lord, today!
Prayer for Illumination[3] Reader: Ruth Howes
Without the guidance of your Spirit, O God,
your Word would be mere words on a page, tales of long ago.
Inspire our hearing and quicken our faith,
so that your Word may become a message from you. Amen.
The Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:25-33 (NRSV)
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
May the Light of Christ dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “Thanks-Giving, Thanks-Living!” Rev. Kim
Gracious God, thank you for the gift of your Word being opened to us in our hearing today. As we reflect on your Word, open our hearts and our minds to listen to them with understanding. Amen.
In an anxious-driven, worry-wart world, we are sometimes comforted by popular songs that make us shun away from the worries of the day. In the movie Lion King, for instance, there is a song called Hakuna Matata, which literally means “do not worry for the rest of your days!” Another song called “Don’t Worry Be Happy” popularized by Bob McFerrin in the late ‘80s has a light-hearted fun to it which makes the song unforgettable. “Don't worry. Be happy. Cause when you worry your face will frown, and that will bring everybody down.”
While it’s true that these songs do not exactly convey the same sentiment that Jesus expresses in today’s gospel reading, they offer us a kind of wisdom that life is much brighter when we stop worrying and get on with life. I think we can all agree that everyone is worried about something. The sad truth is – there are still millions in the world, particularly those in third world countries who live below poverty line. They worry about the basic necessities of life – food, shelter, clothing, safety, health, education.
In Canada where we live, we may not worry so much about what we will eat or wear, as many did in Jesus' time. The first century Jewish people were under an oppressive regime that condoned poverty, illiteracy and social injustices - a society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The poor peasants worry about the next food on the table or clothes to protect them from the harsh scorching sun or to keep them warm at cold nights. The rich worry about their lands and animals and whatever property they own. Will the Roman rulers seize their properties if they could not pay their taxes? Will they be killed for fighting for their rights? Were they risking their lives when they follow the Rabbi Jesus?
Today, we may have different worries from those of Jesus’ time, but we worry all the same. I once read an article as to what an average person's anxiety is focused on. Results show that 40% are about things that will never happen; 30% -- about things in the past that can't be changed; 12% -- about criticisms by others, mostly untrue; 10% -- about health, which gets worse with stress; and 8% -- about real problems that will be faced.
We worry about the COVID pandemic. When will this pandemic ease up on us? We worry about our health and those we love. What will the test results show? When will I get better? Will I make it to retirement, to see my children's children, or even another year on this earth? We worry about relationships. We worry about what people think about us. Will they like me or hate me? Will they remember me? Will I fit in the circle? I often observe that parents, love to worry about their children. Will they be safe, successful, and financially stable? Will they get into the right school, get the right job, marry the right person (and stay married)? Will they have children and will those children ever learn to behave? Will our kids keep the faith, go to church and treasure the values we raised them with, or will they go their own way? Some of us are worried about getting old and being fragile.
We worry about ongoing wars, or political upheavals in the world – of terrorism and the threats of those who would harm Canadians abroad or at home. We worry about natural disasters that disturb our quiet stability or even take the lives of people.
Some of us worry about our congregation – how we will get everything done around here in this pandemic time with finances tight and expenses getting higher? And some of us might even worry about our faith in God. Will God continue to be present in my life despite my shortcomings? Will I have to answer for those unpleasant things I have done or unkind words that I said?
Yes, we could go on and on about our worries and they never seem to end. Worry comes in many flavours, shapes and sizes. And sometimes we make the mistake of masking them by saying “Oh, I'm not worried, I'm just concerned”. Sometimes we tend to rationalize things in order to justify our anxious state. Here is where worrying would take its toll. If we allow the worries in this life to take charge of us, we would not have time for anything else. Life can be stressful and may not be worry-free, but I believe there is a better alternative than unwarranted worrying. How many of us realize that worrying leads to fruitless results and wasteful use of time and energy? Walter Kelly writes: “Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat...worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles.”
Jesus asked the same question: “And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” I think Jesus is trying to point us to the heart of the question of worry. Do we trust God? Do we trust God to provide for our daily needs? Do we trust God to hold us in times of uncertainties and seemingly hopeless situations? Do we rely on God’s grace to journey with us through life?
In order to understand his argument why we should not worry, Jesus points us to nature and uses two examples: the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. What we see when we look at the birds is not a lesson on laziness or waiting for their food to come. They still dig their worms and hunt for bugs and pad their nests with twigs and leaves. They fly from yards to forests, finding seeds from bird feeders, or from trees or from the earth. But Matthew’s Jesus says it is God that feeds them. It is God that provides for their needs. Birds are birds and yet they go about their work not worrying when the sun comes up tomorrow. Look at the lilies of the field; which have no will of their own to labour and spin, they don’t lie awake at night fretting over which pair of slacks would go best with a red sweater. Again, Jesus claims God takes care of them. If God delights in adorning grass like lilies, that's here today and gone tomorrow, then surely God will look after our human needs.
What then should we do when worries attack us? Should we just sit down and do nothing? Some of us understand this text as an excuse for taking little or no responsibility for one’s life, that we should just completely trust God to provide everything we need as we sit tight and become idle. Yet, as one Bible commentator notes, the challenge to trust in God does “not exclude working and having property. The words are directed to people involved with sowing, reaping, storing in barns, toiling, and spinning, but who are called to see that their life is not obsessed with these things.” (from The New Interpreter’s Bible). Our culture is anxiety-driven, it keeps people consuming, it keeps us busy, competitive, grasping at too much power, and to sustain in our belief system that having control and wealth makes one successful in life. With these weighing on our hearts and minds, our priorities can lead to further anxieties about whether we will have enough or be enough. It follows that the more worried we are, the less loving we can be; and the less loving we are, the less satisfied and thankful we’ll be for what we already have and who we already are. Jesus is teaching us to move away from obsessions that create and sustain chronic acute worrying.
We are not birds or lilies. We are God’s human family. The birds and lilies have taught us that God can be counted on to provide for us and does so abundantly. Through God’s grace, we are given daily bread, roof over our heads, not to mention family and friends, fresh air, the warmth of the sun, land, animals and all of creation. I believe that God uses others and human situations to lead us to opportunities in making our lives far better and enriching; providing comfort when we are scared. God enters our lives though others with inspirational nudges, with power to cope, with the will to make wise choices and with comforting and healing grace.
On this Thanksgiving Sunday, let this prayer inspire us: “I thank you, God, for waking me up this morning.” Waking up to a new day provides us with new possibilities and adventures, for giving thanks and for living a life of gratitude. When we give thanks and live thanks, we trust that even in the wilderness, there is a wellspring of fresh water and bread for the journey. St. Brigid, who embodied the Divine Feminine in Celtic spirituality, teaches us that gratitude is grounded in appreciation and sharing. Our abundance does not fully belong to us; it is intended to uplift the vulnerable in our midst and delight the spirit of those whom we encounter, sharing our abundance in response to the abundance we receive. In the world St. Brigid imagines, everyone has enough because everyone is willing to share with their neighbour. This is the lesson that Jesus taught his followers to rely on God’s providence, not to worry, but to have a grateful heart. “Being thankful makes sense”, says Melody Beattie. “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Instead of worrying, let us give thanks instead. Give thanks and live thanks! Live faithfully. Trust in God. Let me close with this prayer written by St. Brigid:
“I should like a lake of finest ale, for the king of kings. I should like a table of the choicest food, for the family of heaven. Let the ale be made from the fruits of the earth, And the food be forgiving love. I should welcome the poor to my feast, for they are God’s children. I should welcome the sick to my feast, for they are God’s joy. Let the poor sit with Jesus at the highest place. And the sick dance with the angels. God bless the poor, God bless the sick, And bless our human race. God bless our food, God bless our drink, all homes, O God, embrace.” Amen.
A Prayer of Thanksgiving & the Lord’s Prayer: “Choose Thanks”[4] Rev. Kim
God, there are days we do not feel grateful.
When we are anxious or angry. When we feel alone.
When we do not understand what is happening in the world or with our neighbors.
When the news is bleak, confusing. God, we struggle to feel grateful.
But this Thanksgiving, we choose gratitude.
We choose to accept life as a gift from you,
and as a gift from the unfolding work of all creation.
We choose to be grateful for the earth from which our food comes;
for the water that gives life; and for the air we all breathe.
We choose to thank our ancestors, those who came before us,
grateful for their stories and struggles,
and we receive their wisdom as a continuing gift for today.
We choose to see our families and friends with new eyes,
appreciating and accepting them for who they are.
We are thankful for our homes, whether humble or grand.
We will be grateful for our neighbours, no matter how they voted,
whatever our differences, or how much we feel hurt or misunderstood by them.
We choose to see the whole planet as our shared commons,
the stage of the future of humankind and creation.
God, this Thanksgiving, we do not give thanks.
We choose it. We will make this choice of thanks with courageous hearts,
knowing that it is humbling to say “thank you.”
We choose to see your sacred generosity,
aware that we live in an infinite circle of gratitude.
That we all are guests at a hospitable table around
which gifts are passed and received.
We will not let anything opposed to love take over this table.
Instead, we choose grace, free and unmerited love,
the giftedness of life everywhere.
In this choosing, and in the making, we will pass gratitude onto the world.
We choose thanks. Amen.
We ask this prayer of thanksgiving in the name of Jesus Christ who gave thanks and lived thanks and taught his disciples this prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kin-dom 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 kin-dom, the power and the glory,
Forever and ever, Amen.
Invitation to Offer Rev. Kim
In this season of harvest and plenty when we are grateful for God’s amazing bounty, we are called to share the gifts we have been given with others. Time, talents, and treasures are all wonderful ways to further the mission of this church and the building of God’s kin-dom in the world. If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the mailbox by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.
Offertory Prayer
Fill us with gratitude, O God. From you, all blessings flow.
To you, all gratitude shall return. Empower us, as a gracious people,
overflowing with compassion and love, to shape our lives and the world for good. Amen.
Sending Forth[5] Rev. Lorrie
Let us leave this time and place of worship
remembering God’s goodness to us:
a goodness known in Creation, in relationships.
Let us commit ourselves to lives of thanksgiving and thanks-living,
remembering that when we are simply grateful, life is simply great!
Let us go now with smiles on our faces,
with joy in our hearts,
with purpose and in kindness,
To be God’s people in all the places life calls us to be.
May you go forth in peace. Amen
Hymn: Sing to the Lord of Harvest VU 519
(Words: John Samuel Bewley Monsell,1866; Music: Johann Steurlein, 1575, harm. Healey Willan, 1958)
1 Sing to the Lord of harvest,
sing songs of love and praise,
with joyful hearts and voices
your hallelujahs raise;
by whom the rolling seasons
in fruitful order move;
sing to the Lord of harvest
a joyous song of love.
2 God makes the clouds drop fatness,
the deserts bloom and spring,
the hills leap up in gladness,
the valleys laugh and sing.
God fills them all with fullness,
all things with large increase;
and crowns the year with goodness,
with plenty and with peace.
3 Bring to this sacred altar
all things God's goodness gave,
the golden sheaves of harvest,
the souls Christ died to save:
your hearts lay down before him
when at his feet you fall,
and with your lives adore him
who gave his life for all.
Departing Music: Great is the Lord (Michael W. Smith)
Monthly Zoom Fellowship – No Zoom meeting today. Join us on October 17, 2021 at 11 am.
[1] Phil Hobbs, Gathering, Pentecost 2, 2016.
[2] Whole People of God, October 4, 2015.
[3] Inspired by the prayer of Beth W. Johnson, Gathering, Pentecost 2, Year C, 2013, Used with permission.
[4] Diana Butler Bass
[5] Bob Root, Gathering, Pentecost 2, 2018. Used with permission.