Sunday Gathering - May 10

Worship Service – Sunday, May 10, 2020 – Christian Family Sunday  

Gathering

Peace, in the Name of Christ
Welcome to Trinity United Church’s Sunday gathering:
     Worship for a Dispersed Community
Today is Christian Family Sunday and the 5th Sunday after Easter.
Our Worship Leader is Joy Galea.    

Call to Worship            

[you may actually light a candle, if you wish]  

Take a deep breath and let it go.            
     Be present to each other.
Take a deep breath and let it go.            
     Imagine God’s love, a warm light filling you and your prayer partner.
Take a deep breath and let it go.            
     Send love and affection to the person with whom you are worshiping.
Express your appreciation to one another for this time of contact even at a distance.    

Opening Prayer

Generous God, giver of every good and perfect gift, we lift our voices today to express our thanks and praise.
For health and strength in this time of pandemic.
For family and friends even though at a distance.
For our homes that have become so much more than we may have experienced before.
For this church community striving for new ways to worship and celebrate your love together.
Make us deeply aware of your presence today as we worship, in Jesus’ name. Amen    

Reading  

Michah 6:8  

He has showed you, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To seek justice, and love kindness And walk humbly with your God.  

Colossians 2:6-7  

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing in thankfulness.    

Reflection  

Over the last 100 days we have seen hundred (thousands?) of Thank You slogans.  

Thank you to all those who are working in difficult and dangerous times.  

Modelling gratitude is everywhere.  

Our scripture passage from Michah – “What does the Lord requires of you? … ” calls us to act on our Thank You’s as well as say them.  

Expressing our love and gratitude is important and often powerful. Studies show that being thankful, saying the words, also helps us – we who do the thanking!  

On this Christian Family Sunday we would say “Thank You” for our families – in all their forms. It is a challenge to find ways to be thankful as we are distanced from each other, but we are called to thankfulness and gratitude anyway.  

To seek justice, to love kindness and walk humbly with our God is the call of this time.  

To see this outpouring of Thanks across all parts of our society is wonderful. Banging pots at 7pm, posters in windows, chalk on sidewalks, or windows of buildings showing shapes, all reflect how our new reality is expressed.  

We are an Easter people. Let us live our thankfulness.  

Thanks be to God. Amen and amen.    

Prayers of the People  

Creating God, we thank you for the gift that is life: for the changing seasons, for the tiny seeds that in your Holy Mystery become life-sustaining food, cleansed air, beauty to behold, and life itself.
WE THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF LIFE  

Loving God, we thank you for the gift of family, friends and community: those who know us so well that they know when to hold our hand and when to let go. We thank you for those people who journey with us in our times of joy and especially in our times of sorrow.
WE THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF LOVE  

Compassionate God, we thank you for holding us in troubling times. We pray for those who are journeying through illness, awaiting medical diagnosis. We know that we do not journey alone but that you are always with us.
WE THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF COMPASSION  

Challenging God we thank you for writing your low upon our hearts so that we are called to see justice and love kindness. Thank you for moving us to action and challenging us to be your hands and feet in a world so desperately in need of healing.
WE THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF CHALLENGE  

God of all time and place, we thank you for your gifts of life, live compassion and challenge. Help us to know that each small individual action together with another’s can make a difference in the world and make a world of difference. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
WE THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF OUR CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP    

The Disciples Prayer  

Let us join our hearts, minds, and voices together as we pray the prayer Jesus taught his disciples…

Our Father, who art in heaven,            
     hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom 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 kingdom,
     and the power, and the glory,
For ever and ever. Amen.    

Commissioning and Benediction  

Our worship is over, but now our service begins.
We are called to go and live God’s love in the world.
We go in faith and in hope to feed Christ’s sheep and care for Christ’s lambs.
Go in peace, and may the love of God embrace us, the compassion of Christ challenge us, and the Holy Spirit guide us.
[All] Amen  

Announcements and Additional service materials

Giving

•  if you are already on Pre-Authorized Remittance, thank you
• we do ask that you continue to offer your financial support even though we are not meeting face to face, our ministry together continues
• at the very top of the screen you will see a "Donate Now" button. If you click on it, it will lead you to our donation page