Home Church:19th Sunday after Pentecost October 11, 2020 Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church:19th Sunday after Pentecost October 11, 2020 Rev. Karen Hollis

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Preparing the Space Around Us

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! Welcome if you are gathering on zoom or if you are Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! Welcome if you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin. We are one community and all part of the body of Christ. I invite you to prepare the space around you

so that for the next hour you can be fully in this worship experience, not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus us in the midst of it all on God. If you need to go and get something or shift something around you, feel free.

Preparing the Space within Us

We are currently in the Season of Creation that is observed both by the United and Anglican churches. This is a time to reflect on creation and our relationship with it. Our worship during these 5 weeks is be based mostly on Earth Gospel by Sam Hamilton Poore, which outlines a

4 week series of daily readings, reflections, and blessings on this topic. We are observing the following themes: Creation, Wisdom, Humankind’s Vocation, Sin and God’s Recreation, and Sabbath. Now let us prepare the space within us for a time of worship. I invite you to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is with us and within us . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God,

open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship.

Greeting        

Lord, open our lips,   BAS

And our mouth shall proclaim your praise

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;      Thomas Ken, adapt.

praise God, all creatures high and low;

give thanks to God in love made known:

Creator, Word, and Spirit, one.

Opening Prayer    Sam Hamilton-Poore, edited
Sabbath God, grant us grace this day

to rest and remember

that there is nothing we have to do,

nothing we have to buy or sell,

nothing we have to produce or consume

in order to become who we already are:

your beloved creation.

            May your overworked creation

            and those who cannot rest today

            come to know the liberation of your sabbath. Amen

Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Centre  VU #374

1 Come and find the quiet centre
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.

2 Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, face to face,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we're shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.

3 In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other's pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there's a place for deepest dreaming,
there's a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit's lively scheming
there is always room to spare!

Prayer of Confession                                  

Heal in us, O God, our need to work with no end.

Forgive us when we knowingly press through without pausing to bless you and your creation.

Teach us continually to orient our lives to you.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

(Silent Prayer of Confession)

Assurance of Grace Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This grace and peace is a gift, offered freely for you.

Peace of Christ

Christ is with us and in the space between us. 

Let us share the peace he brings!

              The Peace of Christ be with you!

              And also with you!

First Reading: Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Translation by Robert Alter (Mona Smart)

Listen for the word of God to you this morning . . .

Keep the sabbath day to hallow it as the Lord your God has charged you. Six days you shall work and you shall do you tasks, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall do not task, you and your son and your daughter and your male slave and your slavegirl and your ox and your donkey and all your beasts and your sojourner who is within your gates, so that your male slave and your slavegirl may rest like you. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.

One: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

All:   Thanks be to God.           

Psalm 148   Lynn Bauman (Mona Smart)

Hallelujah!

       In truth all things sing you.

       The heights transcendent begin your song.

Heaven, teeming with the life of angels, is a chorus, singing.

The sun, the moon and the vastness of the night sky join the song.

Oceans of stars in infinite space,

       heaven upon heaven in dimensions unknown,

       add to the music, singing.

Each tongue in the multitude of creation

       gives voice to the name of the One

       whose word brought it into being.

For your word is the primal note of the song

that is your life and our becoming.

       You sing and we exist.

Your note lasts from age to age

       and we become stable and sure.

Let everything on earth, then, be a song.

       Sing, creatures of the ocean deep.

Sing, you skies of earth!

       Let lightning and hail, snow and fog,

Rain and raging storm

       be notes in a symphony under the conductor’s hand.

Sing mountains and hills,

       fruit trees and cedars,

Wild beasts and domestic kind,

       creeping things and winged birds,

Rulers of earth and all of its peoples,

       kings and queens,

       presidents and emperors,

Young men and maidens

       old and young alike.

Let us stand together in a chorus of song,

       and let the melodies rise from our throats

In praise to the One whose beauty and splendor

       fill heaven and earth.

For singing is our strength,

       and every creature serves only in song.

And each child of God is invited near,

       to the center of the singing forever. Hallelujah!

Gospel Reading    (Owen McCooey)

One:      God be with you.       

All:        And also with you

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Luke

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 13:10-17   NRSV

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection:     Sabbath  Rev Karen Hollis     (see attached)           

Silent Reflection

Song: Deep Peace Celtic blessing music by Bill Douglas recording by Simon DeVoil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTnR4waeNyo

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the son of peace to you

A New Creed: Let us affirm our faith . . .

We are not alone,
    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:
    who has created and is creating,
    who has come in Jesus,
       the Word made flesh,
       to reconcile and make new,
    who works in us and others
       by the Spirit.

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church:
    to celebrate God’s presence,
    to live with respect in Creation,
    to love and serve others,
    to seek justice and resist evil,
    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

Prayers of the People - Susan Brockley (see attached)                   

One:    Loving God,

All:      Hear Our Prayer

Lord’s Prayer     New Zealand Prayer Book – Jim Cotter

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all

that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all,      Loving God, in whom is heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. in the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever. Amen

Offering    (Don Butt)

Let us pray . . .

God we pray in gratitude for how specifically you love and speak to each of us. Thank you for moments connection and learning, for the learning that endures and guides our lives. Thank you for drawing us into community, where we embody your teaching and together grow deeper roots in you. Amen.

Animal Blessing

We give thanks for animals make their home in the skies, land and sea,

for animals share in the life of the planet and are crucial to the larger ecosystem.

We give thanks for the animals who provide us food and clothing, and we pray that they enjoy good lives and are treated with dignity and respect.

We give thanks for animals who have jobs, like carrying, guiding, protecting, herding and sniffing.

God created humans and animals not only to coexist but to be companions and friends. We give thanks for each day with them and for the mutual blessing we enjoy.

We remember animals who would benefit from human companionship and a comfortable home, but are not so lucky; we pray for their well being.

We pray for animals who are missing from their homes and leave us worried and wondering.

We give thanks for beloved animals who have passed on. Even in our grief, we’re grateful for our time together.

God of all creation, we ask your blessing on all animals and the habitats that sustain them. Help us to protect and support balance in the world through our lifestyles and good choices.

Connect with your animal companion(s) for the final blessing.

We ask your blessing on our animal companions, who teach us about gratitude, play, and giving and receiving love; we pray for their health and strength that they may thrive. Bless our relationships that your love may be known between us.  We pray in the name of Jesus through whom all of creation came into being. Amen

One:  Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:   Thanks be to God! Alleluia!