Bulletin – Sunday, October 9, 2022 – Thanksgiving Sunday

Sunday, October 9, 2022
Thanksgiving Sunday

Approach

Lighting the Christ Candle

As we light this candle today let the flame from it enrich our lives, let the flame from it illuminate our lives on this day, this Thanksgiving Day. As we come together today, within the light of this candle let us enter this time in gratitude, let it stir and strengthen us, O God. Let it draw us goodness and hold us there…There, where your Spirit sings, “Go define love and thanksgiving today,” and let our hearts choose to rise to the occasion. Amen.

Call to Worship

Voice One:    Praise God with our whole heart!

Voice Two:    Give thanks to your name for your steadfast love!

Voice Three: Let us bow before God’s presence and respond to God’s calling: “Share My Abundance!”

Opening Prayer

One:   Holy One, in the beginning, you created all things and called them good.
All:      As we begin our service of thanksgiving we humbly present these symbols before you.

One:   In our use of them, help us see you, hear you, touch you,
All:      and taste how good you are. Amen.

Hymn – “We Praise You, O God”

We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
We lay it before you, we kneel and adore you;
We bless your holy name, glad praises we sing.

We worship you, God of our mothers and fathers,
Through trial and tempest, companion and guide.
When perils o’ertake us, you will not forsake us,
But faithful to your promise, you walk by our side.

With voices united our praises we offer
And gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.
Our sins now confessing, we pray for your blessing,
To you, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!

Time for All Ages

Prayer of Confession

O Maker of hands and feet, how often we forget in worship that we can use our body and our senses to honour you. Creator of all things, how often we indulge in material things, failing to respect your other forms of abundance. Forgive our forgetfulness and failure…Creator of all, orient us again to turn to you. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Hymn – “Grateful”

Grateful for the life you give us, thankful for your Holy Son,
Joyful in your Spirit flowing over all, O God of Love.
Grateful for the Bread of heaven, thankful for your Holy Word,
Joyful in your mercy flowing, we will praise you.

You are more than we imagine, Ancient, Holy, Living Lord.
Even when we doubt your presence you are faithful to your Word.

Grateful for the life you give us, thankful for your Holy Son,
Joyful in your Spirit flowing over all, O God of Love.
Grateful for the Bread of Heaven, thankful for your Holy Word,
Joyful in your mercy flowing, we will praise you.

May our live proclaim your justice, may our voices sing your praise.
May our hands work in your service to the glory of your name.

Grateful for the life you give us, thankful for your Holy Son,
Joyful in your Spirit flowing over all, O God of Love.
Grateful for the Bread of Heaven, thankful for your Holy Word,
Joyful in your mercy flowing, we will praise you.

The Word

Scripture Reading:           The Song of Songs 1

¹ The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. ² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine, ³ your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is perfume poured out; therefore the maidens love you. ⁴ Draw me after you, let us make haste. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. ⁵ I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. ⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed on me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! ⁷ Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions? ⁸ If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow the tracks of the flock, and pasture your kids beside the shepherds’ tents. ⁹ I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. ¹⁰ Your cheeks are comely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. ¹¹ We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with silver. ¹² While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance. ¹³ My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts. ¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi. ¹⁵ Ah, you are beautiful, my love; ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves. ¹⁶ Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly lovely. Our couch is green; ¹⁷ the beams of our house are cedar, our rafters are pine.

Scripture Reading:           Hebrews 13:1-16

¹ Let mutual love continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. ³ Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. ⁴ Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. ⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” ⁶ So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

⁷ Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. ¹¹ For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. ¹² Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. ¹³ Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. ¹⁴ For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. ¹⁵ Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. ¹⁶ Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!

Meditation – “Abundant Thanks”

Anthem – “Find in Me a Thankful Heart”

Offering / Response

Grant us, God, the grace of giving,
With a spirit large and free,
That ourselves and all our living
We may offer faithfully.

The Response

Prayers of the People

One:   In the beginning God, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands (Hebrews 1:10).

One:   The orange Sun powerfully beaming out is colour of harvest celebrates you creation. The silver Moon gently soothing the last burst of summer life also praises you.

One:   We, therefore, join their praise for your warmth and care reflected upon the painting in the sky.

One:   We give thanks to you for all your glories and for our life of abundance.

One:   We acknowledge before you now your yearning for us to share this abundant life as we reach out in prayer to those who cannot celebrate these gifts because of war, poverty, and violence. We name these people now in silence or aloud…
All:      Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison. Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.

One:   We also pray for those places in creation where want, need, and danger are present. We name them now in silence
All:      Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison. Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.

One:   God, our lover and our everlasting companion, accept this prayer of concern and thanksgiving. Help us to continue in mutual love with you and with our neighbours. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ; remember him, we pray.
All:      Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be 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 them that 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, forever and ever. Amen.

Hymn – “For the Fruit of All Creation”

For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God.
For the gifts to every nation, thanks be to God.
For the ploughing, sowing, reaping,
Silent growth while we are sleeping,
Future needs in earth’s safekeeping, thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labour, God’s will is done.
In the help we give our neighbour, God’s will is done.
In our world-wide task of caring for the hungry and despairing,
In the harvests we are sharing, God’s will is done.

For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us,
Most of all that love has found us, thanks be to God.

Benediction

Go from this place with thankful hearts and joyful senses, and let us continue to share earth’s gifts—abundantly!

Response “Sent Out in Jesus’ Name

Sent out in Jesus’ name, our hands are ready now
To make the world the place in which the kingdom comes.
Sent out in Jesus’ name, our hands are ready now
To make the world the place in which the kingdom comes.

The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain
Into a world of love, of justice and of peace.
The task is ours to do, to set it really free.
O, help us to obey, and carry out your will.

Sent out in Jesus’ name, our hands are ready now
To make the world the place in which the kingdom comes.
Sent out in Jesus’ name, our hands are ready now
To make the world the place in which the kingdom comes.