MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY
ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2024
TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
CREATION TIME 5
WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY
Due to copyright limitations, we are unable to print the words to many of the songs. However, our musicians have chosen music to fit the scriptures. We invite you to look up the words in your worship book and ponder them. If you do not have a worship book, ponder the words of one of your favourite hymns and listen for God’s voice. Those who have the internet may find the songs on YouTube.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
~Margaret Mead
Before we worship, we reflect…
The second creation account in Genesis emphasizes human need for relationship. God says, “It is not good that should be alone” (2:18). So God forms animals—implying that we are made to be in relationship with nonhuman beings too. And it is a close relationship: Adam names the animals, much as a parent names a child. While we often focus on the human relationships in this story, our relationship to nonhuman creation is also sacred. This context is important in pondering Jesus’ teaching on divorce; while the religious leaders ask about relationships between spouses, Jesus emphasizes oneness in relationship broadly. And yet, we too often live separated—even divorced—from our human and nonhuman companions. This is not the life God desires for us.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & PRAYER
We acknowledge we gather and worship on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Anishininew, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Creator God we live and love imperfectly. You called us to love our neighbour as ourselves but collectively we have not, and individually we fall short. We say all people reflect your image but our actions betray what we say. For those of us living with pain or grief caused by racism and colonialism, we ask you for healing and strength. For those of us living with privilege and wondering what to do, we ask for the strength to learn, to listen, and to work to end systems that oppress. As you came to set captives free, free us all from those ways of thinking, speaking and acting that belittle or harm any of your beloved creations and show us again how to live in your love. Let us work for reconciliation. Amen.[1]
CALL TO WORSHIP
Welcome in the name of the Christ.
Welcome to this place of worship.
Welcome to this place of blessing, this space of grace, and this holy sanctuary.
We gather this morning to share in the Word, the Cup, and the Bread and to receive God’s deepest blessing that we might in turn be blessing to others.
So, be welcome.
Be blessed.
Be.[2]
GATHERING SONG: More Voices 1 Let Us Build A House
CENTERING PRAYER
Holy and gracious God, we gather as seekers, lovers, disciples, and friends. We gather to give you thanks for the blessings of our lives and to replenish and refuel for the road ahead. We gather to learn the wisdom of your way and feel the warmth of your love. Bless this gathering as we join together in wholehearted worship. Amen.
MISSION AND SERVICE: Our Journey towards Becoming an Anti-Racist Church
From October 15 to November 26, 2024, the 40 Days of Engagement on Anti-Racism program offers daily and weekly opportunities for learning, reflection, and action.
This year, dynamic speakers will be offering live events each Tuesday of the 40 Days at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Small study groups will accompany each event, giving learners and leaders the opportunity to explore the content more deeply.
The program, designed to move people through a journey towards becoming anti-racist, offers an opportunity for participants within the United Church and beyond to engage in learning and develop their faith.
Written reflections explore internalized racism, systemic racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and more. The readings encourage deep, thought-provoking discussion for both individuals and communities of faith.
The United Church of Canada has committed to becoming an anti-racist denomination, and this work is an ongoing journey for everyone. Your Mission and Service gifts support expanding this crucial initiative each year.
CHILDREN’S CHAT
Suppose you saw someone hurting a puppy. What would you do? You want to save the puppy, yet you don’t want the person to hurt you too! Helping can be tricky. Sometimes your body just leaps in before your brain realizes what you are doing!
We would say the puppy is ‘vulnerable’. It is a word that means the puppy is helpless and it is easy for it to be attacked and hurt by others.
Children are vulnerable as well. Babies have to rely on grownups for everything. A toddler can’t look after itself either. Even young children, who could probably make themselves something to eat and get dressed, they don’t work, so without parents, they would be living on the street.
Words also hurt people, perhaps in some ways more than fists do. Names that people call us can hurt us for years, especially if we believe them.
Jesus cares for all vulnerable people. He taught his disciples that EVERYONE matters. Jesus taught his disciples to help people in need. He taught his disciples that it wasn’t always easy, or convenient, when helping others. They were to help others anyway.
If we can’t help someone by ourselves, we can get help from others to work with us. It is always good to ask for help if a situation is too dangerous. That is what a community is all about!
Listen for Jesus’ voice. He will let you know who needs his love.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Holy One, as we listen once more to the wisdom of your Word, may we be fed both in mind and body. Help us open to your revelation of love and to receive your blessing with grace. Amen.
READINGS AND PSALM
First Reading: Genesis 2:18-24
Genesis 2 stresses that people are not meant to live in isolation but in relationship. Out of love for humanity, God creates them male and female, to provide companionship for each other and to become with each other “one flesh.” The Hebrew words used here are ish (man) and ishshah (woman).
18The Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.”
24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Psalm 8
1O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!—
2you whose glory is chanted above the heavens out of the mouths of infants and children; you have set up a fortress against your enemies, to silence the foe and avenger.
3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
4what are mere mortals that you should be mindful of them, human beings that you should care for them?
5Yet you have made them little less than divine; with glory and honor you crown them.
6You have made them rule over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet:
7all flocks and cattle, even the wild beasts of the field,
8the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
9O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Second Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Quoting from the psalms, this passage from Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus, the one through whom God created everything and who sits at God’s right hand, is also the one who experienced human suffering and death in order to blaze the path of salvation for us.
1Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
2:5Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere,
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?
7You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8subjecting all things under their feet.”
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12saying,
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
Jesus announced and enacted in history the new reality of God’s surprising activity. These two stories demonstrate this new reality: Women and children are accepted and valued, not dismissed as inferior to adult men.
2Some Pharisees came, and to test they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
13People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
HYMN: Voices United 365 Jesus Loves Me
SERMON: Wisdom to Wonder and Share – Based on Psalm 104, from the United Church website
Psalm 104 paints a picture. You can imagine the canvas being filled in as it moves along: the waters flowing through the mountains and the valleys; teams of fish swimming in it; animals drinking off to the side; the birds singing while they circle and make nests; the cattle in the distance grazing; trees providing shade; a sunset; people working together peacefully, making wine, bread, and oil.
The scene is so picturesque, so perfect that the psalmist’s heart is stirred. “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live” (v. 33), he declares.
Surely, we’ve all had such heart-stirring moments. Canoeing in the impossibly blue water of Moraine Lake in Alberta was one of those times for me. Getting a first glimpse of Stonehenge was another. Visiting Mississagi Lighthouse in Meldrum Bay another. So many times I’ve looked at God’s good creation and my heart has been blown away—or blown open.
In his writings, Plato said that contemplating and wondering at the cosmos leads the soul to God because all of creation is a reflection of the beauty of the Divine. When we wonder at creation and are charged with the glory of God through it, our soul transcends time and space. We are totally present to the moment. Wonder transports us to the deep.
“Teach Me, God, to Wonder” (VU 299), the song goes.
Wonder is a portal to the Divine. Maybe that’s why Jesus talked about the extraordinariness of seemingly ordinary things. Why he took bread and turned it into communion. Why he took fish and turned it into revelation. Why he took a cross and turned it into redemption. Why he took a child—and all of the wide-eyed amazement that filled the child—onto his knee and said “For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19: 14). Why he gathered a group of people like you and me together and called us disciples.
Teach me, God, to wonder. That’s my prayer.
Yearning to wonder for me isn’t escapist. It’s not about escaping my inbox, my to-do list, my housekeeping. Sigh. It’s about being faithful. I want to wonder so that I can be more engaged. How can any of us love something we don’t wonder about? We are never moved to care about something we keep at arm’s length.
Psalm 104 not only wonders at the creativity of God but it connects God’s creativity with our own ability to be creative. The psalm says that God causes the plants to grow and we cultivate them. We make the wine and bread and oil. It’s a team effort. We are united with God in a mission to cultivate the wonder. To ensure the world is wonder-full. To resist diminishing wonder by putting a price on it, restricting it, harming it, polluting it.
Teach us God, to wonder.
When we join with God’s mission in our personal lives, together as a congregation and as a worldwide church, we are saying that the beauty, bounty, and peace in the picture Psalm 104 paints—the waters flowing through the mountains and the valleys, the teams of fish swimming, the animals drinking off to the side, the birds singing while they circle, the cattle in the distance grazing, the people working together making bread and oil—is for everyone.
Over the next few weeks we are going to contemplate wisdom on the journey and what it means to live a meaningful, God-filled life. We are going to listen to the wisdom of the Psalms, those great Psalms that have accompanied us for hundreds of years.
Why? Because Psalm 104 and the others we are going to hear aren’t just quaint words we can imagine hung on a wall. They represent a vision for our lives and for the world.
God’s wonder is for everyone. Teach us, God, to wonder.
Verse 31 of Psalm 104 reads: “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works.”
You get the sense here of how deeply the psalmist longs for God, the divine artist, to sit back from the canvas of the world and say “Yes! This is how I envisioned it. Yes! It is good. It is very good.”
On the seventh day, the story goes, God rested. But then what? Well, we know how artists roll. Michelangelo didn’t stop at the Pieta. He went on to create David. After Da Vinci’s Last Supper there was the Mona Lisa.
Artists never stop creating. It’s in their bones.
Likewise, God never stops creating. God’s spirit beckons us into other wonder-filled visions of the world. Dreams of lions lying down with lambs, of promised lands, of a new heaven and new earth. Wonder upon wonder to stir our hearts.
Allow yourself to be wonder-struck. Allow your heart to be stirred by the beauty of God. Allow your wonder to transport you to the deep places where the waters of mission baptize, cleanse, and refresh you to live your mission.
Let God teach you to wonder.
There’s wonder to realize. Wonder to actualize. Wonder to share.
There’s wisdom in the sharing. Amen.
HYMN OF THE MONTH: Voices United 307 Touch The Earth Lightly
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Challenged by God’s Word in Christ, let us pray for the church, the world, and the whole creation.
God of our ancestors, we give thanks for the church in all times. May we listen for the prophets of this age who bear messages that stir the church toward renewal and justice. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Creator of every creature on earth, direct our lives toward the renewal and sustaining of cattle, birds of the air, animals of the field, and those who share our homes. Reveal the ways we can work alongside creation for the health and well-being of all. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Sovereign God, we give thanks that you are mindful and benevolent to even us, mere mortals. Accompany us when hardness of heart gets in the way of justice between people and nations. Endow leaders with minds for justice and hearts for compassion. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Restoring Lord, grant healing and wholeness to those who are sick and suffering. Work through medical professionals to diagnose, ease pain, and give life to all who seek their wisdom and experience. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Unifying God, humans were created for relationship with the earth, its creatures, and one another. Forgive us when division threatens companionship, mutual support, and unity among us. May your love inspire us to build supportive communities of faith where all are cherished. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
God of resurrection, you prepare a place in the kingdom through Christ’s death and resurrection. We give thanks for the saints who have taken their place at your heavenly banquet. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Into your hands, O God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in the saving grace you freely give, both now and forever.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
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 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, forever and ever. Amen.
SENDING SONG: VU 468 Let Us Talents & Tongues Employ
BENEDICTION
May the Risen Christ, who brings and restores life to all on our planet, fill you with his living presence to praise the Creator and help revive creation. May the love of God keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Copyright © 2016 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS011617.
© 2011 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncsa/2.5/ca.
[1] 2022-05-22-Healing-Reconciliation-Prayer-Resource.
[2] https://united-church.ca/worship-special-days/world-communion-sunday