Epiphany Service for October 13, Harvest Thanksgiving
The flowers on the altar are in loving memory of our dear Father & Mother, Fred and Brenda Chatterley. Given by Anne & Jim Scott, Fred & Carole Chatterley, Ted Chatterley & Susie Weaver, Linda & Don Bates, Deb & Jim McGee
The flowers in the Sanctuary today are to the Glory of God and in loving memory of a dear mother Kay Delves given by her daughter Gail Rees and family.
*Canadian church calendars. Beautiful informative great quality Talk to Barb. A few still available. $8
*Draws. Cookie draw, $5, 5 for 20$. Handmade Afghan by Heather Jamieson. $2 or 3 for $5. Also thanks to Millard George we have hockey tickets $2c or 3 for $5. Ask Barb.
*Our food cupboard. Butch 519-615-9106.
*Penny Social. Friday October 18 at 6:30 for 7:30 All ages fun! Set up Friday at 1:00.
*All Saints Nov. 3. New list of names by Barb at church .
*Remembrance at our Cenotaph. Mon. November 11 10:30
*Craft Club. Third Saturday at 10 a.m. All welcome.
*Cookie Tin Assembly. Sat. Dec. 7. Donations of Cookies before 10 a.m. please. Fresh not Frozen / non gooey, non mint squares/cookies needed. Tickets available soon. 5 for $20 or $5 each.
*Mint smoothies Sandra $3
*Veggie pies only left. 5$ for a great meal
*Christmas Card program. Save Money and help the church.
*Christmas Star Bazaar. Saturday November 16. 9:30 to 12:30 Donations of new items needed. Baking. Grocery Draw. Grocery donations for draw. Price our own baking please.
*White Gift and Toonie lunch. Sun Dec. 1. Food donations, gift cards, etc. Proceeds to our food outreach. Soup & Buns
*If you wish, our regular weekly donations or special donations may be sent to our Envelope Secretary:
O God,
in your Son Jesus Christ
you richly bless us with all that we need,
bread from the earth and the bread of heaven,
which gives life to the world.
Grant us one thing more:
grateful hearts to sing your praise,
in this world and the world to come. Amen.
Reading Matthew 6:25-33
God will care for all our needs
6:25″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?
6:26Look 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?
6:27And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?
6:28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,
6:29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
6:30But 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?
6:31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
6:32For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Sermon Thanksgiving
The first official, annual Thanksgiving in Canada
was celebrated on 6 November 1879,
though Indigenous peoples in Canada
have a history of celebrating the fall harvest
that predates the arrival of European settlers.
Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew
are credited as the first Europeans
to celebrate a Thanksgiving ceremony
in North America, in 1578.
The celebration featuring
the uniquely North American turkey, squash and pumpkin
was introduced to Nova Scotia in the 1750s
and became common across Canada by the 1870s.
In 1957,
Thanksgiving was proclaimed an annual event
to occur on the second Monday of October.
There is something healthy about giving thanks.
Notice not something healthy about Thanksgiving meals.
Most of us will overindulge this Thanksgiving,
just as we do every Thanksgiving.
But, The act of giving thanks
is one of the most spiritually beneficial exercises
we can perform.
Giving thanks reminds us how blessed we are.
If you can attend a church
without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death . . .
you are more lucky than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator,
clothes on your back,
a roof overhead and a place to sleep . . .
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet,
and spare change in a dish some place . . .
you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
If you hold up your head
with a smile on your face
and are truly thankful . . .
you are blessed because
but most do not.
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In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus
spoke these magnificent words:
“Do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink;
or about your body,
what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food,
and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
So do not worry, saying,
‘What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink?’
or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Giving thanks also reminds us
of the source of our blessings.
Giving thanks reminds us
how much God loves us.
One year for Christmas,
Phyllis Wohlfarth’s husband gave her a gold lapel pin.
Phyllis said she only took a second
to thank her husband for his gift.
A week later,
as she put on the lapel pin to wear to an event,
she reflected on her husband’s thoughtfulness.
With more sincerity,
she thanked him again.
Her husband explained that the pin
had belonged to his grandmother,
so it was very special to him.
Phyllis noted that if she hadn’t offered
the second “thank you,”
she might have never learned the significance of the pin.
It was only when she took the time
to reflect on the gift and offer a more sincere “thank you”
that she really learned to appreciate her husband’s gesture.
IT is this way with us and God,
When we take the time to offer a real thankyou…we are changed.
When you start counting your blessings,
you are reminded just how good God has been to you.
After all, these blessings don’t just happen.
There is a Source of everything we have.
===
Pastor Jack Walchenbach tells about a professor of chemistry
he had in college.
One day this professor said to him,
“You know,
what holds an atom together is not the nucleus,
but an invisible force between the protons and the electrons.
The professor continued,
“I think that has something to do with religion,
but I don’t know how to express it.”
Well, it does have something to do with religion.
Our lives didn’t just happen.
There is a creator God
who gave us every wondrous gift.
When we give thanks
we are reminded of the source of everything we have.
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And one final thing.
When we give thanks
we are reminded to share with others
what the Lord has done for us.
===
If you are truly thankful for the blessings
God has bestowed upon you,
then share the blessings.
A pastor, Ann Spleth,
tells about meeting a woman in a children’s playground.
The woman,
was with children
who were wearing Nice new clothes.
“These are my Christmas family kids,” this woman said.
“Not this Christmas about ten years ago.
My church sent me out with a Christmas basket.
I couldn’t just leave it and walk away.”
The more she talked,
the more amazing her story became.
Sent to a home to deliver a Christmas basket,
she had developed a great affection for the family
in that home,
and ever since then has involved herself
in a self-giving way in their lives.
“I’m shameless when it comes to grades,” she said.
“I give five bucks for an A, three for a B, nothing for a C.
Then they start to lose privileges,
like this Sunday outing.
The teenage boys go down to my son’s college to play basketball
in the gym on Sundays,
so they’ll know what they’re working for.
The little ones come to some place like this with me.”
Here’s how Spleth describes this woman’s act of compassion,
“She could have let the screen door through which she handed
that basket become a chasm, but she didn’t.
It was just a gate
and it opened at the touch of her hand.”
====
You and I have been so blessed.
We need Thanksgiving to remind us
of those blessings
and to remind us of the Source of those blessings.
Now we go out,
share because of
how much the Lord has done for [us].
And that is thanksgiving.
Hymn: Now Thank We All Our God
Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son and Spirit blest,
who reign in highest heaven
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers:
God clothes the grass of the field
and feeds the birds of the air.
On behalf of the church and the world,
we offer our prayers
more from our need to be transformed
by our awareness of them
than from any need of God to be reminded of them.
Prayers: Debbie R. (Mary Liz)Jamie;Jackie M (Gloria); Paul; Suzanne; Peter (Ron and Jan);Kenny; Jim T.; Norma A,;Dave F.; Peter T.; Dan B.;. (Garfield & Diane Mike J.; Scott H.; Lisa (Keeling), Roger & Maxine M.; Wendy;Eric P,; Beverley P.;,Sarah-Jane P.; Linda H.; Jacquie and Cam .; Janice & Darrin R; .(Suzie D.)
Free us from all fear and worry
that, trusting in your goodness,
we may always praise your mighty deeds
and give you thanks for the bounty of your gifts.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to God,
whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation,
in the Church and in Christ Jesus,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer based on Scripture:
God of the living,
with all your creatures great and small
we sing your bounty and your goodness,
for in the harvest of land and ocean,
in the cycles of the seasons,
and the wonders of each creature,
you reveal your generosity.
Teach us the gratitude that dispels envy,
that we may honor each gift as you cherish your creation,
and praise you in all times and places. Amen.
Blessing from the Book of Common Prayer:
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.
Our Parting Blessing Song:
May God’s blessing surround you each day
As you trust Him and walk in His way
May His presence within guard and keep you from sin,
