Worship Service for Thanksgiving Sunday
Welcome to our Online Thanksgiving Service!
As many of you are joining other churches through their live streaming services (and soon will be joining us too), this week's online service is a bit different and meant to compliment what you are able to access online. If you'd like to watch a live service here are a couple of suggestions:
St. James Cathedral click here
St. Paul's Uxbridge click here
St. James Orillia. click here
As for our service following, the music this week is recorded by our very own Liz Lambert on our very own organ. We've included some of the words of the hymns for you to sing along to.
May your Thanksgiving, whatever it may look like, fill your heart up with sustaining gratitude and bless you.
Worship Service
Opening Hymn
Come, Ye Thankful People, Come. Click on "Opening Hymn.m4a" below to listen.
Come, ye thankful people, come
Raise the song of harvest home
All is safely gathered in
Ere the winter storms begin
God our Maker doth provide
For our wants to be supplied
Come to God's own temple, come
Raise the song of harvest home
The Prayer of Thanksgiving by Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918)
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
The Readings
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 & Luke 17:11-19. Click here to read
The Homily
To read the homily, click on "Thanksgiving Homily 2020.pdf" below.
To listen to the homily, click on "Sermon Thanksgiving 2020.m4a" below.
Meditation Hymn
We Plough the Fields and Scatter Click on "Meditaiton Hymn.m4a" to listen.
We plow the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God's almighty hand.
He sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
are sent from heav'n above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
for all his love.
We thank you, then, O Father,
for all things bright and good:
the seed-time and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food;
no gifts have we to offer
for all your love imparts,
but that which you desire now:
our humble, thankful hearts! [Refrain]
The Apostle's Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come 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.
The Prayers of the People
With thanks to Kathy Sweet for this Sunday's prayers.
You can read the prayers below by clicking on "Prayers of the People, Oct 11.pdf"
You can listen to the prayers by clicking on "Intercessions October 11.20.m4a"
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen.
Benediction
God of Harvest - by John Birch
God of harvest,
gardener supreme,
you place us at the centre,
feed us, equip us and,
having provided for us,
look to a different harvest—
a fruitfulness of lives
in service to you
and others.
God of harvest,
feed us
prune us
harvest us
that our lives
might bring glory to you. Amen.
Closing Hymn
Let All Things Now Living. Click on "Closing Hymn.m4a" below to listen.
Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
His banners are o'er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.
His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!" Amen.