Music as the Community Gathers – Sam Hirst
Words of Welcome & Announcements
Lighting of the Candles
Invitation to Worship (Based on “A Song of Faith”)
In love, the one eternal God seeks relationship. So, God created the universe and with it the possibility of being and relating. God tends the universe, mending the broken and reconciling the estranged. God enlivens the universe, guiding all things toward harmony with their Source. Grateful for God’s loving action, we cannot keep from singing!
Litany for Creation (Based on “A Song of Faith”) Source of Life, Living Word, Bond of Love – Holy Mystery, you are beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description. You are the One on whom all hearts rely. We sing thanksgiving. We find ourselves in a world of beauty. You, Holy One, declared all creation good. All parts of creation, animate and inanimate are related. We recognize all people as kin. As humans we are made to live and move and have our being in You. We sing of you, Creator.
Empower and enable us as we encounter the Spirit in our worship today, that we might go from this experience when our Service ends, to love the world in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Opening Hymn: VU#227 “For the Fruit of All Creation”
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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 safe keeping, thanks be to God.
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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 harvest we are sharing, thanks be to God!
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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.
Bible Readings:
Deuteronomy 8.7-18
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, and land of olive trees and honey. This is a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack for nothing. The stones of that land are iron and from the hills you will mine copper. As you eat your fill you will bless the LORD your God for the good land that has been given to you.
Take care that you do not forget the Holy One by failing to keep the commandments, ordinances and statutes which were commanded you. When your hunger is satisfied and you have built fine houses and live in them – and when you herds and flocks have multiplied, and your wealth has increased – then do not exalt yourselves, forgetting the Source of it all – the One who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. This is the Divine Liberator who led you through the great and terrible wilderness. It was an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. The Holy One made water flow from flinty rock and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know. Do not say to yourselves, “Our own power has gotten us this wealth.” But remember the Source of it all who has confirmed the covenant made with your forebearers – with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Blessed is God’s Name.
Second Corinthians 9.6-15
The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God takes pleasure in a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written: “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
The One who provides seed for the sower and bread to satisfy the hungry will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. The whole company of the community of God’s people gives thanks for your response and your willingness to share what you have been given by God’s grace. They long to see you and pray for your wellbeing. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
“With Open Hearts and Open Hands”
Happy Thanksgiving!
What is this day about? What is this weekend about?
Traditionally it has been about family gatherings. Some of our love-ones, in years-gone-by have travelled to arrive in our homes to gather ‘round the family table. Some of us have taken the train or driven in the family car to Toronto, or London, or Ottawa, to join celebrations there. Others who have not been able to get together with family, joined with friends, old and new, to celebrate.
For some Thanksgiving has been a bitter-sweet time, when the absence of a loved one, recently lost, has been particularly noticeable. There was an empty place at the table. We remembered the missing person with gratitude mixed with sadness for the loss.
For some, their loneliness may have been emphasized on such occasions. The community 
often sought to reach out to those feeling forsaken to make sure they were included in festivities.
This festival has been about feasting. The menu included roast turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, rich gravy, and fall vegetables like squash and turnip. And of course, the “piece de resistance” – pumpkin pie with whipped cream, or hot apple crisp with ice cream. Sometimes the feast included a glass of good Prince Edward County wine or cider – or a glass of pure clean water from a good well – and who could forget tea or coffee?
Thanksgiving was all of this and more. This was the way of things in years-gone-by. Even as recently as 2019.
But that was then – and this is now.
Our communities, our province, and nation, our world has been overtaken by the COVID-19 Pandemic. In order to try to stop the spread of this terribly destructive virus, in order to flatten the curve of infections and to save our hospitals from being overwhelmed, we have taken important actions on the advice of our Public Health authorities.
These pre-cautions have included washing our hands frequently, avoiding touching our faces, wearing masks, and most significantly, isolating at home.
Initially these actions were very effective. We avoided the worst of what other communities and nations had experienced. But we were warned that a second wave of infections was coming. And now it has hit with a vengeance. Our cities seem most severely impacted. Every day we hear of hundreds, sometimes even more than a thousand, new cases.
COVID-19 has turned our lives upside down! Our Thanksgiving celebrations seem to be the latest example.
We are advised that this year our Thanksgiving observance should be limited to our own household. Gatherings of extended family and friends will be done virtually. We won’t be sharing a feast around the table. The isolation of those who live alone will be painfully emphasized.
Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been about remembering and being grateful as we feasted together.
Can we feel gratitude, even in these circumstances?
Yes, even in these times of stress and distress, of anxiety and threatened illness, we do have cause for gratitude. We have been richly blessed, despite this devastating disease, and very trying circumstances.
It is helpful for us to look back at the experience of our forebearers.
Our Bible readings this morning from the Book of Deuteronomy and from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Church at Corinth, remind us that thanksgiving and gratitude are an important part of our faith history – dating back thousands of years.
This is a good day to remember our family stories.
Many in our area look back to the United Empire Loyalists who came to these shores of the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. It is a good day to remember post-revolutionary America and the loyalty of those who supported the Crown in the struggle. The Loyalists, as they came to be known, paid a very high price for their decision to stay true to their British heritage. They were persecuted, some were tarred and feathered, their lands were confiscated, their homes burned, and they were driven out. They became homeless refugees. They left behind well-established towns and cities, and settled in the wilderness of Upper Canada.
Or perhaps your ancestors were Irish immigrants. They came to this country, escaping the Great Hunger of the 1840’s when many perished for want to food, after the potato crop was attacked by a fungal blight. They came in their thousands to make a home in a more hopeful land where their hard work helped to build our nation.
Others came from Scotland – when the Highlands were cleared for the raising of sheep. They were thrown off their land and shipped away to the “New World.”
My Mother’s ancestors were African Americans who arrived in Canada from Philadelphia in the 1840’s – a couple of decades before the American Civil War. They were slaves who purchased their own freedom and then came north to settle first in King Township and then in Grey County – where there was less danger of them being kidnapped and returned to slavery in the deep south. (Perhaps you saw the film “Twelve Years a Slave”, the 2013 adaptation of an 1853 biography by the same title.)
Others in our communities came from Europe after World War II – escaping the devastation of war – seeking peace after two wars in 30 years had claimed a hundred million lives and laid waste to towns, cities and countryside.
Whatever you own family story – this weekend is a good opportunity to remember.
We remember too, and give thanks, that our forebearers were received in this country with hospitality by the indigenous Nations who made room for the newcomers – and helped them adjust to the extremes of the northern climate on their new home. The European and American settlers could not have survived without that help and hospitality in those first difficult winters.
Thanksgiving is about remembering and it is about gratitude. Those who came before us also found themselves in trying circumstances – yet they took time to give thanks.
We have received so many gifts. We are so blessed!
St. Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth and reminded them of their cause for thanksgiving. He urged them to be generous in response to their blessings. He was making an appeal to them on behalf of other Christians who were in need.
He uses the metaphor of seeding and harvest to help his readers to understand the rewards of generosity. In his paraphrase of St. Paul’s words, the late Eugene Peterson puts it this way:
“Remember, a stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to think it over and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob-stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.”
Today, despite our trying circumstances, we recognize that there are others far worse off than we are. We think of sisters and brothers in-the-faith in Syria, in Gaza or the West Bank, in Mexico and in Central America. We think in particular of the havoc reeked by COVID-19 among our American friends, neighbours and family.
We recognize too that there are those in our own communities who will be feeling especially lonely and isolated over this weekend. Although we can’t safely invite these folk to join us around our table – I am sure we can think of creative ways, within the Public Health guidelines – to make sure that those who live alone are not left to their own resources.
The truth is that the secret of living joyfully and fully is in remembering, in gratitude, and in generosity. The secret of living joyfully and fully is to live with open hearts and open hands.
Yes, even in these circumstances.
This Thanksgiving will not be the same as last year and as others we remember. Never-the-less, it is an occasion for celebration – an occasion for gratitude and generosity.
May it be so. Happy Thanksgiving.
Amen
Acknowledgement of Gifts, Tithes & Offerings
Prayers of Gratitude and Concern
Gracious, Loving, Present God – Creator, Redeemer & Sustainer of All – we give thanks today for every blessing:
For life and love; for health and food for work and home; for nature’s beauty and comfort: for sunshine & rain, for seedtime and harvest, for the bounty on our tables, for neighbours and friends.
We give thanks for the gift of laughter, for memory and for hope: for everything that gives us pleasure, nourishment and strength.
Move us we pray – on this Thanksgiving Weekend – to remember our stories, to express our gratitude and to reach out with generosity.
We express concern today for the earth’s malaise: for forests burning, glaciers melting, species disappearing into extinction. We acknowledge that you have invited us to care for the earth – yet plants, animals and people suffer because of human activity and because of greed.
Help us, Holy One, to daily do all in our power to make a difference for good in our world.
We pray for individuals and families impacted by COVID-19: for those who grieve the loss of loved-ones; for those who are ill unable to catch their breath; for those who have lost their jobs because of economic changes; for all front-line workers in Health Care, as well as Teachers and Store Clerks; for those who live with anxiety and fear of the future – here in Canada and throughout the earth.
Enable and empower us by your Spirit – that we may love the world in Jesus’ name. We pray now the words he taught us:
The Lord’s Prayer
Parting Hymn: VU#518 “As Those of Old Their First-fruits Brought”
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As those of old their first-fruits brought of vineyard, flock and field to God, the giver of all good, the Source of bounteous yield; so, we today our first-fruits bring: the wealth of this good land, of farm and market, shop and home, of mind and heart and hand.
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A world in need now summons us to labour, love and give, to make our life an offering to God, that all may live. The church of Christ is calling us to make the dreams come true: a world redeemed, by Christ-like love, all life in Christ made new.
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With gratitude and humble trust, we bring our best to you, not just to serve your cause, but share your love with neighbours too. O God, who gave yourself to us in Jesus Christ your son, help us to give ourselves each day until life’s work is done.
Commissioning (Based on “A Song of Faith”)
We sing of God’s good news lived out, a church with purpose: Faith nurtured and hearts comforted, gifts shared for the good of all, resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize, fierce love in the face of violence, human dignity defended, members of a community held and inspired by the Kind Creator, corrected and gently embraced, instruments of the loving Spirit of Christ, creation’s mending. May it be so. Amen.
Blessing
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Extinguishing the Candles
Music as We Move into the World – Sam Hirst
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