Bulletin – Sunday, June 22, 2025 – Indigenous Peoples Day
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Indigenous Peoples Day
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
Today, we light this Christ candle as a symbol of the presence of Jesus Christ with us on our journey of life and discipleship: Jesus Christ, the light of life for us.
Land Acknowledgement
Let us take a minute to acknowledge that many of us are guests on this land and to acknowledge the original caretakers of this land who continue to call out for justice, reconciliation, mutual respect, and care.
We acknowledge and are grateful that we can gather today at Windsor Park United Church which is located on Treaty 1 Territory. These are the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Anishininewuk, the Dakota Oyate, Denesuline, and the Nehethowuk Nations and the homeland of the Red River Métis.
We acknowledge that the northern Manitoba also includes lands that were and are the ancestral lands of the Inuit before being displace.
We acknowledge that we are all Treaty people. And, that we respect the spirit and the intent of the Treaties and Treaty Making and remain committed to working in respectful partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in the spirit of truth, reconciliation and collaboration.
Call to Worship
One: As we gather on these sacred lands, with gratitude and humility we open our minds and hearts, to reflect on who we are as the body of Christ, to be as Christ is for us, that through the power of the holy Spirit…
All: we may greet each other and all we meet with love. Amen.
Hymn – “Creator God You Gave Us Life” (MV #27)
Creator God, you gave us life, your image formed within our souls,
Yet through the mist of time and space, we search for that which makes us whole.
Through hands that paint majestic skies, and voices chanting melody,
With words that reach beyond the page, we comprehend your mystery.
In every flower and every tree, we see your great diversity,
Yet greater still we see your love, expressed in our humanity.
Through hands that paint majestic skies, and voices chanting melody,
With words that reach beyond the page, we comprehend your mystery.
When with our hearts, our hands, our minds, we share our gifts with all the world,
Our spirits soar beyond the veil, to touch the very face of God.
Through hands that paint majestic skies, and voices chanting melody,
With words that reach beyond the page, we comprehend your mystery.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
The Elders and spiritual people of First Nations recognized that it was a feeling of disconnection that haunted most people. They saw that we as a species becomes so busy, so involved with the physical act of our living, that we forget it is impossible for us to invoke disconnection. We are so engaged in being that we forget how to simply Be. They sought a path that would lead us always to recognition of the great fact of our physical reality—everything is energy, including us and we can never truly be separate.
So the teachers created ceremony…Ceremony, ritual has become a measure of our faith, our belief, our worthiness, and as such, it has become a measuring stick for how Native we are, how Christian, how Muslim or Catholic. Ceremony has become fraught with judgment…whoever God might be, He…She requires absolute adherence to the way, to the means, of approach. But those reactions are based on fear, and they’re inaccurate.
(Special Prayer by Ojibway, Anishinaabe, Author Richard Wagamese: One Drum Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet)
Words of Assurance
One: The Elders say that Creator is perfect loving energy. Within the realm of perfect love there is no judgement. If there is no judgement then there can be no failure. In turn, if failure does not exist, there is no unworthiness. We are all one energy. We are worthy and we always were. We never have to qualify. And ceremony was born to allow us to remember that.
All: So let us worship together now in love.
(Special Prayer by Ojibway, Anishinaabe, Author Richard Wagamese: One Drum Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet)
Sung Response – “Spirit of Life” (VU #381)
Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea; move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.
A Story for All – You Hold Me Up (author Monique Gray Smith; illustrator Danielle Daniel)
Solo – “We are One Love”
We are made of the water, earth, wind and fire,
I am, you are, we are one love.
We are made of the sun, the moon and the stars.
I am, you are, we are one love.
Your presence is a gift to this world,
Shine bright like the stars in the big blue sky.
May we rise on the winds of this love,
Into the golden light, burning so bright.
We are made of the water, earth, wind and fire,
I am, you are, we are one love.
We are made of the sun, the moon and the stars.
I am, you are, we are one love.
Ya-weh he ya ha,
Ya-weh hey ya ha
Weh hey ya hey ya ha.
Nii-na kiina Kiinanow peyak, sahkiihitowin.
There is nothing in this world you cannot do.
The difference that you seek it starts with you
You’re the shining light within a dark, dark, night
Together we are stronger, stronger together,
I am, you are, we are one love.
We are made of the water, earth, wind and fire,
I am, you are, we are one love.
We are made of the sun, the moon and the stars.
I am, you are, we are one love.
Ya-weh he ya ha,
Ya-weh hey ya ha
Weh hey ya hey ya ha.
Nii-na kiina Kiinanow peyak, sahkiihitowin.
I am, you are, we are one love.
We Hear God’s Word
Scripture Reading: John 13:1-38
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’ 19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” 37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “Moving from Mission to Right Relations”
Hymn: “Healing River of the Spirit”
Healing river of the Spirit, bathe the wounds that living brings.
Plunge our pain, our sin, our sadness deep beneath your sacred springs.
Weary from the restless searching that has lured us from your side,
We discover in your presence peace the world cannot provide.
Wellspring of the healing Spirit stream that flows to bring release,
As we gain our selves, our senses, may our lives reflect your peace.
Grateful for the flood that heals us, may your church enact your grace
As we meet both friend and stranger may we see our Saviour’s face.
Living stream that heals the nations, make us channels of your power.
All the world is torn by conflict; wars are raging at this hour.
Saving Spirit, move among us, guide our winding human course,
Till we find our way together, flowing homeward to our Source.
We Respond to God’s Word
Invitation to Share
Offering Sung Response – “For the Life That You Have Given”
For the life that you have given, for the love in Christ made known,
With these fruits of time and labour, with these gifts that are your own:
Here we offer, Lord, our praises, heart and mind and strength we bring;
Give us grace to love and serve you, living what we pray and sing.
Offering Prayer
Prayers of the People
One: Oh Loving Creator hear our prayer.
All: Great is God’s love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
The Prayer Jesus Taught Us:
Oh Loving Creator who is like our Mother and 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, forever and ever. Amen.
Passing of the Peace
The New Creed (Sung)
We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We believe in God, who has created and is creating,
Who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new
Who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God.
We are called to be the church;
To celebrate God’s presence,
To live in respect in Creation,
To love and serve others,
To seek justice and resist evil,
To proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
Our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us,
We are not alone,
Thanks be to God.
We Go Into God’s World
Hymn – “This Path We Walk”
This path we walk through joy and tears,
A living Way of faith and fears,
Through each step’s risk, each sorrows pain,
When walked in love, we’ll rise again.
When life is shared together free
We’ll grow to be all we can be
A circle wide will call us home
When wrapped in love we’re not alone.
The gifts we bring, this light we hold,
Our songs of grace, our stories told,
Remain undone, told just in part,
Til shared in love, and known by heart.
When life is shared, together bound
God’s richest gifts, together found.
Together walk the Spirit’s Way
When love’s the guide, we shall not stay.
This life we share, a blessing deep;
A promised gift, now ours to keep.
God grant our words were spoken true,
Now clothed in life, each day anew.
Commissioning / Benediction
Today God, through the word, worship, and especially through Indigenous knowledge and ways of being reminds us we are all one. Let us go out into the world knowing that we are loved and committed to building right relations through forgiveness, mercy, love, respect, and curiosity so that we ay discover the vastness of God’s sacred being in all we meet. May we go in the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.
Sung Response – “With a Vision of Hope”
With a vision of hope we move along.
Empowered by faith we carry on.
Reaching out far and wide, moving forward reaching high.
Filled with hope, filled with dreams, we journey on.
