Bulletin – Sunday, November 5, 2023 – Remembrance Day

Sunday, November 5, 2023
Remembrance Sunday

Approach

Welcome

Lighting the Christ Candle

Jesus Christ is the light of the world, a light which no darkness can quench. We no remember before God all those who have died and light a candle to symbolise the light of Christ, which eternally shines and brings hope.

Call to Worship

One:   We wake to a world of beauty and catastrophe,
All:      a world of vision and violence, compassion and cowardice.

One:   We live in such a wounded world
All:      beyond the grief of natural disasters, we face the devastation of human violence.

One:   How do we give prayerful expression to our grief?

Hymn – “God! As With Silent Hearts” (VU #527)

God! As with silent hearts we bring to mind
How hate and war diminish humankind,
We pause, and seek in worship to increase
Our knowledge of the things that make for peace.

Hallow our will as humbly we recall the lives of those who gave and give their all.
We thank you, God, for women, children, men
Who seek to serve in love, today as then.

Give us deep faith to comfort those who mourn,
High hope to share with all the newly born,
Strong love in our pursuit of human worth:
‘Lest we forget’ the future of this earth.

So, Prince of Peace, disarm our trust in power,
Teach us to coax the plant of peace to flower.
May we, impassioned by your living Word, remember forward to a world restored.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

Our community is not whole; the realm is not peaceful. Many still hunger and thirst, many still hurt, many are still captive. We have been guided by things other than your truth and love. We confess our captivity to values other than gospel values, our imprisonment in visions other than your vision. Forgive us, O Christ, and set us free. Amen

Words of Assurance

Jesus loves us and frees us from brokenness and sin. Jesus makes us a holy people, free to love others and free to live the purpose God puts before us. Thanks and praise and glory be to you, O Christ.

Sung Response – “Come and Fill Our Hearts” (MV #16)

Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
You alone, O Lord, are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace,
Alleluia.

The Word

Scripture Reading:         Psalm 43

¹ Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause    against an ungodly people; from those who are deceitful and unjust,    deliver me! ² For you are the God in whom I take refuge;    why have you cast me off? Why must I walk about mournfully    because of the oppression of the enemy?

³ O send out your light and your truth;    let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill    and to your dwelling. ⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,    to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the harp,    O God, my God.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,    my help and my God.

Scripture Reading:         2 Corinthians 4:1-18

¹ Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. ² We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing clearly the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake. ⁶ For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, ⁹ persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, ¹⁰ always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us but life in you.

¹³ But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence. ¹⁵ Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, ¹⁸ because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!

Hymn – “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” (VU #684)

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your healing power,
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

O Spirit, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved, as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there’s despair in live, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.

O Spirit, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved, as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
In giving of ourselves that we receive,
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

Meditation – “For Which Cause We Faint Not”

Anthem – “We Wait for God”

We wait for God, creation longs to see a new day dawn.
And though the night is dark and deep, we dare to sing our song.

We wait for God;
Creation longs, we dare to sing our song.

We watch for God, the earth cries out, “Will violence ever cease?”
The one who saw the signs is seen in ways that make for peace.

We watch for God;
The earth cries out for ways that make for peace.

We work for God, the nations need each one to do their part.
The Spirit works through everyone, each hand and head and heart.

We work for God;
The nations need each hand and head and heart.

We worship God, the people pray that love will cast out fear.
We wait and watch to work and see the Day of God draw near.

We worship God;
The people pray, the Day of God draws near.

Offering

Offering Response – “Grant Us, God, the Grace” (VU #540)

Grant us, God, the grace of giving,
With a spirit large and free,
That ourselves and all our living
We may offer faithfully.

Offering Prayer

Accept, O God, our gifts freely given. Bless these gifts that they may be signs of freedom for others: freedom from hunger, from oppression, from conflict, from violence. Use these gifts, as you use us, for your purpose in the world. Amen.

The Response

Prayers of the People

One:   On this Remembrance Sunday, let us bring before the God of peace our prayers for the world, the church and all His people. Merciful God, we pray for peace in our hearts and home, in our nations, and our world, the peace which is your will, the peace which we so badly need.

One:   We remember today O Lord all those who have died in any kind of war throughout your world, soldiers who perished in the horror of battle, innocent people buried beneath the rubble from bomb attacks; men, women, and children brutally attacked and murdered in their villages.

One:   Today we remember especially those victims of the two world wars including those close to us, or to our parents and grandparents. We remember those who came home with terrible injuries, both physical and psychological and those whose loved ones never returned.

One:   Remembering the conflicts of the past and the sacrifices which were made, we pray for a world where war is still a grim reality. Lord as we remember those who have lost their lives, help us to renew our fight against cruelty and injustice, against prejudice, tyranny and oppression. Still we cry out to you in the darkness of our divided world. Let not the hope of men and women perish, let not new clouds rain death upon the earth. Lord hear our prayer for the multitudes in every country who do not want war and are ready to walk the path of peace. May their voice be heard, and may they not lose heart.

One:   Lord God, we pray for the leaders of the nations at this time, asking you to pour out your spirit of reconciliation on them. Give them a longing to bring freedom from fear and freedom from want for all peoples. Give strength and courage to those who bear heavy responsibilities for the peace of the world. We pray also for the Christian Church, called to witness you love for this generation. May Christians work with all people of goodwill to break down the barriers which divide people. May those who profess one faith respect those who sincerely hold another faith and build in community where there is harmony and understanding.

One:   Merciful God, we pray for all who face difficulties in their personal lives—problems in their families, in their friendships, in their neighbourhoods, or in their workplace. Help them to be calm in times of uncertainty and patient with those around them. Show us when we can help and give support to others around us. We lift up those in our community…Marlene, Liam, Rob, Heather, Barb, Angela, Jay, Norm, Kieran, Paul, Haruko, Dollard, Judi, Gwen, Scott, Joe, Harvey, Dorothy…hold and keep them safe and send your healing grace upon them.

One:   On this day of remembrance our hearts and prayers go out to all who mourn the loss of those we have loved. When we lose someone close we feel that part of us dies as well but part of them lives on in us. Give us strength and understanding to honour and cherish that gift. Help all those who are bereaved to find the same consolation that in knowledge of your love they may honour the past by looking to the future.

One:   You turn our darkness into light in your light shall we see light.

One:   Lord, finally, a prayer for ourselves that we may all put our confidence in you. O Lord, you know that we are often filled with fear and foreboding. Give us courage and deepen our trust. You are a rock which nothing can shatter. On you we can place the whole weight of our lives.

One:   Merciful God: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hymn – “Let There Be Light” (VU #679)

Let there be light,
Let there be understanding,
Let all the nations gather,
Let them be face to face;

Open our lips,
Open our minds to ponder,
Open the door of concord,
Opening into grace;

Perish the sword,
Perish the angry judgment,
Perish the bombs and hunger,
Perish the fight for gain;

Hallow our love,
Hallow the deaths of martyrs;
Hallow their holy freedom,
Hallowed be your name;

Your kingdom come,
Your spirit turn to language,
Your people speak together,
Your spirit never fade;

Let there be light,
Open our hearts to wonder,
Perish the way of terror,
Hallow the world God made.

Benediction

From this holy place, go out remembering the cost of war and that, in the peace time that follows, wounds are not always noticed. Go in peace to hammer swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. Today we remember, and in our remembering, we think of those who sacrificed their lives, willingly or unwillingly. We remember those who came home but had sacrificed their innocence and mental health. On Remembrance Day, as we gather round our televisions, or our cenotaphs, to pause and give thanks, let us remember.

Response – “May the God of Peace” (MV #224)

May the God of peace and of all good,
May the God of peace and of all good
Be always with you. Amen!
May God’s peace be with you. Amen!