Bulletin – Sunday, October 11, 2026 – 5th Sunday Season of Creation / Thanksgiving

Windsor Park United Church
5^th Sunday Season of Creation
Thanksgiving
October 11, 2026

We Gather as People of Faith

Welcome

Lighting the Christ Candle

We light the Christ candles today that the fire of God’s passion for all Creation. May warm our hearts and lead us to right action.

Please join in the singing of the Hymn: “For the Beauty of the Earth” (Voices United #226)

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
God of all to you we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
God of all to you we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight.
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.
God of all to you we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild,
God of all to you we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the church who evermore
Lifts her holy hands a-bove,
Off’ring up on ev’ry shore
Her pure sacrifice of love:
God of all to you we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For each perfect gift divine,
To our world so freely giv’n,
Joy bestowed by love’s design,
Flow’rs on earth and fruits of heav’n:
God of all to you we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

Call to Worship

We turn and place our trust in you O’ Creator for you gift us with life and with one another. You call us together to share in your wisdom. We are renewed by your holy word through song, and prayer we celebrate that we are one in the Body of Christ. We give you thanks. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

One:   We confess that we have heard Your voice, O’ Creator yet we have plugged our ears or been consumed with unnecessary clutter.
All:      We see your face in the cries of neighbours we meet on the street or in the beauty of creation being decimated by industry we turn away.

One:   We feel your touch when you tug on our hearts or when someone seeks to console us still we pull away or do not notice.
All:      Please forgive us our inattention and preoccupations. Help us to focus our hearts and minds on you being ever grateful for your love poured out in each other

Words of Assurance

One:   God of hope and harvest, we meet You here in changing seasons and the gifts they bring, produce full of flavour crunch and goodness, earthy and fresh, no two the same. In Your name we celebrate rain and sunshine, our struggles and successes great and small, a handful of peas or a glut of beans. We are glad and grateful. Thank you!
All:      Bless this land, bless its soil. Our hands, our tools be blessed, our toil and our rest, may body and soul be nourished, may earth and all life flourish! Bless the garden, bless the growers.

(Adapted from prayer in Celtic Daily Prayer Book Two: Farther Up and Farther In)

Sung Response – “Grant To Us Your Peace” (Voices United #955)

Grant to us your peace on earth,
Grant to us your peace, O God.

Please join in the singing of the hymn – “We Plough the Fields and Scatter” (Voices United #520)

We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by your almighty hand;
You send the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above;
We thank you God, O holy God for all your love.

You only are the maker of all things near and far;
You paint the wayside flower, you light the evening star.
The winds and waves obey you, by you the birds are fed;
Much more to us, your children, you give us daily bread.

All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above;
We thank you God, O holy God for all your love.

We thank you then O Maker, for all things bright and good:
The seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer for all Your love imparts;
And, what from us you long for, our humble, thankful hearts.

All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above;
We thank you God, O holy God for all your love.

We Hear God’s Word

Scripture Readings

The first scripture reading is from the Book of Deuteronomy 8:7-10; 17-18

⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. ¹⁰ You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

¹⁷ Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is God who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

The second reading is from the Gospel of Luke 17:11-19

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸ Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ ¹⁹ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!

Reflection – Restoring the Community to Wholeness through Gratitude

We Respond to God’s Word

Choir Anthem – “All Good Gifts”

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.

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above;
So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.

You only are the maker of all things near and far;
You paint the wayside flower, you light the evening star.
The wind and waves obey you, by you the birds are fed;
Much more to us, your children, you give us daily bread.

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above;
So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.

We thank you then O Maker, for all things bright and good:
The seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer for all Your love imparts;
And, what from us you long for, our humble, thankful hearts!

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above;
So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above;
All good gifts around us, thank you Lord.

Invitation to Share

Offering Sung Response “For All Your Goodness, God” (Songs for a Gospel People #45)

For all your goodness, God, we give you thanks.
Thank for the food we eat, and for the friends we meet:
For each new day we greet, we give you thanks.

Offering Prayer

God, you bless us abundantly with all things. You shower us with love, community, health, and compassion. We offer these gifts as a small token of our appreciation that we might be for others as you are for us.

 Prayers of the People

One:   God of …, hear our prayer
All:      Hear our prayer, O God

Invitation to the Passing of the Peace

Please offer one another the peace of Christ in a way that you feel comfortable and respects others’ space.

The Prayer that Jesus Taught

One: Please join me in praying the prayer Jesus taught us to pray: Our Creator who is like Our Mother and…
All:    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 that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

We Go Into God’s World

Minute Person

Announcements

Please join in the singing of the Hymn – “For The Fruit of All Creation” (Voices United #227)

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 safekeeping, thanks be to God.

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 harvests we are sharing, God’s will is done.

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.

Commissioning

Go now into the world to share the love and nourishment that has fed us today. Give thanks our Maker, for God is good. God’s love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of Gods. God’s love endures forever. Give thanks to Christ, risen eternal. His love endures forever.

Extinguish Candle

Benediction

Go now, as the body of Christ to bear witness to the power of God in the world. Go, bearing God’s peace to the places and people you encounter. Go, as representatives of Christ’s salvation, through the power of the Holy Spirit. To share mercy, compassion, and love with others. AMEN

Sung Response – “Amen” (Voices United #969)

Amen, Amen, Amen
Amen, Amen, Amen