Bulletin – Sunday, October 19, 2025 – World Food Sunday
Sunday, October 19, 2025
World Food Sunday
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Minute Person
Announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
Come oh risen Christ. Let this light remind us of your presence among us today like the candle we light today; may the light of Christ that burns in our hearts
Inspire us to be good advocates that the tables of inequity will be turned upside down. So that your abundance of all creation that is food for our bodies and souls will be shared with your whole community throughout the world.
Call to Worship
One: God of abundance, all of creation is a gift of life to us. A wonderful banquet with vintage wine and gourmet food, the choicest meats, and lavish desserts. We are all invited!
One: God wipes away the tears from every face and lifts the despair from every heart. Together God’s people proclaim:
All: This is our God, in whom we place our trust! Let us gather to worship the God who brings justice and salvation!
Hymn – “Give Thanks, My Soul, for Harvest” (Voices United #522)
Give thanks, my soul, for harvest, for store of fruit and grain;
But know the owner gives so that we may share again.
Where people suffer hunger, or little children cry,
With gifts from God’s rich bounty may thankfulness reply.
Give thanks, my soul, for riches of woodland, mine, and hill;
But know that gold and timber are the Creator’s still.
God lends to us, as stewards, abundance we might share,
And thus provide earth’s children the blessing of God’s care.
Give thanks, my soul, for labours, the strength and days employ;
But know the Maker’s purpose brings toil as well as joy.
Show forth, O God, your purpose; direct our will and hand
To share your love and bounty with all in every land.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
God of open arms, we of little faith, humbly cry out to you to grant us the faith of the widow who cries out “Grant me justice against my adversary”
God of lament, we regret our mistreatment of your sacred body: Mother Earth, who provides us an abundance of good to feed one another but whose lands and habitat we destroy with overconsumption of fossil fuels and resources that we consume for our own comfort and benefits with a disregard for the earth.
God of mercy, we cry out for forgiveness for hoarding resources while others go hungry and ask you teach us how to turn the world right side up again. That the gifts of the earth and the seas, may be food and nourishment for your whole world.
Words of Assurance
One: Gracious God, in love You open wide your arms and welcome us into Your presence—saints and sinners alike. You spread a table before us, filled with the richest fare—a feast of love and mercy for the body and soul. We come with gratitude and joy assured that you welcome us as we are: to eat and drink at your table of life-giving bread and wine for the body and soul, to taste and see your goodness, to celebrate Your grace and mercy in our lives.
All: We thank you for your Spirit that inspires our praise and thanksgiving, our prayers and petitions and the sharing of all your resources and all will be fed. In the name of Jesus Christ, our host and companion. Amen
(adapted from the Celtic Wheel of the Year: Celtic and Christian Seasonal
Sung Response – “Glory to the Creator” (Then Let Us Sing #4)
Glory to the creator,
And the Christ and the Spirit so near,
As it was from the start so it shall be-
Forever one God always here.
Glory to the creator,
And the Christ and the Spirit so near,
As it was from the start so it shall be-
Forever one God always here.
One God, always here,
One God, always here.
A Time for All Ages World Food Day 2025
We Hear God’s Word
Hymn “God, You Hear Our Weary Praying”
God, you hear our weary praying, and you know that we lose heart.
All around we see the suffering of a world that’s torn apart.
We see leaders of the nations filled with arrogance and greed.
We see friends and family hurting, facing overwhelming need.
God, we cannot help but wonder: Do our prayers do any good?
Do they change the nations’ leaders? Do they change our neighborhood?
Why do loved ones keep on suffering when they’re in our constant prayer?
Do you hear the cries we’re offering? Are you listening? Are you there?
Then you teach us of this woman: She was widowed; she was poor.
“Grant me justice!” she kept calling at an unjust judge’s door.
Though that judge respected no one, he was no match for her cries.
He responded to her pleading, granting justice, changing lives.
How much more is your compassion! God, you’re just and good and fair.
May we lift to you our sorrows and the burdens that we bear.
May we pray, for you reign o’er us! May we ask — for you are kind!
May we trust that you will help us in your goodness, in your time.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 23
One: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
All: We believe in the goodness of God. We believe God hears and responds to our needs. We believe God responds to all children everywhere.
One: God makes me lie down in green pastures. And leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.
All: We are grateful that we’ve been blessed with enough water. But we know that many do not have enough. Not enough water, not enough food, not enough peace.
One: He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
All: Too many children do not see God’s righteousness. Too many children watch violence, taste hunger, feel fear. Too many children cry from the unspeakable horror of war.
One: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you art with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
All: To become involved is risky. Pain is often contagious. Our hearts may be broken and our lives may be threatened. Yet we hear God calling and we can no longer hide.
One: You preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies; You annointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.
All: Our steps may be small and timid. We may read a book, write a letter, or make a gift. But each tiny step is blessed by God and multiplies.
One: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
All: God is more relentless than war. God is more pervasive than hatred. God is more insistent than despair. Amen.
(Written by Katherine Hawker, 1994. Posted on Liturgy Outside.)
Gospel Reading: Luke 18:1-8
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “Let’s be Persistent for Justice”
Anthem “For Everyone Born” (Then Let Us Sing #23)
For everyone Born, a place at the table,
For everyone born, clean water and bread,
A shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
For everyone born, a star overhead,
And God will delight when we are creators
Of just and joy, compassion and peace:
Yes, God will delight when we are creators
Of justice, justice and joy!
For all who share life, a place at the table,
Revising the roles, deciding the share,
With wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
For all who share life, a system that’s fair,
And God will delight when we are creators
Of just and joy, compassion and peace:
Yes, God will delight when we are creators
Of justice, justice and joy!
For those we neglect, a place at the table,
A voice to be heard, a part in the song,
The hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
For those we neglect, the right to belong,
And God will delight when we are creators
Of just and joy, compassion and peace:
Yes, God will delight when we are creators
Of justice, justice and joy!
For all who have breath, a place at the table,
A covenant shared, a welcoming space,
A rainbow of race and gender and colour,
For all who have breath, the chalice of grace,
And God will delight when we are creators
Of just and joy, compassion and peace:
Yes, God will delight when we are creators
Of justice, justice and joy!
The New Creed
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 with 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 Respond to God’s Word
Invitation to Share
Offering Sung Response – “Grant Us, God, the Grace of Giving” (Voices United #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
God, we offer to you today these gifts with open hearts and minds that these may be symbols of our commitment to redistribute wealth, so that all may be fed and justice and equity restored here on earth as in your banquet in heaven.
Prayers of the People
Passing of the Peace
The Prayer Jesus Taught Us:
One: Please join me in praying as Jesus taught us: Our Creator who is like
All: Our Mother and our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now ever and forever. Amen.
We Go Into God’s World
Hymn – “For the Fruit of All Creation” (Voices United #227)
For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God.
For the gifts to ev’ry 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 true reward of labour, God’s will is done.
In the help we give our neighbour, God’s will is done.
In our worldwide task of caring for the hungry and despairing,
In the harvest 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
The Prophet Isaiah cries out in the wilderness: “Learn to do right: seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the orphan, plead the case of the widow.”
Benediction
With the love of the Creator whose arms embrace the whole world community. The power of the Holy Spirit acting in the world decisively and with the courage and spirit of reconciliation and hope. Whose promise is fulfilled in the risen Christ, may we go out into the world this week. Strengthened as people of faith to do the works of mercy and the acts of justice that Jesus taught us to do. So that all may know the love and care of God.
Sung Response – “Called as Partners in Christ’s Service” (verse 1)
Called as partners in Christ’s service,
Called to ministries of grace,
We respond with deep commitment
Fresh new lines of faith to trace.
May we learn the art of sharing,
Side by side and friend with friend,
Equal partners in our caring
To fulfill God’s chosen end.
