Bulletin – Sunday, October 5, 2025 – Fifth Sunday of Creation / World Wide Communion

Sunday, October 5, 2025
Fifth Sunday of Creation / World Wide Communion

We Gather as People of Faith

Welcome

Announcements

Minute Person(s)

Lighting the Christ Candle

The light of Christ is our guide on the path of life seeking and sharing wisdom, truth, and justice. Let us be the light for the world, as this light is for us today, as we gather in the name of God our Creator, the risen Christ among us and the Holy Spirit that guides us everywhere and always.

Call to Worship

The world cries out with tears of joy. Let us join our hearts and minds together as we come together in this community in solidarity with All Christians worldwide to honour, to celebrate, to become the body of Christ on earth.

God feeds our souls. God’s creation feeds our bodies and spirits. Let us come and worship the God of all Creation whose love sustains us, whose creation nurtures us and whose spirit guides and comforts us all the days of our lives.

Hymn – “All Who Hunger” (Voices United #460)

All who hunger, gather gladly;
Holy manna is our bread.
Come from wilderness and wandering.
Here, in truth, we will be fed,
You that yearn for days of fullness,
All around us in our food.
Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see the God is good.

All who hunger, never strangers;
Seeker, be a welcome guest.
Come from restlessness and roaming.
Here, in joy, we keep the feast.
We that once were lost and scattered
In communion’s love have stood.
Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see the God is good.

All who hunger, sing together;
Jesus Christ is living bread.
Come from loneliness and longing.
Here, in peace, we have been led.
Blest are those who from this table
Live their lives in gratitude.
Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see the God is good.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

God our needs are great. Our faith at times wanes with the weight of the troubles of the world and in the challenges our own lives. At times, we seek you and cannot feel your presence. The road to follow is too often unknown and uncertain but even with our worries and anxieties we know you desire to be near. Yet at times your spirit seems distant and cold. Our faith is in you. Come near and stay close as we await with hope in you.

Words of Assurance

God even as we strive for success, for wealth, for stability, for status.

You know we need to be fed spiritually and physically. turn our eyes down from the top of the mountaintop of false idols that we may see how to wash the feet of the world, that we may know how to share the abundance of your creation, that the world and all your children may be fed and well.

For with your grace, when we pray, we will believe with your wisdom. when we believe, we will love with your compassion and mercy. when we love, we will serve you and each other. Our faith grows as we trust in you

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

We Hear God’s Word

Scripture Reading:    Lamentations 3:19-24

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. ²⁰ I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. ²¹ Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Gospel Reading:        Luke 17:5-10

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. ⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

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

Sermon: “What You Have is Enough”

Anthem “Faith That’s Sure”

Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
Planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord I’m his very own!

Complicated ways confuse me.
I praise my God in the simple ways.
Sing and dance and shout for Jesus,
Prayin’ to the Lord each and every day!

Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
Planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord I’m his very own!

Come and join the celebration,
New in the Lord by the Spirit’s power.
Come one, friend, the Lord’s awaitin’
Waitin’ for your heart this very hour!

Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
Planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord I’m his very own!

Song of Faith

One:   In grateful response to God’s abundant love, we bear in mind our integral connection o the earth and one another; we participate in God’s work of healing and mending creation. To point to the presence of the holy in the world, the church receives, consecrates, and shares visible signs of the grace of God. In company with the churches…we celebrate two sacraments as gifts of Christ: baptism and holy communion. In these sacraments the ordinary things of life water, bread, wine – Point beyond themselves to God and God’s love, teaching us to be alert to the sacred in the midst of life.

All:      Carrying a vision of creation healed and restored, we welcome all in the name of Christ, invited to the table where none shall go hungry, we gather as Christ’s guest and friends. In holy communion we are commissioned to fee as we have been fed, forgive as we have been forgiven, love as we have been loved.

Sung Response (Voices United #969)

Amen, Amen, Amen.

We Respond to God’s Word

Invitation to Share

Offering Sung Response – “For the Gift of Creation” (Voices United #538)”

For the gift of creation, the gift of your love,
And the gift of the Spirit by which we live,
We thank you and give you the fruit of our hands.
May your grace be proclaimed by the gifts that we give.

Offering Prayer

With the generous offerings of these gifts we ask you God to help each of us and our community grow in faith. That all our actions and our words will show love of you, each other, and your holy creation.

Hymn – “When Jesus Sets the Table (Then Let Us Sing! #29)

When Jesus sets the table, all people find a place.
The table is a promise of blessing and of grace.
So set the table fully, invite the whole world in.
If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.

Whoever we find troubling and seek to keep outside
That is the very neighbour who must not be denied.
So set the table fully, invite the whole world in.
If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.

No race, no creed, no nation, no love of heart and vow,
No gender is rejected. The table’s waiting now.
So set the table fully, invite the whole world in.
If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.

Communion

Call to Give Thanks

One:   May God be with us.
All:      God is here among us.

One:   Let us open our hearts to God.
All:      We open them to God and to one another.

One:   Let us give thanks to God.
All:      It is right to give thanks and praise.

Thanksgiving

We give you thanks, God of peace and promise. Through the words of your prophets and the faith of your followers you prepare the way of our redemption and bring hope to birth. And though we often grow weary of waiting, tour signs call us to keep watch for that day when all things shall be made new. In assurance of this hope, we join with all the company of heaven and earth to give you praise.

Song of Creation

Oh loving God, Creator of all things, nature gives thanks, your creatures give thanks. Your praise rises in us like the great river. God of all things, Creator, Provider, we thank you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Remembering Jesus at the Table

One:   Let us remember together that vision of God’s reign shown to us in Jesus at the table:
All:      he shared food with followers and friends,

One:   with saints and sinners,
All:      with crowds of thousands on the hillside,

One:   and a few friends in an upper room.
All:      on the night before he died, he had supper with his companions.

One:   He took a loaf of bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying:
All:      “Take, eat. “Do this in remembrance of me.”

One:   Then, he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he passed it among them, saying:
All:      “Drink this. Do this in remembrance of me.”

One:   Through this loaf and cup, Jesus lives within us.
All:      in words and deed, Jesus lives among us.

Prayer of Self-Giving

Eternal God, we unite in this covenant of faith, a we break bread and share the cup, giving thanks for your love in Jesus, the Christ. We spread your table with these gifts of the earth and of our labour, we present to your our very lives, committed to your service on behalf of all people.

Affirmation of Memory and Hope

One:   Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ:
All:      Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restored our live. Christ will come in glory.

Prayer for Transformation

One:   Send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon this offering of your church,
All:      that we who eat and drink at Christ’s table May share in his life.

One:   Pour out your Spirit upon the whole earth,
All:      and make it your new creation.

One:   Gather your church together from the ends of the earth into your realm where peace, and justice are revealed–
All:      that we, with all your people, of every language, race, and nation, may share the banquet you have promised.

One:   Let us now share together with one another and those around the world feasting with us.

Concluding Praise

For the bread we have eaten, for the wine we have tasted, for the life we have received, we thank you God. Grant that what we have done and have been given here, may so put its mark on us that is may remain always in our hearts. Grant that we may grow in Christian love and understanding, and that ours may be lives of faithful action, in Christ’s name. Amen.

Prayers of the People

O Holy Creator, we thank you that we stand in a long line of believers who have been faithful through the ages. You have been leading your people through trial and difficulty and have always set before them hope for today and hope for a better tomorrow. We pray that you would bless us in our time as we seek to be as faithful as our forbears. May we too know the faith which is filled with hope in things not seen.

We ask that you give us a faith like the grain of mustard seed which had small beginnings but which yielded large results. Provide us with the faith to move the mountains of difficulty which come to each of us.

Grant us the faith that sees a distant goal and is willing to work to achieve it. Give us a faith which has a vision of a new world where peace and love typify the communications of people and of nations and where war is no more. Provide us a faith such as our ancestors’ to move forward not knowing our destination but trusting in your guiding providence. Grant us a faith which nourishes our community. We ask today that you instill in those around us belief in your enduring presence, in particular…Offer us a faith which is able to endure those moments of personal disquiet and to trust that you are with us. Bestow on us a faith which sees the welfare of humankind as our business because it is the focus of your enduring love for your people. Give us a faith which sees beyond the years to an eternal city.

God, give us faith to walk with you through the ebb and flow and the failures and the successes of life. Amen.

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 – “Great is Thy Faithfulness” (Voices United #288))

Great is thy faithfulness, God our Creator!
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not;
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided –
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided –
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow –
Wondrous the portion thy blessings provide.

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided –
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Commissioning

Do not fear your faith is within you a gift from God to be forever united with God.

The Spirit of Life is with you and within you. The Spirit gathers all God’s peoples from all directions. Each is created for God’s glory. We are formed and made to be Christ for each other as part of the Body of Christ. This beautiful mother earth. Nurtured and fed let us go out into the world witnessing and being Christ the light for the world.

Benediction

What joy God has put in our hearts; let us be thankful and full. Let us go out into the world caring as Christ did for all creation and for one another. What peace the Holy Spirit has showered upon us that we know and feel the grace and love of God. In all our steps we take in this sacred journey of life unto death and life beyond death. Let us go now in peace, confident in the love of God. Amen.

Sung Response – “” (Voices United #457 verse 2)

Turn our worship into witness in the sacrament of life;
Send us forth to love and serve you, bringing peace where there is strife.
Give us, Christ, your great compassion to forgive as you forgave;
May we still behold your image in the world you