Freelton Strabane United Church
To live our discipleship with integrity and grace.
Horseshoe Falls Regional Council
19th Sunday of Pentecost
Sunday, October 19 2025
Minister: Rev. Will Wheeler, B.A. M. Div. 905-659-3380 E-mail: [email protected]
Music Director Joan Simpson
Gathering Blessed is the one who comes in the Name of Lord.
One Every creature every plant every rock and grain of sand
All proclaims the glory of its Creator with every colour shape and scent and form.
One In all of our being let songs of praise be sung
All Creature God may we join with the whole of your creation in praising you through all our living and lives.
Prayer of Approach
Heavenly Creator we meet together as your people as one people your family bound together with the woven chord that binds all of creation together fashioned from your love. May this be a time of joy a time of growing a time for strengthening, a time of know your love in Jesus Christ Amen
All: (sung) In God we live and move and have our story.
In love God lives in us and makes us whole
O Jesus may we hear the Word that calls us near;
Your story makes a home within our soul.
Your story makes a home within our soul
One: Our lesson is taken Timothy 3:14-4:3
Gospel is from Luke 18:1-8
One: The Word of God for the People of God
All Thanks be to God
Prayer
Lord as we ponder your words open our hearts that we may understand and know you. Amen
Sermon
Welcome to the official season of frost warnings and covered plants. Of woolly sweaters and smell of fallen leaves and bonfires.
The season of rich flavoured soups and crusty warm bread.
The Season of dusting off all those projects that got forgotten over the summer. To consider them again in the lengthening days
I am reminded of what one of our Saints of Freelton Strabane would say “I can’t die I have to many projects to finish” I find that this is becoming one of my sayings as well. You begin a project thinking this won’t take to long and then you find yourself celebrating anniversaries of when you started them. I am in year three of my Titanic build.
We live in an Instant oat meal world. The three minute boiled egg. One hour dry cleaning. Twenty minute pizza delivery. An oil change in less than an hour. A meal in a microwave in four minutes. Excellent health in just twenty minutes a day, only three days a week. A sense of well being after only a weekend in a seminar to gain enlightenment. A five minute spot on TV with Doctor Phil and years of emotional baggage is swept away.
If life was only that easy. A relationship with Christ in only an hour a week why not? Why not. Because it takes more than that.
When you are watching a sporting event regardless of what the sport may be you are watching a long commitment. In watching a great break a way and goal in hockey in the last minute of the game, or victory at the end of a NAS car race, a long pass in football, we realize that we are watching the fruits of hours of practice, days of disciplined work physical pain intense focus and persistence. That is why the crowd grows wild.
How much more does it take to be in relationship with God?
We know that faith is not something you have to have enough of it is just a matter of having it. Faith is something that does not get quantified.
It is something that grows with work. Faith is exercised in our trust and believe in God’s action in our lives. That God is there actively participating in our lives.
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In an unguarded moment John Wesley said something to the effect that “ even though prayer does not always change God, it can often change us” It can put us in the right frame of mind or give us a new determination. Wesley’s suggestion is dangerous. Even though Wesley surely did not mean it this way, such a suggestion can reduce prayer to mere auto suggestion merely talking to ourselves pumping ourselves up, rather than truly speaking to God.
Here is Jesus sharing this parable in order that we should pray always and not lose heart. The unjust judge gives in not out of compassion but just to get rid of the women. The women was persistent.
How does this story keep us praying with persistence?
Maybe in this story, Jesus wants us to understand that, even though the world may look broken, unjust and corrupt, if we keep working at it, if we persistently believe the world to be basically good place, things will work out
We can make a difference. The hard thing to understand is sometimes we never get to see what that difference.
Some may remember when we took on the task of building a house in Mexico. It was an adventure. Our host a very conservative Christian made it very clear to us that the women who we were building the house for was perhaps not deserving after all she had a child and no husband. No we were building house for her only because she came back again and again to the point of being an annoyance so our host decided to give her a house just to be rid of her. Our Host, who would not invite us to worship with him on a Sunday always seemed resentful for the extra things we did for the women. A house was built. We will never know the difference we made in that women’s life.
Perhaps we are supposed to understand this parable as saying, prayer really does work. If you keep at it. Sometimes prayer works slowly, but never lose heart it works. It may not be the outcome you expect but God is there. It works because God is there. If the unjust Judge will do the least for a petitioner how much more will a loving present God do for us.
God is present in this place, in this house, in this community of faith.
You May ask “Will…how can you stand there and say that with such confidence? “
I say this not because of my faith, although my faith in you is undoubting, I say this for I see what you have accomplish.
I see it in every cup of coffee or tea which is served, I see it in every hymn or anthem that is song. I see it in every name named in prayer But most of all, I hear in your laughter, I see it in the caring of your eyes, In the ever growing secular world, I see it in your devotion to be a place of worship, of welcome of comfort a community of Faith.
I see faith lived. Lived out in this place.
We will be persistent in our prayer, we will be persistent in our faith will be persistent in being a community that works to proclaim and live the goodness, the good news of the Gospel in this place. We will be persistent in opening ourselves to the movement of the Holy Spirit in leading us even when it might scare us to our core. But we will persist for Christ walks with us and God is ever present for we are not alone. Thanks be to God.
Prayers of the people
Hear our prayer we humbly offer
Grant to us your peace O God
Hear our prayer we humbly offer
Grant to us your peace O God.
Prayers
One God of the journey you have been here
All in Good times
One you have been here
All In the times of disagreement
One you have been here
All in our laughter
One you have been here
All In our sorrow
One you have been here
All God of the journey you are here
One In all our travelling
ALL: May your footsteps guide us
In our journeying to work and returning
One : May your footsteps guide us
Within our homes and families
ALL: May your footsteps guide us
In our leisure time together
One : May your footsteps guide us
In difficult situations and conflict
ALL: May your footsteps guide us
As we stumble on the way
One : May your footsteps guide us In the travelling of our faith May your footsteps guide us As we place our trust in you
ALL: May your footsteps guide us In all our travelling. Lord, may it be your footsteps in which we place our feet. In your name, in the name of Christ , in the name of the Spirit, in the name of all the heavenly saints of Freelton We will travel on. We are called to be the church, a community of faith and we offer you the names of those in our hearts and personal prayers trusting that in your time and way they shall be answered.
Personal prayer
One Within our hearts we know that you hear our prayers and in your time and way they shall be answered we speak with one voice that prayer which binds us as one saying…
Lord’s Prayer.
Offering
We give thee but thy own. The work of the Church continues and there are three ways you can continue to support that work. Consider using PAR, use the donate button on our Web Site or drop your gift at the Manse. Let us make our offering and give thanks.
One: Praise God who from all Blessing flow
Prayer . God of presence We bring our simple gifts we have to you. We offer them with thankful hearts in honour of all the gifts you have given us, and in thanksgiving for your promise that you will provide. May these gifts we bring help to sustain your church and enable us to continue to proclaim the good news of your gospel in this place in chirst we pray amen.
Yesterdaywe honour our heritage.
Todaywe know that we are not alone,that we live in God's world.
Tomorrowwith God,we will discoverthe undiscovered country.
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