Freelton Strabane United Church
To live our discipleship with integrity and grace.
Horseshoe Falls Regional Council
Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, November 12 2023
Remembrance Sunday
Minister: Rev. Will Wheeler, B.A. M. Div. 905-659-3380 E-mail: wwwheeler@sympatico.ca
Music Director Joan Simpson
Announcements
Gathering
Three things I promise Holy God,
In age and youth, in life and death:
To bless your Name and cling to Christ
And listen for the Spirit’s breath.
Call to Worship
One: This is a day of remembrance
All: reembrace and more
One: this is a day of tears
All: tears and more
One: This is a day for our Country
All : our country and more
One: This is a day for all of those that served and serve in our Military
All: : And more
One: This is a day to remember and cry, for our country and all countries for our people and all people for our soldiers and all soldiers.
All This is a day for us to recommit ourselves to Justice, to recommit ourselves to peace
One This is a day as is every day—
All that we must never forget
One in our remembering and in our living Let us worship God.
Prayer of Approach
Lord Jesus, you have called us to be your disciples and entrusted to us your kingdom. Knowing ourselves and our limitations, we are amazed that you have put such great trust in us and in our ability to be faithful to you. Lord, make us more faithful. Renew in each of us the conviction that we are your representatives, your ambassadors in the world. Enable us so to live our lives that others might look at us and see your kingdom taking form through our lives. We hear and believe the gospel. Your Son Jesus Christ has delivered us from sin and You, have entrusted us with the love that restores our souls. May we continue to strive to live the great commandment
Poems of reembrace
Aftermath Pte Frank
Aftermath
by Pte. Frank
With Desolation and the Stars
I lonely vigil keep,
Over the garner'd fields of Mars,
Watching the dead men sleep —
Huddled together, so silent there.
With bloodless faces and clotted hair,
Wrapped in their long, long sleep!
By uptorn trees and crater rims
Along the Ridge they lie,
Sprawled in the mud, with out-spread limbs,
Wide staring at the sky.
Why to the sky do they always stare,
Questioning heaven in dumb despair?
Why don't they moan, or sigh?
Why do I rave, ‘neath the callous stars,
At their upturned faces white?
I, surely I, with my crimson scars
Slumber with them this night!
Death, with shadowy finger bare,
Beckons me on to — I know not where;
But, huddled together, and freed from care
We'll watch till the dawn of Light.
From the Somme,
1916
REMEBRANCE
One: They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.
All: At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.
The Last Post
Minute of Silence
Piper’s Lament
Reveille
In Flanders Fields Word’s by John McCrea Strabane
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
One Eternal rest grant unto them, O God, and may perpetual light shine down upon them.
All: May their souls through your mercy rest in peace
Prayer
God of many names, we pray for peace with ourselves in our relationships, in our communities in our world. May we be empowered to do the work of peace wherever we may find ourselves so that you may work through us. We pray for all those that have served and all those that are serving. We honour the memory of those that so willingly said yes when called by their country and never came home. We honour those that so willing said yes and came home broken souls. Grant us your presence in this time of remembrance, give us courage to seek peace, to speak of justice and willingness to work towards healing a broken world. Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen
National Anthem 524
All We come as God’s people to here the story
One our lesson is taken from Psalm Psalm 70
One this is the word of the Lord
All thanks be to God
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 Come people of God and know inspiration of the Spirit
All We come as a people of God to know the Spirit in words of the Apostles
One Our lesson is taken form 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18
Come people of God and hear the good news of Jesus
All We come as a people of God to learn and be reminded of the ways of Christ.
One our Gospel lesson is taken from Matthew 25:1-13
Prayer
Lord as we ponder your words open our hearts that we may understand and know you. Amen
Sermon
Have you ever pondered how much time you spend getting ready for something. Dinner for example. Hour, hour and half prep. Ten fifteen minutes top to eat and then four days to clean up the mess. Thank the Creater for left overs.
There are times when you are getting ready to leave for something and you get to the point where you think, it would be nice to leave the house just once. Meanwhile, Scarlett is looking at you as if to say, you cold just make a list.
I can remember getting ready to go away on tour. Packing everything, double checking to make sure you have everything. Leave the house and having to turn the car around before we got out Freelton for sunglasses. Yes foreshadow.
Get to airport, Kiss kiss hug love you I will be fine yes I will be safe. Big wave, and go inside and…I don’t have my shoulder bag. No man purse . Frantic phone calls, panic, really nice airport person Andrew. (can’t remember what I had for Breakfast but can remember a strangers name)
This is why you arrive at the Airport three and half hours early.
Being ready. We spend a lot of time getting ready for events in our lives which mean we spend a lot of time waiting, making lists, planning. Then what we have planned for happens. And we start looking for the next thing to plan for to be ready for.
Gospel is about being ready. The story of Five women who are ready and five who are not. , yes it speaks of Christ coming again, but for us it is about not letting our faith sit like an un-attended light. The gospel parable reminds us that ours is a lamp of faith that needs to be tended to so that it might light our way with a steady and constant flame.
We are called to let our light of faith to shine.
The light of faith comes in many ways but it always brings hope.
In the dark days of history during the first world war it was the music that helped to bring hope, the same way the words of Winston Churchill’s words brought hope to a nation.
The prayer shawls that have been given by people over the years have helped to bring hope in the reminder that in the dark moments of life we are not alone.
That small little change for change jar brings hope.
The prayer shawls that we share give hope
I was at a Hamilton Presbytery reunion hosted by the Hamilton Presbytery Mission Council this past week and one of the speakers spoke about how the outreach we do as Churches in our community become something that people can look to and look forward to. This work brings that hope. Our buildings are important but our mission to out reach is even more so.
Our faith and our presence in this community are like a lamp in the darkness of a world that does not know faith as the forbearers of Freelton Strabane knew faith. How the world new faith. The world has changed. We cannot expect the world to meet us where we have been but we are called to meet the world where it is today. To live out our faith. To be bold in our faith and allow the spirit of God to show us how we may let the light of the gospel shine through us in this new age so that we may name how we can help bring hope onto the lives we touch and live in hope and not despair. To see our blessings and not despair for what was.
We traditionally see the Olive branch as a symbol of Peace. For the people of the middle east they see the olive tree as much more, they see
The olive tree As a symbol of renewal, hope, and rebirth . In the Bible, the dove Noah sent out after the great flood was said to have returned with an olive leaf in its mouth, symbolizing the end of the flood and the start of a new era . The olive tree’s resilience represents the idea of renewal and growth, and has been used as a symbol of hope and perseverance
We are left with the question. Are you ready? Have you trimmed the lamp of your faith?
May we continue to keep the lamp of faith well-trimmed. May we continue as a church to let the light of the gospel shine through us. May we continue to live in hope. May your light so shine, And on this road of faith we are called to travel may we know that we are not alone, in strife, in peace, in sorrow and joy, in the darkness of the night and the full light of day we are not alone thanks be to God .
Prayers of the people
Slow me Down Slow me Down
Still my restless mind Still my restless mind
Quell my fears Quell my Fears
Quench my Thirsty soul Quench my thirsty Soul
Fill me with your love Fill me with your love
God of Truth God of Truth
God of love God of love
One Eternal God, conceiver and shaper, ruler and Saviour of the world, we bless you that, awake and aware we are free to praise you. Bound in the family of Christ to worshippers in every land, We praise your name for gifts given. We offer prayers of thanksgiving that we are a part of your holy family called to serve in your world.
All: Lord Listen to your children praying
Lord, send your Spirit in this place
Lord listen to your children praying
Send us love, send us power send us grace.
One: Liberate all who follow Christ from narrowness of vision and limited discipleship. Make your people keen to serve you in the public worlds of business, politics, education, law , industry, and wherever the welfare of humanity may be improved. May our hearts be open to the leading of your spirit and may you hear our prayers for the world in which we live.
All: Lord Listen to your children praying
Lord, send your Spirit in this place
Lord listen to your children praying
Send us love, send us power send us grace.
One: Through out this day, throughout this week. Enliven our minds, inspire our conversation, inform our decisions, and protect those we love, and should today bring what we neither anticipate nor desire, increase our faith and decrease our pride until we know that, when we face the unexpected, we do not stand alone.
All: Lord Listen to your children praying
Lord, send your Spirit in this place
Lord listen to your children praying
Send us love, send us power send us grace.
One: Lord we offer you our own private prayers spoken in the silence of our hearts…..Hear these prayers made in the presence and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Lord Listen to your children praying
Lord, send your Spirit in this place
Lord listen to your children praying
Send us love, send us power send us grace.
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
Take this moment, sign and space, take my friends around; here among us make the place where your love is found
Take the time to call my name, take the time to mend who I am and what I’ve been, all I’ve failed to tend.
Take the tiredness of my days, take the past regret,
Letting your forgiveness touch all I can’t forget.
Take the little child in me scared of growing old’
Help me here to find my worth made in Christ’s own mold.
Take my talents, take my skills, take what’s yet to be
Let my life by yours and yet let it still be me.
Amen
(John Bell and Graham Maule)
Commissioning and Blessing
One: From our history we have come to our present with hope for tomorrow.
All: We have found Hope renewed to be the disciples of Christ in the world
One Go now once more into the world to be those disciples called to plant the seeds of love, hope, and future of this congregation of God.
Go now in Peace
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.
Upcoming Events
For all the people that have worked so hard this past year as we moved and lived into the Amalgamation thank you so much. Truly this has been the work of God. As we move into the summer we pray that people find restful times and stillness for the soul.
