Mission

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT OUR SACRED WORLD: SACRED TECHNOLOGY 

  We invite you to worship at 10:30am this morning one of two ways: (1) The “Worship at Home” service here.  (2) Online worship on zoom – you are welcome to arrive any time between 9:45 and 10:30 for conversation before we begin check your email for the Zoom Room link. 

Click here for easy instructions on Zoom (thanks, Michele)

CONNECTIONS

Ways we worship, learn, and connect as Leaside United Church.

Lent Prayer Workshops continue. Contact Natalie if you would like to take part.  The Faith Exploration group will be meeting this Sunday on zoom. The topic will be “Social Justice and Inclusion.” I’m looking forward to seeing you there! – Natalie  

COVID-19 updates and resources is a new webpage with church updates, public health links, and resources on wellness and spiritual practices all in one place. Drop by Meet You @ Zoom at 9:45-11am Wednesday morning, starting this Wednesday. Everyone welcome!   

The Arts and Crafts group will now be meeting weekly 7-8pm on Wednesdays on zoom. Bring any arts or crafts project you’d like to work on.  Short daily podcasts are launching on Monday! 

Listen to the introduction here.  Coming Soon (see our website as we share details):   

• It Takes A Village

Keep in Touch! 

The LUC Contact Team is working to connect with everyone in our congregation through a friendly phone call or email every week or two. Help us be sure we aren’t missing anyone by letting Alison know if you are not in our directory, or know someone else who is not. Please contact Jean Marie, Pastoral Care minister, or Rev. Emily any time to talk.    What are you doing while you are at home? Send photos of meals, activities, and friendly faces to Alison to share with our Church Family email list!  Emily: 647-303-6709 or emily@leasideunited.org Alison: leaside.admin@bellnet.ca or 416-303-0088 Jean Marie: 647-896-0241 or jmsuchora@gmail.com Natalie: jahnnatalie123@gmail.com    

WORSHIP AT HOME 
This service includes links to listen to all the music and see the readings – click on the parts of the service that are underlined as you reach them. 

“Water Tulip” – Watercolour by Bonnie Mills

Call to Worship Now, for something completely different: in this place, at this time, we seek God,whose ways are not our ways,whose thoughts are not our thoughts.I invite you to be in God’s presence,to be open to God’s Spirit.We will be open; we will be. (Written by John Moses. Gathering Lent/Easter 2016, page 28. Used with permission.)  Music for Centering

Nothing Can Trouble (Nada te turbe) (VU 290)  

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdJKEmlZmns)(Reproduced with permission under License #00128 LicenSingOnline) 

Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten.Those who seek God shall never go wanting.Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten. God alone fills us.Nada te turbe, nada te espante.Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta.Nada te turbe, nada te espante. Solo Dios basta.

Lighting the Christ Candle  Our sacred world shines with holy light.  Peace in this moment, for every moment.  You are invited to light your candle or to close your eyes and imagine the glow of a lit candle.    Our wish for peace for one another and our world reaches beyond the distances we keep, and flows from our very hearts out to one another.  You are invited to imagine the light of this candle expanding outward to surround those you love, and then even further as it encompasses our city,
our country, and our world. 

A 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.  

Hymn – Atoms Spinning Sparking Life                                                       

WINCHESTER NEW Text by Emily Gordon From atoms spinning sparking lifeBurst stars and earth in joyful day Then, humans formed of dust and love Creative minds for work and play.   As sacred image we create And celebrate technology First wooden wheels, then gears and cogs, Then virtual reality.   Our aching world spins once again Our lives are changed and touched by fear. Remind us we are not alone O Holy Spirit, hold us near.   Now online words extend our care In new ways to fulfil your call: Apart we care, apart we love, And find you in the midst of all.  

Scripture and Reflection You are invited to read today’s scripture and reflection (below) or the all ages version with story and activity.  

Scripture Reading  Ezekiel 37:1-14  Today’s scripture reading is one vision of Ezekiel, a book from the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. The prophets spoke at times of political uncertainty and exile, and they both criticised injustice and the misuse of power, warning of the consequences, and also offered visions of hope and transformation. Luke Powery notes in his commentary that Ezekiel’s vision responds to a crisis for the “whole house of Israel” rather than individuals: “the city of Jerusalem, the cultural, religious, and economic center of Jewish life, fell to King Nebuchadnezzar. … it is no surprise that they say “our hope is lost” (v. 11). Yet, Ezekiel, the priest and prophet, is called upon to “prophesy to these bones” (v. 4), proclaiming a life-giving word to this community.” The crisis that we are experiencing now is not just individual but shared by all of us, even as each of us experiences it differently. Ezekiel, surrounded by signs of loss, of a suffering community, is invited to speak words that bring about life. It starts by recognizing, acknowledging, what is happening.

How can you allow yourself to acknowledge your fears and loss?  Ezekiel’s first words are uncertain. Yet in the midst of uncertainty, he speaks at God’s prompting and – slowly – new life comes about. Not all once, maybe not very quickly, but beyond what he could have expected. It’s hard to say what God’s life-giving breath might look like, and we’re not there yet. Instead, we’re sitting beside the dry bones of stories on the news. The dry bones of stories from family, friends, church family, and our own lives. We are in the valley, beside loss and uncertainty. In this vision, God’s breath does not simply appear in the valley making everything right on its own. Instead, Ezekiel is told to speak, to call new life into being, to be a co-worker in bringing hope. We are given the same invitation, the same purpose: to utter the words of hope and love that strengthen, encourage, and care. We are doing this – you are doing this – in how we are keeping apart, in how we are checking in on family, friends, and neighbours with phones, emails, and video calls. In how we are finding routines and activities that allow us to care for ourselves. How are you being a co-creator of hope? You already are.  God does not leave us in the valley, but is here with us in our loss, in our uncertainty, and in our work for the good of all despite that loss and uncertainty. God works through us, through each of you. God is with us. We are not alone. Amen. 

Offering

If you usually give via the offering plate, consider making a donation online (the link is at the bottom of the email), or add your donation to a Leaside envelope to bring when we are worshiping in the building again. If you give by PAR, take a moment to reflect on what it means for you to offer your gifts. Everyone is invited to think of a way you will extend caring this week, such as donating to a charity, mailing unexpected thinking of you cards to friends or family, or something else. 

Prayer
You are invited to pray for our congregation, our city, and our world. You might chose to do so using this prayer, or with whatever words are in your heart today.

The Lord’s Prayer

Hymn – Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (VU 333)HYFRYDOL(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GenHMi5B7L4) (Reproduced with permission under License #84255 LicenSingOnline) 

Love divine, all loves excelling,Joy of heav’n to earth come down:  fix in us thy humble dwelling,all thy faithful mercies crown:Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;visit us with thy salvation,enter ev’ry trembling heart.Come, Almighty to deliver,let us all thy life receive;  suddenly return, and never, nevermore thy temples leave.Thee we would be always blessing,  serve thee as thy hosts above, pray and praise thee without ceasing,  glory in thy perfect love. Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be:  let us see thy great salvation  perfectly restored in thee;Changed from glory into glory,  ’til in heav’n we take our place,  ’til we cast our crowns before thee,lost in wonder, love, and praise. 

Blessing
May we move from this moment into every moment, aware of God’s love surrounding us. And may we share that love in our thoughts, words and actions. Amen. 

Choral Blessing – Go Now in Peace (VU 902)    Hal Hopson (recording of choir) Reproduced with permission under License #80718 LicenSingOnline  Go now in peace. Now, God, you have kept your word: let your servant go in peace. With my own eyes I have seen the salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of every people; a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel. Amen. 

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Listen here to the recorded reading and reflection:

March 29, 2020 via Zoom (9:37) – Rev. Emily Gordon