For July 2, 2017 -- A service reflecting on #Canada150

(note: this service will also include litanies of Gratitude, Lament, and Hope.  These are yet to be written)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TREATY LAND

We gather here on land that is covered by Treaty #8, specifically the traditional land of the Beaver in the traditional territory of the Cree.

We thank them for their care for this land before our ancestors arrived. We pledge to work with them as we share this land into the future.

CALL TO WORSHIP

From a variety of backgrounds, different countries, different cultures,

we are drawn together.

We share a belief that God is with us,

and we gather to worship.

With the rest of the country us we celebrate our national birthday,

with the rest of the country we reflect on our shared story,

with the rest of the country we wonder what the future will bring.

We open ourselves to God’s presence,

as people of faith we invite God to be a part of our future as individuals, as a nation, as a church.

OPENING PRAYER

God of many faces, languages, places, names;

we gather to worship as one of the communities that makes up your global community.

God of our past, our present, our future;

we reflect on our past as a nation – the good and the bad,

we look at our present as a nation – the joys and the struggles,

we dream about our future as a nation – the possibilities and the challenges.

As we sing and pray and reflect,

awaken in us the vision of what this community of communities could be

send us out committed to ensuring that the love we see in Christ is a part of how we help to build the nation we want to live in.

We pray in the name of Jesus, who calls us to look beyond ourselves and our boundaries to experience the breadth of your love. Amen

COMMISSIONING:

This is God’s land, and we are people of God.

We are called to care for the land, to care for our neighbours.

We go back into the world,

to live in The Way of Christ,

to work for reconciliation and rebuilding of relationship,

to help build a community and nation where love is the guiding principle.

Go with God, who creates us anew,