Lent Four: "We are All Treaty People" Worship, Immanuel United Church (Steps on the Journey of Reconciliation) Mar 11, 2018

Mar 11, 2018 

"We are all Treaty People " Worship 

Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly 

Prelude 

Ha Na sits in a lawn chair next to the Lenten Campfire. 

There will be a few more lawn chairs. 

Everyone sing Open our Hearts (MV 21), three or four times, sitting, until all are ready and open. 

Choral Introit: MV 21 Open Our Hearts 

Open our hearts, open our minds.
Open our lives to you
O loving God. Repeat 

Last time Open our hearts. 

Welcome: God, Children & Us 

Raise your hand if your ancestors were Indigenous. 

Raise your hand if your great-grandparents were born in Canada. 

Raise your hand if your grandparents were born in Canada. 

Raise your hand if your parents were born in Manitoba. 

Raise your hand if you live in Treaty One.  

We are all Treaty People, here in Canada. We are all one people. We all come from one Creation…

Acknowledgement of the Land

As we gather to worship, we acknowledge with respect that we live and work and worship on Treaty One Land, in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, and Dakota peoples, and in the heart of the Metis Nation. May we live in peace and friendship with the peoples of this land, honouring their relationship with the land and water, the plants and animals through the many generations. 

Call to Worship from “Lamentation”* 

Introducing the Hymn: MV 66 Senzeni Na? 

“Senzeni Na?” is a traditional South African song, an outcry against injustice. When an injury is done to some of our human family, then all sisters and brothers should take up the cry. “Senzeni Na?” means: “What have we done?" 

After each time of tearing cloth, the congregation sings "Senzeni Na?"

Put each length-wise torn strip on the Lenten Campfire.

We cry out to you, O God,
as ones who have been hurt and as ones who have hurt others.
From our places of struggle, we cry to you together, O God.
We cry out to you with tears born of broken dreams and unfulfilled potential. 

Tear Cloth

Senzenina - what have we done? 

We cry out to you, O God,
as ones who have been hurt and as ones who have hurt others.
From our places of struggle, we cry to you together, O God.
We cry out to you with pain of loneliness, misunderstanding and isolation. 

Tear Cloth

Senzenina - what have we done? 

We cry out to you, O God,
as ones who have been hurt and as ones who have hurt others. From our places of struggle, we cry to you together, O God. We cry out to you with anger at being excluded, ignored and made invisible. 

Tear Cloth

Senzenina - what have we done? 

We cry out to you, O God,
as ones who have been hurt and as ones who have hurt others. From our places of struggle, we cry to you together, O God.
We cry out to you with bewilderment and dismay. 

We are paralyzed; we do not know where to turn. 

Tear Cloth

All: Senzenina - what have we done? 

Silent Reflection 

Prayer 

We place before you torn pieces of the fabric of our lives and our communities. Day by day, God is witness to every thought, act and word.
God holds our pain and cries out, “how long O my people, how long?”
We place our pain and our hope in your hands, loving God, trusting in your holy power to liberate and make all things new. Amen. 

Children go to upstairs with Jen for their program. 

Hymn: VU 226 For the Beauty of the Earth 

Scripture: Job 12: 7-10
“Ask the animals and they will teach you; the birds of the air, they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the sh of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of God has done this? In God’s hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being." 

The Choir Anthem: O for a World

Reflection … Loretta Ross

Hymn: VU 701 What does the Lord Require of You 

Micah 6:8Introduction: the way the Bible Thinks about Justice (Walter Brueggemann) 
“The work of liberation, redemption, salvation  is the work of giving things back.”
“Justice is to sort out what belongs to whom, and to return it to them.”

1. What does the Lord require of you? What does the Lord require of you? 

2. Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.

3. To seek justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. 

Offering

Sung Dedication: VU 540 Grant Us, God, Grace 

Grant us, God, the grace of giving, with a spirit large and free, that ourselves and all our living we may offer faithfully. 

Prayers of the People

Sung Response: MV 14 Where Two or Three Are Gathered 

Where two or three are gathered in my name, 

I am there, I am there. 

Gather all our prayers together, O God. 

Then scatter our love 

on the winds of the Holy Spirit’s breathing, 

to meet peace, true understanding and healing, 

in all aspects and places of our lives. 

The Life and Work of the Church

Commissioning and Benediction 

Walk through Lent, into the future 

believing that we go into Holy Company. 

And may the Holy Spirit guard and guide us, 

Christ Jesus speak clearly into the challenges, 

and the Eternal God create a new way to sing a song of faith, love, justice, before us. 

Choral Extroit: MV 86 Give Peace to Ev’ry Heart 

Give Peace to Ev’ry Heart 

Give peace to ev’ry heart. 

Give peace to ev’ry heart. 

Give peace, God. 

Give peace, God. 

Postlude