This service is provided in full for those working on their own Orange Shirt Day, Truth and Reconciliation Day services. Please be sure to note I did not write this all. The sources I used are cited below. VU refers to the hymnal Voices United. MV refers to the hymnal More Voices.
Listen or watch this service here.
October 2, 2022
WELCOME: To all who join us in all places, at all times, in all media formats. Be one another’s rainbows of hope in our uncertain world! May our time together today be a mutual blessing.
Announcements – The Life & Work of the Church
Acknowledgement of Traditional Territory
We are gathered on Treaty 94, the Manitoulin Island Treaty. And digitally Treaty 45, the Manitowaning Treaty. And Treaty 61 – The Robinson-Huron Treaty. These lands are the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people: the Ojibwe, Odawa and the Pottowatomi. We acknowledge their stewardship of this land. Their care of the water, earth, fire and wind that is centre to their lives and spirituality. With the Mnidoo Mnising* (*Manitoulin Island) Peoples, and their neighbors, let us live in respect and gratitude for all creation.
Lighting of the Christ Candle
We light this Christ Candle as a symbol reminding us that wherever two or three are gathered, Christ is present. – Light the candle
Let us be Christ to one another.
Call to Worship and Invocation:
Today we wear orange
to remember and honour all the Indigenous children who went to residential schools.
Today we wear orange and we pray
for the residential school and intergenerational survivors who are still struggling.
Today we wear orange and we are thankful
for those who speak the truth, and who work to shine a light on injustice.
Today we wear orange in the name of compassion and the spirit of truth and reconciliation.
Help us, God, to remember and act on this every day.
Amen. ―This prayer was inspired by Honarine Scott’s Orange Shirt Day
**Hymn: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (VU 288)
Learning Time: for all ages.
- Manitoulin Steams Presentation – Guest Speaker
Listening
Hymn of Illumination: Deep In Our Hearts MV 154
Scripture Readings:
Lamentations 1:1-6
Luke 17:5-10
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Thanks be to God.
Sermon: “Other Ways Of Knowing the Earth”
Scripture, the land ethic, and most indigenous knowledges agree: humans are part of the natural world, and we die when we forget our interconnectedness.
In Scripture: In Exodus 23:11, God specially commands: “every seventh year you are to let the land rest and lie fallow, so that the poor may eat whatever grows, and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In a like manner are you to deal with your vineyard and olive trees.”
And in Nehemiah 10:21 – we shall let the land rest, and release all slaves, every 7th year.
This we know we’re interconnected from scientists. In 1949 the term “The land ethic” was coined by Dr. Aldo Leopold in his A Sand County Almanac. He wrote, “The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
“This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter down river. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species. A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these ‘resources,’ but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state.
In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”
We know we’re connected from traditional ways of knowing held among the First Nations. Novelist and activist Thomas King states, ‘“All my relations” is the English equivalent of a phrase familiar to most Native peoples of North America. It may begin or end a prayer or speech or a story, and, while each tribe has its own way of expressing this sentiment in its own language, the meaning is the same.
“All my relations” is at first a reminder of who we are and of our relationship with both our family and our relatives. It also reminds us of the extended relationship we share with all human beings. But the relationships that Native people see go further, the web of kinship to animals, to the birds, to the fish, to the plants, to all the animate and inanimate forms that can be seen or imagined. More than that, “all my relations” is an encouragement for us to accept the responsibilities we have within the universal family by living our lives in a harmonious and moral manner (a common admonishment is to say of someone that they act as if they had no relations).’”
Jesus today is asked to increase the faith of his apostles. And his reply is… that is the bare minimum that is expected of you. The slave language made sense to Jesus’ time, and didn’t refer to chattel slavery like we have known. But it is still troublesome. I tried to put this into my own setting and I read it as… Who among you have a little child who, when you got home from work, would say ‘Sit, mommy, and eat.’ Wouldn’t the child say, ‘Give me dinner, give me a sippy cup!’ And only after caring for your child would you then be able to sit and eat yourself. Do you expect a 2-year-old to say thank you for going to work and feeding me? No. That is expected of you. In the same way, it is expected of you to grow in faith. God isn’t going to hand it to you. And, if you have faith, just a little bit is more than enough.
I feel as if it is the bare minimum to care for all our relations. It is the bare minimum to be a citizen of the land and not a conqueror. It is the bare minimum to let the earth rest and leave space for that and those which bring no economic profit.
You’re not going to get on the news for slowing down to avoid hitting turtles.
You’re not getting a national award for turning off your external lights and preserving the night sky.
Bees won’t leave you money for the goldenrod and wild asters you leave – even if they’re ‘weedy’ – and they aren’t going to deposit honey in your cupboard because you avoid pesticides.
This is the bare minimum for living in a moral manner. This is how to live knowing we are sisters and brothers, cousins and aunties, grandparents and grandkids to the oaks, the streams, and even the black flies. This is acting like we have large families… for we do. We have obligations to lose our self-centeredness and be community focused.
Our Lamentations reading is, again, troubling. It claims God has chosen to make the city fall in battle because the city has sinned against God. I, personally, disagree with the author’s theodicy. His or her understanding of why bad things happen. But laments are important to our history – our traditions. A third of the Psalms are laments. We have a whole book of the Bible called “Lamentations.” To lament is to sorrow, to feel poorly, to wish things were another way.
I lament our world environment. The ecology. I lament the way we have in the past, and in the present, treat others as less, as not deserving respect, gratitude, and consideration. I lament the residential institutions, and colonialism, and 24/7 work culture, and economics which reduce everything to costs and profits. I lament. I wish things were another way.
My hope rests in this: with the faith of a mustard seed, I can move mountains. Maybe Jesus meant the size of a mustard seed. Maybe he meant as much faith as a mustard seed holds. Faith is hope and trust in what is not yet here. I have faith in humanity. I believe we are good and we can do good. I have faith in life. I believe life perseveres and is resilient. I have faith in Christians. I believe our religion is valuable and speaks to Truths that transcend time and space. I have faith in Canadians. We are in the process of dismantling the racism and colonialism our institutions were crafted within. I have faith in a mustard seed. In it is the promise of new life next year. In it is the promise of health and healing. In it is the promise God is not done creating and recreating.
I have faith in miracles. I trust a few determined people can and do change the world. I trust when many of us work together, we change whole societies and realities. I trust we are not in the last days. This is not the last days of the church nor of humans. God is doing a new thing. A new way of being in the world and with one another is dawning.
And yeah, we lament what was. The lonely church buildings that sit empty. The ease of cheap energy and cheap oil.
But what wonders still await those who tend to God. What wonders we can and are crafting as we learn to live together, love together, thrive together as one ecological family.
Amen.
Learning Hymn – “Touch the Earth Lightly” VU 307
Prayers for Right Relations and New Beginnings
God, hear our lament. We cannot stop thinking about the small graves of indigenous children in Canada. In the USA. In South America. Around the world. We imagine someone coming to take our children. My child. I imagine a police officer pulling my toddler out of my arms.
I imagine being empty like a cup of water poured out. Of children crying alone in the night. Of longing for them, weeping until I cannot see for tears.
Of never seeing them again.
I think about the long-frustrated love it takes for First Nations people to keep searching. To get better and bigger tools. To wait for new technology and search for truth that will not alleviate the grief.
To search for precious bones that were breathed into existence by God, then broken by those claiming to work on God’s behalf. On Christ’s behalf. This part is impossible.
It feels unbearable.
God, hear our lament.
Do you ask us, God, if we know the town where they found a grave? Have we walked and danced there, have we driven around its dry valley? Did we not know that children slept under its surface? Maybe if we had listened well to the voices of Indigenous Peoples, we would have known that thousands of stolen children sleep under the dirt that stretches across the continents. We lament and remember our great sin and shame.
The searchers will find the other graves and we will lament again and again for atrocities committed by those who used and walked under the name of Jesus. We will listen to stories of children being told by priests and nuns to scrub with lye to remove the beautiful brown of their skin. We will hear First Nations elders tell of the horrifying punishments they received for speaking their mother tongues, the language their mothers sang over them from the times they were firstborn. We will hear of unspeakable, evil things done to little ones and the grief will go on.
But will we listen? Will we hear?
We practice now – in quiet – to let mourning stay close so that it forms resolve for change.
(a time of silence.)
God of all creatures, all fragile humanity, forgive us. Jesus who loves and loves, weep over us. Cleanse us with your tears. Let your gentle presence be a balm for those who grieve the lost children of their generations and the lost years of their youths. Come very close, quietly and kindly, to those who remember being children who were afraid, hurt, and hungry. Lord, have mercy. Change us now, change us forever. Bless First Nations, the survivors of hatred and white supremacy, bless the children, bless the path before them, line it with flowers, let it be soft for their feet.
This we lament and pray in the name of Jesus,
who taught us to pray, .“Our Father… (The Lord’s Prayer)
– Revised from Rachel Devenish Ford
Minute for Right Relations
Minute for Right Relations September 2022
Alberta Billy, We Wai Kai Elder and a fierce defender of Indigenous rights, died on June 13, 2022. Alberta played a pivotal role in influencing The United Church of Canada in its journey towards reconciliation. At a meeting of the General Council Executive, on behalf of the
Native Ministries Council, Alberta asked Moderator, Rev. Bob Smith, to issue an apology to Indigenous peoples for the Church’s role in colonization and assimilation, particularly through the Residential Schools system. This led to The United Church of Canada offering the first apology on August 15, 1986 – the first church to do so.
After receiving concerns from Alberta, Edith Memnook and other Indigenous peoples that the first apology was too vague, the Church issued a second apology in 1998 which directly referenced and apologized for the 15 residential schools run by The United Church of Canada. Both of these apologies have been heard and acknowledged, but not accepted.
Alberta was also instrumental in advocating for the Aboriginal Ministries Circle receiving equal governance within the United Church.
Prior to her death, Alberta traveled Canada leading workshops on Indigenous and European contact,
with a specific focus on the history of Residential Schools. In 2021, after the discovery of the unmarked grave site at a former Residential School in Tk’emlúps, British Columbia, Alberta called on the churches and Government to act rather than just deliver pretty words and empty promises.
Alberta’s work calls on us, as a church and community, to commit and make concrete steps toward reconciliation. In a conversation with the Very Rev. Bob Smith, Pam Hart, Sara Stratton and Lawrence Sankey at the 30th anniversary of the apology, Alberta stated that she believes the church
has taken action, but there is still a lot to do. She believed that the church must show that Indigenous peoples and their ceremonies are accepted, welcomed, and respected.
Alberta’s words remind us that the apology is an ongoing process – a commitment to reconciliation, reparation, and repatriation. The apology must be heard and carried into the future through continuous action.
For more insight on Alberta Billy’s work and life, listen to her conversation with the Very Rev. Bob Smith, Pam Hart, and Lawrence Sankey on The United Church of Canada’s YouTube Channel.
The first apology was commemorated with the building of a Cairn at the site. The Apology Cairn has become a gathering place to remember and reflect on reconciliation. If you’d like to visit the Apology Cairn, it can be found in Parking Lot #15 at Laurentian University in Sudbury.
Offering Invitation:
Mission and Service offerings help the wider church respond to emergencies like the hurricane that just hit; and provide resources such as education material on the Apology Cairn or how to become a church advocating for environmental justice. Local church offerings help us respond to local needs; and provide a space to live out our faith in action, worship, and relationships.
I invite you now to consider what resources you have lots of, and what you are in need of — and let us receive and give, give and commit, to one another, the Earth, and God.
(The offering will now be brought forward)
Offertory: For the Gift of Creation VU 538
Offering Prayer:
Creator, bless these gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Let all receivers and givers alike feel your love and multiply it everywhere we go. Amen.
**Sending Forth Hymn: “Come Touch Our Hearts” (MV 12)
Carrying out the Light of Christ
You are the light of the world, the guiding North Star, the hope when things seem hopeless. This is because in you the eternal flame of Christ burns and can never be snuffed. Take this rekindled internal light with you, and let love and hope shine for the world.
– Extinguish candle
We take the love and hope of Christ to the world!
Choral Benediction: I Am Walking a Path of Peace (MV 221)
Pastor Whitney Bruno Sermons 