Texada Island United Church
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • History
    • Links
  • Focus on Spirit
  • Prayers for the World
  • Milestones
    • Births, Deaths & more
    • In Memoriam
    • Advent Bible Study >
      • Advent Bible Study
      • Advent & Christmas Candle lighting
      • Past Events
  • Photo Gallery
    • Karen May, New Legion Chaplain
    • Church Photos
    • Battle Services >
      • Battle of Atlantic service - April 2015
      • Battle Service 2010
    • Tea & Bakesales >
      • Dessert Tea & Bake sale April 2015
      • Church Tea & Bake Sale Dec 2013
      • St Patricks Day Tea and Bake Sale 2013
      • St Patricks Tea 2010
      • Bake Sale 2009
    • Christmas >
      • Christmas Dinner 2014
      • Christmas Concert 2014
      • Christmas Day 2013
      • Christmas Eve 2013
      • Christmas Concert 2013
      • Christmas dinner at Legion 2013
    • Music Events >
      • Chor Musica Powell River Mens Choir - March 2015
      • Chor Musica Video
      • Joyful Noise Photos - 2008-2010, 2013
      • Advent in Song, Dec 2008
    • KSE photos >
      • KSE Photos 2010
      • KSE Photos 2009
      • KSE Photos 2008
    • More Photos >
      • Certificate of Thanksgiving 2014
      • Doretta's 60th
      • Appreciation Service, May 2010
      • Bowen Island Weekend Sep 2009
      • Yard Sale March 2009
      • Earth Day 2009
      • Van Anda Days July 2008
      • Leban Wedding, 2008
  • Church Notes
  • Reflections
    • From Services
    • For Kids
    • Something to Ponder

Reflections for Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019 – Thanksgiving

13/10/2019

0 Comments

 
Reflections for Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019 – Thanksgiving
1st Scripture Reading:  Deuteronomy 26:1-11 & Psalm 100
Reflection:
          Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  This is my favourite time of the year!  The air gets a bit crispy, the colours all change to oranges, yellows, and browns, and the harvest is brought in for another year.  God’s abundance is all around us, and never so evident is God’s care for us than it is in this season which provisions us so generously for the coming winter.
(show pictures of Texada’s natural wonders)
          Thanks to all who have brought samples of their own harvest to share with us today.  We are grateful for all the gifts of time, talent and treasure shared to enrich and support this community of faith.  We are indeed a  spiritual family, and we stretch our faith deeply into our families and our community networks.
          This weekend is a time of celebration:  a time to enjoy the fruits of our labour in the company of relatives and friends.  But as I sat down to write this reflection I was struck by how much suffering is going on in our world even as we do so.  It’s hard for me to disregard the plight of the Kurdish people in Syria as the Turkish army bears down on them.  Hard to put out of mind thoughts of bloodbaths and ethnic cleansing. Major weather events in Japan and in California invade my thoughts, and somehow it feels like we live in a blessed bubble here on Texada.
          And so, I am grateful.  Grateful for the health and security of my sons and their families.  Grateful for this faith community and your support for my work.  I’m grateful for the persistent presence of Jesus Christ in my life, and for the guidance of Spirit.
          I’m so grateful for the knowledge and insight and spiritual guidance in my life that allow me to see how important the spiritual dimension of human life on earth actually is.  Without it, we would, I believe, have destroyed ourselves in never-ending warfare long ago.  Our spiritual evolution, aided by great teachers such as the prophets, Jesus and the great teachers of other faiths, has brought us to this place in our history where we must make a conscious choice between technologies and lifestyles that are life-giving, and those that lead only to death and destruction.
          God’s gifts are all around us. Life is the greatest gift of all.  Let us choose life, people of God.    
 
Hymn #288 VU “Great is Thy Faithfulness”
 
 
 
2nd Scripture Reading:  Philippians 4:4-9 & John 6:25-35
Reflection:
          So here we are on Thanksgiving Sunday, the last Sunday in the season of Creation. Today and maybe tomorrow we will feast on the plenty, on the abundance of the fruits of the earth.  Matthew Fox in his book “The Cosmic Christ” reminds us that “Each meal we eat today is like a ‘farewell meal’ of Mother Earth since, when we eat, we always eat Mother Earth.  Mother Earth, then, is a constantly sacrificed ‘paschal lamb’ whose blood is spilled for our healing, nourishment, and salvation.” (p.150)
          And I like to say the earth, our life on earth, all this is God’s great gift to us.  To which some say, who is this God?  And I have to answer that I stand here in awe and wonder and tell you that I don’t know – but I can still stand in fear and trembling before a power that I don’t understand, and probably don’t have the mental equipment to understand.  And that power reverberates thru everything I see and hear and feel.
          According to all our great teachers, that Power, this God, has a bias toward all that is good, and kind, and loving.  This God demands justice and kindness and mercy appropriate to the beauty and generosity of the gifts we have been given.
          The Bread of Heaven, the teachings and spiritual life offered to us in Christ, is the food that gives us eternal life.  This bread is the very presence of God, enervating every moment of our lives.  This bread makes everything we do and think and believe sacred.  This bread is the innate sacredness of each uniquely special one of us. Made in the image of God, we are each one of us expressions of the Creator, creative beings in our own right – another gift.
          Jesus, and the other great teachers of the world’s spiritual traditions, came to bring these truths into consciousness for us.  To open our eyes to who we really are, and to help us to understand that we are part of this miraculous entity we call Creation and could not exist apart from it.
 
 
Hymn #651 VU “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah”
​
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.