Towards Sunday, June 21

Reading:  Not sure yet
Theme:  Fathers Day, the Pan Am Games and Communion

Question
How do you worship and celebrate communion in our church on Fathers Day from 10:30 to 11:30 when the Pan Am Games Torch is arriving across the street at Puddicombe's at 10:45 and being carried along Hwy 8 right past our front door at 10:55?

Answer?
We listen to the call and the nudge of the day to celebrate the Father who loves to see all his children playing together.  Perhaps we spend the first half-hour outside with everyone else who has come to celebrate the arrival and the progress of the Pan Am Games Torch.  And then we spend the second half-hour in the sanctuary, sharing communion at the table of the God who is just dying to see all his children playing (...and living..and working) together as one.

Perhaps we even include in our worship the theme song of the Pan Am Games -- "Together We Are One" by Serena Ryder.  You can see it yourself at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWQEDgLHxY.  Maybe you'll also see it in worship this Sunday.  Just imagine it in that context.

Perhaps we even offer a Pan Am Games version of the Lord's Prayer, which you can also read right now:

O Holy One, source of all that is, of each and of all,

You who loves to see

all your children playing together

May we remember – and remember to love, your way

May we learn to live and work together always

in the same spirit of peace and harmony

that we live out and enjoy when we gather for these Games 

May all who come have all that they need –

          food, shelter, help in times of crisis, safety, and friendship

May the Games draw us all into a wider world – your world

          of greater understanding, respect and co-operation

May we learn to look beyond

the emphasis on competition and winning

to embrace the deeper experience of being one and together. 

For this world is not mine or theirs

It is yours and ours

And there is unimaginable delight in learning to share it in peace.

Amen.