Trinity United Church

“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:14 (NRSV)

Here is the link for Sunday, October 11, 2026 worship service:  https://youtu.be/0imsQDqws7E

Sunday, October 18 – Worship starts at 10:45 a.m.

Scripture to Ponder & Prayer — October 12

Week of World Food Sunday

Texts this week: Exodus 33:12–23; Psalm 99; 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10; Matthew 22:15–22

To Ponder: Psalm 99 & Matthew 22:15–22

Last Sunday, we celebrated Thanksgiving, gathering around tables, sharing meals, and giving thanks for life’s blessings. But as we approach World Food Sunday, we are reminded that not everyone has enough to eat.

Friends, while some tables overflow with food, others remain empty. Even here in Canada, including Manitoba, many families struggle with rising grocery prices, housing costs, and limited incomes. Around the world, poverty, conflict, drought, and floods continue to threaten people’s access to food.

Psalm 99 reminds us that God loves justice:

“The King is mighty, he loves justice; you have established equity.” — Psalm 99:4

God’s holiness is reflected not only in our worship but also in how we treat one another. When people go hungry, our faith calls us to respond with compassion and justice.

In Matthew 22, Jesus says:

“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are God’s.” — Matthew 22:21

The coin bears the emperor’s image, but every human being bears God’s image. Every hungry child, struggling parent, and neighbors deserves dignity, care, and the opportunity to live well.

As people of faith, we are called to move beyond gratitude toward responsibility. Through food banks, community meals, Mission and Service, and advocacy for food security, we can help make God’s abundance accessible to others.

Charity asks, “How can we feed someone today?”

Justice asks, “What must change so everyone can eat tomorrow?”

Both are expressions of our faith.

Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Notice that little word “us.” We do not pray only for ourselves but for the whole human family.

This World Food Sunday, may our thanksgiving become generosity, our compassion become action, and our faith become a living witness to God’s justice and love.

A Question to Ponder:

How can we, as individuals and as a community of faith, help ensure that everyone has enough?

Prayer for this week

Creator,
Conspire with us
to create a world where all have access to nutritious and sustainable food sources,
and none live with scarcity or food insecurity.
Redeemer,
Save us from oppressive and unjust systems.
Mobilize us to be a part of a world response
that works in partnership with those of good will
to foster equitable resource sharing.
Sustainer,
Cultivate our resilience and expand our imaginations,
so that we might continually find new ways
to answer the call to end hunger-
until all may flourish. Amen.

—A prayer for World Food Day by Alydia Smith

“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:14 (NRSV)

Worship: Sunday, October 11, 9:30 a.m.  Joint Worship with Good Shepherd Anglican

Come and Celebrate with Good Shepherd Anglican and Trinity United, as we rejoice at 15 years of sharing and caring together.  Worship is at 9:30 am with a POTLUCK BRUNCH to follow. Everyone is welcome!

SUNDAY SCHOOL will be held this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. downstairs in the Chapel.

Thanksgiving Decorations and Food Donations

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday, we encourage everyone to bring some fresh produce, fruits, vegetables, or other harvest items from their gardens to help decorate our sanctuary. These gifts will serve as symbols of gratitude for God’s abundance and the blessings of creation.

If you would also like to contribute non-perishable food items to Harvest Manitoba, please place them in the separate donation basket at the front of the sanctuary.

Let us celebrate Thanksgiving with grateful hearts, sharing the gifts of the earth and God’s abundance with one another.

Thanksgiving Announcement From Outreach: At this special time of the year, Thanksgiving, we are expressing our thanks for our many blessings. We are suggesting that you make an extra donation to a cause dear to your heart. We are all aware of the number of people experiencing food insecurity and suggest that, if possible, you consider a donation to Harvest Manitoba ( Donate Money – Harvest Manitoba ) or any other appropriate organization. Thank you.

A further request from Outreach: We are continuing to deliver food items left in the grocery cart in the narthex to Pimicikimak Wellness Centre. Your contributions are very much appreciated. Food items are used in their homemade lunches or in hampers they provide on an emergency basis. They have also indicated a need for hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap and deodorant. Thank you for your continued generosity. 

The Stewardship Committee is looking for a Volunteer to perform the annual financial review, required primarily to satisfy requirements of CRA regarding our charitable status, but also for good due diligence.  If you are interested, please contact the office at tuc@mymts.net

  Bomber Season 🏈 and Heritage Classic

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Sign up sheets are posted on the bulletin board. Questions or concerns? contact Marilyn Loat, Charles Powell or Ken Johnson 

Saturday, October 10, 2026 – Regular Season game vs Calgary
Sunday, October 25, 2026 – Heritage Classic, Winnipeg Jets vs Montreal Canadians FULL STAFF

In our Prayers:

From Prairie to Pine Region: 

Please hold in prayer the following community of faith:   Pembina Parish Pastoral Charge

Trinity folk have resumed services at the St. Norbert and Waverley/Rosewood personal care homes. We are at the Waverley/Rosewood on the first Wednesday of each month at 10:00 am, and at St. Norbert on the first Thursday of each month at 10:30am. We provide the residents with a short church service consisting of prayers, hymns, scripture readings, various short readings, and a message from Rev. Khadka. A long time Trinity member, Connie Fillion, is now a resident at St. Norbert, and would love to see you. If anyone from the former Trinity Tones is available to come, please do. (No rehearsals! Just come!)  If you would like to be a part of this ministry, please contact Nancy DeLong at 204-254-3450.

Programs at Trinity – All are welcome to attend

Sunday School: Sunday October 11th 9:30 a.m.

Wednesday Yoga: Resumes October 14th 10:30 a.m. in person & Zoom

Trinity Yoga on Zoom Saturdays: Resumes October 17th

Bible Study:  Monday  1:30 p.m. in person.

Trinity Walkers: Do you want a partner to walk with?  If so, contact Maryann to arrange a time and place.  Give the office a call to get her number.   

Electronics Recycling – Bring your small electronics for recycling – recycle items that fit into the blue box in the narthex. 

Opportunities to serve: There are many volunteer opportunities in the ministry at Trinity. If you are able to offer the gift of time, please let us know. There are opportunities to serve on committees, to help with one time special events, help serve at funeral lunches and fellowship coffee, to help with technology, read scripture, offer prayers, sing in the choir, to work at bombers games, help with Sunday School and Youth, etc. Please prayerfully consider these opportunities and be in touch with the office.

We are grateful for every gift given and appreciate all you do for Trinity. We’re always grateful for enthusiastic volunteers to help with worship and other ministries at our church. If you feel called to lend a hand, please stop by the News Board in the Narthex and add your name to the sign-up sheet for Prayers of the People or Scripture Reading. Your generosity truly makes a difference.

Office Hours at Trinity United Church are Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Office will be closed Monday, October 12th for Thanksgiving Day.

“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:14 (NRSV)

Here is the link for Sunday, October 4, 2026 worship service: https://youtu.be/Z9jyBx7Ha_o

Sunday, October 11 – Worship starts at 9:30 a.m. Joint worship with Good Shepherd Anglican as we rejoice at 15 years of sharing and caring together.  POTLUCK BRUNCH to follow. Everyone is welcome.

Scripture to Ponder & Prayer

Week of Thanksgiving Sunday

Texts this week:

Deuteronomy 8:7–18; Psalm 65; 2 Corinthians 9:6–15; Luke 17:11–19

Pondering: Deuteronomy 8:7–18 & Luke 17:11–19

As I think about Thanksgiving, I keep coming back to the ground beneath our feet.

We walk upon it every day, mostly without noticing. Yet the soil carries memory. It receives seed, rain, fallen leaves, footsteps, labour, grief, and generations of life. From the earth comes so much of what sustains us, and still we can live as though food simply appears on shelves and abundance begins with us.

Deuteronomy offers a different vision. It speaks of a land of streams and springs, wheat and barley, vines and trees—a land where people may eat their fill. But then comes a warning: when you have eaten and are satisfied, do not forget God and say, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.”

Perhaps forgetting is one of the great spiritual dangers of abundance.

We forget the soil. We forget the rain. We forget the labour of human hands. We forget the long history of the land. We forget that we are creatures before we are consumers.

And perhaps most importantly, we forget that the earth does not belong to us in the absolute sense. We belong to the earth, and ultimately the earth belongs to God.

The biblical vision of creation is not primarily about ownership. It is about relationship. The land is gift, but gift does not mean possession without responsibility. Gift creates relationship. Gift invites gratitude. And gratitude carries obligations of care, justice, restraint, and sharing.

Psalm 65 imagines God visiting the earth and watering it abundantly. The valleys are covered with grain; the meadows clothe themselves with flocks. Creation itself seems to rejoice.

I find that image beautiful because it reminds me that God’s abundance is not the same as human accumulation.

God’s abundance is enoughness. It is life shared.

Seed becoming bread. Rain entering soil. Creatures dwelling within ecosystems of dependence. Nothing truly lives alone.

Yet much of our world has been shaped by another ideology—the belief that creation exists primarily for our use. Forests become timber, rivers become resources, animals become commodities, and land becomes property.

But what happens when we begin to see creation not as an object, but as a community to which we belong?

Theologian Sallie McFague invited Christians to imagine the world as the “body of God”—not because creation is God, but because such an image asks us to recognize the sacredness of material life. If the earth bears the presence of God, then how we treat soil, water, air, creatures, and one another becomes a spiritual question.

Thanksgiving, then, cannot simply be gratitude for what is on our table. It must also ask: What kind of relationship do we have with the earth that provides the table?

Luke tells us that ten people are healed, but only one returns to give thanks. He stops. He notices. He turns back.

Perhaps gratitude begins with that turning.

Turning from entitlement to wonder. From possession to relationship. From extraction to care. From “I earned this” to “I have received.”

The soil beneath our feet quietly challenges our illusion of self-sufficiency. We cannot manufacture rain. We cannot command a seed to germinate. We cannot create life from nothing.

We participate in mysteries we did not begin. So perhaps Thanksgiving invites us to stand upon the earth with greater humility. To ask whose land we inhabit. To remember the generations who cared for it before us. To recognize farmers and labourers whose hands bring food to our tables. To notice communities suffering most deeply from environmental destruction. And to ask whether our gratitude is changing the way we live. For if creation is gift, thanksgiving cannot end with “Thank you.”

It must become a way of living gently upon the earth.

Prayer for the Week

Creator God,

ground us again in the sacred earth beneath our feet.

Awaken us to the abundance we did not create—

soil and seed, rain and sunlight,

rivers and forests, creatures and communities.

Forgive us when gratitude becomes entitlement,

when abundance becomes accumulation,

and when creation becomes something merely to consume.

Teach us to receive without exploiting,

to enjoy without possessing,

to share without fear,

and to walk gently upon the earth.

May our thanksgiving become justice,

our gratitude become generosity,

and our faith become care

for this beautiful and wounded creation

in which you have given us life. Amen.

Sources used:

McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.

The United Church of Canada. A New Creed. 1968; revised 1980 and 1995.

The United Church of Canada. A Song of Faith. 2006.

“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:14 (NRSV)

Worship: Sunday, October 4, 10:45 a.m.  Communion.

The Worship link from Sunday September 27 was delayed due to technology issues. Please see Sunday’s Worship Service YouTube link here: https://youtu.be/ZkyHMYa_ZJc

Thanksgiving Announcement From Outreach: At this special time of the year, Thanksgiving, we are expressing our thanks for our many blessings. We are suggesting that you make an extra donation to a cause dear to your heart. We are all aware of the number of people experiencing food insecurity and suggest that, if possible, you consider a donation to Harvest Manitoba ( Donate Money – Harvest Manitoba )  or any other appropriate organization. Thank you.

A further request from Outreach: We are continuing to deliver food items left in the grocery cart in the narthex to Pimicikimak Wellness Centre. Your contributions are very much appreciated. Food items are used in their homemade lunches or in hampers they provide on an emergency basis. They have also indicated a need for hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap and deodorant. Thank you for your continued generosity. 

Joint Churches 2026 Soup Sale

Soup makers, please bring your soups to the church at 9:30 am on Saturday October 3.
Soup buyers, pickup for soups is between 10 and 11 am on Saturday October 3.

Come and Celebrate with Good Shepherd Anglican and Trinity United, on OCTOBER 11th,  as they rejoice at 15 years of sharing and caring together.  Worship is at 9:30 am with a POTLUCK BRUNCH to follow. A sign up sheet is in the narthex.

  Bomber Season 🏈 and Heritage Classic

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Sign up sheets are posted on the bulletin board. Questions or concerns? contact Marilyn Loat, Charles Powell or Ken Johnson 

Saturday, October 10, 2026 – Regular Season game vs Calgary
Sunday, October 25, 2026 – Heritage Classic, Winnipeg Jets vs Montreal Canadians FULL STAFF

In our Prayers:

From Prairie to Pine Region:

Please hold in prayer the following community of faith:  Circle Marsh Pastoral Charge

Trinity folk have resumed services at the St. Norbert and Waverley/Rosewood personal care homes.

We are at the Waverley/Rosewood on the first Wednesday of each month at 10:00 am, and at St. Norbert on the first Thursday of each month at 10:30am. (However our date at St. Norbert for October will be October 8, returning to the first Thursday of the month in November.) We provide the residents with a short church service consisting of prayers, hymns, scripture readings, various short readings, and a message from Rev. Khadka. A long time Trinity member, Connie Fillion, is now a resident at St. Norbert, and would love to see you. If anyone from the former Trinity Tones is available to come, please do. (No rehearsals! Just come!)  If you would like to be a part of this ministry, please contact Nancy DeLong at 204-254-3450.

Programs at Trinity – All are welcome to attend

Wednesday Yoga: Resumes October 14th 10:30 a.m. in person & Zoom

Trinity Yoga on Zoom Saturdays: Resumes October 17 10:00 a.m. on Zoom

Bible Study:  1:30 p.m. in person.

Trinity Walkers: Do you want a partner to walk with?  If so, contact Maryann to arrange a time and place.  Give the office a call to get her number.   

Electronics Recycling – Bring your small electronics for recycling – recycle items that fit into the blue box in the narthex. 

Opportunities to serve: There are many volunteer opportunities in the ministry at Trinity. If you are able to offer the gift of time, please let us know. There are opportunities to serve on committees, to help with one time special events, help serve at funeral lunches and fellowship coffee, to help with technology, read scripture, offer prayers, sing in the choir, to work at bombers games, help with Sunday School and Youth, etc. Please prayerfully consider these opportunities and be in touch with the office.

We are grateful for every gift given and appreciate all you do for Trinity. We’re always grateful for enthusiastic volunteers to help with worship and other ministries at our church. If you feel called to lend a hand, please stop by the News Board in the Narthex and add your name to the sign-up sheet for Prayers of the People and Scripture Reading. Your generosity truly makes a difference.

Office Hours at Trinity United Church are Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.