“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:14 (NRSV)
Here are the links for Sunday, October 12, 2025 worship service:
Part 1 https://youtu.be/EdO8RueU-wI
Part 2 https://youtu.be/a5oT0MIkUpM
Damber is away until October 23rd at the United Church of Canada Candidacy Meeting in Toronto.
Sunday, October 19, 2025 – Worship 10:45 a.m. with Second Chance Praise Band; Guest speaker from Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Canadian Foodgrains Bank Donation Envelopes will be available
SCRIPTURE TO PONDER
Scriptures this week: Genesis 32:22‒31; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14—4:5 and Luke 18:1‒8
A Brief Reflection:
Genesis 32:22–31 tells the story of Jacob’s mysterious encounter with God on the night before meeting his brother Esau. Alone and anxious, Jacob wrestles through the darkness with an unknown man until daybreak. When his opponent sees that he cannot overpower Jacob, he touches Jacob’s hip, leaving him limping. Yet Jacob refuses to let go until he receives a blessing. In that moment, he is given a new name — Israel — meaning “one who has struggled with God and with humans and has prevailed.”
This story speaks of the deep human experience of struggle, transformation, and divine encounter — reminding us that faith often grows not in certainty, but in the wrestling itself.
Friends, the story of Jacob wrestling through the night feels close to where our world is today. He struggles, unsure what the dawn will bring. He is wounded, yet he refuses to let go until he receives a blessing. And when the sun rises, Jacob walks with a limp — changed, humbled, and renewed.
That image speaks powerfully to us this World Food Day.
We, too, are wrestling — with the earth, with systems that leave some hungry while others waste, and with the deep question of how to live faithfully on this fragile planet.
We wrestle with the climate crisis, floods and droughts that ruin crops, and the heavy truth that so many families still go to bed hungry.
Like Jacob, we cannot overpower this struggle.
But we can choose to stay in it — to cling to God and to creation until we discover the blessing hidden inside the pain. Maybe the “limp” we carry is the change we must make — learning to live more simply to waste less, to share more, to listen to the land and to those whose lives depend on it. That limp is not a sign of weakness; it’s the mark of transformation — a reminder that we have encountered something holy and come away different.
And perhaps our prayer today is Jacob’s prayer:
“We will not let you go, O God, until you bless us.”
Bless us with courage to change.
Bless our leaders with wisdom to protect the earth.
Bless every farmer, fisher, and worker whose hands feed the world.
Bless those who are hungry, that they may know fullness and dignity.
And bless us — your people — that we may rise with the dawn, walking humbly and working for a world where food, water, and hope are shared blessings, not privileges.
Let us pray:
God of the earth and sky,
meet us in our wrestling.
Heal our wounds, open our hearts,
and teach us to live gently and generously.
May our shared table become your blessing for the world.
Amen.
Trinity United Church 