Canadian Lutheran Youth Gathering (CLAY)

CLAY is a biennial national event for youth organized by the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). Originally planned for August of 2020,”EnRoute” was postponed due to COVID-19 and will be hosted online from August 20-22, 2021.

Youth born in 2001 are welcome to attend. To come to the gathering, you must meet the age criteria, be part of a registered Home Team, complete the online registration and pay what you can for registration. Note: youth who will be 13 years old (born in 2008) also may be permitted to attend. This year, there is no set registration fee for CLAY. In an effort to make this CLAY as accessible as possible, the registration fee will be offered as a “pay what you can” model. To help in your planning, the estimated cost per participant is $45. See Pastor Matthew to sign up!

CLAY will include large group gatherings, worship, speakers, workshops and late night spots. If it is safe for you to do so, in accordance with your local Public Health guidelines, you are encouraged to gather and participate in CLAY together as a group. If it is not safe to gather in person, you will still be able to fully participate from any place with a reliable internet connection.

Recorded Services:

-Our 'closed set' services are recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church of Thunder Bay’:

New: June 20, Time after Pentecost:

https://youtu.be/VSen5te-UAk

June 13, Time after Pentecost:

https://youtu.be/vmV0JEVpuks

June 6, Time after Pentecost: https://youtu.be/YaFzEYA90AA

The Holy Trinity, May 30

https://youtu.be/9ZCnVY_K8qA

Day of Pentecost, May 23:

https://youtu.be/uErUiskPUC4

Sunday Virtual Fellowship Hours

Join us each Sunday until we gather again for in-person worship, 11:00 a.m. - Noon,.

Upcoming:

-June 27

-July 4

-July 11

Zoom invitations are sent out each Saturday, or contact Pastor Matthew. Bring your coffee!

Bible Book of the Month Club

To be part of our national Bishop's initiative, we have organized a Bible Book of the Month club. For the following few months we will be gathering by Zoom to explore the passages of the gospel of Mark heard on Sundays.

Our next session is Thursday, June 24, at 1:30 p.m., via Zoom.

Contact Pastor Matthew for the Zoom invitation.

Holy Communion during this time

Private Communion continues to be available.

For these 10 minute gatherings, you will need to follow our protocols: self-screen, sign in, wear a mask, and keep socially distant. Along with brief readings and prayer, for the sacrament you will receive a pre-packaged piece of bread (you can also bring your own). Wine/grape juice will not be shared at the present time. However, you can also bring your own.

You can receive Communion while staying in your car, sitting in the front hall/sanctuary, or outside at the back or front of the building.

You are invited to contact Pastor Matthew, 344-1926, osimm@tbaytel.net, to reserve a spot to receive Holy Communion.

Times available this coming week:

Mon.– Thurs.: 4:30 and 7:00 p.m.

Sat.: 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Sun: 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Depending on the new Covid framework after June 13, other opportunities to share this sacrament of renewal will be developed.

“Come share the gifts of God – serve the world”

A Renewed Call to Reconciliation

June 1, 2021

From our national and synodical Bishops:

It has been devastating and heartbreaking to hear that the remains of 215 children buried in unmarked graves have been found on the Kamloops Indian Residential School grounds.

We invite all members across the ELCIC to join us in offering our heartfelt empathy and prayers for the families of those children, for the Tk’emlúpste Secwépemc First Nation, for the City of Kamloops and for First Nations Communities across Canada as they grieve this loss. Let us offer solidarity, support and care to all who are feeling grief, anger, trauma and the need for healing. Please join us in praying for comfort and peace.

News about undocumented deaths of our nation’s Indigenous children is tragic. Yet, as Richard Jock, CEO of the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) said, “[it] is sadly not a surprise and illustrates the damaging and lasting impacts that the residential school system continues to have on First Nations people, their families and communities.” This is further proof of the sinful and abusive legacy of these schools — schools in which the church and government were active participants.

The remains of these children show us the depth of our systemic racism and the lengths that the dominant culture was willing to go in order to destroy another culture. Many of us can connect our ancestors to the history of the dominant culture. Knowledge of this cruel history is something that demands our repentance, but also asks us to faithfully work for a better and different future.

We name today the devastating and ongoing cultural, emotional, and spiritual impact that residential schools continue to have on Indigenous peoples.

In 2011, the ELCIC made a commitment to promote right and renewed relationships between nonindigenous and Indigenous Peoples within Canada. In 2015, the ELCIC repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery. We committed ourselves to seek greater understanding of the issues facing Indigenous peoples, and to walk with Indigenous peoples in their ongoing efforts to exercise their inherent sovereignty and fundamental human rights.

We call on all members of the ELCIC to re-engage in the work of reconciliation to which we have been

called in baptism. This means educating ourselves on our history and understanding. It means listening to

the voices that are often marginalized or silenced in our conversations.

It also means insisting on accountability. Talk with your government representatives and encourage them

to follow through on recommendations #71-#76 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

(TRC) Calls to Action dealing specifically with Missing Children and Burial Information. Talk with your pastor, your deacon and your faith community about responding to Calls to Action #59-#61 in your context.

If you are looking for further resources, please consider the following:

-2011 ELCIC Convention Resolution on Encouraging Right Relationships with Indigenous Peoples

-2015 ELCIC Convention Resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery

-The Anglican Church of Canada 2019 Apology for Spiritual Harm

-Anglican Church of Canada Reconciliation Toolkit

-Indigenous Ministries award winning film Doctrine of Discovery: Stolen lands, Strong Hearts

-The KAIROS Blanket Exercise

-The TRC Calls to Action

Lastly, we return again to our need to pray. Pray for Indigenous siblings, for right relationships, for your community, and for ourselves as we continue to live into our ministry of reconciliation in Christ’s name.

Join us in prayer:

Faithful God,

We remember the many, many, Indigenous children who did not return from residential school, including those whose remains were discovered on the grounds of the Kamloops (Tk’emlúps) Residential School. Grant comfort in the midst of grief and trauma. Strengthen the Secwépemc people, Indian Residential School survivors, their families and their communities as they process this tragic loss. Renew our commitment to the journey of truth-telling, mourning and responsibility and guide us in the ways of healing and love. Amen.

Emergency Appeal To Assist With The COVID-19 Crisis In India

India’s total number of COVID-19 cases has dramatically risen to over 18 million as of April 29, with more than 300,000 cases reported for seven straight days and with no immediate signs of slowing down — and medical experts believe that the numbers are even higher with many cases not reported from rural areas. The reported national fatality rate is at 1.11%, with an acute shortage of medical supplies including oxygen. Hospitals and crematoriums alike are overwhelmed, and hotels and railway coaches are being converted into critical care facilities to make up for the shortage of hospital beds.

Our Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada's partner, Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR), is accepting donations to assist with this crisis. Donations will provide emergency medical support to those faced to be sick at home, and help support critical advocacy and public awareness efforts to keep as many people safe as possible.

Individuals wishing to support relief efforts can donate as follows:

• Make a designated offering donation for “India Covid Crisis” through our congregation.

• Call CLWR at 1-800-661-2597 to donate by credit card or go online at clwr.org/india.

• Send a cheque made payable to CLWR and mailed to CLWR, 600-177 Lombard Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 0W5. Please indicate that you wish to contribute to “India Covid Crisis.”

World Council of Churches Prayer Cycle

Malawi, Zambia

20 - 26 June 2021

Intercessions

We are thankful for:

• the biodiversity and natural wonders in these lands

• church leaders who have spoken out and countered sexual violence and human rights abuses

• those who are dealing with challenges of migrations within, and to, these countries

• stable governance and economies, and rising living standards for many people in recent years.

We pray for:

• greater food security for those most vulnerable, especially in times of climate change

• an end to political and economic corruption

• rising standards of living, particularly for those most poor

• an end to exploitation of resources and of the people, especially those who are young and/or female.

Prayers

Oh God, our Father, of all the people of the earth, look with favour upon us and hear the prayer we make for our country Zambia. We ask for your loving guidance upon all men and women in all that they do so that your blessings will be upon them.

We thank you for your protection and the peace that we have enjoyed in this country for the past 50 years. We thank you for the peace you gave us especially during the Golden Jubilee celebration as an independent nation. Let the jubilee celebrations bring more blessings to our country. We, therefore, pray for all our leaders who are serving your people in various capacities that you will give them wisdom and knowledge to know you as the sovereign Lord who created the heavens and the earth and that you are the only God among all. You deserve to be praised.

We remember especially our political leaders and ask you to bless the work of their hand and to guide their decision so that our country may continue to be peaceful and that we may deserve an honoured place among all nations.

We pray for the young men and women upon whom the future of this country depends. Teach them to be responsible citizens so that they can grow in the knowledge of your word, in the fear of sin and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world for the salvation of humankind.

We pray for all churches in Zambia. Bless all the clergy, the church workers and all the church members. Help us all to witness to others so that we all may be one in Christ Jesus. Be with the United Church of Zambia as they celebrate in 2015 the Golden Jubilee of its existence as a united church. We thank you for the blessing of this double golden jubilee, one as a country and the other as a church.

May the Holy Spirit continue to guide and protect us. In the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord we pray, because he reigns for ever and ever. Amen

(Sarah S. Kaulule, The United Church of Zambia, former vice moderator of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order)

God of love, God of compassion, in the midst of death and evil, you mercifully look after us: protecting, providing and smiling, constantly reassuring us of your care.

Grant to us the joy of this occasion, especially as we celebrate our birthdays, knowing that your love is life.

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may acquire a heart of wisdom, through him whose life has become our light, even Jesus Christ.

(Rev. Dr Augustine Musopole, Malawi. In: Africa Praying: A Handbook on HIV/AIDS Sensitive Sermon Guidelines and Liturgy, ed. Musa W. Dube, WCC, 2003, pp.164, 11-12, 89)

We are all affected by HIV/AIDS;

we are the body of Christ.

We have lost close relatives;

heal our bodies.

We have lost close friends and neighbours;

heal our hearts.

We have lost church and work mates;

heal our spirits.

We have lost our hope;

heal our minds.

We put our trust in you.

You are Emmanuel, you are God With Us.

You will never leave us or forsake us.

You will be with us to the end of the ages.

(Fulata L. Moyo, Malawi, and Musa W. Dube, Botswana. In: Africa Praying: A Handbook on HIV/AIDS Sensitive Sermon Guidelines and Liturgy, ed. Musa W. Dube, WCC, 2003, p.44.)

OFFERINGS

Thank you for your offerings, sharing the gifts of God so that together we might serve the world!

Sets of envelopes for your 2021 Sunday and special offerings are available. If you are a present envelope holder, or to sign up for one, please contact the office, 344-1926, osimm@tbaytel.net .

When we have in-person worship, you are able to share your offerings at the entrance to the sanctuary. At other times, and for those unable to attend worship, here are other options:

1. Mail envelopes to the church

Mailing address: 10 Farrand St. Thunder Bay P7A 3H5

2. Drop envelopes off at church

You can drop off envelopes in the mailbox beside the parking lot doors. Calling to let us know, 344-1926, is appreciated, so that the offering can be brought inside as soon as possible.

3. E-Transfer online banking

a. If you use online banking, log into your account

b. Add Our Saviour’s as a recipient using our office email address:

osimm.office@tbaytel.net

c. Enter the desired amount and click ‘send’.

4. Sign up for Pre-Authorized Withdrawal (PAR)

You are able to have your monthly offerings directly deposited from your financial institution to that of the church. You can designate it 1-3 ways: Weekly, Building, Forward in Mission. You also can receive undated envelopes for other offerings. To sign up, call the office. If you desire to make any changes at any time of the year, or if you have updates on your address or financial institution, please call the church office, 344-1926.

5. Canada Helps

Our regional synod office has set up Canada Helps button link, you can use to donate to congregations. The charitiable donation receipt will be issued by Canada Helps directly. (It is important to note that there is a cost to using Canada Helps as our donation service. Please considering adding 4% to your donation to cover these costs.)

http://mnosynod.org/donate/

Again, we are so thankful for your faithful generosity.