May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!
This is my first Mid-Week Message since the week before Christmas, so I hope that you all had a very merry Christmas, a happy new year's celebration, and a blessed celebration of the Epiphany!
It was a different sort of Christmas Eve, for sure, in this corner of the world, with that big snowstorm that we got on Christmas Eve. We had to cancel the services at Summerville and Long Reach as the roads hadn't been plowed and weren't safe to be out on that afternoon/evening. And yet even the weather can't stop Christmas from coming - the Grinch couldn't do it, and the Christmas Eve snowstorm couldn't either!
At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus - the time when God became human, and lay in a manger as a vulnerable infant. Despite the tyranny of the Roman Empire, despite harsh travel conditions, despite the fact that Mary's pregnancy was not only unexpected but also unusual, God was born anyways. And even though the snow prevented many of us from continuing our usual Christmas traditions, still we celebrate because nothing can change the fact that God is with us, and that God's love is always surrounding us, closer to us than our very breath.
And so even though we are past the 12th Day of Christmas (which was on December 5) and are in to the season of Epiphany, my wish for all of you is that the blessing of Christmas, the blessing of God's presence, the blessing of God-With-Us (the literal translation of "Emmanuel") might rest in your heart, not just today, not just the whole year through, but forever and always.
Moving on to announcements:
Let me begin with a couple of apologies. If you were in-person at Westfield on Sunday, no it wasn't your imagination and yes the heat pumps were blasting cold air at us. After the service, our Stewards discovered that the heat pumps had been set from "heat" mode to "cool" mode and so they were trying to air condition the space on a day that really didn't need air conditioning! We don't know when or how this happened, but please accept our apologies (and if it happens again, we will know why and how to correct it).
My other apology is to those of you who join us virtually. In the last couple of services (Christmas Eve and this past Sunday), the livestream has suddenly and without warning cut out at the 60-minute mark. Joe has been trying to figure out why; and this coming Sunday we are going to try livestreaming from my phone rather than his (this will let us know if it is a phone-thing or a Facebook-thing). If you are ever joining worship virtually and the video suddenly stops, wait 30 seconds or a minute, refresh Facebook (drag your finger down on a phone or tablet, or on a computer click the button at the top that looks like an arrow going in a circle), and there should be a new video started.
Moving on to Worship this Sunday - we will be gathering at Summerville at 9:15 at at Westfield and on Facebook Live at 11:15. This week, we will read the story of Jesus's baptism (Luke 3:15-22) as well as a passage from the Old Testament with a similar message (Isaiah 43:1-7). The message in both of these is that you are loved, and God delights in you!
Bible Study has resumed after our Christmas break - we gather every Wednesday morning from 10-11:30 in the parlour at Westfield United Church. Everyone is always welcome - no previous bible study experience is necessary. We are currently working our way through the stories of King David (and they continue to be a cross between a soap opera drama and an adventure story), and the best part is that I never know where our conversations are going to lead us each week!
Annual Reports - this is Annual Report and Annual Meeting Season in the churches. If you are responsible for submitting a report (ie committee chairs; team leads etc), please have your report sent to Elaine by January 19. You can e-mail them to the office at wuc@nb.sympatico.ca (Word and Excel documents preferred over .pdf files, as they are easier for her to edit into the report), or drop off paper reports to the office (you can slide them under her office door if she isn't around).
New Member Classes / Confirmation - There has been some interest expressed to me in holding New Member Classes / Confirmation Classes, so I am hoping to get that going in the beginning of February, looking at Confirmation / Receiving New Members in April (just before Easter). Please let me know if you (or your teenager) are interested in an opportunity to explore your faith and the possibility of becoming a member of Two Rivers Pastoral Charge. These "classes" are inter-generational (ie all ages welcome), and are aimed to be fun and engaging rather than dry and dusty. (And even if you are already a member but would like an opportunity to explore your faith from your current life perspective, you are welcome to join us too!)
Asking the Big Questions - our January gathering is coming up on Tuesday January 21 between 4:30 and 6pm in the parlour at Westfield United Church. This month's question will be: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" (a question most of us have probably asked at least once in our life). As always, there will be different prompts and activities to help us engage in that big question in different ways. Unfortunately, our UCW isn't able to continue to provide pizza (they are the Environmental Angels who helped purchase the last heat pump for the lower hall), so I will be asking everyone to contribute $3 (if you are able to, but no worries if you aren't) to cover the cost of our pizza.
Star Words - Last Sunday, when we celebrated Epiphany and the time that the magi (the wise ones) followed a star to find Jesus, we gave out our "Star Words" - words printed on a paper star that can guide us or lead us or inspire us throughout this year. You can meditate on your word, ask what God is trying to tell you through your word, or ask where God is leading you through your word. If you weren't able to get a Star Word on Sunday, please let me know and I can arrange to get you one!
Westfield E-mail Addresses - again, this announcement is specific to Westfield folks. I just want to clarify that the church has two separate e-mail addresses. For communication with Elaine in the office, please continue to use wuc@nb.sympatico.ca but for e-transfers, please use westfielduc@gmail.com (this e-mail is directly linked to the bank account). If you are donating by e-transfer, please make sure that you include "Donation from [name]" in the message line so that our treasurer knows who to send the tax receipt to!
And I think that's it for today. (I apologize that this message is coming out a day later than usual - yesterday afternoon got away from me.)
For a closing thought, here is a song inspired by the Epiphany story - "Home Again" by Canadian singer/songwriter Steve Bell. In this song, he does what I did in our Advent sermons - he imagined himself into a character from the biblical story and tells their story, in this case, one of the magi. You can listen by clicking here.
Blessings to you and yours, today and always!
Kate.
Rev. Kate Jones
Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
(506) 757-2201 (office)
(506) 343-1307 (mobile)
Pronouns: she/her/hers
"Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"
Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself."
(Matthew 22:36-39)
Comments