A prayer for lighting the Advent Candle: A candle burns, the sign of our hope. God of hope, come to us again this Advent. May your hope live within us, burning as a light in our lives. Amen. (from the Iona Community’s Candles and Conifers)
Scripture Lessons Jeremiah 33:14-16
I Thessalonians 3:9-16
Luke 21:25-36
Meditation
Prayer: Holy God, during this busy season of Advent, we pray for our world. We seek your light in the midst of darkness, your peace in the midst of violence, your love in the midst of discord, your courage in the face of fear, and your wisdom to guide us. Help us to be messengers sharing your light, sharing your peace, and living your love with courage and wisdom. Amen. (a prayer by Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson, and shared on worship words.co.uk.)
Hymn Come Thou Long Expected Jesus #2VU
Did you know? This Tuesday November 30th, has been named as Giving Tuesday and the United Church is inviting its members to give to Gifts with Vision or another program that provides vaccines for people around the world. With Gifts with Vision $25 buys vaccines for 2 people. We may be talking about boosters and vaccines for children but in many parts of the world, vulnerable adults have no access to vaccines at all.
St Paul’s Session will meet this Tuesday, November 30th in the church at 7:30pm.
Howick United Church Session will meet Monday, November 29th in the church hall at 7:30pm.
Here is the Mitten Tree up now in Howick United Church.
Prayer: You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, want us to wait for the right time in which to discover who we are, where we must go, who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you …. for the waiting time.
You keep us looking. You, the God of all space, want us to look in the right and wrong places for signs of hope, for people who are hopeless, for visions of a better world which will appear among the disappointments of the world we know. So thank you…..for the looking time.
You keep us loving. You, the God whose name is love, want us to be like you—to love the loveless and the unlovely and the unloveable, to love without jealousy or design or threat, and most of all, to love ourselves. So thank you…..for the loving time.
And in all this, you keep us through hard questions with no easy answers, through failing where we hoped to succeed and making an impact when we felt we were useless, through the patience and the dreams of others, and through Jesus Christ and his Spirit, you keep us. So thank you…..for the keeping time, and for now, and for ever. Amen. ( from the Iona Community’s A Wee Worship Book.)
Hymn: Rejoice the Lord is King #213VU
We are continuing to invite donations for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Envelopes are available in the churches or donations may be made online at foodgrainsbank.ca.
Please keep in mind Howick’s Memorial Fund, the books will be closing in December, so if you would like to make a donation, please get it in to the church or to Grace as soon as possible.
The Rudolph Run/Walk is coming up soon! You can take part virtually by walking sometime between November 26th to December 2nd or you can take part in person on Saturday, November 27th from 9-11am. The minimum donation requested is $5. There will be no volunteers on street corners or refreshments offered this year, and you can take any direction or walk any distance. The proceeds go to the Christmas Basket program organized through La Bouffe Additionelle.
Congratulations to Grace Brown who received an award this week for her community action.
The Santa Claus Parade is returning to Howick! We look forward to welcoming him on Saturday, December 4th at 1pm. Donations will also be collected for Christmas baskets as well.
Prayer: God, you heap your love upon us like a parent providing for a family’s needs, embracing a child with tenderness.
Forgive us when, like spoiled children, we treat your generosity as our right, or hug it possessively to ourselves.
Give us enough trust to live secure in your love and to share it freely with others in open-handed confidence that your grace will never run out. Amen. (a prayer by Jan Berry and printed in Bread of Tomorrow, edited by Janet Morley)
Hymn. New Every Morning is the Love #405VU
Howick UCW will be holding its annual meeting in combination with Unit C’s meeting on Wednesday, November 17th in the Church Hall. All welcome.
This year’s Rudolph Run will be held in part as a virtual event, from November 26th to December 2nd. You can walk any distance, time or place. There will also be an in person run/walk on Saturday, November 27th starting at the Rec Centre in Ormstown, from 9-11am, where you can make your donation and head off on your run/walk in any direction or any route. No volunteers will be on the street, nor will any refreshments be offered. A minimum of $5 is requested and you are invited to wear red or green as you head off. Remember this is an event to raise funds for the Christmas basket programs in our area, so put on your running shoes and get ready to participate!
We continue to invite donations to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Envelopes are available in our three churches and donations may also be made online at foodgrainsbank.ca.
We are being reminded in Howick that the year is coming to an end, and if you would like to give a gift to the memorial fund in memory of a church or community member, you are invited to do so soon. November is Remembrance month, so you can make your gift in remembrance of someone in your family, church or community.
Prayer: We give thanks this day, O God, for all that makes our common life secure; for the peace and freedom that we enjoy; and for the opportunity that is ours of building a better world for the generations to come. We remember with gratitude those who fought and died to make this possible; and we pray that the memory of their sacrifice may inspire in us the resolve to seek your kingdom and to do your will for the world of our day; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God of the nations, whose kingdom rules over all, have mercy on our broken and divided world. She’d abroad your peace in the hearts of your children and banish from the the spirit that makes for war; that all races and religions and peoples may learn to live as members of one family, and in obedience to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ( a selection of prayers from Contemporary Parish Prayers by Frank Colquhoun.)
Hymn God of Grace and God of Glory #686VU
The Ormstown Legion’s laying of the wreaths will be held Sunday, November 7th at the cenotaph. There will be no parade or other public events held this year.
We continue to invite donations for the Canadian Food Grains Bank. Envelopes are available in our 3 churches and donations may be made online as well at foodgrains.ca.
Keep in mind the Howick Craft Fair, to be held outside this year, at the school, on Saturday, November 20th. There will also be opportunities to buy online through December.
Following the annual meeting in October in Howick, the decision has been made to dispose of the old red hymn books and the green service books that are no longer being used. Those who would like to have copies are welcome to take them, before the end of the year.
Happy birthday to Thelma Lang, who is celebrating her 90th birthday this week.
Prayer: For all the saints who went before us, who have spoken to our hearts and touched us with your fire, we praise you, O God.
For all the saints who live beside us, whose weaknesses and strengths are woven with our own, we praise you, O God.
For all the saints who live beyond us, who challenge us to change the world with them, we praise you, O God. (a prayer by Janet Morley for Christian Aid 1989)
Hymn A Mighty Fortress is our God #262VU
This Sunday there will be a single, combined service held in St Paul’s in Ormstown. All are welcome to attend, either inside or listening to the service in the parking lot through the FM transmitter. The frequency is 87.7.
We continue to invite donations to the Canadian Food Grains Bank. Envelopes are available in the churches. Donations may also be made online at foodgrains.ca.
We are already hearing messages about Christmas. If you want to give a non-material Christmas gift, you could look at the Gifts with Vision catalogue. A few copies are available in our churches and more choices are available online at giftswithvision.ca.
Next Sunday will be Remembrance Sunday in our churches, 9:30 in Ormstown and 11:00 in Howick. These will not be community services this year.
Franklin United Church Joint Board will be meeting Tuesday, November 2nd at 7:30pm in the Franklin United Church.
Prayer: In following you, O Christ, we choose to love and not to harden our hearts, even when the incomprehensible happens. As we remain in your presence with perseverance, day after day, and pray with simplicity of heart, you come and make us into people who are a leaven of confident trust by the way we live. And all that your gospel calls us to, all that you ask of us, you give. Amen. ( a prayer from the Taize community.)
Hymn I Heard the Voice the of Jesus Say #626VU
We hold in our thoughts and prayers Jean Lawrence and her family following the death of Bob Lawrence this past week.
Congratulations to Harley Sproule who grew a prize-winning squash this year. Both his squash and Jim Bryson’s prize-winning pumpkin will be at the ice cream stand at the IGA in Ormstown on this Saturday afternoon.
This Sunday, October 24th at 11am, Howick United Church will be holding its annual meeting for 2020, in combination with the worship service. All members and adherents are welcome to attend and participate.
Next Sunday, October 31st there will be a combined service held at St Paul’s United Church in Ormstown at 11am. This will be held as an All Saints service remembering members and neighbours who have died during the pandemic.
We have received some catalogues for the Gifts with Vision program from the United Church of Canada. More gifts are included on the website at: giftswithvision.ca.
We continue to invite donations to the Canadian Food Grains Bank. In the years since it has been created, it has fed over 1 billion people, worked in over 70 countries, and worked with over 100 international partners. You can donate online at foodgrains.ca or pick up an envelope at one of our churches.
For those who may have known her, I have heard from the Regional Council that Mary Hatfield, a former Youth worker for the Quebec-Sherbrooke Presbytery has died. A service to celebrate her life will be held November 13th.
Prayer: Creator of all that is, all that has ever been, and all that will ever come, n the season we know in the North as autumn, we offer gratitude for the cycle of the seasons. In this season we begin to reap what we have sown, tended to, prayed over, and fretted on. In all of this, we know that you have been there, watching over your creation and all its creatures.
We lament over crops that were lost this year, to drought, and hail, and floods, to frost, to lack of workers, to pandemic. We lament over crops that were never planted, where farmers could not access their land or do not have the privilege to acquire land. Help us to stand in solidarity with farmers whose harvest never came to yield; help us to see land not as a resource to use, but as a gift to share.
As the leaves begin to turn brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows, we begin to pull from the ground the fruit of our labour. The potatoes, the squash, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, apples, pears, and more begin to fill our baskets. We give thanks. The corn and beans are ready to be stored; they have dried on their stalks. We know that these foods will sustain us through the winter.
We give thanks for the labourers who have come to harvest, workers from near and far, many who travel to this land to find work. Sustainer, open our eyes to their sacrifice and help us to honour their gift. We pray for a safe harvest for all labourers and farmers.
As the honeybee prepares for winter, we enjoy honey’s nectar sweetness. As the broiler chicken is fully grown, we give thanks for their life that will sustain us. As the hunter patiently awaits the deer, we honour its gift as nourishment.
Creator, we are called back to remember our interconnected ness during this harvest season. Forgive us the times that we have been disconnected from our relations in our desire to take more than we should. Call us back into the fabric of creation so that we might live in the abundance of life.
For all this, and more, we give thanks. Amen.
( a prayer written for World Food Day by Michael Shewsburg, director of Five Oaks)
Hymn This is God’s Wondrous World #296VU
The United Church has named this Sunday both World Food Sunday and Sunday for a Guaranteed Living Income. We will be launching our campaign for the Canadian Food Grain Bank. Envelopes will be available in our churches for donations to be made, if you choose.
Next Sunday there will be a 9:30 service in Franklin and in Howick the 11am Sunday service will be combined with the annual meeting for 2020. Annual reports are still available.
There will be a memorial service held for Helen Nice next Saturday, October 23rd at 2pm in the Franklin United Church.
St Paul’s Session will meet this Tuesday, October 19th at 7:30pm in the church. (St Paul’s Stewards meeting has been delayed until a later date.)
The catalogues for the Gifts with Vision program have come out from the Philanthropy Unit of the United Church. You can pick one up in the church or check out the more extensive list online.
Congratulations to Jim and Kelsey Bryson who have had the prize winning pumpkins in a couple of contests. One was actually over 2000 pounds, a new Canadian record!
