March 14, 2021 Lent 4

 Did you pause to remember those we have lost in the pandemic on Wednesday? Hear some bells ring? Light a candle? Attend on online service? This week we mark a year of this pandemic and all of the challenges and changes it has brought to our churches and to our communities, country, and world. Thank you to all who have continued to be faithful in so many ways. 

Hymn     I’m Gonna Live So #575VU

Scripture Lessons:       Ruth 2:1-13

                                     Psalm 107:1-9 p. 831VU

                                     John 3:16-21

                                     

Hymn        Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life #681VU

Message

Prayer:  O God, as we pause to remember and reflect on the past year of the pandemic, we give thanks for your sustaining strength, power, and wisdom throughout these pandemic days. 

As we reflect on the lives of people of faith, ancient ones like Ruth, all the way to faithful people of today, we give thanks for the difference they have made and the example they give. Help us to learn from them. Help us to be inspired and encouraged by them. We pray for your Spirit to guide us in the living of faithful lives, now and in the future. 

As we continue our journey through the season of Lent, we pray that the story of Jesus, his life, his ministry, his death and resurrection, his faithfulness and his good news, will continue to inspire us to live to live lives of faithfulness and loving kindness. May we find the courage to live in his light and his way, now and always. Amen. 

Hymn      Take My Life and Let it Be#506VU

Easter is getting closer! Keep in touch so we can let you know our plans for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. We hope to have plans made before too long. At the moment, it looks like we may hold a drive-in service at St Paul’s on Palm Sunday (March 28th) and another at Howick on Easter (April 4th). Keep in touch, we will let you know when things are confirmed. 

We have been saddened to hear of Ruth Graham Petch’s death this past week. We give thanks for her life and good works and hold her family in our thoughts and prayers. 

Please remember Joyce McKell’s 100th birthday, on March 23rd. There cannot be a party but everyone is invited to send a card to her at La Source Bleu. The address is Joyce McKell c/o La Source Bleu, 1575 Rte 201, Ormstown, QC, J0S 1K0. Let’s let her know how much she is loved and appreciated! 

The annual reports are now ready. You can get Howick’s from the church or from Evie or possibly Mac or I can get one to you. If you are looking for Ormstown’s and Franklin’s, you can give me a call or find one in the church.