This is a busy week! This is the end of the season of Epiphany and on Wednesday we begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Are you planning pancakes for Shrove Tuesday? On giving up or making changes for Lent? Maybe starting a study series or reading program? We are expecting to get services started in all of our churches this month, so we hope to see you there!
Hymn When Morning Gilds the Skies #339VU
Scripture Lessons: Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99 p.819VU
Luke 9:28-36
Hymn O Christ the Word Incarnate #499VU
Meditation
Another excerpt from the Song of Faith, the United Church’s most recent statement of faith:
…We place our hope in God.
We sing of a life beyond life
and a future good beyond imagining:
a new heaven and a new earth,
the end of sorrow, pain, and tears,
Christ’s return and life with God,
the making new of all things.
We yearn for the coming of that future,
even while participating in eternal life now.
Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration
with the common ground of all being.
As children of the Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find completion
In the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies, caring for the earth,
choosing life.
Grateful for God’s loving action,
we cannot keep from singing.
Creating and seeking relationship,
in awe and trust,
we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love. Amen.
Prayer: Transforming God, we give thanks for your loving presence in our lives, for the opportunity to answer your call to us, and for the transformation you bring about in us when we truly answer that call. Help us to know that change, that growth, and that improvement in us as clearly as the disciples saw the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop. Make us yours in this hour of worship, O God, and throughout our lives, we pray. Amen.
Most of this was planned before the invasion of Ukraine began, so here is a prayer from our Moderator on that as well:
The world sits below a precipice, waiting, after the first stone has been pushed to the edge and started to roll.
And we wonder, where will it stop.
We wonder, what lives will be lost— who will die on *this* war’s altars?
Soldiers?
Combatants?
Civilians?
Children?
I pray for the decision-makers of the world,
Including Mr. Putin,
that they would find a way to
bring this to an end now;
that they would find a way out—
for the people of Ukraine,
the people of Russia,
for the world.
Tonight, I pray for all those who are protesting
this decision for war by the Russian government,
especially those Russian citizens
who are standing in the face of their government,
who are risking arrest and harsh punishment,
by telling their leaders this invasion must stop.
I pray for the people of Ukraine.
For the the ones who are picking up arms
to defend themselves and those they love.
For the ones who are trying to get themselves,
their families, and their neighbours,
to safe haven, away from the fighting.
For the ones who are sleeping
in the subway, or in the basement, or in a cellar, for fear of the bombings.
I pray for the most vulnerable,
the ones who don’t understand what is happening,
and rely on others for their safety;
and for those who carry the burden
of protection and care.
I pray for them all, God.
But, most of all,
I pray that your peace would pour down
like a God-aweful waterfall,
that those who, for whatever reason,
are choosing to make this happen,
would find all of their reasons and rationalizations
washed away by your overwhelming peace,
and your infinite love.
Help us, God.
As individuals, as communities,
As nation-states,
help us to be peace-bearers.
Overwhelm all that would kill and destroy,
we pray,
with your forever love,
and your amazing grace.
In Christ’s name,
I ask these things.
Amen. ( prayer shared on Facebook by our Moderator, Richard Bott, as the invasion began, some changes in format were made.)
Hymn. Be Thou My Vision
I hope members of the Howick congregation have received their copies of the annual report. If you have not yet received one, please let us know and we will try to ensure you have received one in time to review it before the annual meeting which will be held March 6th combined with the worship service, beginning at 11am.
The annual reports for Ormstown and Franklin are available in the churches or you can give me a call and pick one up at the manse as well. Franklin is planning to hold its annual meetings for 2020 and 2021 on March 13th, starting at 9am, combined with the worship service.
We will be returning to our regular schedule of services, starting March 6th, 9:30 at Ormstown and 11:00 at Howick (which is also the annual meeting).
Best wishes to Margo McKinnon, who is moving into a new apartment in Vaudreuil after her husband Tom’s death earlier this year. Margo, we hope you will be able to come out and visit us again, once the weather is warmer and better!
This Friday is World Day of Prayer. I am not aware of any local services taking place this year (again) but a virtual service is available on the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada website, Wicc.org. This year’s service is from England, Wales, and Ireland.
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