Sunday, March 30, 2025 The Fourth Sunday of Lent

 

Hymn        Come Let Us Sing of a Wonderful Love #574VU

Scripture Lessons:        I Corinthians 5:16-21

                                      Psalm 32 p.759VU

                                      Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Message

Prayer:  Blessed are you who don’t have all the right answers. 

You who say “I don’t know” because i’s the best response for now. 

You who lean in, unafraid to learn, change, be wrong along the way. 

Blessed are you, stretched and pressed and pulled

By the uncertainty, deciding to not to stay the same, 

We are not who we were. 

We have been pulled into the unknown without our permission. 

But the challenge is the same: reveal Truth with love amid chaos. 

Blessed are you who realize that community can help see truth more fully. 

Being fragile amid a world of hammers takes courage

To be wrong, to learn something new, to choose humility and kindness 

Over being right. 

May we be people who don’t have it all together

(And who are done posturing). 

Curious, hopeful, courageous. (Written by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie printed in The Lives We Actually Have:  100 Blessings for Imperfect Days.)

Hymn        Amazing Grace #266 VU

This Sunday’s service will be a combined service in Howick. The service will begin at 11:00, with coffee and more beginning at 10:30. 

Congratulations to Dustin and Liz who have welcomed a new daughter, Eloise, this past week. 

Next Sunday Howick United Church will be offering craft activities for families on Sunday, April 6th at the 11:00 service. 

In Ormstown, there will be craft activities offered at the Palm Sunday service, Sunday, April 13th at 11am. 

On Easter Sunday, there will be Easter Sunday services with Communion in both congregations, 9:30 in Howick and 11:00 in Ormstown. 

Nakonhaka Regional Council is inviting applications for bursaries for postsecondary education (IFE bursaries for college level and Hugh Duncan bursaries for university level) for confirmed members of the United Church of Canada. Applications are available on the RC website, nakonhaka.ca and the deadline for applying is June 2, 2025. 

There will be an online Cross Canada Check-in with the Rev. Michael Blair and members of the General Council Executive on Wednesday, April 2nd at 6pm. Registration is available through CHURCHx (churchx.ca). 

Sunday, March 23, 2025 The Third Sunday of Lent

 

This is also the first Sunday in spring for this year! As we watch and wait for signs of new life around us, let us also hear the call to repentance and renewal we find in our faith. 

Hymn       Let Us with a Gladsome Mind #234VU

Scripture Lessons:       Isaiah 55:1-9

                                     Psalm 63:1-8 p. 781 VU

                                     Luke 13:1-9

Hymn       I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

Message

Prayers God, with Lent we approach the springtime of the year when the face of the earth is renewed and life emerges out of death. 

   We pray that this season of Lent may be a true springtime for our souls, so that our lives, quickened by the breadth of the Spirit and warmed by the sunshine of your love, may bear abundant fruit and be made radiant with the beauty of holiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ( a prayer written by Frank Colquhoun and printed in Contemporary Parish Prayers.)

Hymn         Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life #681VU

This Sunday’s services will be 9:30 in Ormstown and 11:00 in Howick. Next Sunday we will hold a combined service in Howick at 11:00, with coffee and goodies starting at about 10:30. 

Copies of both the newsletter and the annual report are now available. Let us know if you would like to receive a copy. 

Howick Stewards will meet on Tuesday, March 25th at 7pm in the church hall. 

Nakonhaka Regional Council is inviting applications from post-secondary students for the Hugh Duncan and IFE bursaries. Students must be confirmed members of the United Church of Canada. The application deadline is June 2, 2025 and applications are available from the Nakonhaka Regional Council website, nakonhaka.ca. Or you can request a copy from Barbara, she will be happy to provide a copy. 

There will be an online cross-Canada check-in to be held with the GeneralSecretary of the General Council Executive, The Rev. Michael Blair and other members of the General Council Executive, on April 2nd at 6pm. Registration is available through CHURCHx (churchx.ca).

Sunday, March 16, 2025 The Second Sunday of Lent

 This weekend there will be many St Patrick’s Day celebrations (even though St Patrick’s Day is Monday). We can remember that this day is also a day to celebrate our faith, as well as Irish heritage. 

Hymn.       Great is Thy Faithfulness #288

Scripture Lessons:        Genesis 15:1-12, 17, 18

                                      Psalm 27 p.754 VU

                                      Luke 13:31-35

Message

Prayer:  Mothering God, you watch your children grow AND YOU LET US GROW. 

Mothering God, you teach us what is true AND YOU LET US GO. 

Mothering God, you show us what is just AND YOU LET US GO. 

Mothering God you give us what we need AND YOU LET US GO.

Mothering God, you shelter us under your wings AND YOU LET US GO. 

Mothering God, be our light and salvation, this day and always. AMEN. (adapted from a prayer written by Ruth Burgess and printed in the Iona Community’s Lenten Resource, Eggs and Ashes)

Hymn.       My Faith Looks Up to Thee #663

This Sunday’s services will be 9:30 in Howick and 11:00 in Ormstown. March 30th there will be a combined service in Howick at 11:00, with a fellowship time beginning at 10:30. 

We express our sympathy to the family if Jim Chisholm, following his death this past week. 

St Paul’s Stewards will meet Wednesday, March 19th at 7:30pm in the hall. 

Howick United Church’s Stewards will meet on Tuesday, March 25th at 7pm in the church hall. 

The new Gifts with Vision has now been launched. It can be found at giftswithvision.ca and includes projects such as supporting a girls’s school, a kindergarten in a refugee camp, food for the north, or a centennial gift celebrating the centennial of the United Church of Canada. Gifts can be given through the website or by calling 1-844-715-7969. 

Nakonhaka Regional Council is now inviting applications for the IFE and Hugh Duncan bursaries for post-secondary studies from confirmed members of the United Church. Applications are available on the Regional Council website (nakonhaka.uc.ca) or Barbara may provide a copy. The deadline for applying is June 2nd. Please let Barbara know if you have questions. 

The United Church of Canada will be holding an online Cross-Canada Check-in with the General Secretary Michael Blair and other members of the GCE on Wednesday, April 2nd at 6pm. Registration can be done through CHURCHx (churchx.ca). 

Sunday, March 9, 2025 The First Sunday of Lent

 Ramadan Mubarak! A blessed Ramadan to our Muslim sisters and brothers. We may be giving something up for Lent, but our brothers and sisters fast (food and water) from sunrise to sunset for the month of Ramadan.🙏🏽

Happy International Women’s Day to all the women of our congregations and our communities! 💐

Hymn       Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah #651VU

Scripture Lessons:       Deuteronomy 26:1-11

                                     Psalm 91:1,2,9-16 p.807VU

                                     Luke 4:1-13

Message

Prayer:  Jesus the Christ, you refused to turn stones into bread. 

Save us from using our power, however little, to satisfy the demands of selfishness in the face of the greater needs of others. 

Jesus the Christ, you refused to leap from the temple top. 

Save us from displaying our skills, however modest, to win popularity in the face of nobler calls on our abilities. 

Jesus the Christ, you refused to bend a knee to a false god. 

Save us from offering our devotion, however weak, to cheap or easy religion in the face of a harder path on which you bid us to follow you. 

Jesus the Christ, 

Give us wisdom to discern evil; and in the face of all that is deceptively attractive, help us to choose the will of God. Amen. 

Hymn       O Jesus I Have Promised #120VU

This Sunday’s services will be 9:30 in Howick and 11:00 in Ormstown. This will be Ormstown’s annual meeting service where the worship service will be combined with the annual meeting. It will take place in the hall. (Please note: it is spring forward Sunday, so it will feel like 10:00!) 

Many thanks for all who supported and volunteered at the Shrove Tuesday Waffle Dinner. It was greatly appreciated! 

St Paul’s Session will meet Wednesday, March 12th at 1:00 in the hall. 

Howick UCW will meet Wednesday, March 12th at 7pm in the church. We will be discussing the situation of migrant workers in our area. (I said in the email that it was technology questions, but that is next month, sorry! )

There will be a Cross-Canada check-in with the General Secretary and members of the General Council of the United Church held online on April 2nd at 6pm online. This is an opportunity to ask questions and express opinions that may shape conversations and decisions going forward to the General Council meeting this summer and into our second century. If you wish to register to take part in this event, it can be done through Churchx. More information is available on the General Council website, generalcouncil.ca.