Sunday, March 15, 2026 The Fourth Sunday of Lent

 St Patrick’s Day is coming soon! We can enjoy the music, the parades and the celebrations, but let us remember this is also a religious celebration, celebrating St Patrick’s faithfulness, forgiveness, and vision of the faith, informed and shaped by his relationship with nature that helped to spread the Christian faith. 🙏🏽☘️

This is also the Sunday in Lent sometimes known as Mothering Sunday, which is not in fact a Sunday celebrating mothers, but our mother churches, where our faith was born and nurtured. 💒

Hymn        Open My Eyes #371VU

Prayer:  Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, 

Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, 

Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height, 

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, 

Christ in the heart of everyone who speaks of me, 

Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. 

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, 

through confession of the oneness of the Creator of creation. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Christ. May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. Amen. ( the closing words of St Patrick’s Breastplate.)

Scripture Lessons:      I Samuel 16:1-13

                                    Psalm 23 p. 749VU

                                    John 9:1-41

Message

Prayer:  The Lord is our hope, we shall not let go of. 

She makes us seek universal justice, peace, and dignity. 

She leads us toward reconciliation. She restores broken communities. 

She takes us to places of horror, so that we can better proclaim the gospel of peace for her sake. 

Even though we walk through uncertainty, indifference, and opposition, 

We will continue to seek a better future for Israelis and Palestinians, for Iranians and Iraqis, and Lebanon. 

For you are with us, your kingdom of justice, peace, and dignity for all comforts us. 

You prepare tables of dialogue and opportunities for truth-telling around us. 

You open the hearts of hurting people. 

We witness to small signs of hope! 

Surely we will continue to seek justice and resist evil, all the days of our lives, until we are all able to live abundantly. Amen. ( a prayer based on Psalm 23 and the Kairos document, developed and shared by the United Church of Canada.) 

Hymn        He Leadeth Me #657VU

This Sunday’s services will be 9:30 in Howick and 11:00 in Ormstown. 

We continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers the family and friends of Donald Grant, whose memorial service is Saturday, March 14th at the Athelstan Presbyterian Church.

We also remember the family and friends of Bill Templeton who died last weekend and whose memorial service will be next Saturday, March 21st at 2pm in St Paul’s United Church. There will be visitation held on Friday, at the McGerrigle Funeral Home from 2-4 and 7-9pm as well as from 1:00 at the church. 

The Howick UCW meeting scheduled for last Wednesday was cancelled and will be rescheduled, probably to Wednesday, March 18th at 7pm in the church hall. 

St Paul’s Session will meet on Wednesday, March 18th at 1pm in the hall. 

St Paul’s Stewards will meet on Wednesday, March 18th at 7:30pm in the hall. 

Have you heard of PIE Day? It is March 14th 03/14) when individuals and churches and other organizations show their Public, Intentional, and Explicit support for LGBTQ2S+ people in our community and world. The Moderator the Right Rev. Kimberley Heath has prepared a message for this day which can be found on the UCC YouTube channel, Facebook, as well as the United Church’s website, united-church.ca.