Spaghetti Supper

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Weekly Update

 

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV… 

Frederick Buechner (born July 11, 1926) is an American writer and theologian. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister and the author of more than thirty published books. His work encompasses different genres, including fiction, autobiography, essays and sermons, and his career has spanned six decades. Buechner’s work has often been praised for its ability to inspire readers to see the grace in their daily lives. He is continually listed among the most read authors by Christian audiences. 

One of my favorite Buechner books is Whistling in the Dark; an alphabetized book of short reflections on every topic imaginable. 

Beginning with “A” and working through to “Z”, over the coming weeks I will be sharing some of the best of this gifted author and visionary… 

 

A: anxiety 

“Have no anxiety about anything,” Paul writes to the Philippians.  

In one sense it is like telling a woman with a bad head cold not to sniffle and sneeze so much or a lame man to stop dragging his feet.  

Or maybe it is more like telling a wino to lay off the booze or a compulsive gambler to stay away from the track. 

Is anxiety a disease or an addiction?  

Perhaps it is something of both.  

Partly, perhaps, because you can’t help it, and partly because for some dark reason you choose not to help it, you torment yourself with detailed visions of the worst that can possibly happen.  

Does the terrible fear of disaster conceal an even more terrible hankering for it?  

Do the accelerated pulse and the knot in the stomach mean that, beneath whatever their immediate cause, you are acting out some ancient and unresolved drama of childhood?  

Since the worst things that happen are apt to be the things you don’t see coming, do you think there is a kind of magic whereby, if you only can see them coming, you will be able somehow to prevent them from happening?  

Who knows the answer?  

In addition to Novocain and indoor plumbing, one of the few advantages of living in the twentieth century is the existence of psychotherapists, and if you can locate a good one, maybe one day you will manage to dig up an answer that helps. 

But answer or no answer, the worst things will happen at last even so.  

“All life is suffering” says the first and truest of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, by which he means that sorrow, loss, death await us all and everybody we love.  

Yet “the Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything,” Paul writes, who was evidently in prison at the time and with good reason to be anxious about everything, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” 

He does not deny that the worst things will happen finally to all of us, as indeed he must have had a strong suspicion they were soon to happen to him.  

He does not try to minimize them.  

He does not try to explain them away as God’s will or God’s judgment or God’s method of testing our spiritual fiber.  

He simply tells the Philippians that in spite of themeven in the thick of themthey are to keep in constant touch with the One who unimaginably transcends the worst things as he also unimaginably transcends the best.   

“In everything,” Paul says, they are to keep on praying.  

Come Hell or high water, they are to keep on asking, keep on thanking, above all keep on making themselves known.  

He does not promise them that as a result they will be delivered from the worst things any more than Jesus himself was delivered from them. What he promises them instead is that “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!… 

 

WHAT:  Study Series: Christian Fundamentals (Session 3) 

WHEN:  THIS Thursday, April 19 at 6:30 pm 

WHERE:  Grace United 

This time our topic will be: “why are there so many different kinds of Christianity”? 

 

WHAT:  Grace Annual Spring Spaghetti Supper 

WHEN:   THIS Saturday, April 21 from 4:30 to 6:30 

WHERE:  Grace United 

Tickets are $12 for adults; $8 for kids 6 to 10.  Children 5 and under eat free! 

 

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith 

WHEN:   Friday, April 27 at 10:30 am 

WHERE:  Grace United 

Looking forward to continuing on with our compelling conversation about the spirituality of dying and death. 

 

GUESS WHO? … 

As members of Trinity and St. Luke’s become the family of Grace United, let’s learn more about each other.  

Bring a childhood picture of yourself to Marg Conibear by Mother’s Day, May 13th.  

Pictures will be posted and identified only by number. 

Everyone will receive a ballot, on which we’ll try to guess who’s who 😊 

The challenge will run until Fathers’ Day, June 17th. 

Photos will be returned when the challenge is over.  

Prize is bragging rights! 

 

THIS WEEK’S LESSONS: 

In honour of Earth Day! 

Genesis 1:1-2:4 

Psalm 104 

 

WORDS TO LIVE BY: 

If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough. -Mario Andretti 

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Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV…

Written by Anthony Robinson

 

“But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.” – Daniel 3: 25 If you want to make a difference, you will face some heat.

Here’s a story about facing the heat. Three young Hebrews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—while in exile in Babylon, landed jobs in the government of King Nebuchadnezzar. But there was a problem.

The three refused to bow down to their employer’s phony, trumped-up, man-made deities.

“We will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue you have set up.” Then things got hot, as they are likely to do, if you refuse to kowtow to the reigning local powers and vested interests.

King Nebuchadnezzar was so incensed he had the three bound hand and foot and thrown into a super-heated furnace. But when the King looked into the fire he was astounded to see all three, unbound and walking around.

Stranger still, there was now a fourth man in there with them. Who was the fourth man, exactly?

For sure, I don’t know. But here are two things I do know.

First, if you are serious about making a difference and about serving our God, you will face some heat. You just will. And second: facing the heat, you won’t be alone.  You just won’t.

You will know the companionship of the living God in a new and deep way. This doesn’t mean that you should go looking for trouble.

But it does mean that when trouble finds you, you won’t be alone.

… NOW YOUR TURN TO MUSE!

When have you “faced some heat”? What were the circumstances. How did you endure? What did you learn?

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

 

WHAT:  Study Series: Christian Fundamentals (Session 3)

WHEN:  Thursday, April 19 at 6:30 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

This time our topic will be: “why are there so many different kinds of Christianity”?

 

 

WHAT:  Grace Annual Spring Spaghetti Supper

WHEN:   Saturday, April 21 from 4:30 to 6:30

WHERE:  Grace United

Tickets are $12 for adults; $5 for kids!

 

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:   Friday, April 27 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  Grace United

Looking forward to continuing on with our compelling conversation about the spirituality of dying and death.

 

 

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY …

WIDENING OUR WELCOME:  RACE AND RACISM IN OUR CONGREGATIONS AND COMMUNITIES.

Do you have questions about race and racism?  How do we welcome people of all racial identities?  How might we become allies?  How will we make our spaces more racially just? How do we have difficult conversations?  How do we respond to racism?

Come and explore these challenging questions.

Reflect on power and privilege.

Gather practical tools in an engaging and interactive workshop.

 

WHEN:  THIS Saturday, April 14 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

WHERE:  St. Peter’s United Church (York St.)

COST:   $20

 

Please RSVP as soon as possible to Rev. Erin!

 

GUESS WHO? …

As members of Trinity and St. Luke’s become the family of Grace United, let’s learn more about each other.

Bring a childhood picture of yourself to Marg Conibear by Mother’s Day, May 13th.

Pictures will be posed and identified only by number.

Everyone will receive a ballot, on which we’ll try to guess who’s who 😊

The challenge will run until Fathers’ Day, June 17th.

Photos will be returned when the challenge is over.

Prize is bragging rights!

Big thanks to Marg for organizing this super fun activity!

 

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. – Anais Nin

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Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV…

by Rev. Kenneth Samuel

 

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” – Psalm 118:22-23 There is nothing cute about being rejected.  “We don’t want you.”  “We don’t accept what you have to offer.”  “You don’t measure up to our standards.”  “Who you are is not good enough for us.” According to the prophetic interpretations of Isaiah 53, Jesus was despised and rejected by men and women; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

His rejection was not the transitory rejection of being denied a job opportunity or not being selected for a sports team. The rejection Jesus bore extended from King Herod’s attempt to kill him at birth to those who voted without dissent to have him publicly humiliated and executed at Calvary.

The religious leaders and their populist minions had successfully orchestrated an elaborate rejection of Jesus—a rejection that resounded throughout all of Palestine. But the power of the Resurrection is that no rejection we face—no matter how perpetual, no matter how powerful, no matter how imposing—no rejection is indicative of our divine destiny.

Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” The power of the Resurrection is the power to step outside the prescribed molds of safe assimilation and be the authentic presence God created us to be.

On Easter we celebrate the power of an Affirmation that defies every condemnation of death. Prayer Live in me forever . . .  Lord Jesus!  Amen.

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

 

WHAT:  Study Series: Christian Fundamentals (Session 3)

WHEN:  THIS Thursday, April 5 at 6:30 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

 

WHAT:  Grace Annual Spring Spaghetti Supper

WHEN:   Saturday, April 21 from 4:30 to 6:30

WHERE:  Grace United

 

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:   Friday, April 27 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  Grace United

Note the change of date!

 

 

NEWSBITE FROM OUR NATIONAL CHURCH …

People in partnership:

The United Church works with over 100 partners in God’s mission around the world. Global partnerships are formal relationships with national churches, ecumenical organizations, Christian councils, church agencies, and civil society organizations around the world—who connect with and support a much wider range of church and community organizations. Partnerships grow from our history and experience of collaboration with others. We are one partner among many, journeying together in humility toward relationships that are just, honest, respectful, and life-giving.

The United Church has Mission & Service global partners in the following regions: Africa and the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as global ecumenical partners.

We work together with partners in the midst of oppression, poverty, and conflict for deep changes that will create just economic and social systems and a world transformed by love. Our formal relationships enable the United Church and global partners to work together. This work of courage and faith in the midst of situations that can include oppression, poverty, and conflict challenges us in the United Church to deepen our commitment to partnership in all its forms. We are one partner among many, called to receive and to give.

 

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

-Aristotle

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