Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV…

written by Christina Villa

 

“When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea.” – Mark 4:45-56 This sentence from Mark is just one example of the peculiar way the Bible often has of describing extraordinary events.

Jesus walking on water is surely one of the major astounding things in the entire New Testament.

And yet here it’s related almost as an afterthought, a minor detail, as in “she stepped off the curb, into a puddle.” You’d think there might be a little more build-up to a spectacle like this, some mention of the urgency Jesus felt to get out to the boat full of disciples by the most direct route.

But no, he sees them in trouble and goes over to help, “walking on the sea.”

No drama at all, just a flat statement. This does often seem to be the way longed-for good news or desperately-needed help arrives in our lives.

Without fanfare or advance notice, often after you’ve stopped waiting and wishing for it—there it simply is, like your lost dog sitting on the back steps.

The job offer from an interview last year.

The college acceptance letter amid a pile of rejections.

The positive pregnancy test after years of infertility.

You can’t believe it, you thank God, you look twice to make sure it’s really true. When you’re straining at the oars against an adverse wind, remember that at any moment you might look up and see salvation walking toward you, even if that seems as impossible as walking on water.

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

 

WHAT:  Annual Spring Fair!

WHEN:  THIS Saturday, June 2 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

Plant sale, bake sale, book and “treasure” tables; homemade beans, chili and BBQ; great fellowship!

 

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:  Friday, June 8 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  518 Morris St. in the upper room.

As this is our final gathering before breaking for the summer months, we will enjoy a potluck lunch together following our session.

 

 

WHAT:  Christian Fundamentals

WHEN:  Thursday, June 21 at 6:30 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

Note the change of date 😊

 

WHAT:  “Celebrate Summer” Day at the Lake!

WHEN:  Sunday, June 24 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  Erin and Kari’s place!

A Grace United tradition!  Outdoor worship by the lake followed by BBQ and lots of fun and fellowship.  Stay tuned for details 😊

 

 

THIS WEEK’S LESSONS:

1 Samuel 3:1–10, (11–20)  Psalm 1

Mark 2:23—3:6

 

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

– Chinese Proverb

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Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV… In honour of the Royal Wedding, an excerpt from the wonderful wedding sermon by the Most Rev. Michael Curry.

 

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, and I quote:

“We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love.

And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world

a new world. Love is the only way.”

There’s power in love.

Do not underestimate it.

Don’t even over-sentimentalize it.

There’s power in love.

If you don’t believe me, think about a time when you first fell in love.

The whole world seemed to center around you and your beloved.

Oh, there’s power, there’s power in love.

Not just in its romantic forms, but any form, any shape of love.

There’s a certain sense in which when you are loved and you know it, when someone cares for you and you know it, when you love and you show it, it actually feels right.

There’s something right about it.

And there’s a reason for it.

The reason has to do with the source.

We were made by a power of love.

Our lives were and are meant to be lived in that love.

That is why we are here.

Ultimately the source of love is God himself.

The source of all of our lives.

An old medieval poem says it: “Where true love is found, God himself is there.”

The Bible, 1 John 4 says it this way. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; Everyone who loves is born of God. Whoever does not love does not know God For God is love.”

There’s power in love.

Love can help and heal when nothing else can. Love can lift up and liberate for living when nothing else will.

There’s power in love…

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

 

WHAT:  Grace Council Meeting

WHEN:   TONIGHT at 7:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

 

WHAT:  Annual Spring Fair!

WHEN:  Saturday, June 2 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

Plant sale, bake sale, book and “treasure” tables; homemade beans, chili and BBQ; great fellowship!

 

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:  Friday, June 8 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  518 Morris St. in the upper room.

As this is our final gathering before breaking for the summer months, we will enjoy a potluck lunch together following our session.

 

WHAT:  “Celebrate Summer” Day at the Lake!

WHEN:  Sunday, June 24 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  Erin and Kari’s place!

A Grace United tradition!  Outdoor worship by the lake followed by BBQ and lots of fun and fellowship.  Stay tuned for details 😊

 

 

A COUPLE OF FAREWELL CELEBRATIONS!…

As most of us are now aware, our dear friend Kathy Madigan, will soon be moving to southern Ontario.

This weekend, Kathy’s friends will have a couple of opportunities to wish her a fond farewell:

First, on Friday, May 25th a “Come and Go” reception will be held at the Falconbridge Legion from 2 – 5 pm.

Then, specific to Grace, on Sunday, May 27 you are invited to bring along your favourite potluck dish to contribute to a special after-worship lunch.

How good it is to celebrate all that Kathy has meant to our faith family!

 

REMEMBERING ROSEMARY:

On Tuesday, May 29 we will have the opportunity to gather and host the family and friends of our dear Rosemary Johnston who died earlier this year.

Rosemary was a long time and beloved member of the St. Luke’s/Grace faith family, and her presence amongst us is sorely missed.

The memorial will begin with the internment of Rosemary’s ashes at the Parklawn Cemetery at 1:00, followed by a light lunch and time of fellowship at Grace.

 

THIS WEEK’S LESSONS:

Isaiah 6:1–8

Psalm 29 (VU p. 756)

John 3:1–17

 

WORDS TO LIVE BY: Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs

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Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV…

Written by Lizzy Milani

Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them. (1 John 4:16)

We tend to imagine God as a static being.

A “Someone”.

An image we can pin down and define.

Someone who sits still as if he were being observed, painted, drawn, by a world trying to grasp his likeness.

We talk about God in defined terms.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit: separate; with their individual functions and roles, and personhood.

Single.

CS Lewis said:

“God is not a static thing — not even a person — but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.”

In his book, The Divine Dance, Richard Rohr says:

“Whatever is going on in God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between Three— a circle dance of love. And God is not just a dancer; God is the dance itself. Now hold on to this. This is not some new, trendy theology from America. This is about as traditional as you can get. The ancient Greek Fathers depict the Trinity as a Round Dance: an event that has continued for …beyond the time when humans first knew time. An infinite current of love streams without ceasing, to and fro, to and fro, to and fro…

The Divine is not a static being, a white man in the clouds with a big beard watching everything you do and writing it all down in a book so he can tell you all your sins one day- (as if you would have forgotten them)- and how your mansion in heaven has been downgraded accordingly.

The Divine is grace and peace and love.

The Divine is connection and electricity and energy.

God is found in the flow of relationship.

He is movement and spirit and wind and water and earth and breath, fire and blood.

And so, just what do we do with this dancing God who is the dance himself?

We join in.

 

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

 

WHAT:  Study Series: Christian Fundamentals (Session 5)

WHEN:  TOMORROW, May 17 at 6:30 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

This time we’ll be exploring our roots in the Old Testament.

 

WHAT:  Grace Council Meeting

WHEN:  Wednesday, May 23 at 7:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

 

WHAT:  Annual Spring Fair!

WHEN:  Saturday, June 2 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

Plant sale, bake sale, book and “treasure” tables; homemade beans, chili and BBQ; great fellowship!

 

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:  Friday, June 7 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  518 Morris St. in the upper room.

As this is our final gathering before breaking for the summer months, we will enjoy a potluck lunch together following our session.

 

IT’S PENTECOST!…

THIS Sunday, May 20, we will be celebrating the day of Pentecost in our worship service!

As Pentecost is all about the coming of the Holy Spirit “in wind and flame” you are encouraged to add to the décor by coming to church dressed in “flame colours”: red, orange and/or yellow.

Flamboyant hats and fancy shoes would also be welcome 😊

 

A COUPLE OF FAREWELL CELEBRATIONS!…

With mingled joy and sorrow prepare to say a fond farewell to our dear friend and LONG time member, Kathy Madigan, who is leaving the Sudbury area for new adventures.

Kathy’s friends will have a couple of opportunities to gather:

First, on Friday, May 25th a “Come and Go” reception will be held at the Falconbridge Legion from 2 – 5 pm.

Then, specific to Grace, on Sunday, May 27 you are invited to bring along your favourite potluck dish to contribute to a special after-worship lunch.

How good it is to celebrate all that Kathy has meant to our faith family!

 

A DIFFERENT SORT OF “SEND OFF”:

On Tuesday, May 29 we will have the opportunity to gather and host the family and friends of our dear Rosemary Johnston who died earlier this year.

Rosemary was a long time and beloved member of the St. Luke’s- and then, Grace- faith family, and her presence amongst us is sorely missed.

The memorial will begin with the internment of Rosemary’s ashes at the Parklawn Cemetery at 1:00, followed by a light lunch and time of fellowship at Grace.

 

THIS WEEK’S LESSONS:

Ezekiel 37:1–14

Psalm 104:24–34, 35b (VU p. 827 Part Two)

Acts 2:1–21

 

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen. Unless the ear catch fire, God will not be heard. Unless the tongue catch fire, God will not be named. Unless the heart catch fire, God will not be loved. Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known.

-William Blake

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Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV…

Frederick Buechner on DREAMS:

No matter how prosaic, practical, and ploddingly unimaginative we may be, we have dreams like everybody else. All of us do. 

In them even the most down-to-earth and pedestrian of us leave earth behind and go flying, not walking, through the air like pelicans. 

The tears of dreams can be real enough to wet the pillow and the passions of them fierce enough to make the flesh burn.

There are times we dream our way to a truth or an insight so overwhelming that it startles us awake and haunts us for years to come.

As easily as from room to room, we move from things that happened so long ago we had forgotten them to things lying ahead that may be waiting to happen or trying to happen still. 

On our way we are as likely to meet old friends as perfect strangers. 

Sometimes, inexplicably, we meet casual acquaintances who for decades haven’t so much as once crossed our minds.

Freudians and Jungians, prophets and poets, philosophers, fortune-tellers, and phonies all have their own claims about what dreams mean. 

Others claim they don’t mean a thing. 

But there are at least two things they mean that seem incontrovertible.

One of them is that we are in constant touch with a world that is as real to us while we are in it, and has as much to do with who we are, as the world of waking reality. 

The other one is that our lives are a great deal richer, deeper, more intricately interrelated, more mysterious, and less limited by time and space than we commonly suppose.

People who tend to write off the validity of the religious experience in general and the experience of God in particular on the grounds that in the real world they can find no evidence for such things should take note. 

Maybe the real world is not the only reality, and even if it should turn out to be, maybe they are not really looking at it realistically.

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

WHAT:  Study Series: Christian Fundamentals (Session 5)

WHEN:  Thursday, May 17 at 6:30 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

This time we’ll be exploring our roots in the Old Testament.

WHAT:  Grace Council Meeting

WHEN:  Wednesday, May 23 at 7:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

WHAT:  Annual Spring Fair!

WHEN:  Saturday, June 2 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

Plant sale, bake sale, book and “treasure” tables; homemade beans, chili and BBQ; great fellowship!

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:  Friday, June 7 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  518 Morris St. in the upper room

A FAREWELL CELEBRATION!…

With mingled joy and sorrow prepare to say a fond farewell to our dear friend and LONG time member, Kathy Madigan, who is leaving the Sudbury area for new adventures. On Sunday, May 27 you are invited to bring along your favourite potluck dish to contribute to a special after-worship lunch.

Come and help celebrate all that Kathy has meant to our faith family!

A GREAT READ! …

Founded in 1829, The United Church Observer is the oldest continuously published magazine in North America, and the second oldest in the English speaking world. 

It has won international acclaim for journalistic excellence and garnered more awards for writing than any other Canadian religious publication.

Every month the Observer offers inspiring and thought-provoking articles, columns and editorials on national and international issues of faith, justice, ethics, daily living and pop culture.

If you’ve never subscribed before, now is the time!

See Leona for details!

GUESS WHO? …

THIS IS THE LAST WEEK to bring in a cutie-pie childhood photo of yourself for our “Guess Who” wall!

Don’t miss the opportunity to take part in this super-fun community builder.

Give your picture to Marg Conibear by Sunday and let the guessing begin!. 

THIS WEEK’S LESSONS: 1 John 5:9-13

Psalm 139 John 17:6-19

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

Leap and the net will appear. – Zen

 

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Weekly Update

RANDOM MUSINGS FROM THE REV…

On children …

When the disciples, over-earnest as ever, asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus pulled a child out of the crowd and said the greatest in the kingdom of heaven were people like this (Matthew 18:1-4). 

Two thousand years of sentimentalizing to the contrary notwithstanding, Jesus was not being sentimental. 

He was saying that the people who get into heaven are people who, like children, don’t worry about it too much. 

They are people who, like children, live with their hands open more than with their fists clenched. 

They are people who, like children, are so relatively unburdened by preconceptions that if somebody says there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they are perfectly willing to go take a look for themselves.

Children aren’t necessarily better than other people. 

Like the child in “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” they are just apt to be better at telling the difference between a phony and the real thing.

          -Frederick Buechner

WHAT’S ON AT GRACE UNITED!…

WHAT:  Exploring Our Faith

WHEN:   Friday, May 4 at 10:30 am

WHERE:  518 Morris St.

In preparation for this session you it would be helpful to have read the article, “Last Words”; found in the March, 2018 issue of The Observer.

WHAT:  Study Series: Christian Fundamentals (Session 5)

WHEN:  Thursday, May 17 at 7:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

This time we’ll be exploring our roots in the Old Testament.

WHAT:  Grace Council Meeting

WHEN:  Wednesday, May 24 at 7:00 pm

WHERE:  Grace United

A GREAT READ! …

Founded in 1829, The United Church Observer is the oldest continuously published magazine in North America, and the second oldest in the English speaking world. 

It has won international acclaim for journalistic excellence and garnered more awards for writing than any other Canadian religious publication.

Every month the Observer offers inspiring and thought-provoking articles, columns and editorials on national and international issues of faith, justice, ethics, daily living and pop culture.

If you’ve never subscribed before, now is the time!

The cost is $25 for the year, and all you need to do is put your money in an envelope with your name and mailing address on it and hand it to Leona Moote, our trusty Observer rep, no later than May 20th.  When I get all the money I will put it on the collection plate marked “Observer” and get a cheque from Laurie to send in for payment

Don’t miss another month of excellent reading.

GUESS WHO? …

Is your “mug” on the board??????

Don’t miss the opportunity to take part in this super-fun community builder.

Bring a childhood picture of yourself to Marg Conibear by Mother’s Day, May 13th and let the guessing begin!. 

OPPORTUNITY FOR LEARNING …

Saturday, May 5th marks the 10th anniversary of World Labyrinth Day. 

To celebrate this, there will be a workshop at St. Peter’s United Church from 10:00 to noon, which will provide opportunities to learn about leading labyrinth walks and to experience the indoor labyrinth. 

Leadership by Amy Hallman Grout, Rev. Linda Saffrey, Rev. Dawn Vaneyk and Faye Moffatt. 

A light lunch will be provided at noon and at 12:30 we will move to the Grotto site on Van Horne St. to prepare to “Walk as One at 1”. 

Please let us know if you are planning to attend in the morning gillian.schell@sympatico.ca 

Registration is NOT required for the walk.

Everyone is welcome.  

THIS WEEK’S LESSONS:

Psalm 98 (VU p. 818)

1 John 5:1–6

John 15:9–17

WORDS TO LIVE BY:

It is never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot

 

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