Weekly Update

MUSINGS:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. – Psalm 23:1 (NRSV) 

After being advised by my doctor recently to drink more water, I placed myself on a water-drinking regimen. 

During the week, no more sodas, juice drinks or iced tea.

Initially I struggled because my palate had never taken a liking to what I considered to be the blandness of water.

Nonetheless I had a regimen to follow.  

Every weekday I drank water, but I really wanted to drink something else. 

I had water with breakfast, but I really wanted orange juice. 

I had water with dinner, but I really wanted iced tea.

I had water with snacks, but I really wanted Vanilla Coke. 

After about a month into my regimen, something happened that I never expected. 

I developed a taste and a liking for water, so much so that I no longer have to force myself to drink it. 

I now choose water over soft drinks and juices throughout the week and even on weekends when I’d planned to escape the drudgery of drinking water.

I never thought I’d say it, but water is now what I want, not just what I need. 

I’ve often wondered how the writer of Psalm 23 could claim to have no more wants, after declaring the Lord as their personal shepherd. 

I viewed being in the Lord’s flock as a moral duty that prohibited the fulfillment of any other wants and desires.  

But now I’m looking at my empty water glass and wanting more of something good for me that I thought I’d never really want. 

Maybe when we say, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” we give the Holy Spirit permission to not only change our direction, but our desires.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to taste and see that you are good. Amen.

                                                                                                    –Kenneth L. Samuel

PRAYER PARTNERS:

Our new Prayer Partners activity is almost ready to launch!

Big thanks to the organizing work of Tracy Joy and Terry Coles 😊

If you would like to be included in Prayer Partners and have not yet RSVP-ed, it’s not too late!

Please contact Tracy by phone 705-665-5950 or email tracylynnjoy@hotmail.com, by THIS Friday, April 30.

Prayer Partners will be “unveiled” early next week, so stay tuned!

ZOOM HYMN SING:

A special Earth Day Zoom Hymn Sing will take place TOMORROW EVENING, April 29 at 7:30.

The link will be posted on our Facebook group chat.

STUDY AND REFLECTION GROUP:

The next gathering of our Study and Refection group will take place TONIGHT at 7:00 pm.

In this session we will be CONCLUDING our exploration of Marcus Borg’s book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time; looking at the sixth and final chapter, “Images of Jesus and Images of the Christian Life”.

Everyone is welcome!

WORLD LABYRINTH DAY:

An invitation from our friends at MILC to take part in the second digital World Labyrinth Day celebration: “Renewal in the Midst of Uncertainty”.

Although the Sudbury Labyrinth is open this year, due to gathering restrictions we will again celebrate online THIS Saturday.

At 1:00pm on World Labyrinth Day we will join those around the world in a wave of peace as we “walk as one at 1:00”.

Here’s how to participate:

1. If you like, watch last year’s video on how to make your own finger labyrinth on the St. Peter’s United Church Sudbury YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1s6u4c6wWM

2. Join us at 12:45pm on Saturday, May 1 live on the St. Peter’s United Church Sudbury YouTube channel to follow along at home as we show a video of the Sudbury Labyrinth being walked and talk about symbols of renewal. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY-cteuDDEz4LS7YCsaGFDQ

KID CHURCH!:

Calling all kids!!

The first of our brand new monthly “Kid Church” Zoom events will be happening NEXT Wednesday, May 5 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.

All kinds of faith-based fun to be had, with stories, singing, games, crafts and more!

Please RSVP to Rev. Erin by Monday, May 3 😊

ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING:

Our Annual Congregational Meeting will be held via Zoom on Sunday, May 30 immediately after worship.

Everyone is encouraged to attend!

SUPPORTING OUR LIFE AND WORK:

A little reminder of the number of options available for you to support the life and work of our faith family!

The e-transfer method of sending in your offerings has been popular and is quite easy to do. 

In your online banking site, just send an e-transfer to  laubertin@kpmg.ca 

In the notes/message, you can indicate where you’d like the money to be applied: general, M&S, rebuilding etc.

Donations may also be made through our Canada Helps page. 

This works well although there is a small service charge on the donations.

Go to http://www.Canadahelps.org

Under Donate – Find A Charity – Search “Grace United Church Sudbury”

Many thanks for your on-going generosity!

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Weekly Update

MUSINGS:

A punchy devotion from United Church of Christ minister Talitha Arnold

The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” – Luke 24:5 (NRSV) 

After twelve months of this pandemic, if our greatest desire is to get back to where we were a year ago, we have missed the memo from the Holy Spirit. 

The women get the news when they are looking for Jesus’ body in the empty tomb. “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Why do you look backwards for God’s future? 

If all you want is a sentimental sign of spring, I’m sure you can find a crocus growing in a graveyard somewhere; but the promise of new life is more than that.  

What is dead is gone because it has been transformed into something entirely new. 

So much so that after the resurrection, when Jesus ran into his closest friends, they did not recognize him.

They were looking for the living among the dead.

They were massaging their memories, clutching to sacred scrapbooks from a pretend past; the kind that grows more perfect the further we are from it.

When Jesus actually showed up on the street where they lived, they almost missed him. 

New life does not mean more of the same.

So why settle for some pre-pandemic nostalgic normalcy for your church, your children, your institutions, your society, your schools, or your street?

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

Resurrection is the radical change that renders our run-of-the-mill desires

unrecognizable.

Christ is risen and there’s no going back.

Prayer
Open my heart to your future, God. Amen.

PRAYER PARTNERS:

A reminder, if you haven’t yet signed up for our new Prayer Partners project, to please do so by THIS Sunday, April 25.

Tracy Joy is eagerly awaiting your RSVP: tracylynnjoy@hotmail.com 😊

ZOOM HYMN SING:

A special Earth Day Zoom Hymn Sing will take place TOMORROW EVENING, April 22 at 7:30.

The link will be posted on our Facebook group chat.

STUDY AND REFLECTION GROUP:

The next gathering of our Study and Refection group will be NEXT Wednesday, April 28 at 7:00 pm.

In this session we will be CONCLUDING our exploration of Marcus Borg’s book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time; looking at the sixth and final chapter, “Images of Jesus and Images of the Christian Life”.

Everyone is welcome!

WORLD LABYRINTH DAY:

An invitation from our friends at MILC to take part in the second digital World Labyrinth Day celebration: “Renewal in the Midst of Uncertainty”.

Although the Sudbury Labyrinth is open this year, due to gathering restrictions we will again celebrate online on Saturday, May 1.

At 1:00pm on World Labyrinth Day we will join those around the world in a wave of peace as we “walk as one at 1:00”.

Here’s how to participate:

1. If you like, watch last year’s video on how to make your own finger labyrinth on the St. Peter’s United Church Sudbury YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1s6u4c6wWM

2. Join us at 12:45pm on Saturday, May 1 live on the St. Peter’s United Church Sudbury YouTube channel to follow along at home as we show a video of the Sudbury Labyrinth being walked and talk about symbols of renewal. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY-cteuDDEz4LS7YCsaGFDQ

KID CHURCH!:

Calling all kids!!

The first of our brand new monthly “Kid Church” Zoom events will be happening on Wednesday, May 5 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.

All kinds of faith-based fun to be had, with stories, singing, games, crafts and more!

ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING:

Our Annual Congregational Meeting will be held via Zoom on Sunday, May 30 immediately after worship.

Everyone is encouraged to attend!

SUPPORTING OUR LIFE AND WORK:

A little reminder of the number of options available for you to support the life and work of our faith family!

The e-transfer method of sending in your offerings has been popular and is quite easy to do. 

In your online banking site, just send an e-transfer to  laubertin@kpmg.ca 

In the notes/message, you can indicate where you’d like the money to be applied: general, M&S, rebuilding etc.

Donations may also be made through our Canada Helps page. 

This works well although there is a small service charge on the donations.

Go to http://www.Canadahelps.org

Under Donate – Find A Charity – Search “Grace United Church Sudbury”

Many thanks for your on-going generosity!

Read Full Post »

Weekly Update

MUSINGS:

Taken from Between the Dark and the Daylight by Joan Chittister
As Voltaire remarked, “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
The problem is that certainty seduces us.

It enables us to believe that what was said to be true is true because someone else said so.

It simply cuts off thought.

It arrests discussion in midflight.

And yet we yearn for it with a passion.

We spend endless, sleepless nights grappling with intellectual options in order to wiggle them into a satisfying kind of certainty without so much as a scintilla of evidence.
Rulers of all stripe and type dispense certainties—theirs—with great abandon.

They do whatever it takes—define cultural dogmas, assert organizational doctrines, impose decrees, and use power, force and penal systems—to suppress the ideas of anyone who dares to question them.

Ideas, after all, are dangerous things.

Ideas have brought down as many myths and mysteries as they have toppled kingdoms.
But there is another way to live that runs hot and bright through darkness.

There are always some in every population who know that life is not meant to be about certainty.

Life, they realize, is about possibility.

They see certitude as a direction but not an end.
Doubt is what shakes our arrogance and makes us look again at what we have never really looked at before.

Without doubt there is little room for faith in anything…

An ancient people tell the story of sending out two shamans to study their holy mountain so that they could know what their gods expected of them. The first shaman came back from the north side of the mountain to tell them that it was covered with fruit trees, a sign that their god would always bless them abundantly.

The second shaman came back from the south side of the mountain to tell the people that it was barren and covered with rock, a sign that their god would always be with them but intended them to take care of themselves.

So, which shaman was right?

If both, then it is dangerous to dogmatize either position…
It is doubt, not certitude, that enables us to believe, because it requires us to think deeply about an entire subject, and not simply depend on the side of reality that is on our side of the mountain.

Only when we look beyond absolutes to understand every level of life can we possibly live life to the fullest, with the deepest kind of insight, with the greatest degree of compassion for others.
Voltaire was right, of course.

Certainty is comfortable but always unlikely and forever disruptive.

As life changes so must our explanation and response to it.

Sister Joan Daugherty Chittister, O.S.B., is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker.

COUNCIL MEETING:

Our next Grace council meeting will take place TONIGHT at 7:00 pm.

All council members, please plan to attend 😊

ZOOM HYMN SING:

The next of Faye’s Zoom hymn sings will take place TOMORROW EVENING, April 15.

The link will be posted on our Facebook group chat.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY:

As God-made, incarnate beings, we all live in bodies.

And because we all live in bodies, we all have a body image.

Body image is how we see our bodies when we look in the mirror, or conceive of our bodies in our minds.

Developing a positive, joyful body image is an important part of mental and spiritual well-being.

Soul Strong (Rev. Erin’s wellness program) and the Manitou Intentional Learning Community (MILC) are excited to be joining forces to facilitate a two-part, interactive Zoom forum entitled Body Image: Seeing Ourselves Through God’s Eyes.

Inspired by the extraordinary stories of speakers Wendy Coates and Rita O’Link, participants will share and explore their own joys and struggles on the journey to body acceptance.

Tuesday, April 20th and 27th @ 6:30pm

Register for both Zoom sessions by visiting www.manitoulearningcommunity.com

ALPHA PROGRAM:

An invitation from our friends at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, to join them—and folks from other congregations– taking part in the Alpha program.

Here are the details:

Alpha is a chance to ask the big questions and explore the Christian faith in a fun, non-pressurized environment.

Each week is hosted on Zoom and includes a video talk and discussion.

Everyone is welcome.

To register, please visit:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sduyurD4rG9LPvOrMFw74DJMOA2UtXKZz

STUDY AND REFLECTION GROUP:

The next gathering of our Study and Refection group will be on Wednesday, April 28 at 7:00 pm.

Note the change of date.

In this session we will be CONCLUDING our exploration of Marcus Borg’s book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time; looking at the sixth and final chapter, “Images of Jesus and Images of the Christian Life”.

Everyone is welcome!

MUFFIN MINISTRY:

PLEASE NOTE: TODAY will be the FINAL day for muffin collection for the time being 😊

Muffins may be dropped off at St. Peter’s on the tables outside from 11:00 to 3:00.

Many thanks to all our hardworking bakers for making this vital outreach possible throughout the winter months!

For more details please contact our Muffin Lady, Tracy Joy by phone or email:

705-665-5950 OR tracylynnjoy@hotmail.com

SUPPORTING OUR LIFE AND WORK:

A little reminder of the number of options available for you to support the life and work of our faith family!

The e-transfer method of sending in your offerings has been popular and is quite easy to do. 

In your online banking site, just send an e-transfer to  laubertin@kpmg.ca 

In the notes/message, you can indicate where you’d like the money to be applied: general, M&S, rebuilding etc.

Donations may also be made through our Canada Helps page. 

This works well although there is a small service charge on the donations.

Go to http://www.Canadahelps.org

Under Donate – Find A Charity – Search “Grace United Church Sudbury”

Many thanks for your on-going generosity!

Read Full Post »

Weekly Update

MUSINGS:

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.” Mark 16:6  

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

This Easter greeting reminds us that God’s action in raising Jesus is the bottom line of our faith.

On the third day, after his crucifixion, Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James, and Salmone find Jesus’ tomb empty.

The love that Jesus proclaims, the love he lives, the love he is, is not defeated by the powers of evil and death.

This is breathtakingly good news.

No faith could be more tragic, no belief more futile than Christianity without its risen Lord. 

It would be sad and foolish to base our lives on a dead hero. 

The strongest evidence for the Resurrection is the transformed lives of Jesus’ disciples.

How else do we explain the sudden transformation that took place in their lives? Within days those frightened and grieving disciples are transformed into bold and courageous witnesses willing to die for their faith.

Something most extraordinary must have taken place for this to have happened.

The One whom they follow is raised from the grave, and they encounter him in a way that convinces them he is now living beyond crucifixion. 

The Resurrection means much for our lives today.

Jesus is present with us as our loving Friend.

He is available to each one of us in our struggle with the forces of evil.

We too can experience “little Easters” in the midst of those things that make us “die” each day—the betrayal of a friend, the cruelty of a colleague, or even the failure of a dream.

Easter reminds us that the risen Christ is always able to bring light and life where there seems to be only darkness and death.

What wonderful good news this is!

We are indeed Easter people living in a Good Friday world. 

We can celebrate this good news: The risen Christ is in our midst.

He continues to make available another kind of life to anyone and everyone.

He has promised that all those who seek will find.

COUNCIL MEETING:

Our next Grace council meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 14 at 7:00 pm.

All council members, please plan to attend 😊

ZOOM HYMN SING:

The next of Faye’s Zoom hymn sings will take place on Thursday, April 15.

The link will be posted on our Facebook group chat.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY:

The Manitou Intentional Learning Community is excited to welcome the Very Reverend Stan McKay, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, to lead a workshop entitled “Reconciliation: The Renewal of a Covenant”, which will take place via Zoom TONIGHT at 7:00 p.m.

This event will explore the spirit and intent of treaties and an Indigenous philosophy of life – “All My Relations”.

To register: visit MILC’s website Manitou Intentional Learning Community (manitoulearningcommunity.com) and click register in the event information

or go directly to the registration page https://laurentian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtceqtqjMtGNJRJCxQu-V61KpEi9HRDN6y

For more information email Manitou Intentional Learning Community (manitoulearningcommunity.com)

ALPHA PROGRAM:

An invitation from our friends at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, to join them—and folks from  other congregations– taking part in the Alpha program.

Here are the details:

Alpha is a chance to ask the big questions and explore the Christian faith in a fun, non-pressurized environment.

Each week is hosted on Zoom and includes a video talk and discussion.

Everyone is welcome.

The next session of Alpha takes place TOMORROW, April 8 from 7:00 – 8:30pm

To register, please visit:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sduyurD4rG9LPvOrMFw74DJMOA2UtXKZz

STUDY AND REFLECTION GROUP:

The next gathering of our Study and Refection group will be on Wednesday, April 21 at 7:00 pm.

In this session we will be CONCLUDING our exploration of Marcus Borg’s book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time; looking at the sixth and final chapter, “Images of Jesus and Images of the Christian Life”.

Everyone is welcome!

MUFFIN MINISTRY:

Our Muffin Ministry continues!

Muffins may be dropped off at St. Peter’s on the tables outside on Wednesdays from 11:00 to 3:00.

Many thanks to all our hardworking bakers for making this vital outreach possible!

For more details please contact our Muffin Lady, Tracy Joy by phone or email:

705-665-5950 OR tracylynnjoy@hotmail.com

SUPPORTING OUR LIFE AND WORK:

A little reminder of the number of options available for you to support the life and work of our faith family!

The e-transfer method of sending in your offerings has been popular and is quite easy to do. 

In your online banking site, just send an e-transfer to  laubertin@kpmg.ca 

In the notes/message, you can indicate where you’d like the money to be applied: general, M&S, rebuilding etc.

Donations may also be made through our Canada Helps page. 

This works well although there is a small service charge on the donations.

Go to http://www.Canadahelps.org

Under Donate – Find A Charity – Search “Grace United Church Sudbury”

Many thanks for your on-going generosity!

Read Full Post »