Light of God Message • Reverend Mary White
Good Day and Blessings!
But when the Spirit of truth comes, She will guide you into all truth. For She will not speak on Her own authority. But She will speak whatever She hears and will tell you things that are to come.
– John 16:13 (MEV)
How can we deny having a Spirit within? Like the wind, the breath of the earth, our Spirit can be changeable, rising and decreasing in energy. We sense euphoria and we sense despair depending on our external experiences, and our self-talk. It is mostly the negative self-talk that diminishes the Spirit and leaves us in a state of despair.
There are also times when we relinquish the positive power of our Spirit to others who make a disapproving remark. But others’ opinions of us are not who we are. It is during silence, the quiet times that we can hear the Spirit’s truth, nudging us and overriding the mind-self toward personal positive thoughts. We are loved and loveable, we know this and need only open our mind to this truth.
With Love,
Rev. Mary White
Dear Parents, Families and Friends,
This week the videos are expressing the theme for the third week of Advent: "Joy". One source of joy at this time of year is watching our children and youth perform at Christmas concerts. You are invited to bring your young people to church this Sunday and join in with this year's pageant. There are no rehearsals - come and be an angel or a shepherd and take part in the retelling of the Christmas story.
This week the Parent tot video contains a story book reading of Jesus' birth as well as these songs: It's About Joy; Hope is a Star; Frosty the Snowman; and Silent Night.
The Family Fun video also has a reading of a story book about the first Christmas as well as the following songs: I've Got the Joy Down in My Heart; Light One Candle for Hope; Joy to the World; God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; and I am the Light of the World.
May you experience great joy in your home during this special time of year!
Brenda Pielle
Reaching Out to Families
Powell River United Church
Reading Breathe in Me
Excerpt from The Fullness of Time inspired by Henri Nouwen
The Greek and Hebrew words for “spirit” also mean “breath” or “wind”. Breath and wind are invisible but powerful. Spirit, breath, wind---all are dynamic forces, full of life and energy. Sometimes the spirit moves within us and within our world with gale force: sometimes the Spirit moves gently and almost imperceptibly like a soft breeze.
When Jesus says that the Spirit “speaks” and “declares” he means that the Spirit moves within us, nudging us, whispering to our minds and breathing truth into us. The Spirit is invisible but powerful, always present with us. But we can shut out its gusts and breezes by closing the windows and doors of our minds.
Let us stay close to Christ and his Spirit, allowing ourselves to be guided by the very breath of the Creator.
This year’s Christmas Pageant is a come and participate pageant. It will be inter-generational, and everyone is invited to dress up either as an angel, a shepherd, or be just as you are.
The participants will have no spoken parts, and will enact what we hear in the story read by the narrators. To dress up, come to Trinity Hall between 10:30am and 10:50am so we can all go into the Sanctuary at 11am. We ask that everyone over 2 years of age wear a mask, and hand sanitizer will be available.
If you have any Pageant questions, please email Marilynn Davis: Click Here
Need a punch bowl?
It is yours. You will find it on the counter in the Trinity hall kitchen.
Poem Where are the Altars
Has this been always so?
Have we been ever seeking
in sacred place
and lifeless ritual
the birthing of our nature;
wanting The One Truth
and missing many truths?
And is the secret of our becoming
going into the emptiness
where what might have been
and what has been:
suffering and weeping
rejoicing and singing
are truly one.
Who are the priests?
Where are the altars?
These are questions
which have no answers
but a passion to belong
and the movement
of an empty cross
into a bigger area
of redemption.
I look into the brief existence
of a flower with certainty
of nothing but that its fragility
is the colour of eternity.
– Joy Mead
During Meditation, we follow the breath as it guides our Awareness inward, towards spiritual oneness with God.
PRUC Online Worship Service
Please join us this Sunday, December 17th
PRAYER
Spirit of Life
Breathe in us, speak to us. You provide us with more than we could ever ask for.
May we be sensitive to your gentle guidance. And when we are not, blow with gale force until we hear your truth.
Amen
Powell River United Church, 6932 Crofton Street, Powell River, BC, V8A 5H4, Canada