Message from Reverend Mary White
Good Day and Blessings!
When faced with conflict, with decisions to be made, we can be of two minds. Confusion can set in and often leaves us feeling alone, especially when we may have to make a decision that is against others’ beliefs.
One solution is to follow the rules set out by society and the other is to follow the heart and do what is right given the situation. Christ’s Love for others held strong when he stood against the laws of the religious law- makers and leaders. He did what was right for the marginalized, the outcasts, the poor and those living on the edge of society. He stood his ground and stayed consistent with His true-self and to his belief:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
– Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
With Love,
Rev. Mary White
Coffee in Trinity Hall • This Sunday
Announcements
This Sunday, we are celebrating the Sacrament of Communion • Please Join Us
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Christmas Pageant is on Dec. 19th
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
Dear Parents, Families and Friends,
The Season of Advent is already upon us and the theme for the first week is hope. I hope that you enjoy this time of preparing and waiting. The excitement our children feel as they anticipate Christmas Day is often contagious and can fill us with a warm feeling inside.
The Parent Tot video has the story of Frosty the Snowman, a craft demonstration for how to make an Advent paper strip calendar, as well as these songs: That's What it's All About, Light One Candle; Frosty the Snowman; Deck the Halls; and Silent Night.
The family fun video has a story called "Moostletoe", a craft demonstration for making paper snowflakes, as well as the following songs: Hope is a Star; Here Comes Suzy Snowflake; The Marvellous Little Toy; and Still, Still, Still.
Thank you,
Brenda Pielle
Reaching Out to Families
Powell River United Church
The End of An Era
Dear Church Family:
It is with great sadness that we announce the closing down of UCW. Over the years, we have become close “sisters in Christ” as we did the work of the UCW. It was our pleasure to serve this wonderful congregation with love and devotion.
We could not have been so successful but for the wonderful love and support of all of you. Imagine baking dozens of cookies for the cookie walk and then buying others back!!! What a great sense of cooperation. You are awesome!!!
On behalf of the UCW, I would like to thank the congregation for always being generous, loving and so helpful. Our success was due to all of you. Our wish is that some younger women will step up in time and start another.
Much love and good health to all our friends.
Love,
Trudy (UCW)
Reading Our True Nature
Father Richard Rohr has long said, “We’ve got to get the ‘who’ right.” For Christians, our identity lies in the fact that we are loved by God from the beginning and “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Discovering who we are is an important theme in Buddhism as well, as today’s gifted teacher explains.
Theologian Paul Knitter has explored both Buddhism and Christianity extensively. He writes: The underlying reason why people keep causing themselves and others so much suffering . . . is because we are ignorant about who and what we really are. Our problem is not an inherent sinfulness but an inherited ignorance. . . . But—and here is the really good news—if ignorance is our fundamental problem, we are dealing with a fixable problem. This problem is not within us as part of our human nature. Rather, it’s around us. . . . The antidote for the ignorance that causes suffering is to wake up to what we really are.
So, what are we really? . . . Following especially Tibetan and Zen teachings, we can say that our true nature, our real nature, is Buddha-nature. [Richard Rohr: what Thomas Merton called the “true self” or Christ-self.] Our real self is not our individual self. Our individual small minds are really part of a big Mind.
Once we wake up to our true-nature, once we realize the Space in which and out of which we live and move and have our being, then nothing, no matter how much it hurts or disappoints or frustrates, can destroy the strength of our inner Peace, of our ability both to endure and to respond to whatever happens.
Gifts of Advent
“I really enjoyed reconnecting with the 6 people I dropped off bags to, and to hear a little bit about their lives. As I told Mary, I felt that my bucket was ‘Filled’ as I hope theirs was by visiting them again.”
– Elsie Parsons
Hanna Dewynter (left), and Pat and Herman Maclean (right).
Poem Heartbeat
Excerpt from Doing December Differently
by Nicola Slee & Rosie Miles
From the clutter of sound and sense be still
from noise deep within and noise far without
from mind jam-packed with need and desire
just listen, listen to your heartbeat
For the time is rich and the time is full
and the time of your life is gently given
the time is now and the time is silence
to listen, listen to your heartbeat
All the striving, all the aching
all the longing unfulfilled
all the wanting, all the making
all the future willed
put it down, give it up
lay it out, throw it wide
and listen, listen to your heartbeat
listen, listen to your heartbeat
listen, listen to your heartbeat
– Rosie Miles
PRUC Online Worship Service
Please join us this Sunday, December 5th
PRAYER • Loving Spirit
Even with no visible evidence of hope, except for a young woman giving birth in the shadows of poverty; no resounding words of grace, except for the teenager helping a Syrian child learn a new language; no superhero coming to our rescue, except for the volunteers who ignore borders to bring healing and kindness, again and again, God says, ‘Rejoice! For the Prince of Peace will lead The Way’
Amen
Navigation Team • Oct. 28th Meeting Minutes
Click to View
Powell River United Church, 6932 Crofton Street, Powell River, BC, V8A 5H4, Canada