Message from Light of God Ministry • Reverend Mary White
The Church will be celebrating Hope on this first Advent Sunday of the Church New Year.
Hope appears to be fused with new beginnings. Advent is about waiting, waiting with hope to be regenerated by new birth.
It is birth from within that transforms the self and is expressed by letting go of old patterns of thinking that create barriers and imprison us in narrow, lifeless places.
This Advent time of waiting is an opportunity for us to wait with all humans whose weary lives turn slowly toward re-awakened joy.
In order to bring about personal change, we must make time for introspection which opens us to understanding our true selves.
With Love,
Rev. Mary
All Are Welcome With Love ~ In-person Worship ~ Sundays at 11am
Young Family Fun with Brenda Pielle
Dear Friends:
The season of Advent is upon us and this week's videos describe the first theme which is "hope". Let us all hope for love, happiness and good health for our children, youth and families.
The Parent Tot video has the reading of a story called "I Love You All the Time" as well as these songs: The More We Sing Together, Light One Candle for Hope, It's About Hope, Deck the Halls, and Silent Night.
The Family Fun video has these songs: Hope is a Star, Winter Wonderland, Buon Natalie, My Marvellous Little Toy, and Mary's Boy Child as well as the reading of a book called, "When Love was Inside".
May this season kindle a spark of hope for a kind and compassionate world.
Brenda Pielle
Reaching Out to Families
Powell River United Church
Save the Date on Wed. Dec. 7th
Support the 135 students at Henderson Elementary – “the little school with a big heart” needs our help!
EDAS has received requests for almost double the amount of Kindness Bags this year: 500
Enjoy a fun night of fellowship with the community. All supplies are provided – a great opportunity to serve with love ❤️
Reading ~ Beginning ~ Excerpt from “365 Tao” Ming-Dao Deng
In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment: our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence. In order to start, we must make a decision. This decision is a commitment to daily self-cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life’s travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life. Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mountains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.
Our Flea Market was a Success
The greatest manifestation of the power of God comes when we work together to find ways to be together.
– Dr.Yvetta Flunder
A "Big Thanks" to a lot of people that contributed to make the Flea Market on Saturday a success.
Through people's donations to the church table, the abundance of donated baking, the venders who purchased tables to sell their wares, the many, many people who came and made purchases, and the ones who gave money donations, we brought in $978.
Poem ~ XXXII by Emily Dickenson
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
PRUC Online Worship Service ~ Please Join us this Sunday, November 27th
PRAYER
Giver of Life
Giver of Life you have carried me through all my wanderings and loved me through my rebelliousness. I praise you. You have given me untold riches: friends to love, beauty to enjoy, quiet spaces. I praise you for life on this planet, for trust between people, and the unimaginable gift of the Word. Keep me thankful all my days, that, against all the odds, I may never lose sight of hope and delight.
Amen
Powell River United Church, 6932 Crofton Street, Powell River, BC, V8A 5H4, Canada