January 6, 2019 WELCOME

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January 6, 2019 WELCOME Windermere United Church (1912-) 356 Windermere Avenue, T.O. M6S 3L3 Ministers: All of Us Minister, Rev. Alexa Gilmour, minister@windermerechurch.

1 January 6, 2019 WELCOME Windermere United Church (1912-) 356 Windermere Avenue, T.O. M6S 3L3 Ministers: All of Us Minister, Rev. Alexa Gilmour, Parish Nurse, Anne Marie, Minister of Music, Adrian Marchuk, Office Administrator, Michelle Maldonado, Monday to Friday, 9:00am-3:30pm Follow us on This building is equipped with an AED and First Aid Kit, both are available in skylight room.

2 Open to Spirit, Open to You! January 6, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. Epiphany We welcome you to our Sunday Worship. Help yourself to a cup of coffee and a name tag, at the back of the sanctuary, prior to the service starting. Following the service, everyone is invited for an informal time of conversation and refreshments in the Parlour. Our members will be happy to assist you with any questions or needs you may have. Gathering *Indicates to rise in body or spirit. Music to Centre for Worship Words of Welcome and Announcements Acknowledgement of Traditional Territory Lighting the Christ Candle Call to Worship: One: As we come to the 12th, and final day, of Christmas, we hear the African-American theologian, Howard Thurman, calling us into the New Year saying; All: When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner,

3 to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart. * Hymn: Will You Come And See The Light? VU 96 Opening Prayer Our Lord s Prayer (in the language of your choice) Young at Heart Time (Children are invited to join Alexa on the chancel steps as we sing) *Children s Hymn: MV 159 Young At Heart Time Good News Candle I have called you by your name, you are mine I have gifted you and ask you now to shine I shall not abandon you All my promises are true You are gifted, called, and chosen You are mine Walking With God First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6 Second Reading: Psalm 72:1-7, Third Reading: Matthew 2:1-12 *Hymn: As With Gladness Men Of Old VU 81

4 Sermon The Offering is Given Holding the Light for Others A Gift Of Music Is Shared We Three Kings/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen *The Offertory Hymn: VU 81 *Prayer of Dedication Prayers of the People As they offered gifts most rare At that stable crude and bare So may we with holy joy Pure and free from sin s alloy All our costliest treasures bring Christ, to you, our heavenly King With Sung Response: MV 191 What can I do? What can I bring? What can I say? What can I sing? I ll sing with joy, I ll say a prayer I ll bring my love, I ll do my share *Closing Hymn: I Am The Light Of The World VU 87 *Commissioning and Benediction

5 *Sung Benediction: VU 7 Music sends us out Love is a flame that burns in our heart Jesus has come and will never depart When God is a child, there s joy in our song The last shall be first, and the weak shall be strong And none shall be afraid! ***************** All lyrics and music reprinted with permission from One License (Annual License, A ) UPCOMING SERVICES January 13-1 st After the Epiphany, Baptism of Christ, Affirm meeting in Parlour before service, 9am January 20-2 nd After the Epiphany, Guest Preacher, Michiko Bown-Kai January 27-3 rd After the Epiphany, Affirm meeting in Parlour before service, 9am February 3 4 th After the Epiphany ANNOUNCEMENTS Office Hours HAPPY NEW YEAR! Please note the office hours have returned to normal. The office hours are now Monday to Friday, 9am-3:30pm. The office is closed on weekends, and for holidays.

We're Hiring! We are looking for a visionary faith leader, who loves children and families, and can help us create the Sunday school of the future! Do you know someone who sounds like this?

6 We're Hiring! We are looking for a visionary faith leader, who loves children and families, and can help us create the Sunday school of the future! Do you know someone who sounds like this? The role of Children and Youth Minister will be to prepare and implement weekly curriculum on Sunday mornings and to participate in an 18-month new ministry pilot project, supported by The GO Project and a team from Windermere. For more information about this position please visit our website: The deadline to apply is January 21 st! UPCOMING EVENTS AT WINDERMERE A Spirited Conversation Happening every 2 nd Tuesday of the month, 7:30pm at The Dark Horse pub (corner of Bloor St and Armadale Ave). Book Study -The Book Study Group will be meeting to discuss a novel on January 10th, and then will be doing a chapter study from January 24 to February 28 on the book On The Brink of Everything by Parker Palmer. All are welcome to join this open group. For more info please contact Janet at jpetrie@bell.net Saturday February 2nd Chili Dinner! This will be WUC's 10th annual Chili Dinner! We ll have delicious chili of many varieties, door and raffle prizes, bar service, and a silent auction. Adult tickets $15, Kids under 10 tickets $5. Contact the Church Office to buy yours today! Proceeds from ticket sales will go to fund WUC s new sign campaign!

7 UPCOMING MEETINGS: Affirming Ministry process up-date Thanks to everyone who has participated to date in our discussions about the Affirming Ministry program. See There have been good conversations about the process itself and some learning about coming out for LGBT2+ people. Further conversations are scheduled on other kinds of inclusion: - January 13 at 9:00 a.m. in the parlour - a pre-worship conversation about racism - January 27at 9:00 a.m. in the parlour - a pre-worship conversation about disability The Affirming Ministry process is designed to be respectful and to encourage people to share divergent views. Some concerns have been raised: What do you do if you have questions about the process? What if you re not sure that this is a good idea? What if you re wondering why we re doing this in the first place, or you think we ve missed some important topics? What if you feel you can t express negative opinions that others might not share? These are important questions. Therefore, Council has approved a revised process to give us time to have additional conversations. Let s take the time we need. Here s an up-dated plan going forward: - February AGM - instead of moving to a vote about becoming an Affirming Ministry, we ll have a check-in conversation with the congregation. What have you learned? What has prevented you from participating? Are there other topics or concerns that we

8 should address before we take any final actions? (Any additional topics would need to be scheduled.) - February/March - a pre-worship conversation about mental health and how to respond to mental health issues - February/March/April - Council works on a proposed vision statement and plan of action (as required by the Affirming Ministry program) - April 28 - a congregational meeting to vote on whether to become an Affirming Ministry If you have any questions or concerns, please contact David Allen, Council chair at david_allen@rogers.com or leave a note at the church office. We want to hear from everyone in this process, and look forward to making a decision that will be good and faithful to who we are as a congregation, whatever that decision turns out to be. OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE Lay Readers and Fellowship Time Volunteers We are in need of volunteers for Lay Reading and for Fellowship time on Sundays in the New Year! If you will be here on Sundays in January, please consider signing up to help out with these very important parts of our Sunday Worship and being church together. Stone Soup Network This is a not-for-profit project of Windermere United that builds stronger communities by making it easier for neighbours to share with each other. There are many ways to get involved; contribute your company s products or service to help a neighbour; volunteer with us and be part of the team; donate funds to help sustain the project. If you have questions about Stone Soup please talk to Doug Tindal or Chris Rotolo (director@stonesoupnetwork.ca).

9 There for You Project When I was hungry, you fed me these are the words of Christ but also the words of some of us who have needed a helping hand and received it from folks in this congregation. In light of the fact that we all need help from time to time when the unexpected happens we have the There for You project. There is a sign-up list in the Parlour that you can add your name to. It means that you d be willing to help-out when someone s life takes a turn and help is needed. If you are preparing dinner, please consider making a little extra to add to our church freezer that is used to store emergency meals. See Jane Clendenning or Anne Marie Mohler for more information or sign up in the Parlour if you want to be part of this project. Support Our Ministries Windermere United is a place where we learn how to demonstrate our faith in very practical ways. Sunday mornings, yes, but think of the church school, Messy Church, the book club, the ministry of the parish nurse, the Stone Soup Network, the visioning process we are going through right now, renovations to the sanctuary to make it more available for creative worship and for the community, the Affirming Ministry program where we will look again at who we are and how open we are to others. All of this good work would not be possible without the support of our congregation and friends. For some this support comes in the form of some new kind of service to the congregation or the community; for others it comes as a gift of prayer; and for others it will be a gift of financial support. Whatever your gift is, we offer our thanks. Regular monthly giving provides us with stable funding, however not everyone is able to be here on Sundays, and have asked "How can I

10 contribute offerings and support the church when I'm not there?", and the answer is we are very fortunate to live in a time where we have more ways to give electronically. We actually have 2 ways of giving electronically that you may want to consider: 1. Online donations via our CanadaHelps.org page. More info below. 2. Monthly electronic donations via the United Church of Canada's PAR program (direct debit from your bank account or your credit card). Speak to one of the Ushers or contact the Office Administrator during business hours to learn more about our PAR program CanadaHelps is a wonderful site that allows you to donate to our regular ministry work through Life & Word of the Church, our Benevolent Fund, Stone Soup Network, and to our Refugee Sponsor Partners MainGer and Dewson. Go to to see our CanadaHelps Profile. Through this site, you can do one time/single donations to any fund in any amount you like, or you can set up monthly recurring donations to a particular fund. You can pay with a credit card through the site, or via PayPal. CanadaHelps will then issue you a tax receipt. Thank you for all you do for our congregation. Thank you for your support of the wider church through Mission & Service. Thank you for your commitment to living out the gospel as we know it through Jesus.

February 3, 2019 WELCOME

February 3, 2019 WELCOME Windermere United Church (1912-) 356 Windermere Avenue, T.O. M6S 3L3 Ministers: All of Us Minister, Rev. Alexa Gilmour, minister@windermerechurch.ca Parish Nurse, Anne Marie, parishnurse@windermerechurch.ca