RHUC Online 12/28/2014

Transcription

1 WORSHIPPING TOGETHER Wednesday, December 24 th Christmas Eve 7:00 p.m. A service geared to the young and young at heart with carols and candlelight, and Christmas readings. 10:00 p.m. Communion with carols and candlelight. Sunday, December 28 th The First Sunday of Christmas. The sacrament of infant baptism will be celebrated as we continue to rejoice in the glad news of Christmas. Sunday, January 4 th. Epiphany. The sacrament of communion will be celebrated. Bruce Roffey will be presiding with Linda Butler at a service for all ages. 12:00 There will be a short Healing Service in the sanctuary. This offers an opportunity for the laying on of hands, and prayers for wholeness and fullness of life for ourselves and others. Sunday, January 11 th. The Baptism of Jesus. Sunday, January 18 th, Our annual Hymn Sing. This year, we shall be celebrating the 80 th anniversary of the United Church of Canada. As part of this celebration in music and word, we shall be recognizing the Evening Unit of our UCW which is no longer meeting. Coffee, tea and juice are available both in Centennial Hall and the sanctuary on the second, third, fourth (and fifth) Sundays of the month. This is to enable people who have difficulty hearing in Centennial Hall or just find the crowd overwhelming to enjoy a quieter time of community. This is a pilot project. Feedback to either the Fellowship Committee or the Worship Committee is welcome. Services outside RHUC provides leadership for a number of services which take place outside our own sanctuary. On the first Friday of every month (except July and August) there is a service at Elginwood Long Term Care facility at 10:00 a.m., and at 11:00 at Oak Ridges Seniors residence. The next services will be on January 2nd at Elginwood and at Oak Ridges. There is a service at 10:30 on the third Friday of the month at Richview Manor. The next one will be a service of readings and carols on Dec. 19 th and will take place in the lobby with the grand piano, Barry Peters, and hopefully some members of the Chancel Choir. On the third Sunday of every month at 10:00 a.m. there is a service at Mackenzie Health, Richmond Hill Hospital. On a rotational basis at Delmanor and L'Arche. The next service at L'Arche will be on Friday, February 13th at 7:30 pm. The next service at Delmanor will be on Tuesday, March 3 rd at 11:00. Teen Seekers Sleeping Mat Project Please start saving your outer 4L colored plastic milk bags which Teen Seekers will be making into sleeping mats. Milk bags can be dropped off during the week in the church office or in blue bin on the Welcome Table. Thank you! Discovery Time Date PreK Grade 1 Grades 2-6 Teen Seekers Nursery Dec. 28 No DT No DT No DT Jennifer Townsend If you can help out, please speak with Beth Armstrong or her at Beth@rhuc.org. Thank you! Page 1 of 5

2 ENGAGING, CHALLENGING & GROWING OUR FAITH Men s Breakfast The next Men s Breakfast will be on Saturday, January 10. Coffee and tea will be served at 8:15am, with breakfast in the gym at 8:30 prepared by our UCW friends. After breakfast, all members of the congregation are invited at 9:00am to the Parlour. Our speaker will be Robert Massoud, will speak on The Taste of Peace: From Palestine to Canada. Robert was born in Jerusalem and immigrated to Canada with his family as a young child. After a career in many fields of communication and marketing, he founded ZATOUN (olive) as a non-profit, volunteer organization with the goal to build a direct bridge between Palestine and North America. Olive oil serves as a symbol of light, hope and peace. Robert Massoud will share with us the many activities connected with this social justice organization and cultural centre promoting peace and understanding in the Near East. New participants are always welcome. The Men s Breakfasts are a time of fellowship and camaraderie. Feel free to contact us if you re interested in more information about it. Cost is $10 / person, with net proceeds to UCW. Please RSVP to Brandon Moore (brandonm@pathcom.com or ) by Wednesday, January 7. Thank you! Looking ahead: Future dates for 2015 are February 7, March 7, April 11, and May 2 Bible Study As an experiment, Bible Study will be offered once a month at the usual time 6:30p.m. on a Thursday and in the afternoon at 2:00 in response to a request for an opportunity to engage in Bible Study during the day time. The focus will be on the gospel of John specifically the encounters of a variety of people with Jesus. Having provided an introduction to John, and explored Jesus' encounters with John the Baptist, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and the paralytic by the pool, we are now turning to Jesus' encounter with the woman caught in adultery. (John 8:1-11). The 2:00 p.m. group will normally meet on the third Thursday of the month, and the 6:30 p.m. group on the second Thursday. Therefore, in January, the evening group will meet on January 8 th and the afternoon group on January 15th. H.A.I.R.- Heretics, Agnostics, Infidels and other Riff-Raff H.U.G. The HAIR group will break for a few weeks over the Advent/Christmas season, resuming meeting on Monday, January 19 th, 2015 at 7 pm in the Chapel at which time we will begin Diana Butler Bass s book, Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening. In this book, Butler Bass offers a fresh interpretation of the spiritual but not religious trend, and shares a hope-filled vision for a renewed faith that stays true to the real message of Jesus. January 19 th The Beginning and The End of the Beginning January 26 th Questioning the Old Gods February 2 nd When Religion Fails February 9 th Believing February 16 th Family Day Holiday no meeting February 23 rd Behaving March 2 nd Belonging March 9 th The Great Reversal March 16 th Great Awakening ` March 23 rd Performing Awakening The HAIR group is always open to newcomers. Come and try us out, every Monday at 7 pm in the Chapel. Speak with Warren McDougall for more information. H.U.G! (Hair Unlicensed Group). For all those that count on HAIR for their weekly dose of insanity and can t live without until the 19th January we have a solution! H.U.G will be in play for the 5th and 12th January from 7.0 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. in the Chapel. Can t tell you what we will be seeing/doing as I am reviewing videos rifled from Warren s Treasure Trove. Expect a Video and discussion. Love to see you all. Terry Davies Page 2 of 5

3 Special Occasions Writing to the church in Rome, the apostle Paul urged them: rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. While we include in our prayers, the names of people who are ill or mourning, we are not always aware of the special occasions which give rise to rejoicing. This column is an effort to rectify that situation. Don t hesitate to add any special occasions you know about. A Big Thank You to Margriet Dekker who has been our Food Bank representative refurbishing our Food Bank boxes, raising our awareness by making announcements prior to the first Sunday of the month, which has become Food Bank Sunday, and ferrying donations over the Food Bank. Her time and efforts are greatly appreciated! A Big Thank You to the members of the Chancel Choir, to Barry Peters, and to Anne Leyton-Brown, the regular pianist at Richview Manor for providing a special Christmas service of readings and carols for the residents of Richview Manor last Friday. Shalom Seekers Please join us on Monday, January 12th at 9:30 a.m. in the Chapel for our first session of the new year. During this session we will be treated to a presentation by Linda Clark on her recent trip to South Africa. New members are most welcome at any time. Nurturing Our Spirituality Tuesday evenings will be dedicated to nurturing our spirituality. All groups will run from 7:00 8:30 in the Chapel. The first Tuesday of the month, the group will use Joyce Rupp's May I Have This Dance as a resource for reflection and prayer. Her book provides a different focus for each month of the year: for instance November is "Faithful Love". Joyce Rupp invites us to reflect on things like: examples of faithful love we have encountered in our own lives; times we have discerned that a commitment is not healthy and needs to be broken. The next meeting will be January 6th. There will be an opportunity to share whatever you choose from your experience of reflecting on the December theme, of "Homecoming" followed by an introduction to the January theme of "The Road of Life". Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in at any time. The second Tuesday will be a Conscious Eldering group (for people about to enter or in their third trimester of life, ie., roughly the period beginning at age 60 and those who are well along in the journey) to reflect on where God may be leading them, what resources they might wish to cultivate, and what gifts, they might want to use. Arlene Simms and Linda will be facilitating. We have had an introductory meeting, one reflecting on our life journey the high points and the low; the blessings and the losses, one focusing on the present the changes we are seeing in the world around us, and are experiencing in our lives and one thinking about our celebrations how have they changed; what are the important elements that we want to keep. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 13th. At that meeting, we shall be focusing on how we might take charge of our lives, reflecting on everything from the practical making plans to the more philosophical how have we coped with change in the past, and what might we learn from those experiences. The third Tuesday will be an experience of Meditative Prayer facilitated by Joanne Scofield who led our Lenten prayer series. For this group there is no homework or expectation that you have experience with meditation or prayer. It is entirely experiential. The next gathering will be January 20th. The fourth Tuesday will be a continuation of the compassion group which made its way through Karen Armstrong's Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. There will be opportunities for people to share their experiences and reflect on some fresh readings. At the first meeting we had seven people from the original group and four newcomers. At the second meeting we had a combination of seven people from the original and new group. The next meeting will be on January 27th. (There is no meeting in December) There will be an opportunity to discuss Step Three, "Compassion for Yourself what struck you this time through the chapter; where does it touch on your experience? - plus two readings: one about Alice Walker and the other about Israeli and Palestinian Teens singing together. Copies of the readings can be obtained from Linda. Page 3 of 5

4 BUILDING FOR MINISTRY Curtain Club RHUC Fundraiser! IT S THEATRE NIGHT AT THE CURTAIN CLUB AGAIN FOR RHUC: Tickets will be back on sale January 11, 2015 at coffee hour for our annual theatre night at Richmond Hill s popular Curtain Club. As an added bonus for us at RHUC, we have Brandon Moore directing and produced by Nicole Moore. In the past this has been a most enjoyable evening. The Curtain Club offers us half the house for ticket sales. We, along with another group, provide the audience and the total revenue from our ticket sales comes to RHUC. We hope you will join us. Finance offering envelopes New RHUC Blogpost 2015 offering envelopes are in Centennial Hall for pick up. Thank you. New Blogposts: A Letter from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation Public Library A Remembrance Day Folk Service: An interview with folky Chuck McClelland You may have noticed that RHUC's blog is being rejuvenated. The blog provides a space to keep in touch with RHUC through stories about what we are doing in the church and in the community. A lot of time and thought goes into the posts. Now we need your help to increase readers of the blog. There are a few things you can do: - Check out the blog at: < Bookmark it on your computer. - Sign up for notifications of new posts. (There is a place on the right hand side of the blog to sign up.) - Share the site with your friends and family. - Share posts on Facebook. Thanks and happy reading! The quilting group meets regularly on the fourth Saturday of the month in the Garden Room from 12:30 approximately 3:00 with participants bringing a brown bag lunch and being provided with coffee and tea. The next gathering will be on January 31 st (this is a shift in date from the 24 th because of the Women's Spirituality annual retreat.) At our November gathering, we were back to sewing our new Welcome banner which will hang in the back entrance. We made great progress with our paper piecing the end is in sight! This group is open to people of any skill level who have an interest in quilting whether they want to plan projects, select fabric and colours, sew and / or press. HOSPITALITY & WORKING FOR JUSTICE Gifts with Vision Page 4 of 5 "Gifts with Vision" is the United Church's alternative gift giving catalogue. This is the fourth year that the United Church has offered this way to give a meaningful and thoughtful gift to those on your list and and in so doing, support the many projects which the United Church supports in Canada and in other countries. And purchasing a gift from the catalogue of many interesting projects lets the receiver know that you, in their name, care about others. Last year 5,190 gifts were given, totalling almost $454,000 - now that's a lot of giving from Canadian hearts with a vision of a better world. And doing some of your shopping from this catalogue means the receiver will get a lifegiving gift which supports health, education, shelter and promotes justice and equality in our world for everyone. A great way for grandchildren to become aware and learn the true meaning of the life of Jesus, the Christmas message and all that his life taught us about hope, peace, joy and love. Visit the table in Centennial Hall after the service to get a catalogue or go on line to view the selection of gifts: Donna Smith

5 BUILDING AND SUPPORTING COMMUNITY Attention Gilbert & Sullivan fans! Beth Armstrong will be performing in the lead soprano role (Yum - Yum) in the upcoming production of The Mikado by the St. Anne s Music and Drama Society. Toronto Life says: For more than 50 years, Gilbert & Sullivan fans have been turning to the St. Anne s Music and Drama Society s polished productions for their regular fix of wit, silliness and unlikely coincidences. Performances begin on January 30. For more information, visit web site at or call (416) for tickets. To unsubscribe, please write to: office@rhuc.org, and put unsubscribe in the subject line. Published by Deb Fratin. Please submit notices by noon on Wednesday. Page 5 of 5