Christmastide Greetings
Christmas may have looked and felt different this year. But that does not mean that the real reason for the season is any less beautiful. Our Christmas story, so full as it is with hope, and joy and love, cannot help but bring some peace into each home and heart. And that is the reason that we celebrate the symbolic birth of Jesus each year in the darkest time of the year. There is this idea, that in reflecting upon our faith in the season of Advent, we will be prepared to allow the Christ child to be born within us during the season of Christmastide.
Please continue to care for yourself through this season. And as the 28 day shutdown begins, please to keep as quiet and safe as you can, as we try as a community to help the care givers who are working so hard to keep the pandemic in check.
We offer our prayers, and our thoughts, to those who are struggling with disappointments this season, and hope that they can find within the Christmas story a model for following the way of love in the midst of adversity.
Every blessing for this week,
Candice
“For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered,
no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated.
There are only children, women and men to be loved.”
Thanks from Bobbi Ferguson and the Shelburne Hamper Assistance Team
Bobbi Ferguson sent this note along to us.
The months of preparation, pivoting and pleasure (alliteration so early...nice) came to a wonderful conclusion on Saturday!
The hamper need was up about 38% over last year but the giving was up to an even greater percentage. I am overwhelmed with the support of our small community and more specifically how community partners have come together to accommodate our “real estate” needs. Your kind use of the church for our toys was amazing and I hope it can become an annual event as we all thought it was SO much better for all involved.
Thank you so much for everything you have done to make this year a huge success.
“As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbour, as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you. That is the great seriousness and great blessedness of the Advent message. Christ is standing at the door; he lives in the form of a human being among us.”
Hampers, Toys, Shoes, and Shepherd’s Cupboard
Trinity United Church was delighted to be able to offer their sanctuary space to Bobbi Ferguson, who was organizing the toys that went out to families who were gifted with hampers in the community. With the pandemic, Bobbi and her team of volunteers needed a large space in which to spread things out, as only two families could come in to choose the toys at a time. And while our sanctuary was put to good use upstairs, Alexandra Georgakopoulos and her team from Shelburne Chiropractic were busy collecting and organizing close to 2000 pairs of shoes downstairs. Similarly, they needed space to spread out the shoes so parents could select them safely. So grateful to be able to offer our space to help the neighbourhood initiatives.
Beth Brown and Gwynn McGhee
Primrose United Church was also busy in the neighbourhood, donating $1700 to our local food bank, Shepherd’s Cupboard. This was the proceeds from their wonderfully successful - and beautiful - Christmas Country Market. Grateful thanks to Gwynn McGhee, Faye Allen, and Phylis Robinson who organized the market. The food bank, as you may imagine, is being well used these days, and all donations are much appreciated.
Our Advent Jars
A special thank you to our care group leaders from both churches who put our advent mason jars together. I hope that you have been taking them out each day through the season. I have heard from so many of you about your little daily routines. Here is a little note I received from someone really enjoying their advent days.
Here's my little Advent Corner. (see in photo above) I love the concept of being able to observe Advent when we can't be in Church. I love to listen to you and Bruce sing in the podcasts. I even love the podcasts and I love that I can listen to them anytime I want and anywhere I want. I love this little corner and the little elf that found me under a tree waiting for you to come out so I could talk to you at the Christmas market. I love the person in the workshop who put the mason jars together. I love pulling out a new tag each day. I especially love the tag I pulled out on Thursday that said I should drink some hot peppermint cocoa. I love the fact that I had just bought some white chocolate peppermint cocoa. I also love that Gwynn gave me a peppermint candy cane at the market to stir my hot chocolate.
I have lost count but I think I have enough love things "noted" here to finish off my tag from Friday which said to send 10 notes of love out with abandon and now that is actually what I am going to do now.
WOW And Mission and Service
Here is our United Church of Canada Mission and Service Advent Christmas Appeal. Our Shelburne Primrose Pastoral Charge is committed to giving close to $7,000 to Mission and Service, so if you would like to contribute to this valuable work, you can designate that giving with any Christmas gifts you may have in mind.
Here is our Western Ontario Waterways Region Newsletter. Take a look at what is going on. Your can read Mary Hawthorne’s report in our Christmas newsletter. Both Mary and Shirley Farnell are our two WOW representatives. They attend the bi yearly conferences, and keep us up to date on what is going on in the region.