Live Streaming Service 10 am October 18th
The Shelburne Primrose Pastoral Charge is part of the Western Ontario Waterways Region. The Region has met together several times since its inception and the switch over to the new governance within the United Church of Canada. But with Cov-id 19 all things are different this year and the region has been meeting this week and weekend via Zoom technology. The gathering began on Tuesday evening, continued on Thursday and Friday afternoon/evenings, and Saturday morning and afternoon. As well as the ministers from each church in the region, the WOW representatives attend the gatherings. There were between 150 - 170 people coming together for these digital meetings. Mary Hawthorne (Trinity) and Sharon Holmes (Primrose) will be reporting back to the their respective councils after all that transpires this week. Honey from the Rock, a reference from Psalm 81, was the theme of this year’s gathering.
For our Sunday Service this week, we are invited by the region to participate in a streaming service that will take place at 10 am Sunday morning. I would advise that you sign in early and wait for it to begin, as sometimes if there are many participants - which there will be - it is harder to ‘find a seat.’ Rev. Keith Reynolds, Avondale United Church, Stratford, will preach. The service is a Celebration of Ministries. I am so hoping you all enjoy this experience.
Please also see below a video message from Rev. Richard Bott, the moderator of UCC. Please take 15 minutes to watch it. It is wise, hopeful and offers deep peace in our troubled times. There is also a sermon on Psalm 81 from Rev. Gary Clark that you can read.
Additional resources gathered and inspired by the WOW gathering.
“I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Pslam 81
Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.
For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
He made it a decree in Joseph,
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.Selah
Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their foes.
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
This acclamation/invocation, written by BY Chris Neufeld-Erdman, draws on themes found in the Gospel of Thomas, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard von Bingen, Teilhard de Chardin, and Thomas Berry. from the The Work of the People.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
Listen to this heartwarming, inspiring message as we make our way through these challenging times ..... together, as one body.
