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By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters July 28, 2023

 

 

 

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

July 30 Worship Service Video

 

 

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:00

 

 

  • Please join us after the service in the Van Roon Community Hall for HeBrews Café, refreshments and fellowship after worship.

 

  • For news and events please have a look at Life & Work on our website: Life and Work

 

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Dear Friends

Welcome to worship for Sunday, July 30, 2023.

Some of you are aware that last October a truck driven by a drunk driver jumped the curb on Roblin Boulevard outside the church and drove through and obliterated our sign. That was at the end of October 2022. This week the cement piles which will anchor the new sign were poured. No sign of the sign yet, but the piles were a sign that the sign is coming.

In the church you get used to things taking a long time. And you develop an appreciation for, and even the gift of, patience. Our intention to replace the sign that was destroyed in that accident was immediate. We did everything we could as soon as we were able and yet we are still waiting nine months after the fact. Patience.

For three weeks at the end of June and into July, this weekly letter let you know that we are facing another pressing need. At a congregational meeting held on July 19, we accepted a proposal to replace the roof on the A-frame portion of the church. This is a major undertaking and we extremely grateful to Bill Trimble and Robert Godkin for leading Council through this year-long process that brought us to this decision (remember what I said about patience).

There is much yet to be determined including if the work will be done this year (i.e. before winter) or next spring. Contracts need to be signed and work plans put in place. We also need to develop a plan for financing and, sometime this fall, begin the process of fundraising. It is a major undertaking that will require a tremendous effort by us all but we believe that we are up to the task. We have recent experience of meeting major challenges and we are fairly adept at being patient. We will do our best to keep you informed but you can always approach Council or myself with your questions.

Patience plays a major role in the lesson for this week. It is the story of how Jacob the trickster gets tricked. Jacob made an arrangement to work seven years for his uncle Laban in exchange for the promise to marry the woman he loved, Rachel.

But after those seven years Laban says it was always known that elder daughters must marry before younger daughters so that Jacob can only agree to work another seven years for the right to marry Rachel. Fourteen years of labour to marry the woman it is said made Jacob’s heart weep. Patience.

And patience rewarded.

Grace and peace,

Michael

 

  • Michael Wilson’s book “A Pastoral Pandemic: Remaining Connected in a Time of Disconnection” is available in store and online through CommonWord Bookstore (Canadian Mennonite University). For more information visit: https://www.commonword.ca/go/3408. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Wilson / About Author
Michael’s involvement in the wider church has included ministry with children and youth, membership on the National Division of World Outreach, supervision of campus ministry, and the Ten Days for Global Justice National Committee. He has been blessed by the opportunity to represent the United Church of Canada in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Africa on different occasions. Michael has taught at the University of Winnipeg – Faculty of Theology and is past President of the Conference of Manitoba and North Western Ontario.
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