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Join us for Worship Sunday at 10:00 AM followed by fellowship and refreshments in the He/SheBrews Café
- Rummage Sale Week has arrived. It will be on Saturday, April 13 from 9:00 AM to 12 noon in the Van Roon Community Hall. Drop offs for the sale begins Monday. Opportunities to volunteer can be found on the sign-up sheet in the entrance hall or by calling the church office (204-832-3667).
- “SoulCollage” Spirituality Workshop led by Rev. Nancy Finlayson is coming up on Saturday, April 20. See Life and Work
- Our Easter Offering this year will be going to One Just City to support United Church inner city community ministries and the Canadian Food Grains Bank for a joint effort to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza. Thank you for your generous support.
Dear Friends
Welcome to worship for Sunday, April 7, 2024.
I’m sure what I am about to say has something to do with where I sit in church.
Our sanctuary is a classic rectangle with straight pews. The congregation and the choir face one another. But my chair is set at an angle. So rather than looking into your smiling voices I am usually, when seated, staring at the sixth, or Resurrection, window on the east wall.
I know that I enjoy the stained glad windows of Charleswood in part because they are not something inherited but something of which I was a part. Many of us were. The stained glass windows were our “millennium project”, something the congregation chose to do as the year 2000 approached. We worked with a stained glass artist, Judy Jennings, to come up with a design that not only suited our architecture but also fit with who we are as a worshipping community. There were many ideas and more than a few possibilities. In the end we chose a series of windows that followed the pattern of the church year. Judy refused to give them names but I think the sixth window is unmistakeably ‘Resurrection’.
Having had hundreds of hours to look at this window over the years I can say that it is my favorite, as it was when I first saw it in living colour with the sun dancing through it.(Having said that I can talk at length of my wonder for any and all of the windows) At first glance it appears to be a sunrise. There is the very familiar form of artistic rays jumping out of a circular centre. The colours and texture of the window are a myriad of shades of yellow and orange with tinges of red. The textures of the glass is an integral part of Judy’s work – if you have only seen the windows at a distance I suggest you walk past and see them close up. Anyone would recognize that this is a sun and most of us remember that the Resurrection is first testified to at sunrise on the first day of the week. Case closed.
But the more I look at and through this window, the more I have become convinced that the focal disc from which the rays of light emerge, is not the core of the sun but the stone rolled away. The Light is what shines from the empty tomb.
Many scholars have commented on how the gospels write long and detailed accounts of the arrest, trail, and death of Jesus. Two long chapters in each of the four. And yet, the resurrection, the Easter moment, the defining miracle of the Christian church, is spoken of in just a few verses. Of course. How could it be anything else?
The heart of Easter is a mystery. You can’t describe or define the wonder of God’s love. It has to be spoken of and then left to discover. And hopefully experience. There are no other characters around which to create a narrative. It is 100% the work and activity of God. Who is mystery. Who is Love.
What we do get then, in place of detailed story or rationalizing explanation are symbols. We look for Easter with our minds embedded with images of suns rising, stones rolled away, folded grave clothes, empty tombs, mysterious messengers, and the distinct absence of a body. We know Christ is here because he is not there.
And oddly these symbols do not need to be taken together. Each and every one says it all because each and every one invites us to take the next step and discover for ourselves what it means to say Christ is Risen.
In the sun I see a stone. What do you see in the ultimate story of Life, Light, and Love?
Grace and peace,
Michael
- For news and events please have a look at Life & Work on our website: Life and Work
- Did you know you can support this ministry by e-transfer, automatic withdrawal (PAR), and gifted securities, in addition to weekly or monthly cheques? For Offering Information please visit: https://charleswoodunited.org/support/ We have begun to receive donations for this summer’s Roofing Project which will be held separate from Operations and Mission & Service. Thank you for your generous support.
- Through the United Church of Canada’s membership in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, an appeal for donations has been issued for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Middle East. For more information and to donate please visit: Humanitarian Crisis in the Middle East Appeal
- Share the service with friends by forwarding this email or using this link: https://youtu.be/1CvuW_7GAhs
- Read this week’s scripture lesson here: 1 John 1:1-7
