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By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters May 31, 2024

 

 

 

                                 

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

June 2 Worship Service Video

 

 

Join us for Worship Sunday at 10:00 AM followed by fellowship and refreshments in the He/SheBrews Café

 

 

  • Join us for worship on Sunday, June 2 for a return visit of musical friend Keith Macpherson. Singer-songwriter Keith will be offering musical leadership on the theme of friendship.

 

  • Church School Wind-Up and Barbecue – Sunday, June 9 following the morning service – We will be celebrating the end of the Church School year on June 9 with a barbecue lunch after worship. Games and a bouncer for the kids. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and treats for everyone.

 

  • The Urban Retreats Garden Tour is going to be held on Saturday, June 22. This is the largest fundraiser of the year for 1JustCIty and the United Church of Canada Community Ministries. Each year gardens in a particular neighbourhood are opened to receive visitors while a tea, craft & plant sale is held in a central location. This year the Garden Tour is in Charleswood and the tea, craft & plant sale will be right here at Charleswood United Church! Tickets are now on sale for $20/person through the church office. For more information on volunteering please visit:  https://www.1justcity.ca/garden-tour or to volunteer email gardentourvolunteers@1justcity.ca

 

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

 

 

Dear Friends

Welcome to worship for Sunday, June 2, 2024.

In a statement announcing the support of the United Church of Canada for the upcoming Pride festivities all across the country, our Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne used a beautiful phrase. She said “Our call is to fiercely celebrate the great diversity that God has loved into being.”

I love every aspect of that statement.

It begins by making the claim that support for Pride and its goal of acceptance, inclusion, and diversity isn’t coming from within ourselves but is a response to a voice from above and beyond. At its best the church responds to the call of God who is constantly inviting God’s people to listen to the Holy voice as Moses did on Sinai, and in so doing, to expand our understanding of God’s goodness and grace. It is God who is thus directing our response.

Secondly Dr. Lansdowne reminds us that what we are doing by responding to this call is prophetic. To ‘fiercely celebrate’ doesn’t mean to me that we need to be the loudest or the brashest. Not that kind of fierce. I take her to mean that ferocity is necessary because of those who continue to oppose the inclusive and accepting goals of Pride. It is enough to make safe space for others to celebrate who they are without fear of judgement or reprisal. The ‘call’ includes opposing hatred as much as embodying love.

Next Dr. Lansdowne speaks of “the great diversity that God has loved into being”. When we speak of the human being as created in the image of God we have to mean every human being as part of God’s image. For if not, no one is. It is only together that we reflect the nature and being of the loving and eternal Spirit. Jesus taught that a house divided against itself cannot stand. When we are divided amongst ourselves we become less the image of God rather than more like the same image. Every single one of us are part of the great diversity God loves into being.

I especially like the reminder that our creation is not a product of some mechanical, or even natural, process. God loves us into being. By what other manner could we be given our life than by the truest nature of God. God loves the way you or I breathe.

We may not be able to participate in Pride activities ourselves (especially those held on Sunday morning) but physical participation is not a requirement for fiercely celebrating. Our own church community is one that had been led by the call of God to be open and affirming in heart and soul. We strive to be a place where everyone is welcome and accepted. We gather around a table from which no one may be turned away. And when we fall short of the mark, we are forgiven and made new.

Thanks be to God.  

 

Grace and peace,

Michael

 

 

  • 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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