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Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

November 10 Worship Service Video

 

 

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

 

  • The Church Council and our Care and Community Committee invite you to a community lunch after church on Sunday, November 17. We will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of our pastoral relationship with Michael Wilson. We hope you can join us.

 

  • Dates for your calendar (information available on our website and in the weeks to come)

 

  • Saturday, November 30 from 2:00 to 4:30             Super Saturday Sundae (crafts day) Tickets available
  • Monday, December 2 at 7:00 PM                             Women’s Advent Service 7:00 PM
  • Sunday, December 8                                                    White Gift Sunday in support of Christmas Hampers
  • Sunday, December 15                                                 Advent 3 with the Winnipeg Brass Ensemble
  • Tuesday, December 17 at 7:00 PM                          Blue Christmas Worship Service – special service of healing for the bereaved
  • Sunday, December 22                                                 Care and Community Bake Sale (after worship)
  • Christmas Eve services at 5:00, 7:00, and 9:00 PM

 

  • Third Quarter Statements are available for pick-up at the church Sundays and during office hours. If you are unable to pick it up and would like it sent please get in touch with us by email finance@charleswoodunited.org or call 204-832-3667.

 

 

Dear Friends

Welcome to worship for Sunday, November 10, 2024.

The advent of the age of podcasts has ignited an interest in history for me. It is a subject I have always enjoyed but in the last few years I have found myself immersed in stories of people and places from the past in ways I never have before. For reasons I cannot fully explain I find myself drawn to histories of the middle ages and the ancients. The older the better it seems. No doubt part of this is due to being a student of the Bible. The context in which the bible was written has always been a part of biblical scholarship but to delve into the history of Egypt or Persia or Rome and understand more, apart from their connection to Judaism and Christianity, seems to constantly open windows of insight. My history professors from university would be astonished given my lacklustre performance in their respective classrooms.

Part of studying history from which there are scant or obscure sources is that many assumptions have to be made. (No one in the future studying the history of today’s information age will ever say they lack for material). But when going back one or two or three thousand years it is inevitable that conclusions are drawn from the few records that remain. It has often been said that history is written by the victors and that is most often true. But it must also be said that in the sweeping stores of rising and falling empires, history is remembered in the broadest sense and seldom in the ways the lives of ordinary people were affected.

Ancient history understood this way is, of course, a history of warfare. Empires rise, fall, and sometime rise again, as a consequence of armed conflict. Great battles and conquests are remembered, the lives lost are not. The weapons and strategies may change with time but the sorrow and suffering of ordinary people living in the midst of warfare is consistent. It is a life, to paraphrase the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, that is nasty, brutish, and short.

Remembrance Day is an opportunity to recall a history much closer to the present. One, in fact, for which there remain eyewitnesses whose stories need to be heard and recalled. And unlike my history podcasts, these are stories in which we can see how the great conflicts of the last century impacted individuals, families, and communities like our own. One of the most remarkable dynamics of ministry in my generation has been to accompany veterans of World War 2 and their families at the end of their lives. It has been a humbling privilege to hear the stories of where people were and what they did during the war years. These are stories of courage and resilience as well as of almost unimaginable sacrifice. When I hear such stories, I don’t think we simply need to honour them, though that is appropriate, I think we need to rightfully remember the sorrow and sacrifice of history and ask ourselves if we in the present are prepared to offer as much. And if not, why not.

The Christian community has an opportunity for which we may be especially prepared. We do not need to approach Remembrance Day solely as an exercise in the civic religion. Nor do we need to avoid it in the foolish hope of somehow glorifying violence. Rather, we need to be exactly who we are. A people who receive the stories of the past and reflect on God ‘s love as found in them. They are the stories of our neighbours and elders. They are stories of healing and restoration. They are the stories of hope in the midst of unimaginable despair.

We would be wise to listen.

 

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.