Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:
November 24 Worship Service Video
Join us for Worship Sunday at 10:00 AM followed by fellowship and refreshments in the He/SheBrews Café
- The 2025 Stewardship Campaign has begun. In light of the postal strike we are encouraging you to look for the pledge form on our website. Information for this year’s campaign has been sent by email. It is also available in print at the church or online by clicking here: 2025 Stewardship Pledge Form; 2025 Stewardship Letter
- Join us next Sunday, December 1 when our Advent 1 morning service will feature musical guest Jon Buller. Jon is an acclaimed contemporary Christian recording artist. For a sample of Jon’s gifts you can watch this video: Thankful
- A Celebration of Life for Jean Lothian will be held in the sanctuary on Wednesday, November 27 at 2:00 PM
- Dates for your calendar (information available on our website see: Life & Work )
- 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 (link to info) in support of Christmas Hampers
- Sunday, December 15
- Advent 3 with the Winnipeg Brass Ensemble
- Sunday, December 15
- Care and Community Bake Sale (after worship)
- Tuesday, December 17 at 7:00 PM
- Blue Christmas Worship Service – special service of healing for the bereaved
- Christmas Eve services at 5:00, 7:00, and 9:00 PM
Dear Friends
Welcome to worship for Sunday, November 24, 2024.
While it is often suggested that the church is tremendously busy as Christmas approaches the truth of the matter is that we may be in the busiest part of the year right now. Certainly from a volunteer perspective.
An abundant number of people have been working for quite some time to make the events of the season come together and so I would like to use this space this week to tell you in a touch more detail some of the things this church is doing and offering to prepare for the season of preparation.
A wonderful team has come together to coordinate our Senior’s Fellowship events. We have long been looking for a more creative name but this utilitarian one seems to working fine. Our November/December event is a Christmas Senior’s Lunch to be held on Tuesday, November 26 at noon. Up to one hundred people are expected and our small group of five or six will enlist a few others to prepare, serve, and clean up on our own.
Our Children’s Ministry Coordinator, Rosalie Finch, has been at work for a long time getting ready for Super Saturday Sundae on November 30. SSS is a Christmas craft day for children complete with story, song, and as the name suggests, ice cream. But Rosalie is not on her own! She is supported by volunteers who will ‘teach’ each craft the children can make that day (which means they need to learn it themselves). Others will help by shopping for supplies, working in the kitchen, or otherwise being Santa’s helpers. Tickets are on sale (so we know how much to get) and this is the last Sunday for that.
A dozen or more women have been planning this year’s Women’s Advent Service for a couple of months now. It is going to be held on Monday, December 2 at 7:00 PM. This event has been part of our season for nearly thirty years and many of those who volunteer for it do so because of how meaningful they have found it in years gone by. It is a quiet and peaceful evening intended to still the soul for the season ahead. This year’s service will be led by our dear friend the Rev. Noelle Bowles and feature the women’s vocal ensembles True Harmony and nStyle. This service has always attracted visitors and we hope you will invite others to join you. A reception will follow.
Volunteers are the currency of our Christmas Hamper Campaign. It also begins long before we arrive at White Gift Sunday on December 8 and the following Hamper Week. Presents are purchased throughout the year. Boxes are ordered. Gifts are wrapped. Dry goods are sorted. A HUGE grocery shop is done. Hampers are boxed. And the results of our labours are delivered. This year we have approached the Christmas Cheer Board for the names of 55 families to whom we hope to show our love and support. Donations are already being received and you can learn more here: Christmas Hamper Program Information
All of these seasonal events are made possible by the gift of time offered by so many. And this does not even include the ongoing contribution of many volunteers who are available at a moment’s notice for funeral receptions (many of the same volunteers who are bringing us the Care and Community Bake Sale on December 15) or take up the dozens of roles related to our worship life.
A church really is the people and we are richly blessed.
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.
- Share the service with friends by forwarding this email or using this link: https://youtu.be/Flo7X8oIzrU
- Read this week’s scripture lesson here: John 18:33-37