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February 9 Worship Service Video

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

• Mardi Gras Celebration Coming Soon – Our winter is going to be warmed up shortly as our annual Mardi Gras Sunday approaches. Due to scheduling conflicts we have moved it up earlier in the calendar and it will be held next Sunday, February 16. We will worship in the company of a brass band playing Dixieland standards. The service will be followed by the return of our Pancake Breakfast in the Van Roon Community Hall at 11:00. Please plan on joining us and bringing a friend!!

• 2024 Income Tax Receipts – Receipts for donations in 2024 are now printed and available. They will be set out in the Entrance Hall of the church for the next four Sundays. Following that any remaining ones will be mailed by the end of February. Postage, of course, has become quite expensive so please help us ease that cost by picking up yours on Sundays or during weekday office hours.

Dear Friends

Welcome to worship for Sunday, February 9, 2025.

I will lay my cards on the table and say that I don’t think there is a better place in the world to live than in Canada. That is said without reservation and fully aware of the drawbacks of weather, mosquitos, and the neighbourhood. I think Canada is awesome knowing full well that our past is checkered, our present is anxious, and our future is tenuous.

We have had to think a lot about Canada in the last few weeks. I am glad for it. I am hoping the present moment will revitalize a sense of unity in the True North Strong and Free that we will be able to hold onto with equal parts humility and passion.

For Canada Day 2012 I wrote a sermon/poem to express my thanksgiving for where and who we are in this country. I want to share it with you:

If God created a country it would be with a tinge of regret

not that countries are such bad things

but because of the ways flags and anthems and such

get in the way of loving your enemy

If God created a country

one thing for sure it would big beyond imagination

un tres grand pays

surrounded by not one…not two…but by three oceans

it would have enough room for more lakes than anyone can accurately count

it would have more mountains than any one person could climb in a lifetime

it would have islands larger than other countries all by themselves

But best of all it would have fields in the middle

that stretched out from one horizon to the other

covered by a blue canopy that made you think heaven touched earth in every direction

If God created a country it would have an artistic flair

Yes, rocky shorelines and ascendant trees and multi-hued sunsets and that kind of stuff

But, in addition, one feature you had to see to believe

That only appeared rarely

Like dancing rays in the night sky that drew your gaze

And dared you to look away for fear you might miss the next celestial movement

If God created a country it would be ridiculously full of food

like the garden at the dawn of time

like the heavenly banquet at the end of time

If God created a country

there would be no excuse for anyone in it to be hungry

and no reason not to share the harvest with those in need.

More than that it would delight in the blessing of food

as Italians ate Kung Pao

and Laotians ate Matza

and Ethiopians ate Tapas

and Brazilians ate maple syrup

and Fijians ate perogies

and so and so on and so on

If God created a country it would have first nations within it

people who arrived first by several thousand years

who treated the earth like their grandmother

and who had wisdom that valued life in different ways.

It would always be a place where people spoke a multitude of languages

because God blesses every language

and because every language reveals something of the language of holiness

If God created a country it would have a national pastime

that stirred our passions

played by all ages

male and female

on ice

indoors and outside…

and it wouldn’t be curling

If God created a country it would have a history

with moments of great triumph

and times of great sorrow.

It would remember it’s history with humility

and wouldn’t forget the ways its history knew hurt and harm.

Its history would be told as tales of redemption,

a people who rise and fall and rise again

If God created a country

people could live within it in different ways

some in cities that pulse with a vibrant creative power

some on the land where your next door neighbour lives a mile away

some would live on tundra and have six month long days and nights

families wouldn’t have to have anything in common with one another

save their common interest in love as a means for the abundance of life

If God created a country

it wouldn’t be Christian

or Jewish

or Muslim

in part since countries are never religious,

people are,

and in part because God gives religion

to make us more human

and does not make us human

to be more religious

If God created a country

it would be at ease with apology

the recognition that we err

an acknowledgment that we expect to do better

a willingness to think of 70 times 7.

But if God created a country

an apology would be an apology

it wouldn’t be legal precedence

it wouldn’t be used to make people feel worse

or turned on them as if a weapon

If God created a country it would be free

the world would meet in it

from the north and south

the east and the west.

And oddly enough

if God created a country

God wouldn’t love it any more

or any less

than any other country

That’s just the way God is

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.

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• Read this week’s scripture lesson here: Luke 5:1-11