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By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters October 10, 2025

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

October 12 Worship Service

 

Join us following worship in the Van Roon Community Hall for the He/SheBrews Café.

 

 

  • Join us Sunday at 10:00 as we celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism on Thanksgiving Sunday.

 

  • Next Sunday, October 19 we are looking forward to guest musician and worship leader Keith MacPherson. Join us for an uplifting and inspiring experience.

 

  • Thank you to those who have responded to our call for committee volunteers. Please visit our new Volunteer Sign-up located in the northwest corner of the Entrance Hall to participate on Sundays as a greeter, reader, usher, communion server, and other ways.

 

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

 

 

Dear Friends

 

Welcome to worship for Thanksgiving Sunday, October 12, 2025.

 

How do you give thanks when your prayers have been answered?

 

For two years we have continued to pray for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The attack that initialized it on October 7, 2023 was savage and severe. The death and destruction which followed has been catastrophic to Palestinians. Week after week we prayed that it would come to an end. And this week it seems that our prayers have been answered as a tentative ceasefire appears to have been accepted by both sides. As is always the case, these first days following conflict are fragile and so by no means do I think we should stop praying. But there is hope today that did not exist even a week ago.

 

For some these answered prayers have been met with joy and celebration. Joy has clearly come to the families of Israeli hostages who have kept vigil for two years in Tel Aviv. And suffering Palestinians are seen with smiles where there have only been tears. Perhaps we can be thankful for the relief they are feeling. And we can be grateful that the three things we longed for the most might be unfolding. The long held remaining hostages are scheduled to be released. For the moment the bombs and gunfire are silenced. And the humanitarian aid awaiting the Palestinians is ready to be delivered. These prayers are answered but for the vast majority of us there seems little reason to celebrate.

 

Tremendous division has been created among neighbours, campuses, friendships, and even families. Perhaps a sabbath rest has come to these rifts but repair will take much time. The nature of the war has stirred the ever-present echoes of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and enabled hatred to reassert itself in the hearts of some. The degree and depth of death and destruction is not fully understood and resentment is bound to exist in some form for a generation or more.

 

But thankful we must be. As fragile as is the peace, it is always preferable to war. We are thankful for the lives that have been spared, hostages and Gazans alike. We are thankful for those who have intervened, especially the United States, for their role in ending the immediate conflict. We are thankful for the commitment of many nations to contribute to a peaceful and secure future for Israel and the Palestinians. We are thankful for the agencies who stand ready to go where they could not go before with reserves of water, food, and medical supplies. We are thankful for this moment of sanity following two years of madness.

 

Scripture tells us unequivocally that God’s future involves turning swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. What might be accomplished if the seemingly endless resources available for warfare were turned into the building blocks of peace and justice?

 

Our prayers have been answered and for that we are thankful. But the still small voice of the Holy is whispering that nothing has been won.

 

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/   Thank you for your generous support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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