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Join us for Sunday morning worship at CUC is at 10:00 AM
with the He/SheBrews Café following in the Van Roon Community Hall
Dear Friends
Welcome to worship for Sunday, January 4, 2026.
Thoughts and prayers. That is the phrase that is often used after sorrowful news is received be it personal or in the public arena. I think it is a deeply meaningful expression though I am aware that there are many who disparage it. ‘Keep your thoughts and prayers’ they say. ‘It is only action that counts’ they may continue. Which may be true but what is action without first thought…and prayer?
I woke to the news on Sunday, December 14 that there had been a hate motivated attack on a family friendly outdoors Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia. Yet a further violent anti-Semitic attack in the wake of so many others. Because news was just coming in and we were preparing to gather for worship, there wasn’t really anything else to do except pray. So, we at Charleswood United Church prayed for those victims and for the Jewish community worldwide who would inevitably be sharing the pain and sorrow of those in Australia. Prayer may be the only concrete thing we can do in the immediate aftermath of such an incident so prayer is where we started.
We next reached out to a few Jewish congregations and community leaders here in Winnipeg to let them know that we were praying for them and we remain committed to confronting hatred in all its forms and anti-Semitism in particular. Lest the cynics wonder, the responses I received were that our prayers and our commitment to solidarity in the face of tragedy were deeply welcomed by our Jewish sisters and brothers.
And after prayers, I have been thinking a lot about what happened and what action we can take. With great interest, I read a column by Marcus Gee in the Globe and Mail on December 20. Gee says that with good reason Jews in Canada are feeling less safe and less secure now than they have for the past two or three generations and he cited numerous examples that illustrate why this is true. He said that Statistics Canada has data which shows that while Jews represent less than 1% of the Canadian population they were the victims of two-thirds of hate crimes motivated by religion in Canada last year. Makes you think.
Having prayed and having thought, I wonder what action we can take. To be sure the most important and significant action anyone can take is to continue to nurture relationships with our Jewish neighbours both individually and as communities of faith. Now is the time to draw closer, not further away.
Thoughts and prayers can also lead to opportunities and we at Charleswood have been presented with one. On Thursday, January 29 at 7:00 we will be hosting an event with guest speaker Dr. Andre Oboler, CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute (Australia). This arises out of our ongoing relationship with the Manitoba Institute to Combat Anti-Semitism and will follow on a similar event held earlier the same week at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. The title of Dr. Oboler’s presentation will be “Examining the Aftermath and What Lies Ahead”.
Thoughts and prayers should not be taken lightly. They are powerful motivators for action and the building of life-affirming, peace-loving, Spirt-led action.
Grace and peace,
Michael
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