Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:
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
Reminder – Daylight Savings Time Begins this Sunday – Spring your clocks forward
- Please mark next Sunday, March 15 in your calendars. The Annual General Meeting will commence immediately following a light lunch after worship. It is an important time in our life together as we look at amendments to the constitution (see below), receive financial reports, vote on nominations, and consider becoming an Affirming Congregation.
- The Annual Report has been posted on our website. You can read it here: 2025 Charleswood United Church Annual Report Hard copies are available at the church and will be at the Annual Meeting March 15. Audited Financial Statements are available from the church office or by email request.
- In advance of our Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 15 we have posted the revisions made to our church constitution which better reflect our current practises in ministry. To read the revised constitution please click here: https://charleswoodunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DRAFT.-CUC.-Constitution.-Final.pdf The document begins with notes to explain the changes made. Printed copies are available on request and will be provided for tables at the Annual Meeting.
Dear Friends
Welcome to worship for Sunday, March 8, 2026.
For the life of me I cannot figure out what the big deal is about time changes. This Sunday we will re-enact the twice-yearly ritual of changing our clocks as Daylight Savings Time takes effect. Spring forward in the spring, fall back in the autumn. It has been so all my life and I don’t know how it is possible to get worked up about it.
And yet with great fanfare the magnificent and majestic province of British Columbia has announced that this will be the last time they ever change their clocks. They are going to switch to Pacific Daylight Savings Time on Sunday and stay there…forever. It is not an unprecedented move.
Many years ago, Saskatchewan chose to forego DST and began to stay on Standard time year-round. I suppose the time change really throws off the cows and nobody needs that. So, I’m trying to figure it out. If Saskatchewan is in the Central zone and is always on Standard and BC is in the Pacific Zone (aren’t they already special enough what with getting their own time zone?) and always on Daylight then they will always be three hours apart even though they are only two provinces away?!? And furthermore, won’t the Lions and the Riders still stink at any given time?
Because of this radical BC intuitive (Zzzz…), and because too many people have too much time on their hands, the question has been raised if Manitoba should follow suit (since it’s too late to lead the pack). Our Premier was even asked about it this week. He said no.
Is this really an issue? Are we missing out on the betterment of all life? Does springing forward and falling back really throw off our circadian rhythms and take years off of our life? Here’s the thing, if this was the only time all year that my sleep pattern was altered I may give it more serious consideration. But that’s not how we live our lives. If only my sleep pattern went altered in any given week. But some nights I have a short sleep and some nights I have a long sleep. Sometimes I can’t get to sleep and other times and I fall asleep right away. Some days I have to get up early to accomplish all that has been planned. The people we often call heroes work shifts and their sleep is always being changed. We don’t seem to mind staying up late or rising early if we have to go to a concert, take the bus, or catch a plane. And let’s not forget what overtime hockey games do to us. Good sleep is good health but sometimes the good life comes first.
It’s not as though we are the first to consider the question of time. The Wisdom Literature of Israel is 2500 years old give or take a couple of centuries (it’s only time). And included in it is the celebrated passage of Ecclesiastes 3, “For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” I hate to bring ancient and biblical wisdom to a social debate but maybe there is a lesson to learn. When we read that there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time for silence and a time to speak, and so on, the author doesn’t seem to be suggesting that we get to control that time. Rather the question is will we trust that God is with us in each and every time of life. Will we let the vicissitudes of time control us or will we accept time as it presents itself, our servant rather than our master?
There is a certain hubris to our friends in British Columbia. The earth takes one day to revolve around the sun. Every day. There is a standard time that all of creation must live with. The best, or the most, we can do is alter that by 1/24th of a day. And I get that Daylight Savings Time is kind of cool. When you live on the prairies and know how short the days can be through winter and the delight of our long, warm, lingering evenings, it is easy to convince yourself that you deserve something more than what we are given. But at the end of the day, time is one of those things we share equally. We live in an enormous country, perhaps the most beautiful in all the world. Surely, we are better served by keeping time together. And if that can be done in sync with the rest of the world, better still.
And by the way, change your clocks Saturday night. Church is at 10:00 CDT. Latecomers will be welcomed graciously!!!
Grace and peace,
Michael
- For news and events, please have a look at Life & Work on our website: Life and Work
- Share the service with friends by forwarding this email or using this link: https://youtu.be/PmUO2nChErU
- 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.
