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
- This Sunday, May 3, you will have an opportunity to place a stitch in the banner that is being created in celebration of Charleswood becoming an Affirming Congregation. Our thanks to quilting artists Phyllis Marsch and Bev Bowles for their leadership in this effort.
- A Spring Craft Sale will be held at the church on Saturday, May 9 from 10:00 – 2:00. If you know someone who would like to buy a table ($25/table) and be part of the Sale please contact the church office.
Dear Friends
Welcome to worship for Sunday, May 3, 2026.
When Charleswood voted to become an Affirming Congregation at our Annual Meeting in March, it set in motion a series of events which are yet unfolding.
As part of joining Affirm United, the association of United Church congregations who are stewards of the Affirming Congregation program, we are to hold a Celebration Service to mark our advent into this fellowship. That is going to happen on Sunday, June 14, the day of our annual summer bar-be-cue. The task group who steered the Affirming process has already met to have some discussion about the shape of that day. The national organization has been notified and we are waiting to hear back from them about their role in our celebration. Our staff lead for the annual Pride Parade, Rosalie, has been feverishly making plans for Charleswood’s participation. The choir is rehearsing. Lots of action behind the scenes.
But into all of that planning a gift of grace has presented itself. Two members of our congregation, Phyllis Marsch and Bev Bowles, approached the Affirming Task Group and asked if they could make a quilted banner for the occasion. Knowing that they are skilled artists with an abundance of experience we were only too happy to say, ‘Yes please’! Phyllis and Bev went to work with a design based on the Pride flag and were well underway when they had another idea. What if we gave everyone who so desired, a chance to enter a stitch in the quilt? What if once this is hung, we could all say we had a hand in it?
That opportunity is going to present itself this Sunday. Not only are we going to be able to see the progress that has been made, Phyllis and Bev are going to let us make our mark as it were. Or leave no mark actually. They will be there to guide us and show us the way. I, for one, welcome this instruction more than I could say. Some of you will be much more comfortable with needle in hand but this is a job where no experience is required.
The symbolic idea behind this is beautiful. We have collectively made a community decision to open our arms in welcome and our hearts in acceptance. We will collectively create a symbol of this intention. And then we will collectively gather to sing, pray, dedicate, commence, and eat on June 14. All of this together.
Last week I said that one of the reasons I think the imagery of shepherd and sheep is so prevalent in scripture is that ‘sheep’ is a word that refers both to an individual and a community, one word for both the single and the plural. (One person after church suggested to me that perhaps as we have geese and goose, we should have sheep and shoop!!) But sheep it is. And we can only be an affirming congregation if we are affirming individuals and vice versa.
St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that we are many members of one body in Christ. This Sunday we can put a pin in that idea!
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/agfhYEPWc0o
- 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.
