Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:
Join us for Sunday morning worship at CUC at 10:00 AM
with the He/SheBrews Café following in the Van Roon Community Hall
- The Celebration of our becoming an Affirming Ministry will take place in worship this Sunday at 10:00. It will be followed by our annual bar-be-cue. Please join us for this joyful morning.
- Tickets are now on sale for the Urban Retreats Garden Tour. This is the year’s biggest fundraiser for 1JustCity, the umbrella organization for United Church Community Ministries. This year’s tour is on Saturday, June 20 and features the gardens of Norwood. More information is available here: https://www.1justcity.ca/gardentour
- We were saddened to learn of the death of Bob Van Den Berg on Thursday following a lengthy illness. Funeral arrangements are pending and we will let you know when they have been made. Please remember the family of Bob in your prayers this week.
Dear Friends
Welcome to worship for Sunday, June 14, 2026.
You have to feel a little sorry for 101.
Everybody goes crazy for 100 years old. It is a centennial. It is a century. It gets a single letter in Roman Numerals. 100 has it good.
And 99 doesn’t have it so bad either. Because it is just a year away from 100 and the last celebration with two digits, 99 is vaunted. When Mel Brooks turned 99 last year they made a two-part documentary about his life. When he turned 100 this year I’m sure his family and friends breathed a sigh of relief, blew out the candles on the cake, and sat back and watched the movie.
But 101?!? Whatever. The United Church of Canada turned 101 last week. For its centennial there was a national online worship service. There was merchandise made. There were events all across the country and plenty of news coverage.
At Charleswood we had not one, but two Sundays that looked back over the first 100 years of the UCC plus a mid-week presentation on our hymn heritage by the Rev. Dr. Mac Watts. For 101…ZZZZZZZZZZ
But here’s the great thing about 101. It means you’re still going. At 100 you have to look back and remember and be thankful and celebrate. At 101 there is no choice but to look forward. There may not be a great deal to celebrate but since we are only one year into a second century that’s not so bad. There will be plenty of time to create new things to remember.
The church that looks forward is always changing. The church that can only look back is afraid to change. We want to be a church at 101 because that means we have things to do before we turn 102. This Sunday we will be celebrating the year that has been since the UCC turned 100. There has been another program year which means a full year of children and youth ministry for which we are immensely grateful. There has been another year of music ministry which has often been spectacular. And we intend to rejoice and mark a milestone in our community’s life, the unanimous vote in March to become an Affirming Ministry. Which brings me back to time.
As a community who is always discerning God’s call to invite and welcome others into our fellowship, it would disingenuous to suggest that on Sunday we are becoming Affirming as if for the first time. We have been on this journey since 1988 if not before. It is the same journey that every congregation and every denomination for that matter has been on in our lifetime. How can we live up to the promises of our baptism and the invitation of Christ’s table for the sake of those who have historically been told there is no place for them? In essence we have been growing as an open, welcoming, and affirming community for two generations.
But just as we are not starting something new on Sunday, neither are we ending a journey as if we have arrived. The process of joining Affirm United may be at an end but it is up to the next generation to discern how we live up to the promises we make in this celebration. This is true of all of our mission priorities. The same may be said of our work for Reconciliation, our partnership with inner city ministries, ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue, and our growing concern for climate change.
A church will wisely remember it’s past, be faithful in it’s present, and always strive for the future that God has promised and to which God is leading us. On Sunday we celebrate this moment with all the things that make for a great party, good food, a large cake, and one another.
It’s going to be a wonderful 101 kind of day.
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/5fx_EtYlToA
- 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.
