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Autumn
By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters October 2, 2026

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

October 4 Worship Service Video

 

Join us for Sunday morning worship at CUC at 10:00 AM
with the He/SheBrews Café following in the Van Roon Community Hall

 

 

  • Join us Sunday as we express our gratitude to Rosalie Finch for her decade of service as our Children’s Ministry Director. Following worship you can wish Rosalie well over cake and refreshment at the HeBrews/SheBrews Café. A search for a new Children’s Ministry Leader is underway. The posting can be found on our website:  Children’s Ministry Leader Position  Unfortunately during this time we are unable to provide a church school program. Games and crafts are available for children at the back of the sanctuary and in the nursery. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Children are always welcome at Charleswood United Church.

 

  • Our Mission and Social Action Committee invites you to participate in our Soctober drive for underwear and socks for inner city agencies. Just drop them off Sundays or during the week and our partners at 1 Just City will ensure that they get where they are needed.

 

  • The first Seniors Fellowship Luncheon on the new season will take place on Tuesday, October 20. Now is the time to let us know if you intend to come so we can plan our meal accordingly. Sign-up will be available at the church on Sunday.

 

  • Girl Guide Cookies are back – the annual cookie sale by the Girl Guides in our congregation will begin this Sunday. It will last as long as the cookies do!

 

  • The ABC’s of Christian Faith is a six-week course of the foundations of our faith for people interested in confirmation, adult baptism, or simply as a refresher. The ABC’s are held every other Wednesday at 7:00. The next session is on October 7 and will be on the Bible.

 

 

Dear Friends

Welcome to worship for Sunday, October 4, 2026.

 

October arrives. My month of denial is over. You know the one where you say throughout September that it is still summer. I find myself repeating things like “the leaves haven’t really begun to change yet” and “it’s still quite warm when the sun is out” and you know, “autumn doesn’t begin until the 21st anyway”.

 

But in October my delusion is over. It’s been weeks since I went to work in shorts and sandals (had a good run this year though) and even I can’t deny that it is getting darker earlier in the evening. Year round daylight savings time can’t stop the sun from doing the thing it is meant to do at our latitude. Leaves are turning and falling, geese and ducks are assembling, and churches are up and running. Yes, October arrives and with it, autumn in all it’s glory.

 

Now I know there are many of you who say the fall is your favorite time of the year. I hear you. I don’t believe you. But I hear you. Maybe if they started selling pumpkin spice lattes earlier we could agree that autumn is overrated!! One thing I do enjoy at this time of the year however, is the way we mark time. By the end of October we will have conducted our annual stewardship campaign, welcomed the Charleswood Masons to their annual church visit, had a rollicking good time with contemporary musician Keith MacPherson, given an abundance of thanks on Thanksgiving, and celebrated both the sacraments of baptism and communion.

 

If there is one theme that unites all of this disparate activity it may be our life together. There is a place for quiet reflection. Solitude can be a spiritual gift. Reading and prayer can restore the soul. But there are things that nurture faith that can only be accomplished in community. Take for example baptism, communion, and the 10 commandments. Yes, the 10 commandments.

 

The sacrament of baptism is going to be celebrated on Thanksgiving Sunday as has become a local tradition. Baptism is the welcoming of a new person into the household of God and, by extension, and community of faith. There is a place for parents to make vows and prayer. But the congregation also makes a vow to support the spiritual nurture of the child. Baptism can’t take place in isolation. It is the church’s sacrament of initiation, a community who welcomes.

 

Communion, which we will be celebrated this Sunday, is another example. The table is set as a place where all are welcome and no one is turned away. It is our belief that the risen Christ meets us not simply through the bread and the cup but in our gathering together to share these elements. Elements, in church as in the science lab, are building blocks. In communion what is constructed with these blocks is nothing less that the church herself.

 

And now the 10 commandments which is our reading of focus this coming Sunday. Surely these ancient laws are meant to address us individually, to give a moral code to live by. Right? Sort of. Let us ask you this. In isolation can one commit murder, steal, or lie? The tenth commandment warn against coveting that which belongs to your neighbour. The commandments assume that we have neighbours and are in relationship with them!!! Yes, the 10 commandments are instructions for a life lived in community with all its inherent problems and conflicts and…well… sin. We should hang on to them while we try to get through everything that lies ahead.

 

Is this a busy season? Yes! Does it offer the promise of joy and gratitude and exhilaration? Yes, yes, and yes!!! Fall is the greatest, eh!?!

 

 

Grace and peace,

Michael

 

 

 

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

 

 

  • 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
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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