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By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters April 17, 2026

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

April 19 Worship Service Video

 

 

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

 

  • Join us next Sunday, April 26 for our annual Jazz Service with acclaimed pianist Connor Derraugh and friends. A great time will be had by all. You can also check out the Charleswood Art Show which will be in the Van Roon Community Hall next weekend.

 

  • The Mother’s Day Baptism service is now only a few weeks away. If you, or someone you know, is interested in infant baptism on this day, please be in touch and we would be delighted to provide you with the necessary information.

 

  • Advance Notice – A Craft Sale will be held at the church on Saturday, May 9. If you know someone who would like to buy a table and be part of this sale, please contact the church office.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends

 

Welcome to worship for Sunday, April 19, 2026.

 

We are holding a Rummage Sale at the church this Saturday. All week long volunteers have been coming into the church during the day. They have been receiving others who have been dropping off goods for the sale. In turn the goods are sorted and arranged in the Van Roon Community Hall in what must be described as very broad categories. Glassware takes of three tables. Posters and painting are in the corner. Kitchenware, cooking utensils, pots and pans take up a whole row. There are sections for games, toys, furniture, books (lots of books), blankets, jewellery, and one very large, very old, very heavy snowblower. We literally have something for everyone.

 

The Rummage Sale is lots of good things all rolled up into one. It is an excellent fundraiser both for the church and for our outreach projects. It is a wonderful demonstration of sustainability as it takes unwanted goods from one home and places them in another as opposed to a dump. And it is huge community builder as we work together all week long and not just on Saturday. When I was more involved in not-for-profit organizations that often applied for grants we would use a formula of $20/hour volunteer time to account for the amount that the host organization was contributing to a project. If we use that as a rough guideline, this week $9000 of volunteer labour has been donated to the church before the doors open!!

 

It all got me thinking about what the word ‘rummage’ means. I looked it up and was reminded, rummage is a verb, not a noun! It doesn’t describe the things that are brought in, the households’ goods nobody needs or uses anymore. Rummage is not the thousands of items that will be for sale on Saturday. Rummage is the act of searching through, assessing value, sorting and contemplating. We rummage and discover that what one person no longer needs, another may not only have use but may ascribe great value. One person’s waste is another’s treasure. This is not a sale of the unwanted so much as it is the discovery of the renewed.

 

Any organization can have a Rummage Sale for all the reasons listed above. But a church is a great place is hold one. We are the community who welcomes the unwanted and helps them feel treasured. We are the ones who routinely search for value, purpose, and meaning among the discarded. We were made to rummage for we are labourers of love.

 

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 / 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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