Brrrr... It's cold outside

So I just turned on the heat in the church, should be toasty soon. It's Family Sunday and we will have hotdogs and potluck after church. Miss Nancy is filling in for Ashley in Sunday School today. With the kids today I am going to talk about a time when we did something wrong and we need to find a way to make it better. I made a huge mistake yesterday. I was supposed to come to the church and makes sure the door was open for my friend Cassie to do her writing workshop. Well, I forgot. The door was unlocked when I left on Friday night late, but did it get locked again. Usually Dianne takes care of all of this stuff but she was going to Medicine Hat and asked me to do it. Well, I forgot. I got up and headed out to Presbytery for the day and didn't even think about it. So now, I need to apologize to Cassie and to whoever came and let her in I need to give thanks. A huge lesson for me, I am too busy and need to pay more attention to what I will say I will do. I am going to stop doing some of the things I said I would do. Yesterday I asked Presbytery to find another recording secretary and I have only one more meeting for Conference Executive. Leaving those two jobs behind will help a lot. In the mean time, I still owe Cassie an apology. That will be today's task. One of the most important things we can do is say we are sorry when we do something wrong. We need to stand up, say we made a mistake and own it. Then discover in ourselves why we are making mistakes, why we aren't paying attention to the responsibilities we have. So for me, a huge learning curve. Let's all take the time we need to give thanks when needed and ask for forgiveness when we need to. If we all owned up when we did something wrong the world would be a better place. Thanks for listening to my rant, have a great Sabbath today.

A BUSY LIFE!

Well these past two weeks have been very busy and the next two don't seem much slower, but then I thrive on being busy so it isn't all bad. I just hope I don't forget anything.

I want to thank my church family here who at the drop of the hat let me fly home for the funeral of my uncle and to help my sister deal with the house, etc. It was a lot of work, but I did get to see my children, grandchildren, brother and sister and my Mom. My family entrusted me to do my uncle's funeral and it was a great honour to talk about a man who was so much a part of our lives.

So, today! Fall supper, Silent Auction - come out to the church today and place a bid on one or two or all of our silent auction items. This is a fundraiser for our church so your generosity is appreciated. Come and enjoy our fall supper, you can call Olorenshaw's or leave a message on the church phone for tickets. There are two sittings, 5pm and 6:15pm. The auction will stop at 7 and all the items will be awarded to those with the highest bids. So if you come early and bid, return before 7 to up your bid. Outbid your friends. This is a great way to have a little competitive fun while supporting our church. Many thanks...

Our church service today will be focusing on our sense of importance and how that affects how we act in the world. Come and join us, coffee at 10am, church and sunday school at 10:30

Have a great day!

GIve to Caesar/Give to God

So from the title you can see the gospel reading today is give to Caesar what is Caesars and give to God what is Gods. Don't you think it is very easy to give to Caesar, I mean we pay taxes, obey the laws, etc. but what about giving to God, and whose need is fulfilled when we give to God, ours or Gods? What does God need from us or is it the other way around and we need from God? Good questions to ponder today and into this week.

On another topic, our church is having a silent auction during our fall supper. So the bidding opens at 4pm and ends at 7pm. The items will be set up in the church the Friday before the auction so you can come over and take a look. So even if you don't come to the supper, stop in, see what there is, make a few bids, stay and watch your bid or leave and come back to see if you are still in the lead. Lots of fun bidding up your friends, also a great way to support the church in our community. Thanks everyone, see you there!

I am leaving tonight to fly east. My uncle died on Friday so the family has asked me to come home to do the funeral. So, keep well, call the office if there is an emergency and I will see you when I get back on the 29th.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ESTON

What a great place Eston is to live. Yesterday the main street was crowded with folks gathering to watch the hockey games and to enjoy a hamburger. Lots of specials at all the stores. Toys at the Hardware store, leggings at the hair dresser, flowers at the flower shop and it was great to see Jackie in her general store selling her stock. The pharmacy also had specials and people could take a browse in Gina's shop. There was a beer garden for those who are a little older. There were so many kids running around. The band sounded great although I didn't see them as I had gone home to finish unpacking the last room at the manse. I could hear it though. Then last night, a street dance which also sounded great.

So on this Thanksgiving weekend, may we all be blessed by where we live and all that we have. I want to share a grace for a meal with you today. It is written by John O'Donohue in his book, "to bless the space between us" Enjoy all!

'As we begin this meal with grace, let us become aware of the memory carried inside the food before us: the quiver of the seed awakening in the earth, Unfolding in a trust of roots and slender stems of growth, the kiss of rain and surge of sun; the innocence of animal soul that never spoke a word, nourished by the earth to become today our food; the work of all the strangers whose hands prepared it, the privilege of wealth and health that enables us to feast and celebrate!'

Beautiful Day

So I am back from an amazing week at the Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre in Beausejour, MB. I am taking a 2 year course on Spiritual Direction. What a wonderful group of people. It will be hard work, but hopefully very rewarding. Yesterday Jim and I spent the day in Meadowlake at Presbytery. That was a long day but productive meeting. Today, our gospel reading in church is from Matthew 20: 1-16 and is the story of the landowner who hires workers all throughout the day only to pay them all the same wage at the end of the day. What do you think about that? Well I don't think this parable is about labour practices or employer-employee relationships, or even about money, I believe this parable is about the graciousness of the love of the Holy and our relationship with one another in the kingdom of God. It is about receiving the love and grace of holiness in our everyday life, no matter who we are of where we are. We are all equal. Something for us to think about. Enjoy your Sunday!

What do you think about bullying!

I had a conversation this week about Bullying. Now that school has started back up and our Sunday school is starting we need to be on teh look out for Bullying. There are so many people in our town and so many ways that people bully other people. It might be about your size, your colour, the colour of your hair, your clothes or even your religion or lack of it. This disturbs me greatly when I think about religious differences in our town. I have heard stories of youth bullying other youth because of their religion or lack of religion. We are all children of God whether you go to church or you don't, whether you go to the United Church, the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church or the Full Gospel Church. Just because someone does not agree with your particular beliefs, it does not mean they are wrong. We live in this wonderful town where there is a bullying by law. You are not allowed to bully people, this is a no-bully zone. So please if you are being bullied talk to someone. If you are doing the bullying imagine how you would feel if it was you that was different. BUllying leads to many different reactions in people and you certainly don't want to be responsible for harming another person. So please, think before you speak. In today's gospel reading, we are hearing a story of settling differences between one another, maybe it is a good lesson to learn.... So come out and join us.

Take up your Cross

If any want to be my followers, let them take up their cross and follow me... Hard words to hear this morning in church but hopefully we can make sense of them. Come and join us for our service this morning... Tomorrow is moving day for Jim and I. We will finally be townies... I can't wait. But what a lot of work to pack up and move a house even if we have only lived there for 3 1/2 years. We sure gathered a lot of stuff since moving to Eston. I have a feeling by tomorrow night we will be exhausted. Thanks to all those who are coming to help. Many hands and all that stuff... Hopefully we will be in by early afternoon, I say 1, Jim says 2.... We'll see. So if you are not busy, drop by and we will pass you a box to carry or just stop to say Hello. Take care all and have a great day today and Go Riders!