NEW VISION STATEMENT
“A Welcoming Community
of Faith
Serving God in Love and Harmony”
EMG News
March/April 2014
Planning Ahead
Mar. 1MG Meat & Potato Pie Supper
Mar. 3MG Stewards 7 pm
Mar. 4MG UCW 9:30 am
Shrove Pancake Supper 5 – 7 pm
Mar. 5Ash Wednesday
Mar. 7World Day of Prayer at Faith
United 1 pm
Mar. 91st Sunday in Lent
Daylight Saving turn clocks ahead 1 hour
Mar. 11Eb UCW meeting Cancelled
Mar. 12MG Session noon
Mar. 162nd Sunday in Lent
First Sunday for Cheese orders
Mar. 18Eb Stewards 7 pm
Mar. 233rd Sunday in Lent
Mar. 25Eb UCW 1:30 – 3:00 pm -
Label sorting/cutting bee
Eb Session 7 pm
Mar. 304th Sunday in Lent
Last Sunday for Cheese orders
Share Sunday
Apr. 1MG UCW 9:30 am
Apr. 65th Sunday in Lent
Pick up Cheese Orders
Apr. 7MG Stewards 7 pm
Apr. 8Eb UCW 1:30 pm
Apr. 13Palm Sunday
Apr. 15Eb Stewards 7 pm
Apr. 17Maundy Thursday
Apr. 18Good Friday at Eb 10 am
Apr. 20Easter Sunday
Apr. 27Share Sunday
Apr. 29Eb Session 7 pm
FROM THE
MINISTER’S DESK
Newsletter article for March, 2014
When my granddaughter was a lot younger, she was playing with her dolls. She was trying to get her new doll into the little carriage, and try as she might, it would not fit. She never had that problem with her other dolls. She got angrier and angrier as her frustration level rose. She asked me, the fixer of most things, to do it. I told her that even I couldn’t do it. I tried to explain why it didn’t go in, but no explanation was going to work. This cycle of explanation and trying went on for a couple of hours, until she learned that some things fit, others do not.
Most of us adults have learned this lesson as well. We have learned to live life with an appreciation of tried-and-true ideas. We sort out the lessons and experiences we’ve been handed into categories by which we live our lives. It’s natural. We do this out of self-preservation, aiming to improve the efficiency of life by reducing the number of decisions to be made. We decide in real time what we will then believe is the best way to see things – until that unexpected moment, when our time-tested resolution is brought to a grinding halt and we realize, “Oh no, this may not be the best way to see things at all.” Our experience teaches us an exception to the rule. That does not mean we instantly change our behaviours. We will still try to make things fit our old ways. Maybe if we work harder and better and longer the old way will work one more time. We won’t need to change our world view. We do love our comfortable ways, you know.
Most of us have grown up in the church. Our practices in church seemed to work for several generations now. But, it seems that old comfortable ways can no longer stuff the people into our oversized buildings, yet there is lots of room. Talk about a hard thing to explain. The upshot is that many folks in our churches are losing hope, they are dispirited and getting older. We all know of neighbouring churches that have closed and others that are struggling even more than we are. One thing we have learned is that the old reality cannot be our present one. But we still feel that our community needs the presence of spirit filled people in their presence to add positive values to community life.
What has changed from earlier years?
- Fifty years of relative peace and affluence in our North American culture.
- The sharp rise in the standard of living.
- Our accumulation of symbols of wealth and leisure and a sense of entitlement.
- An open commercial society in which you can shop seven days a week.
- The rise of organized sports for our children filling large blocks of time on the weekends.
- A major leakage of folks who left behind over-crowded churches and some questionable teaching.
- The rise of atheism and agnosticism, meaning there is a growing group of people who are totally disinterested in the church and maybe even antagonistic towards the church and its favoured position of tax free status.
Our old ways of fitting into society have changed radically. We cannot even contribute with many of the current conversations in our communities because our moral conscience is just not heard much anymore. In a nutshell, the church is quite a bit counter cultural today.
Where lies our hope? There are a growing corps of folks that are beginning to recognize that the world is fast becoming spiritually bankrupt. Folks simply do not have the resources to deal with our changing economic situation. But they are also well educated and are capable of working to make a difference in our topsy-turvy world. The number of young folk that are entering careers that seek to change environmental problems are rising. Others are throwing their support at giving a hand up to folks who have fallen into the poverty class. Few of us realize that at one time the church was the only institution that ran the health system, the education system, and the welfare system. Nobody else was interested because our governments simply did not have the cash to enable them. Taxation only started up in response to the Great War, 100 years ago. The church thrived in the years following until the 1960’s because it was engaged not only saving souls but in creating a social conscience that improved conditions for those who struggled. We are entering that kind of situation now. There is an opportunity for a renewed church to emerge in new ways to meet the growing needs of our people. There are many out there who have no faith and no knowledge about the church who would be willing to work with the church at making a difference in the community. They might not be likely to join us right now, nor should we expect them. But, in time, they will ask questions as they grow curious about our motivation and may want to be part of the larger whole. Folks today are not great joiners. Some of them have been in highly competitive hockey since they learned to walk and may be distrustful of adults as a result. So joining might be risky for them. Broken trust is a hard to overcome obstacle.
The church has a tough job ahead of it. We may not end up the way we are now. Maybe we shouldn’t expect that. But we can expect to be faithful and God through the Spirit and Jesus is trying to lead us forward. Dare we throw off old ways so that we can be open to the fresh call of the Spirit.
Thought provoking question? If the church were to burn down tonight would it resurrect itself from the ashes. What might it look like?
Church Office Information
Phone: 905-436-1258
Address:
1669 Courtice Rd., Courtice, ON L1E 2M9
Email:
Ebenezer website:
TO STOP RECEIVING THE NEWSLETTER ALTOGETHER, PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE. THE OFFICE NUMBER IS 905-436-1258.
MAPLE GROVE GREETERS
March – April 2014
Mar. 2 Tyson & Heidi Egert697-2284 Mar. 9 Doug & Dale Gearing623-4075 Mar.16 Terry Kelsey 623-6269
Nancy Leblanc697-1122
Mar.23 Janice Kroft263-4139
Glenn Trider623-5323
Mar.30 Ellie Hartwell987-5448
Betty Snowden623-2359
Apr. 6 Oswald Mathurin666-3245
Lynn Piggott419-1422
Apr.13 (Palm Sunday)623-4654
Chris & Jennifer Moulaison
Apr.18 (Good Friday @ 10 am)436-5381
Maurice & Ann Plowman
Apr.20 (Easter Sunday)623-7243
Ron &Elva Rogers
Apr.27 Russ & Lynn Mayotte697-3594
May 4 Len & Marg Goodmurphy263-8409
May 11 (Mother’s Day)
Ellie Hartwell987-5448
Betty Snowden623-2359
EBENEZER GREETERS
March – April 2014
Mar. 2 Peter & Susan Knowlton 263-8901
Mar. 9 Roy & Marie Brooks623-4106
Mar.16 Ted & Roxy Barnes623-5327
Mar.23 Kevin & CJ Pudsey434-8564
Mar.30 Matt & Leah Bourgeois697-7798
Apr. 6 Ken & Karen Allin263-8885
Apr.13 Scott & Cheryl Down925-2495
Apr.20 (Easter Sunday)697-8603
Ken & Kathy Down
Apr.27 Lionel Hart & Betty Massey725-2258
May 4 Elmer & Marg Down723-1979
May 11 Bill & Jean Gillanders438-8503
Articles for next newsletter must be to the office no later than April 16, 2014
Deadline for 2014 upcoming newsletters: August 20, & October 22.
UCW Supply & Service
Campbell Children’s School will no longer be saving “Soup Labels for Education” after this summer. They will continue collecting until mid June 2014.
They have already started on another project through This is to keep unnecessary things OUT OF our landfills.
TerraCycle Brigades allow them the opportunity to earn points for the waste they collect. Each point is worth $0.01, which can be redeemed as a cash donation for the school, by cheque, in either June or December or each year.
The following Brigades are the ones that Campbell Children’s School will be working on:
- Personal Care & Beauty Brigade: All hair care packaging (bottles, caps, gel tubes & caps, or plastic jars & lids). Skin care packaging (lip balms, soap dispenser bottles, foam tubes, lotion bottles). Cosmetics (lipstick, lip gloss, mascara tubes, powder cases, eyeliner pencils, foundation packages & creams.
- Inkjet Brigade
- Tassimo Brigade: Used Tassimo Coffee Pods (not Keurig)
- Schneiders Lunchmate Brigade
- Plastic Diaper Packaging Brigade (no boxes)
- Laptop Brigade
- Air Care Brigade: All Air Wick, Glade, Febreeze Containers
- Kool-Aid Jammers Juice Tetra Packs Brigade
CAMPBELL’S LABELS
FOR EDUCATION
WHAT DO I SAVE ? ? ? ?
Full Label and BarCode of:
Campbells’ Condensed Soups
Habitant Soup
Campbell’s Chunky Soups PLEASE
Campbell’s Ready to Serve Soups KEEP
Creations Soups THEM
Franco American Gravy FLAT!!!
Bottles of V8Juice
BarCode ONLY of:
Boxed Campbell’s Gardennay Soups
Box V8 Soups
Campbell’s Easy Cooking Sauce
Campbell’s Ready to use Broth
Goldfish Crackers
Boxed V8 Splash or V8 Juice
Lid only of:
Campbell’s Chunky Bowls
Campbell’s Healthy Request Bowls
Campbell’s Soup at Hand
PREGO Spaghetti Sauce
PACE Salsa
Paper Lid of Campbell’s Hearty Noodles
CAPS ONLY from:
V8 Splash Beverage
V8 V-Fusion Beverage
CRUSHED CANS from: V8 Juice Cans
Ebenezer UCW – Feb. 2014
Empire Cheese: We will be doing an order starting Sun. Mar. 16 through Sun. Mar. 30 with delivery Sun. Apr. 6 in lots of time for Easter dinners. We would appreciate it if people would take order forms to work and see if co-workers would support our cheese fund raiser. Order forms will be available in the kitchen or contact Roxy Barnes at 905-623-5327 for further information.
Library: Ebenezer UCW has a wonderful library of fiction and non-fiction books available for loan. A list of all the books is now available and borrowing is encouraged. Sign out sheets and lists of the books, which are sorted three ways – by Type, by Author and by Title, are on the book cabinet. The lists are also available on the Ebenezer web site. Please contact Marilyn Down at 905-728-5290 for further information.
Canadian Club Banquet: Many thanks to all who helped with preparation, cooking, serving, clean-up and donations of pies for our successful banquet. Special thanks to Charlotte Hughes and Carole Bickle for organizing this event. $1177.69 was raised to help with UCW commitments.
Haiti Collections: Ebenezer United Church Women, announce their “Spring Overseas Charity Appeal” which will focus on BABIES AND INFANTS UP TO 24 MONTHS.
We look forward to your donations of new or used baby clothing up to 24 months size.
Items such as: fleece or knitted cardigans/sweaters, bootees, shawls, undershirts, tee shirts, cot sheets or blankets, bibs, socks, hats, towels, face cloths, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, shampoo, lotion, petroleum creams, plus anything that you think that would aid inthe physical care of babies and toddlers would be most welcome. Thanking you all for your continued support, it has been just WONDERFUL.
Questions please contact Jean Gillanders at 905-438-8503.
Ebenezer UCW Meeting Update:
- The Mar. 11 meeting has been cancelled
- Tues. Mar. 25, 1:30 to 3 there will be a label sorting/cutting bee. All are welcome to come and help.
- Tues. Apr. 8, 1:30 regular meeting scheduled.
- Tues. May 13 we are hosting the Ecumenical pot luck dinner at 6. The Bells of Blessing will be entertaining for this event. Helpers will be needed for set up and clean up. More later.
- June 10 surprise meeting details to be announced.
If you could receive the newsletter by email please contact the office. Help us be better stewards of our resources by saving trees,
and money on stamps, by switching to email.
The Office email is: