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Sunday, November 17
The congregation of St Paul’s Port Burwell/Vienna United Church met at 11 a.m. with Rev. Cordell Parsons leading the service.
Music was provided by Courtney Porch.
Service opened with Rev. Parsons leading the congregation in a message about the future
of the world and end times and was responded to by the congregation.
The first hymn was Teach Me God to Wonder.
The minister led in a call to worship responded to by the congregation.
The next hymn was Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.
There was a sung response called: As we are gathered.
The minister led the congregation in the repeating of the Lord’s Prayer.
The next hymn was Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
The meditation was entitled Forward In Our Thinking and Tenacious In Our Hope.
The scripture reading was taken from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 in which Paul speaks to the people to stay away from people who are lazy and who do not follow the instructions the disciples gave them after Jesus left the earth to return to heaven. Paul reminds us that we should never become weary of improving our current lot while looking forward to a better day. For what we do today can always improve on tomorrow.
God expects us to be forward in our thinking and tenacious in our hope for tomorrow. The next hymn was Creating God We Give You Thanks.
The next hymn was To Show By Touch and Word.
The service closed with the hymn: You Shall Go Out with Joy.
This Saturday (November 23rd) there will be a Christmas Bazaar at the Port Burwell church starting at 10 a.m. with bake sale, food and crafts.
Next Sunday service will be at 11 a.m. and we invite everyone to join and worship.
Avondale United Church
The congregation at Avondale met at 10:30 a.m. last Sunday for worship. The Christ candle was lit by Isabella Edwards and prayer was led by Rev. Fred Hagle. A video on Advent was watched and Deb Peever spoke to the children present about Tumaini Orphanage in Tanzania, Africa.
Tumaini means "Hope" in Swahili. Our Kid's Connection Christmas Mission this year will be to raise enough money to send a child or two to school. The children at Tumaini are provided with private education, medical care and nutritious food. For more info check out www.tuchifo.com.
Lay Reader George Beard Jr. read the scripture from Isaiah 65 New Heavens and a New Earth. The message for adults and older children was Mission to Tumaini.
Cherie Szucs of Simcoe had with her three students from Tanzania who told of their experiences of hope at Tumaini House. Unemployment in Tanzania is 70% so an education is really important. After Grade 7 children must write an exam in English to continue to high school. The public schools in Tanzania however do not teach English. At present there are 52 children at Tumaini and 50 more in outreach. We were amazed at what the three young people have been able to accomplish with help from Tumaini. The choir's anthem was Fly Away.
Music for the worship service was accompanied by Bruce Fleming on keyboard and some of the songs sung were We Are Marching in the Light of God, Come Children Join to Sing, Walk With Me and You Shall Go Out with Joy.
You are welcome to join Sun. Nov. 24 at 10:30 a.m. when the message will be Jesus, A Strange Kind of King. Come early and enjoy a coffee. The Kids Connection will be collecting canned food and loose change for the Food Bank prior to worship.
The Salvation Army needs volunteers to oversee their kettles from Nov. 16 to Dec. 24. If you could help, please call Lorraine at 519-403-5914.
Mt. Elgin United Church
As Christmas preparations move into high gear with holiday decorations and commercials everywhere, many people begin to feel out of step with the world around us. When you are grieving, struggling with personal challenges, missing loved ones, or facing financial pressures and concerns it can be difficult if not impossible to feel "merry" at this time of year.
But the true meaning of Christmas is that God is with us, especially in difficult times and situations. Join in on November 24th at 7 p.m. at Mt. Elgin United Church for a "Blue" Christmas service and take time to honour your true feelings. Everyone is welcome. No fancy clothes or church experience necessary.
Langton Baptist Church
Rev. Keith Sutherland opened the church service at 11 a.m. His message was on ‘Opportunity in the ambiguous future. We need the eyesight for prayerful vision to see the whole picture of an open revelation of God’s future. There are consequences if we don’t believe in what God holds for the future as God is faithful. We are called to pray always, as we live in Christ as His believers. We have the opportunity to participate in God’s future and to account of the faith that is within us. In this world God is making a new heaven and a new earth as God is in control. Our hope of God’s future is in Jesus Christ.’ Prayer followed.
The children’s story was on ‘Remember what we do but it doesn’t last forever. It’s not what we do, it’s what the Lord does. There is a timeframe but remember the Lord is always with us. We need to recognize and thank God.’
Hymns sung, were: O Worship The King, It Is Well With My Soul and Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Responsive reading, was based on Isaiah 12.
Scripture readings were Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-24; Malachi 4; and 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5.
Prayers of supplication and praise were given by Rev. Sutherland.
Offering was received by Barbra Sinnesael and Kim Fasseel.