The theme for Advent/Christmas this year is How Does a Weary World Rejoice? I chose this last June not realizing how fitting it would be… how indeed do we rejoice in the birth of Jesus in such a turbulent time in the land we call holy. We mustn’t forget though, that according to Matthew’s gospel, Joseph was warned in a dream that Herod wanted to kill Jesus and they fled to Egypt to safety. Refugees… like so many refugees around the world today, not just in that Israel/Palestine. And yet, we look for the glimpses of God breaking through in our world, even as we are weary. We are starting Advent a week early, so on November 26th, after the service, we will decorate the sanctuary. The postcard below will be available for you to share with your friends/family next Sunday.
Worship This Week!
It’s our Anniversary Service and we are celebrating the United Church Women! We will hear some of their stories thank them for their many years for ministry and mission and will formally disband them. There will be cake!
My Week!
I took Monday off in lieu of Saturday being the holiday.
Tuesday – I spent some time at the Food Bank, then Murray, Dale and I visited St. Peter’s Church to take a look at their AV system in order to ensure we make the best decision for ours. I met an Anglican colleague for lunch to discuss a continuing education event in the new year, created the Power Point and Poster for worship, and created the floor plan for the sanctuary for Advent and imagined some prayer stations. In the evening I listened in on a Zoom interview of Ori Hanan Weisberg, a Jewish writer living in Jerusalem whose writing I have started to follow.
Wednesday – I met with Cathy, worked on a presentation for the Region’s Future Directions Committee, which will meet in the afternoon, attended a webinar entitled Jewish Perspectives on the Moment, For non-Jewish Clergy, created the Power Point for Sunday, wrote this! I’ve put a few books out on the cabinet outside my desk, on a variety of subjects, if you’d like to borrow one, just write the name of the book and your name in the notebook that is there. I hung one of the posters of the Behavioural Covenant in the Lower Hall, the other one will be hung in the Parlour.
Thursday – I’ll get a start on my report to the Official Board, including summarizing your responses to the Listening Circles Report and perhaps imagine what me might undertake in the new year. One of the things that was highlighted was being a supportive presence to people both in the church and outside the church; there has been an increased call on our resources this fall, and so I will be picking up some more grocery gift cards. I have a few other errands to run to get ready for the UCW service and Advent and one last meeting!
As always, in between, there are a multitude of other things that happen in the run of a week, phone calls, emails, drop-in visitors, people needing a listening ear. Ministry.
St. James United Church Dartmouth 