HAPPY CHRISTIAN NEW YEAR!        ADVENT 1

Walter Brueggemann, a highly respected theologian who has written many, many books, writes: "We Christians are in an emergency about time. It is clear that dominant culture in North America no longer knows what time it is because every season has now been homogenized into an uninterrupted 'shopping season', and when we do not know what time it is we are unlikely to remember 'former times' and surely have no ground to hope for 'new things'."

On the first Sunday in Advent we enter the great rhythms of God's creation and salvation in the form of the Christian story as it begins yet again. We are people of the story and constituted by it. This year we will (mostly) hear the good news as the gospel of Matthew proclaims it. As we walk as pilgrims along with Matthew, the calendar we follow (i.e. the Christian calendar) stands against the Julian calendar that was introduced in Rome in 46 BCE (named after Julius Caesar)--You probably have a few of these hanging in your house--I do.  As Christians we dare to live in (often standing against) this world and we proclaim Jesus Christ who revealed a new way of "seeing" things--a new way of living in faith. Right now, in the present, at the brink of a new year we dare to re-claim the Christian calendar as our time, looking back to 'former times' where we have come, and looking with hope to 'new things'. On Sunday, December 2, 2007 Valley Pastoral Charge met in one place to share worship and to reflect on what God is up to at Valley Pastoral Charge. It is important to note that the journeys of each of the three congregations of Valley Pastoral Charge are indeed unique. Not only is God moving through all of Valley Pastoral Charge, but God is up to something just a bit different in each of the congregations. It was a gift for me to be witness to St. Andrew's United Church, Green Ridge United Church, and Dominion City United Church coming together to celebrate what God has done and will do at Valley. Cheryl Weichern represented St. Andrew's, Mary Anne Calder represented Green Ridge, and Marlys Pearce represented Dominion City as they each spoke about the celebrations and challenges of the past year and hope for the upcoming one.    
Praise and thanks be to God for each of the congregations, and all of you Valley Pastoral Charge.                                                     Barbara

Here is what Cheryl offered on behalf of St. Andrew's United Church--Emerson:
Revelations 1:8  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

This is the verse that came to me while I was pondering and meditating on the celebrations and challenges of this past year for St. Andrew’s United Church in Emerson.

I think of circles.
The circle of life – birth to death.
The beginning to the ending,
The Alpha and the Omega.
Bev Ward leaving and Barbara Roberts arriving.

As we grieve the loss of a husband, a wife, a friend, we turn and welcome a son, a daughter, a grandchild.  Another circle begun as the other one ends.

Like circles of the Olympic rings, our individual circles are interwoven, linked, touching.  Depending on where we are in our life’s journey, our circles are interwoven.  One of the places our circles interweave is at St. Andrew’s United Church in Emerson.

This year at St. Andrew’s began with mixed feelings of hope for the future as we sought a minister and grief as we knew Bev was answering the call to a new direction.  Our circle with Bev became complete with tears of sorrow and good wishes for her future.  We turned and welcomed Barbara with gratitude and hope for this new circle begun.

We have had the trials of illness, failing health, and death of some of our congregation.  We have celebrated birth and baptism.

We are grateful for our board members and those who keep the church running smoothly whether it be changing light bulbs to keep us illuminated, greeting us at the door, or putting up the Christmas trees and Advent wreaths.  Thank you for keeping the center of our circle warm, dry, and welcoming.  Thank you to our faithful treasurer who keeps the bills paid, maintains the budget, and tallies our tithes for our income tax returns.

We celebrate all the people who give their time and energy for the committees that keep the goings on in the church, well….going on.  The worship committee, Hymn committee, Pastoral Relations, Sunday school staff, and the choir and pianist who attempts to keep us in tune.

We celebrate those who work behind the scenes to assist the young couple in their wedding, parents preparing for baptism, the confirmation, and the bereaved in organizing the funeral and the lunch after. 

We raise a coffee cup and a cookie in salute to the faithful hosts of our fellowship coffee the first Sunday of the month.  This smaller circle of people prepares for us a larger circle where we gather, strengthen our community, and renew ourselves.

From the center of our circle at St. Andrew’s, our visitation committee reaches out to touch those in the community who are hurting, whether by telephone, visit, or card.

We are grateful for the continuance of the circle of our Book Club where St. Andrew’s can meet and enjoy fellowship with our sister churches.

We are encouraging the birth of our Prayer Shawl group.  We’ll see how that circle shapes up.  Apparently, the fruits of this group are already draping shoulders, enveloping legs, and warming small bodies.

I sure hope I haven’t forgotten anybody.

In closing, I had this song popping into my head as I was preparing this presentation. 

‘Tis a gift to be simple,
‘tis a gift to be free,
‘tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Thank you.

Here is what Mary Anne offered on behalf of Green Ridge United Church:
As we take time to look back on the year 2007 for Green Ridge church there is a lot to lift up and give thanks for. And the verse that brings it all together for us is the verse in Hebrews in chapter 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Our whole year was  based on these very words from Paul to the Hebrews. When at the end of the year 2006 we balanced our budget for the first time in recent history that was substance of things hoped for by so many of your parishioners.

Thru out the year we discussed; had sermons on how faith was a part of all that we did and all that we brought to the tables of our lives.

We celebrated the birth of our Christ, in a stable, going to a stable to feel that warmth of all creatures. Making our Christmas a simply one with the wooden ornaments. The transition from Rev Bev to Rev Barbara was made easier by our faith in knowing that God would have a hand in all of our endeavors to find the Minister who would lead us on our continuing journey of faith. There are many members whom we are grateful to for their hard work and I am not going to mention their names but they are truly blessed and we thank them.  When I reflect on  all the ministries that go on in this church family it is with exceeding great joy; at our children who faithfully attend Sunday Schools classes; our Ladies Events that continues to grow and entertain us and bring us together at another level of worship. We also had a small but enthusiastic Bible Study on Water issues during the Lent season. So we are a wonderful faith church family.  Other ministries that we lift up and praise as well are our Care home group of ministers, those who visit our shut –in and our ill members. And who can forget our one day retreat on the study of Justice.   Then there is the group of Christmas carolers; who brave the weather and sing Carols, to our many members who are not able to get to the services at this time of year.

As I began to think about what  might be our dreams for the New Year in the  church I heard a song by BeBe Winans that is entitled My Christmas Prayer
May this be our prayer too:

I pray for peace
Blessings and honor
Heaven right earth’s despair
This is my Christmas prayer

For those that grieve
God will bring comfort
Laughter will rapture there
This is my Christmas prayer

See I pray that love will rule and reign
And I pray that time will rid the pain fo this world
As we learn to trust and care
This is my Christmas prayer

I pray for you, yes, I know you do
That your triumph and conquer
Poses the strength you need to bare
This is my Christmas prayer

For those in need
There would be plenty
And each other’s burdens share
Oh this is my Christmas prayer

See I pray that love will rule and reign
And I pray that time will rid the pain of this world
As we learn to trust and care
This is my Christmas prayer

So let hope fill our hearts, let’s let hope fill our hearts
Shine the light through the dark
All around the world and everywhere
I will pray this Christmas prayer, prayer

See I pray that love will rule and reign
And I pray that time will rid the pain of this world
As we learn to trust and care
This is my Christmas, this is my Christmas prayer

Se I pray that love will rule and reign
And I pray that time will rid the pain of this world
As we learn to trust and care
This is my Christmas prayer
This is my Christmas prayer

EMI Blackwood Music Inc.
Lyrics provided by Gracenote
 

Here is what Marlys offered on behalf of Dominion City United Church:
As a worship committee member from the Dominion City United Church I’ve been asked to speak of our challenges and celebrations over the past year. Our first would have been when we had no organist due to her very ill health for several months. But we were fortunate enough to have a woman from the Morris United Church to play on an occasional Sunday. Then there was one of our retired ministers whom had helped immensely with music for our Sunday worship services. We were very thankful to our ushers and board members for playing the CD's every Sunday. Then in the early spring, we received the sad news of our minister deciding to leave our Valley Pastoral Charge. This became another challenge for the Pastoral Committee to find us a new minister for our three churches. Then, once again our organist recovered from her illness and returned to our church to play even better than ever at our services. Now we have lots to celebrate about. We have been blessed with a new minister who not only can preach a very good sermon but can sing beautifully as well. We also have been blessed with two retired ministers in our community of Dominion City. The future of our church and Sunday school will soon be in the hands of our younger people. We need to ask God for help to make these young people and families feel welcome and needed in our church. We want them to be part of God’s Place of worship. We also need to encourage parents to bring their children to God’s House to learn about Him and His Love for them. This has been a challenge for the past few years and still is in our church.

These Bible verses come to mind:

John 14:6-7 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Psalm 46:1-3  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.