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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-10-12, Page 17NU THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017. PAGE 17. From the Minister's Study Each day brings new miracles: Livingstone By Allan Livingstone Interim Anglican Priest in Wingham, Brussels, and Blyth and Archdeacon for Huron Perth A young wife waits at home in a small fishing village in Newfoundland with her three young children. Her husband has been out on the family trawler on the Atlantic for the last week with his fishing mates. For three generations his family has fished off those rocky shores. These days they must journey much farther to bring in a catch. As the sun sets, the marine radio in her kitchen crackles and a familiar but tired voice comes through the static. "It's me, hon. We'll be in port in an hour". The young woman gathers her three children into her lap on the couch as she does every time a fishing trip is over. Even though they are of tender years, the children know and repeat the words she begins. "Loving Jesus, we give you thanks for bringing our Daddy home safely again, and so we pray: Our Father, who art in heaven..." Though the children are flowing with excited giggles, somehow the words are spoken with thankful joy and relief. Newfoundland fishing families live on the edge. In the early stories of our Bible, Thanksgiving for the early Hebrews came after their rescue from Egypt when God satisfied their hunger in the desert with bread, manna from heaven. Because they had suffered so horribly, their rescue and their feeding seemed that much more awesome. In our Canadian history, there are wonderful examples of special acts of thanksgiving when folk have endured horrible hardship. In his journals, Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, tells us that in his early Quebec settlement, boredom, fear and loneliness were relieved by it g Water Cfiridiall Irell iiu October 15: 1Cor.13:4ff "Love Lets 4O-i;;;\It Go" O/[ - 40 Days �w•� ofLove #4 12:00 NOON at H&B Shannon's 316 Hamilton Street, Blyth Evangelical Missionary Church Tuesdays 7:30 pm • Wingham Small Group at G&M Lisle's Wednesdays 10:00 am • Women's COFFEE BREAK Bible Study at Blyth CRC Wednesdays 6:30 pm • Youth Group at Huron Chapel, Auburn Pastor: Ernest Dow - 519-523-4848 getlivingwater. org the creation of the Order of Good Cheer. Each day a different man was chosen to be responsible for providing the meal for the next day. He would need to be a hunter and a gatherer as well as a magician who could disguise the very plain basic foodstuffs that were shipped annually from France. Champlain reported that each night at prayers, the people would thank God for their good fortune and then pass the chain of office to the next man in line and share a glass of wine before retiring for the evening. The promise of another shared meal provided strength to carry on through the vicious winters. For us, Thanksgiving is often marked with family and feast. It may be an occasion to mark milestones since the last Thanksgiving. I would expect that few of us have endured the kinds of conditions that our ancestors, our forebearers endured before they gave thanks. We have not suffered like those early Jews or even Champlain. We are, after all, in the fairest sense of reality, incredibly wealthy, incredibly safe and incredibly well fed. And yet the very fact that we gather to share in a holy meal and to give thanks is testimony to the fact that each day of our lives brings new miracles. Like the crowd that listened to Jesus in the Gospel story, we call out to God for more miracles. We have an insatiable desire for proof of God's love for us. But the real miracle we receive when we gather to give thanks and to eat together is far more than the food we set on our table. The real miracle was not biscuits on Champlain's table. The real miracle has always been the spiritual nourishment of Christ. And that miracle never stops. And so, a tiny bit of bread and a 'You're 'i;n:ited . L join ?Is in tx Olsm.p * 40-. 1 SUNDAYS Morning Service Evening Service 10:00 am 7:30 pm BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Minister: Pastor Gary van Leeuwen Hwy. 4, Blyth www.blythcrc.ca 519-523-4743 ANGLICAN PARISH OF NEW BEGINNINGS B LYTH Trinity ( ,. 9:15 am Church Office 519-357-4883 BRUSSELS St. John's 11:15 am Church Office 519-887-6862 Everyone Welcome! COME WORSHIP WITH US! MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 We invite you to join our church family in: Worship & Sunday School - 11 am Coffee & Snacks following the service Come out and meet our new minister, Rev. Charmila Ireland Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm - Soup & More 2 - a free community meal held in Melville's basement, and made possible by the Brussels churches working together. Nursery care available 519-887-6687 SAME RON CHAPEL SERVICE TWO TI i'A ES 9alli o'i Main Every Sunday in Auburn - huronchapel.com sip of wine can do as much and more for us than a full belly of turkey, stuffing, brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce. Christ says, "I am the bread of life". Perhaps then as we give thanks and share a meal in this Thanksgiving season, we should resolve to share that bread of life. We should resolve to share that miracle of God's saving grace. The lesson that Christ left for us through the example of his life and death is that we must give thanks to God, not with words, but with our actions. We will have been fully spiritually nourished and satisfied when we have reached out to someone and given a piece of ourselves to meet their need. We will not have given them our leftovers. We will have sacrificed the very best we have to offer. We would do nothing less for Continued on page 19 BRUSSELS r* United Church Welcome to Sunday morning worship & Sunday School at 11:00 am Hillary MacDonald (905) 246-7386 Macdonald.hillary@gmail.com Everyone welcome ettuemeed eNnstIttatv Sae eftaftee You're Invited to come worsh p with us Sunday, October 15 at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. 650 Alexander St. (former Blyth Public School) Sunday School for children 4 to 12 years of age at 9:30 a.m. Childcare provided for infants and preschoolers during the sermon. Coffee & cookies after the morning service. For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621 Steve Klumpenhower 519.292.0965 Rick Packer 519.527.0173 Blyth United Church Est. 1875 Worship Service at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, October 15 Hillary MacDonald The power of prayer cannot be explained, but the power of prayer can be experienced! Join us this Sunday for a prayerful experience. 6 All are welcome OFFICE: 519-523-4224 THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS. OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS: Brussels: St. Ambrose Saturday 6:00 p.m. 17 Flora Street Wingham: Sacred Heart Sunday 9:00 a.m. 220 Carling Terrace Listowel: St. Joseph's Sunday 11:00 a.m. 1025 Wallace Avenue N.