HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-02-23, Page 15Fehruur 26:2 Cor. 5:14ff
`New Creatures
& Commission"
POTLUCK 11
Christ-ventrvd.
Fdlow ship-Irient11:t. ;rim th-gcarcd
fusing. -11,ater .
crab Tel
10:30 a.m. Worship & Sunday School
at Blyth Public School,
corner of King & Mill
1„/TWWfare"M .xed.;k0ff, „4"xl,Ad
Mondays 6:45 pm Junior Girls
Mondays & Tuesdays 7:00 pm Small Group
Fridays 7:00 pm Youth Group
Pastor: Ernest Dow - 523-4848j
geflivingwater.org
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
6ti
Trinity, Blyth
9:30 a.m.
St. John's, Brussels
11:15 a.m.
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
Wieecoota vac( to come
ctect cooftoitift wit4 ud
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26
The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273
_efk_
CC.
sinunity Church Of
VOI 4 004
cop, AND%
° I'
"The Church is not a
o
.
Building,
4-t It is People Touching
People"
Sunday 9:45 a.m. - Power Hour Circus
(Ring of Relationships)
11:00 a.m. - Worship Service
Mid-week Bible Studies
Phone 440-8379 308 Blyth Rd. E. - Pastor Les Cook 523-4590
HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
MISSIONARY CHURCH
Auburn - 526-1131
PASTOR DAVE WOOD
9:30 a.m. - Family Bible Hour
10:30 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
7:30 p.m. - Evening Worship Service
Tuesday 7:15 p.m. - Jr. & Sr. Youth Bible Study
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - Olympians
7:00 p.m. - Adult Bible Study
BLYTH UNITED CHURCH
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Sunday, February 26
Worship Service, Sunday School & Nursery
11:00 a.m.
Transfirguration Sunday
Minister: Rev. Robin McGauley
74etzeme
Office: 523-4224
Sanctuary
t
Sunday
What is the point of life?
Is forgiveness possible?
What happens when you die?
What relevance does Jesus have for our lives today?
The ALPHA course
* an opportunity for anyone to explore the Christian faith in a
relaxed, non-threatening manner
* more than 2 million people worldwide have already found it to be a
worthwhile experience
* Alpha is for everyone, especially: those wanting to investigate Christianity, new
Christians, newcomers to the church, those who want to brush up on the basics
r
YOU ARE INVITED to an
ALPHA Celebration Dinner & Video
Saturday, March 4, 2006 6:00 -8:30 p.m.
at Blyth Public School Auditorium
corner of King & Mill Streets, Blyth
L
Meal Is FREE but reserve your spot
by calling 523-4711 or 523-4848
• Dinner Group teaching • Small-group discussion • Weekend retreat option'
"An Opportunity to Explore the Meaning of Life"
Reeue 7"oi./4 cat Oft coondeft
Sunday, February 26
Morning Worship Service - 10 a.m.
Evening Worship Service - 7:30 p.m.
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible Lt.
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
Sunday, gelkuaty. 26
1 1 :00 a.m. - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
9:30 a.m. - Sunday Belgrave Service
Wheelchair accessible
Nursery care available
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, February 26
ti Ethel United Church
9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
Prussels Mennonite Fellows hi.
invites you to worship with us
this Sunday
9:30 a.m. Worship Service
10:45 a.m. Coffee Break
11:00 a.m. Sunday School (for all ages)
Pastor Brent Kipfer 887-6388
We are a community of people learning to follow Jesus
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2006. PAGE 15.
From the Minister's Study
Pastor talks of snow days and God's grace
By Pastor Brent Kipfer
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship
Snow days are pure grace — at least
for our children.When they hear
news that school is cancelled, the
shouts of delight echo through the
house.
No need to cushion the blow.
Of course, school is good. Our
boys enjoy it - but a snow day breaks
the routine. It opens up new
possibilities.
Breakfast can be a bit more
leisurely. Toys get pulled off the
shelves. There's time to put together
an elaborate Lego construction.
In the afternoon, we can head over
to the church gym with an inflatable
ball that's too massive for our living
room. There's fresh snow to play
in.
Who could complain?
It would be different if the snow
kept coming. Then we would have to
start home schooling. A snow day
only has value if there is a routine to
break, if there is a classroom waiting
for another day, if there's work to put
on the shelf.
But when the timing is right, a
snow day comes like a gift. You
can't make these days happen. You
can pray for a good storm — but you
can't control the weather.
Snow days come out of the blue —
undeserved and unplanned: just like
the grace of God.
God has built this grace right into
the fabric of creation.
The first chapters of Genesis
describe the pattern. On the first
three days, God creates light and
water and land. On the next three
days, God brings order to the light
and creatures to live in water and on
land.
There is poetry and symmetry to
this effort: for six days, God creates,
designs, works.
On the sixth day, God makes
humankind: male and female. God
blesses them and gives them their
own work to do.
It is amazing to consider the
responsibility that God places in our
hands: to till the soil, to raise
families, to teach, to care for the
earth, to clothe the naked, visit those
in prison, bind up the wounded and
make disciples of Jesus Christ in all
nations.
This is work. And it is good.
God gives purpose to our days - and
work that is never done (at least it
LA/17,m.
Beat the temptation.
Vzsmokers'HELPLINE
TOLL-FREE
seems that way).
Some of us get consumed by this.
It's so overwhelming - but only if we
miss the seventh day. That is the day
when God surprises us.
The pattern changes:
"So the creation of the heavens
and the earth and everything in them
was completed. On the seventh day,
having finished His task, God rested
from all His work. And God
blessed the seventh day and declared
it holy, because it was the day when
He rested from His work of
creation." (Genesis 2: 1 -3)
God stops. Right into the
foundation of this world, God inserts
a pause.
Like a farmer looking over a field,
freshly ploughed and seeded ... like
an artist standing back from the
canvas, smiling with pleasure ... or a
student handing in a major
assignment, finished with care, God
celebrates his work.
The seventh day is set apart —
different from the rest. God sets out
a pattern: work ... rest ... work ...
rest.
The Lord builds grace into the
order of our days (snow days
without the snow!) and invites us to
join him.
It begins with a day of rest — a
Sabbath. Every week, God invites us
to rest with him and to celebrate.
Some weeks, we might look back on
our work — full of satisfaction — and
say, "Ahhhh...wonderful."
Other weeks, we shake our heads
and say, "What in the world did I
accomplish? I don't really deserve
this break." One of my teachers
,pointed out that this kind of thinking
misses the point.
He said: "Imagine a father goes to
wash the car, and he takes his five-
year-old son along.
Both work for a long while.
Father cleans the car, while the little
boy smears it up, so that the father
has to work a bit harder to finish the
job.
Finally the car is clean, and the
father says to his son, "'Look how
the car shines! We have really
worked hard, haven't we? Now let's
go and have our snack. 11
God wants to celebrate with us.
It's not about what we have
accomplished. It's about working
and resting with our Father.
A Puritan Christian once said that.
"A well-spent Sabbath we feel to be
— a day of heaven upon earth."
God has built grace right into
the fabric of creation. He invites
us to receive it with •delight -
like a child greets a snow
day.