The Auction Committee has been working hard on our Christmas Wish Live & Silent Auction which will be on Saturday, November 27th. Desserts/coffee/tea and viewing will begin at 7:00 pm and the live auction will start at 7:30 pm. Bring your friends! Bring your Christmas List because you just might be able to do your Christmas shopping! Children are welcome to come (wear your pajamas, bring a pillow, blanket or sleeping bag) to watch a movie and have popcorn in the foyer.
Here's an almost complete list of items being offered for auction:
A delicious array of holiday baking:
·Key Lime Pies
·Scones
·Cookies
·Cheesecakes
·Large pots of soup
·Shortbread cookies
·Chocolate Cupcakes
·Meatloafs
Wonderful gifts of service:
·3 hours of housecleaning
·Lawn aeration
·Hosted Dinner for 4
·Take load of garbage to dump
·3 – 4 hours of baby sitting
·Dog walking/sitting
·2 hours of Christmas Gift Wrapping
·Door to door drop off and pick up at Pearson Airport for up to 4 people
·45 minute set of Old Time Country Music to be performed at your summer event
·Port Elgin cottage rental for 1 week, including 1 hour rental of 4 water bikes
Beautiful gifts of arts and crafts:
·Debbie Ellis water colour painting of Black Bridge
·Bill Westbrook original Cardinal on canvas
·Quilted Christmas Tree wall hanging
·Knit mittens and small crocheted afghan
·Hand knit men’s and women’s sweaters
·2 knit items chosen from catalogue
·Homemade Christmas and all occasion cards
·Christmas Stockings
·First edition hand-bound book
Sports &Entertainment:
·Golf passes to Savannah and Golf North
·KW Symphony Christmas Concert Tickets
One of a kind gifts:
·Signed Looneyspoons cookbook
·Child’s recliner
·Sunlounger
·Collectors quality ceramic tiles
·Ukulele
·Holiday Star
·Sail duffle bags
Last, but not least, an outstanding selection of beautiful gift baskets and gift cards:
·Session, Christian Education, Fellowship, Mission & Outreach, Operations gift baskets
·Tim Hortons Gift basket
·Gadsby’s Gift Basket and gift card
·Wispers Gift basket including pedicure certificate
·Blackshop, Melville Cafe, State & Main, East Side Marios, Edible Arrangements, Mothers, Fiftys, Fionn MacCool’s, The Keg gift cards
agdalena, I have decided that I want to speak to you today. On some long distant day, your parents will likely tell you the story of how they chose to give you your name. And the story they will tell you, I happen to know, will go something like this: When your mom was only a couple of weeks pregnant with you, your grandma got a phone call from your great Aunt Maggie who lived way out west. She had called to tell your grandma, before your mom had said a word, that your mom was pregnant and that she was going to have a girl.
That event was what prompted your parents to name you after your great Aunt Maggie (whose full name, of course, is Magdalena). And I’m sure you can be proud of being named after her – a strong woman who is obviously sensitive to things that many of us are not.
But I didn’t really want to talk to you about your Great Aunt Maggie today, but about another woman – maybe one of the strongest I have ever heard of – after whom you are also named. We know her, as Mary Magdalene, one of the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Now, Mary Magdalene is a very important person in Christian tradition. Down through the centuries, all kinds of things have been said and written about her. She has often been identified as a prostitute or as that repentant woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. I wanted to tell you first of all, Magdalena, that there is absolutely no reason to think that Mary Magdalene was any of those things. At least, at no point does the Bible say any such things about her. These are all ideas that somehow became attached to the figure of Mary Magdalene in later church traditions.
It might even be that these negative images of Mary were intentionally connected to her by later church leaders as a kind of a smear campaign. You see, she was a little bit embarrassing to later Christians because it is pretty obvious that she was an important leader in the early church and, as time went by, an increasingly male-dominated church didn’t feel comfortable with the idea that women could even be leaders.
So, Magdalena, ignore what later Christians and traditions said about Mary Magdalene and lets just concentrate on what the Bible says about her. It may not seem like there is a lot in the Bible, but I think that what there is you will find very interesting.
The first thing that we know about her is her name: Mary Magdalene. And that name marks her already as someone rather unique. Most women in that world at that time would have used a name that indicated her relationship to some man in her life. So a normal name for someone like her should have been Mary, daughter of Jacob or Mary the mother of James or, as we have in an example in the passage we read from the Gospel of Luke, Joanna, the wife of Chuza. This was because women, in that world, were defined and limited by the men in their life. I’m not saying that it was right – I’m just saying that that was how it was.
But Mary Magdalene doesn’t have that kind of name. Already that marks her as unusual – as a strong and independent woman who was able to make a mark on the world all by herself. Wouldn’t it be something to be named after a woman like that!
But what is the meaning of her name if it is not a reference to some man. The last part of her name most likely refers to the place where she comes from. It means that she comes from the town of Magdala. And, as it turns out, that also tells us a lot about her because we have learned a few things about that place. Magdala, in the first century ad, was an important town on the west coast of the Sea of Galilee. It would have been a fairly prosperous town when Mary was born there with three local industries: fishing, fish processing and textiles. In fact, Magdala was so prosperous that some of its citizens came together to build one of the very few stone synagogues to be found anywhere in the region at the time
The name of the town, Magdala, meant tower. Some have suggested that the name referred to some tall structure in the town built for the drying of fish orfor some step in the process of dying clothes, but I suspect that the name actually came from something else. The most prominent geographical feature of the town was a cliff (the south end of Mount Arbel) that stood just outside of town. This distinctive cliff watched over the entire town like a protective bodyguard. Its distinctive form would have led fishermen like a beacon safely to their home harbour from far out over the lake. It even looked like a tower. So I believe that the south end of Mount Arbel gave the town its name.
So there young Miryam grew up for her entire life under the shadow of that tower – the cliff of Mt. Arbel. And life must have been pretty good while she was young, but then, everything changed almost overnight. In the year 20 AD – that is, about ten years before a man named Jesus showed up on the scene – King Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, did something stunning. He totally reorganized his kingdom. He abandoned his capital city, which he had been building for years at a place called Sephoris, and decided to build a brand new capital in a brand new city that he called Tiberias.
Why would Herod do that? Capital cities are expensive and kings don’t just move them for no reason. And it is not too hard to guess what the reason might have been based on the location of the city. Herod built his new city, Tiberias, on the west coast of the Sea of Galilee, about a half day’s journey south of Magdala. So, any guesses why Herod would have made a massive investment to build a city on the shores of the largest freshwater lake in that part of the world? As with most things that politicians do, you would probably be right if you said that it was about money.
Specifically, Herod was making a bet that he could make a lot of money by taking direct control of the fishing industry on the Sea of Galilee. Herod had the power to force fishermen to take their catches to his new docks at Tiberias. He would force them to pay for the privilege of getting their fish processed in his new factories (and they were certainly not allowed to take them anyplace else). Basically, Herod was taking over every aspect of the fish trade and skimming as much money as he could off of the top.
If Mary Magdalene was born around 10 ad in Magdala, can you imagine how her world must have changed when she was about ten years old? All of a sudden, the fish processing plants in her town were shutting down, fishermen were getting less money for their catches and everyone she knew was struggling just to get by. Assuming that she was a smart, intelligent young woman (which she clearly was) how do you suppose she might have reacted? I’ll tell you how she reacted: she got mad. She spoke up and said that this was not right and that Herod was gouging his people.
How do I know that that was how she reacted? Well, that brings us to the second thing that we are told about her in our reading from the Gospel of Luke this morning. When she is introduced, we are told that, at some point in her life, she had had seven demons and that these demons have gone out from her. At some point in her life, she had been labeled by the people around her as being demon possessed.
Now what might lead people to do that? It was not uncommon in the ancient world for many different things to be diagnosed as demon possession. This would include things that we now understand to be mental illnesses or disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or epilepsy. We have fortunately learned today that those problems have nothing to do with evil influences and we are much the better for it.
But it wasn’t just mental illnesses that ancient people blamed on demons. In fact, anytime anyone behaved in ways that that were not considered to be acceptable, people were very likely to blame that behaviour on demon possession.
So, what do you think that the people of Magdala might have said about a young woman of their town who, instead of being quiet and obedient as all young women were expected to be, started to speak up, to complain about the policies of the king and how they were devastating her family, friends and neighbours? I’ll tell you what they said – they said that she had a demon, or maybe even seven of them.
So I am now even more convinced that Mary Magdalene was a strong woman who dared to stand up and speak her mind about the injustice that she saw in the world. And, what’s more she paid the price for her defiance by seeing her friends and neighbours reject her and become afraid of her because they thought that she had a demon or seven. Again, Magdalena, I think you should be proud to be named after such a strong woman.
But there is one more thing that we recognize about Mary Magdalene today. Something changed for her. Her neighbours in Magdala may have feared her because they thought that she had demons, but they also recognized that something happened to her that released her from those demons. What do you suppose that was? I don’t think it is a big stretch to think that the big change happened when Mary met Jesus. But how did that go down?
The town of Magdala is only mentioned once in the New Testament (apart from Mary Magdalene’s name) and that is in the passage that we read from the Gospel of Matthew this morning. According to at least some of the original manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew, after Jesus miraculously fed bread and fish to four thousand Galilean men and probably just as many women and children in the desert, he went to Magdala. Not all ancient manuscripts say that. Different ancient manuscripts that have been discovered say that he went to Magadan or even to Magadala. You have to read the footnotes in your Bible to actually find the name of the town of Magdala. But all of those words, if they mean anything, seem to be pointing us to the same region – the region close to Magdala.
And if Jesus went to Magdala or anyplace close to Magdala soon after the miracle of the loaves and the fishes in the wilderness, I cannot help but think that that was when he met Mary Magdalene. And I believe that there was a connection between those two events. Jesus cast the demons out of Mary Magdalene’s life at that point – demons that had come upon her because she was so angry at how Herod was claiming all of the fish in the Sea of Galilee for himself.
Well, what had Jesus just done before he went to Magdala? He had performed a miracle for the people in the wilderness. We usually focus on the miraculous nature of his provision when we read the story, of course. What we often miss is that, in the political context, what Jesus had just done also had a political dimension. He had just taken the fish of the Sea of Galilee and distributed it (free of charge) to the people of Galilee. He had taken the bread of Galilee and done likewise. He had defied the plans of Herod who was in the process of claiming all of these things for himself. And then he went to Magdala, one of the places hardest hit by those very policies.
In Magdala he met Mary, whom he set free from her seven demons. How did he do that? I suspect that he had just demonstrated to her (and to all of Galilee) that there were ways to resist what Herod was doing without falling into rage and depression and violence. He had shown her another way – the way of the kingdom of God. These demons were not cast out of her life so much as the energy that had fed these demons of hers was redirected towards a noble cause.
And on that day, Mary became a follower of Jesus. And not just any follower. A leader in his group. Jesus had this habit of giving nicknames to his key leaders. He called James and John, two bothers, the “Sons of Thunder.: One of them, a guy named Simon, he liked to call “rock” because he was so tough and stubborn. We remember the Greek translation of that nickname and call him Peter. Well, I think that Jesus gave Mary a nickname too. He called her the Magdalene. It wasn’t just a reference to where she came from, though, he was calling her a tower – he was calling her the one who would watch over and protect his movement. She mattered that much.
Magdalena, you have been named after a great and wonderful woman. I hope (and honestly, knowing your mother whose quest for what is right I also admire, wouldn’t be terribly surprised) if you grow up to be a woman like Mary Magdalene who is scandalized at the injustice that happens in this world and who demands that it stops. Our prayer for you – and this is why we have welcomed you into the church by baptism today – is that you may also find (as Mary Magdalene found) a way to channel that quest for justice towards peace, reconciliation and understanding in the kingdom of God which is, we believe, the true hope for a better world.
140CharacterSermon Mary #Magdalena teaches that we can make a difference by channeling our anger at injustice towards #hope in God’s kingdom
Many thanks to our young servers, to everyone who baked the scrumptious Christmas goodies, to the ladies who made and supplied to Christmas aprons for our servers, to our Deacons, to our Youth Band and to everyone else who helped in any way and to those who came out today.
Some of our servers arranging plates of Christmas goodies.
Our Youth Band played three Christmas pieces. Everyone enjoyed the music.
Enjoying those Christmas goodies, a coffee and some time to visit.
This is a BIG thank you for your generosity to the Session Meat Pie fundraiser. The order window is now closed as Kerri Prong and her associates are building the orders. If you missed this time we will be reopening the process again in late winter 2017.
I’d like to recap what a success this fundraiser is. There were 13 featured products available and 6 fruit pie alternatives. Many of you noticed the sweet pies were available and have already ordered them. The next order cycle will see the fruit pies featured and the meat pies still available. Featured in the merchandising trade usually means discounted prices – and yes they will be.
Here’s the early synopsis of how this will help St. Andrews achieve sustainable finances. 776 products were ordered in 71 individual orders with an estimated profit of $1,600. This goes directly to pay down the debt - 100% to the cause with 0% overhead.
In development of this fundraiser there were a number of suggestions on additions to the traditional meat pie fare. If you have any requests for additions to the menu kindly tell me and we’ll see how this can be accomplished.
From me to you I humbly thank you for your support of St Andrews and will talk to you again in the New Year.
Any donations of new toys, clothing or gift cards for this event would be appreciated. We would also like some Christmas baking for our Christmas Café, if you are able to bake something we would also appreciate that!
For any questions or if you can help in any way please contact Joni [email protected]
Thank you for your support of the meat pie, fundraiser. Your orders are placed and Nutritious and Delicious are planning/making your orders. November 26 - 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, November 27 – 11:30 am to 3:00 pm, and November 27 - 9:00 am to 3:00 pm are the designated times available for pickup. Please use the Spring St. entrance to the new kitchen when picking up. It would be appreciated if you could bring reusable bags or boxes for your order.
A special delivery and distribution to St. Luke’s’ onNovember 26th will be made. Details will be available soon.
We need help! To enable this three-day distribution 10 volunteers will be needed. 2-3 hours of time will make the difference. Please contact Rob Hodgson to make this fundraiser a reality.
I am very excited to announce that starting on November15 for 5 days, the eBook version of my book, Caesar's Census, God's Jubilee, will be available for free on Amazon website. This is a wonderful book to read right now to get a fresh perspective on the Christmas Story in the Bible.
Follow these links to download your copy before this extraordinary opportunity is gone. Make sure you share this news with others too!
Here is some more information about what the book explores:
According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus of Nazareth was born during a census that had been ordered by Caesar Augustus and, because of this census, his parents made a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, arriving just in time for his birth. It is a wonderful story that has inspired millions down through the ages, but it is also a story that has left some very puzzled.
Questions abound for many readers of the story who have any knowledge of the history of those times. Questions like:
Did Caesar really conduct a census of the whole world at once?
When did such a census take place?
When is Luke saying that Jesus was born?
Why does Luke say that all the people registered for the census in the places where their ancestors came from?
Doesn’t it make more sense to register people where they actually live?
What was the normal Roman procedure for taking censuses?
This book is an attempt to work through questions like this is a way that takes the scriptural story seriously but that also deals honestly and openly with what we know about the historical situation. It does this in two ways.
Rethinking
This book suggests that we have simply misunderstood some things about Luke’s nativity story. This is partly because we have insisted on harmonizing his story with the nativity story in the Gospel of Matthew. It also explores how the Old Testament notion of jubilee might offer a better reason for the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
Reimagining
The nativity story has been painted and drawn by some of the greatest artists who have ever lived, sung by some of the greatest singers and told by some of the greatest storytellers. A whole rich and well-populated world has grown up around the nativity story—a world so detailed that it seems very real even if much of it has little connection with the Biblical accounts. Because of this, it is not enough to just an attempt to correct a few misunderstandings about the Christmas story. New ideas would seem to attack that entire imaginative world that has grown up around the story over the centuries and would be resisted for that reason alone.
Therefore this book also includes some retelling of the Christmas story in short vignettes (called interludes) that help us to imagine the journey of Mary and Joseph within a historical setting that Luke would recognize.
Warning: if you read this book, you just might not be able to see the old familiar Christmas story in the same way ever again.
here is a river, called the Gihon, that flows to this day in the city of Jerusalem. It is a small stream, but a vital one, flowing, as it does, in a part of the world where water is scarce and a reliable source can mean the difference between life and death. It is also an unusual river because it is fed by a spring, the Gihon Spring, that is unlike most every other spring in the world. It doesn’t flow steadily, you see. It is an intermittent spring. At regular intervals it surges up and then it stops.
The importance and uniqueness of this river probably had a lot to do with the beliefs that developed about it. And it seems that there were many such beliefs. The ancient Israelites almost certainly saw it as a holy place. This was not necessarily official doctrine, but it was a popular belief. It is, as I explained last week, identified as one of the four rivers that flowed from the original paradise. It was the place where they anointed their kings and a sign that God was with them. And there is even a story in the Gospel of John that indicates that they believed that, when the spring did periodically surge forth and fill a pool that had been constructed, the waters of the Gihon had healing power.
The evidence seems to indicate, anyways, that this river (together with the nearby temple of Solomon) was one of the key places where these people experienced the presence of their God in some powerful ways. And we all have such places, don’t we? I know that our official theology states that the God who we believe in is not limited by time or by space. And one thing that that means is that there isn’t any particular spot on this earth, or even in the vast universe, where God is not. But that is not necessarily how it works in our experience.
The truth is that those who have had significant experiences of God have generally found that such experiences are much easier to find (or to be surprised by) in particular places and at certain times. That is not to suggest that everyone has experiences of God in all the same places. For some, a beautiful church building such as this one where we find ourselves is the place where they have most consistently found God, but churches don’t necessarily work the same for everyone. I know many who would say that they are much more likely to encounter God walking in the woods or along a beach than in a church. But that does not change the fact that, for most of us, there will always be certain places in our world where God just seems to be closer.
Well, one of those places for many ancient Israelites was the Gihon River in Jerusalem – a holy place that was maybe second only to the nearby temple of the Lord. And, as I say, it is wonderful to have places like that in your life. But there is also a risk that comes with that. What happens when you lose such places? Does that mean that you lose your God?
This was not just a theoretical question for them. The time came when the City of Jerusalem was attacked and besieged by the armies of the king of Babylon and, despite the presence of the River Gihon within the strong walls of the city, the city could not hold out against the invaders. Jerusalem fell. It was sacked by the invaders and then reduced to rubble. Even the holy temple of the Lord, the home of Yahweh, was left as nothing but a pile of stones. And then the Babylonians did something worse, they took the people of the city and the surrounding countryside and forced them to march off to exile in Babylon which was like a world away.
Of course this was a disaster on so many levels – devastation and loss that might feel familiar to modern day citizens of Syrian cities like Aleppo. But one particularly terrible aspect of this was the loss of those places where they had experienced their God. When you lose such places and especially when you are forcibly removed from the entire vicinity, does that mean that you lose your God too?
This was an especially urgent question in ancient times because people tended to think of their gods in very simple ways. Most ancient gods were seen as being tied to particular places. The gods of Egypt, for example, were the gods of Egypt. It was just assumed that they had no power once you left the Nile Valley. And as far as the people of Israel knew, their God was the same – after all, the question of whether the God of Israel could be present in other lands had simply never come up before. So, as far as they knew, when they left Mount Zion and the Gihon River, they would not be cut off from their God forever.
In fact, they did find their God in Babylon when they got there which was probably a big surprise. It led them to rethink everything they knew about God and was an important step towards the understanding we have of a God who is not limited by time and space. But they didn’t know that when they left. As far as they knew, when they left the Gihon, they were leaving their God.
One of the people who lived through that dramatic experience was a man named Ezekiel. He was a prophet and he saw the disaster coming and that there was nothing that could stop it. And Ezekiel was very concerned about what it meant that the people might lose their God. He even had a vision where he saw a great cloud of glory, which represented the presence of God, depart from the temple, seemingly forever. (Ezekiel 11:22)
But, though God gave Ezekiel a heads up about what was coming, he also sent other messages his way – messages of hope and of new beginnings. Ezekiel had many visions during this difficult time but one of them has proved the most enduring and meaningful. Even as the temple was being threated and destroyed (or perhaps had already been destroyed – it is hard to establish exactly when he had his visions) Ezekiel received a vision of a new temple that included, as we read this morning, a renewed Gihon River.
It is his glorious vision of the river that particularly interests me today. The river he sees is a little different from the actual Gihon River. As Ezekiel sees it, it no longer flows from near the temple mount but from the very threshold of the temple itself, but that is clearly a symbolic change and we may recognize it as the Gihon.
I believe that, if you want to understand what this vision meant to Ezekiel, you have to enter into his frame of mind. What did the loss of the temple mount and of the river – these places where he and his people had met with God – mean to him? We can’t know exactly what it felt like to him, of course, but I think that we can find some ways to sympathize. I know that many of us have felt a similar sense of loss in and through the life of the church in recent decades.
You see, one of the realities that we cannot simply avoid dealing with in the church these days is change. Across the board, churches are changing and adapting their worship and their programs and activities. Many don’t like it, I realize, but it seems to be inevitable for a number of reasons. Some churches do resist all change, of course. They’d rather die than change, they say in word and in deed. They often get what they wish for and die all the quicker as unchanged as possible, but, of course, death is a kind of change too so it really does seem that change is inescapable these days.
The fear of change has become so powerful that it is driving political change. I don’t know how to explain the events that took place in the United States this past week without understanding it in terms of huge numbers of people voting as a block to turn back the clock on change that has been taking place in society. But even such a desperate reaction and backlash will not slow the pace of change. It will overtake us all. The Babylonian army that is bringing the change of everything is outside the gate and I don’t care how high Trump builds his wall, he won’t be able to keep it out.
The big problem we have with change is the same problem that Ezekiel and his friends were dealing with. We, like they, have learned to know God in certain places and at certain times. And, of course, churches on Sunday mornings and at other key moments have traditionally been one of these places where we have encountered God. The church has been our River Gihon and Holy Temple Mount. But the pace of change means that these holy places have become strange to us and we may even have lost some of them. The natural fear is that the loss of these places will mean that we have lost God.
But Ezekiel’s vision of the Gihon, as I say, is a comfort. So what does his vision say that might be helpful to us in times of such change? Well first of all, Ezekiel’s vision of a new Gihon springs, “from below the threshold of the temple.” It is a promise of God’s ongoing presence with the people. They may destroy the temple, it might be razed to the ground, and the course of the river may be fouled, but the spring will pour forth its water again.
And notice that the river, as Ezekiel sees it, no longer has that intermittent flow that he and all the people of Jerusalem would have been used to. Now it flows steadily and without interruption. This is surely a sign to us of God’s constancy for us during times of change. Everything else may change but God remains the same.
But it is not enough for Ezekiel, or for us, that the river merely continues to exist. The more important question is, how we will continue to find God in times of change. This Ezekiel is able to discover by exploring the river. First he is taken to a place one thousand cubits from the city. (That is about a half a kilometer or this distance from here to Harvey St.) Here, Ezekiel discovers, the water of the Gihon is now flowing about ankle deep. You know, just perfect for splashing around in – refreshing, pleasant and cool.
This represents how we find God again after times of great change. Our first experience of God may be ankle deep. We may be splashing around and refreshing ourselves in the water of God’s presence with us, but, in the initial stages of dealing with change, we may not find that there is a great deal of depth to our new understandings of God.
That is okay though, because Ezekiel’s vision is not finished. And what he finds is that as he moves farther down the stream and away from the familiar places and ways that he experienced God, something surprising happens – the river flows deeper and deeper until soon its flow becomes overwhelming. God is not merely promising to be with us in times of great change here, he is promising to bring us to new depths in our understanding and meaning. If we are willing to engage with God in this journey of change with openness, God is promising to reveal himself to us in new and powerful ways.
And there is an even more exciting promise than that, for we learn that as the Gihon River flows on from there, it becomes a power that is able to transform the world. So sweet and fresh is its water, we are told, that is it able to make even the toxic waters of the Dead Sea (which Ezekiel calls the Arabah) fresh and able to support huge schools of fish. Here the promise is not only that God will be with us to refresh us but that also God will flow through us to renew the whole world.
I know change is hard for all of us. It is especially hard when we see change in an institution like the church where we have so many past experiences of the presence of God. You can resist against all that change. You can fight to keep everything the same or to put everything back the way that it was. You can even vote for Trump. You can try but, given the realities we are living with today, I don’t think that you will succeed.
But if you can find a way to move with the current of change – to embrace it and let it flow through you – I think that you might find that Ezekiel’s vision has a lot of truth in it and the further you go, the deeper and more powerful your experience of God will be.
140CharacterSermon Change is hard. We’re afraid to lose God. Ezekiel’s vision of Gihon says relationships with God can deepen in such times.
Communion December 21 & 24 for evening services. Servers, stations, and directions
The congregation is encouraged to follow the blue arrows as shown. Approach by the outside aisles and return via the centre aisles. Kindly move to an open station if a lot of people are standing on line to be served.
