The following was part of an Easter Newsletter sent to our congregation.  (March 2021)

Dear friends, I write this message in hope that you may be encouraged with the Easter blessings of    hope and peace.

Easter 2021 has a familiarity to it.  It has been over a year that we have struggled with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.  We weren’t able to gather for in-person worship for Holy Week in 2020 and we are still in that position for this year.

However, we have learned to be the church using technology to bring you Sunday worship. We have continued to reach out to the less fortunate in our financial support of the various Christian Ministries.

A number of us have enjoyed reading through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and will be reading John after Easter. And we have tried to keep in touch with you, our church family, in various ways.  The Board have safely met a few times over the past year to do the necessary work of the church on your behalf and are presently involved in getting some much-needed projects completed.  They are grateful for and applaud our congregation for the continued financial support.

We will be providing the following Holy Week worship services.

Sunday, March 28     Palm Sunday by way of video.

Thursday, April 1      Maundy Thursday by way of video as we remember the events of Jesus’ last night with His disciples and the Last Supper.  We invite you to prepare your own elements as I lead you to partake in the Lord’s table. (The sacrament of communion)

Friday, April 2            Good Friday by way of video.

Sunday, April 4          Easter Worship Service.  We do invite you to attend our out-door service. The service will also be available to watch and listen to from your cars (on FM 107.1) It will also be available for you by way of video.

With the exception of Easter Sunday Worship, 

the Board has recently decided that we will

continue with virtual worship until further notice.  

Out-door worship and/or drive-in worship will happen 

only when offered and advertised.

 

As spring arrives with new life, 

we too are grateful for the New Life 

we find in Jesus. 

May you receive the blessings 

of His life-changing love & His amazing grace 

throughout this Easter season.

From our family to you and yours, praying you have a God-blessed Easter!

Pastor Don

 

Pastor Don’s New Year’s Message

And a plan to help you through the next few months

Dear friends, we once again find ourselves unable to meet for worship but thank goodness for modern technology that we can still be the church. So here's a plan for anyone to continue to find encouragement and hope. Please take time to read through this email and you are welcome to send it to whoever might benefit.

I know that the customary way to share the incoming new year is to say, “Happy New Year”!   I got to thinking, what does that even mean?  A wish for us to be happy this year?  A hope that our year brings health and prosperity?  Or is it just a way of saying, “I’m thinking of you”?   All good thoughts for the upcoming new year…. but As a Christian Pastor I’m more inclined to want more to be said than just a wishful sentiment.  My deepest hope for you is that you would have a “God-blessed year!”  By this I mean for Jesus, our Emmanuel (God with us) to be with you in all situations and at all times, on mountain tops and in the deep dark valleys and for you to truly know Jesus personally as the Shepherd of your soul.

As we entered 2020, our theme for the year was entitled ‘Seeing God With 2020 Vision’.  Our hope was that as we looked into God’s Word, we would get to know God better and know his will for our lives.  Little did we anticipate we would have such an extraordinary year with this Covid 19 pandemic to deal with.  We now enter 2021, and it appears this virus is not going away any time soon, so we continue.  But how we continue is of extreme importance.  I realize, as you do, the toll this is taking on our mental, physical and emotional health, our relationships, our finances, our social and recreational life, etc.    Through it all, I believe we are all in need for something (or someone) to believe in.  We need that something to be stronger than us, to be immovable, solid, trustworthy and personal.   Should we look no further than the One who is all those things, Jesus, our Emmanuel.  

Therefore, we continue, not as a people without hope.  So I offer you the theme “Same God, New Year”, for 2021 worship, study and messages. 

It is my hope that we can be encouraged to see God more clearly. As we begin our journey through this year, it is important to know that God is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow, despite what we humans are going through.   Sometimes I wonder if my vision of God is blurred by what’s going on around me and to me.  One thing I do know is I am guilty of making my God out to be much smaller than He really is. 

I wonder if you share my desire to know God better and have your faith in Him enlarged.  If you are feeling spiritually dehydrated, then you are in the right place.  It’s when we are weak and thirsting for help that we open our minds and our hearts to seek God and find the “Living Water” that totally satisfies and refreshes the soul.  Jesus understands our weak moments and dry times.  Listen to what He promises to those who seek him.   In John 7:37-38, we read, On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

UPCOMING

Join Your Pastor’s New Year’s Resolution

If you are interested in seeing God more clearly, finding God in the mess, finding God’s message in the mess, then I invite you to come with me for 12 weeks of Discovery.   

It is composed of 3 sections to help us deepen our understanding of God’s characteristics and His will for our lives.  In order to do so, we shall look into the Old Testament for the Hebrew names of God ;  We will follow a reading plan through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John); and finally we will discover more about God and make applications out of God’s Word from our weekly reading.

 

“DISCOVERY” SUMMARY

Discover God’s character and expand your faith

1.      Through the Hebrew NAMES OF GOD

2.      Through a 12 week GOSPEL READING PLAN (January to end of March)    

3.      An encouraging message from THE WEEKLY READING (This will also become the source for that week’s virtual message that goes out via Talbotville U.C. website, you tube and facebook).

 

If you would like to receive this study, you just need to register with me by sending an email to pastordonmac@gmail.com by January 10.    I will only be sending out the weekly study to those who respond.  During the study of the Gospels, you can “reply all” to share an insight with others or just “reply” to me if you want to respond to me directly.  The only cost is your time and commitment to make the study of God’s Word as your 2021 New Year’s Resolution.

Hoping and praying for you to have a God-blessed new year!!!

~ In His service and love, ~Pastor Don

Merry Christmas

                       Christmas Day 2020

This photo is a nativity that our churches used over the years as part of the display shown at Pinafore Park.  It brings back lots of memories of those who built it and all those who worked at loading it up, setting it up and taking it down.  

I do admit that I was disappointed that we had to cancel our Christmas Eve out-door service we had planned with this display as the center piece. So yesterday we moved this nativity to our front step to offer the message that Christmas is still alive even through our disappointments and maybe even because of them.

I can understand that there are many who are struggling and most likely weary from the effects of life and what this pandemic has caused.

Friends, what better time than today for us to seek the one who was born in a stable and in a time when people were living in fear and oppression.  And yet God's light shone through the darkness and the Light of the world was born, our Emmanuel, God with us!  And His light still shines for us today!

May Jesus find room in your life and in your home. Let your heart be his manger!  He is the message in the mess.  May God bless you with His love and give you glorious hope, peace and joy.

Moving Forward

 

Building Bridges To Our Future

Building Bridges To Our Future

Bridges are built for us to safely go from one place over an impassible ravine or waterway to another place.  Bridge builders build these bridges by driving steel girders deep into the earth in order to build that bridge on a solid foundation.  Along with the rest of the human race, we the church have come up against an historic horrific situation of  a pandemic.  As we look for God's will for us, His church, we look to our future not knowing what it will look like.  However, I encourage each one of us to remain connected to Jesus, our Rock, and solid foundation upon which we can build upon.  The girders or pillars that we will concentrate on are these six that makes up our ministry as a church... worship, fellowship, outreach, Christian education, communication and administration.

Today, I share with you the pillar of fellowship.  Isolation and social distancing has been difficult upon all of us.  The church has been unable to fulfill this area of our lives until more recent when we were allowed to gather for worship, so we have safely met in an out-door setting, and by video taping and by using an FM transmitter to share the service for those that aren't comfortable in being part of our gathering.  This allows them to stay in their cars and listen on their own car radio. If you are withing 3 km. you can tune in on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. to FM 107.1 to hear our worship service live.  Now, may you find encouragement to remain connected to Jesus as He leads you and His church into a God-blessed future. 

Please read from John's gospel chapter 15.  

May God bless you as you learn from our Teacher, Jesus, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. 

Press On!!

 Philippians 3:12-14

12 Not that I have already obtained all this (righteousness through faith in Christ), or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Message in a sentence:

From prison, Paul encourages Christians to follow his example to “press on” despite their present difficulties. There are good reasons to not give up and persevere.  We likewise have those same good reasons to press on through these troubling times.

My Thoughts:

1.     You must know… the way to get to the finish line.

Illustration:  “Two travelers met at a junction on the road that leads in different directions.  One of the travelers asked the other: "Which way do I go from here?"  The other answered: "That depends entirely on where you want to go. If you don't know where you are going, it doesn't really matter which way you go.  Any road will take you there."  In order to know how to walk in our spiritual journey, we also must know where we are going.”

Paul shares what is needed when you feel overwhelmed and weary. There is a prize awaiting us that God has prepared.  As a follower of Christ, we know the way (He is the Way) and so we stay the course. Knowing this encourages us to press on and to keep the faith.

2.    You must know… the One who is with you every step of the way is also the One who awaits for you at the finishing line.

As a teen in high school, I joined the cross-country team. Our teacher/coach was big on conditioning and endurance training.  In our biggest race of the year, the WOSSA cross-country run, my coach took me aside and said, “It doesn’t matter if you win the race but run the race of your life.  Stay with the lead group. Pace yourself and don’t look back.  I’ll be there at the finishing line waiting for you.”

During that race, I did stay with the head pack of about 20 runners.  I calculated that there were about 80 others behind me.  At the half way point of this 5-mile race, my legs began to weaken and my lungs were hurting.  I began to wonder if I was going to be able to finish. 

Then I remembered to stay focused.  It was like my coach was right there with me, encouraging me. I remember that I found a second wind and knew I would finish the race.  As I pushed through the pain and as I got closer to the end, I began to look for my coach.  He told me he’d be there waiting for me.

That’s Paul’s message to the church of Philippi and to us … press on!  In this life as we are called to persevere, we know that Jesus is with us, guiding us on the right path, to show us the way to the finish line, and there He will be as promised waiting to catch us as we collapse into His arms.

Conclusion:

I remember turning that last corner and there was a crowd of people cheering us on.  Those cheers were an encouragement for us to finish strong. I remember feeling a source of energy that I didn’t think I had and as I looked up I could see the finish line and then I saw my coach waving and cheering me on. Then despite my wobbly legs, I began to sprint. 

Do you think that I won the race?

I crossed the finish line and there to catch me and help me was my coach as promised.  I can’t remember his exact words, but I know it was meant to say, “well done”. 

Remember what Jesus said of those who stay faithful to Him, despite all the ups and downs, valleys and mountains on our journey.  Here it is in Matthew 25:21

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! ……Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Final Words

O yes, I did win the race…. NOT.   But I did win 15^th place out of 100.  No trophy.  No ribbon. No podium.  But I did win a wonderful life lesson to press on.  

And so let me encourage you…

To not give up. That it’s understandable to fall down… be weary… to take a wrong turn… but our faith brings us new energy... to find the strength God gives you to get back up. To stay the course God has laid out for you. 

I am truly grateful for all those cheering me on both here on earth and those from heaven, but especially my life-coach, my Saviour, my Lord, my best friend, my greatest cheer leader, Jesus!

In the name of Jesus….I encourage you... to PRESS ON!!!

The Gift of God: The Holy Spirit

Who and Why is the Holy Spirit?

Covid-19, enemy or gift?   

This seems like a no-brainer. 
Of course it is an enemy that is causing the whole world to go to war against it.  

It has caused a major disruption of our "normal" lives; caused loss of income; cost billions of dollars; caused death; and made us fear for our future.  Enemy?  Absolutely.  And so we must battle on.
Isolation and social distancing are two of the tools being used to fight.  We do our part as front-line workers become our heroes as they fight for us and keep us safe. 
But a gift?  Seems like the thought of a virus on the rampage is not much of a gift.  Especially not a gift to those who have lost a loved one or unable to be with those loved ones who are in hospital or in nursing/retirement homes. Many are facing financial hardship. Others are working from home while trying to be a parent to their children without break. And for us grand parents, we struggle with not being able to hug our grandchildren.  Still others are alone or in difficult relationships. 

Ok, enough already with the bad news.  My intention isn't to make you feel lower than a snake's belly but to offer you some GOOD NEWS!  It's PENTECOST!!!  Why don't I hear shouts of Hallelujah???

Well ok, Covid-19 is not a gift but perhaps it is responsible for us to stop our rat race life-style and consider what things are really important to us; or God wants us to take time to contemplate our faith or lack of faith in God. Has God historically used tough times to get our attention. Yes.
I happen to think that God is using this time to turn our hearts toward Him; that we might know his heart and just how much he loves us and wants us with him forever. 
Pentecost is timely.  It proves to me once again how God has provided by His amazing grace, to reach out to humanity... once with the gift of His Son, and this time by the gift of His Spirit. 
So, I think it's important to find out a few answers about this Gift and why "he" is so important to be in our lives, especially when we are facing such unprecedented times.

Please look at the who and why questions about the Gift of the Holy Spirit and just maybe as you learn from the scriptures and reflect, we might hear the sound of "hallelujah" from the angels of heaven and the believers on earth.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Past, Present and Future... GOD

Pentecost will be celebrated this coming Sunday, May 31. It is based on the out-pouring of God's Spirit into the lives of each of Jesus' disciples.  God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit make up the existence of God.  Each are revealed within the scriptures so that we might know God, His person, His work and His will.  Each person of the Trinity is to be received by faith.

God's Seal That We Forever Belong To Him

The Spirit is God's seal that you are forever His, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered.
(Ephesians 1:13) "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit."

Why the Holy Spirit?

Teaches and reminds

(John 14:26)  “But the Advocate, (God's spokesperson) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Testifies The Truth About Jesus 

(John 15:26)   “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.” (Jesus)

Giver of Good Gifts

Believers receive wonderful gifts through the Spirit 

(Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11).

 “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” The Spirit distributes gifts “just as he determines” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Life Giver

(Romans 8:11)  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Application 

Our Ever-present Helper

(2 Timothy 1:14)   Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Our Prayer

A wise prayer for Christians desiring spiritual stability is, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground” (Psalm 143:10).

Our Walk

Paul encouraged believers to “walk in the Spirit”—keeping in step with Him and applying Scripture in daily living (Galatians 5:25; Romans 8:14). The Spirit who is good and holy desires to lead us in God’s good and holy paths.

My Blessing for you

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)  

Announcement

Please join Diane and I in this coming Sunday's video as we celebrate Pentecost with virtual communion from our home to yours.  Please prepare your own elements and we will lead you in this special time of worship with special music, prayer and scripture.  Although physically apart, remember that believers in Christ are united spiritually. The Spirit who lives in me also lives in you. HALLELUJAH!!!