Mid-Week Message - August 6

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!

I'm writing to you from Calgary, just as the 45th General Council of the United Church of Canada is going to get underway.  This afternoon (it is still morning out here!) and tomorrow morning, I'm part of a pre-meeting gathering, then the business will get underway tomorrow evening.  Even though I've only been here for 12 hours, the connections are beginning - there were 3 other people on the same flight as I was on who were also heading to General Council, then I had breakfast this morning with 2 friends/colleagues I hadn't seen in a while (and met one new friend too).

The meeting hasn't even begun yet, but already I'm amazed at the logistics that have gone into planning this event.  From booking travel for people to get here from across the country, to making sure that all of the flights were met at the airport so that we could get to our hotels, to having hotel bookings for all of us - it has been fascinating to watch.  (Our shuttle driver from the airport met the 4 of us who were on the same flight, dropped us off at 3 different hotels, and while we were driving, he was receiving calls from the United Church logistics coordinator and calling other drivers to make sure that the remaining flights last night all had someone there to meet them.

The meeting is going to be hybrid, which means that there will be a parallel set of logistics to make sure that both in-person and online commissioners are able to fully participate in the meeting and decision-making.

Plus there is a youth event happening in parallel to the main meeting, and all of the youth are at the same hotel that I am staying at, so breakfast this morning was in a room full of very excited teens and young adults!

As a reminder, if you would like to follow along with the General Council meeting, there are a couple of ways you can do so:

• You can visit the General Council website by clicking here - here you will find information about the nominees for Moderator, you can read the proposals we will be discussing and voting on, you can access the latest news from General Council that will be updated regularly once the meeting begins, and you will find a link to go to the livestream.

• The livestream will be happening on the United Church of Canada's YouTube channel which you can access by clicking here. The first livestream is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:45 Mountain Time, which is 9:45pm in NB.  (Most of the proceedings will happen during the day, so will be at a more reasonable time!)

• I suspect that there will be updates throughout the week in the United Church's Facebook page - if you don't already follow them, you can find their page by clicking here.

• And finally, I hope to put updates on the Two Rivers Pastoral Charge Facebook Page (click here) throughout my time in Calgary!

Finally, I do ask that you hold the United Church of Canada in prayer over the next week - for our denomination's leadership, as well as for the commissioners who have travelled here and for the commissioners who will be participating on Zoom.  We will be making decisions that impact how the church functions as a church, as well as how we respond to needs in the world.

Moving on to announcements this week:

• Worship on Sunday will be at 9:15 at Summerville (outside, weather permitting) and at 11:15 at Westfield and on Facebook Live.  This week's "Wait?! What?! That's in the bible???" story is one of the prophet Elijah being carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot, leaving Elisha to continue the work he left unfinished - 2 Kings 2:1-18.  This is a story that has lots of connections to other, better-known, stories in the bible, but it is one that we don't read very often.  Thank you to our Session members who will be stepping up to lead worship this Sunday!

• Movie Nights - our movie nights are continuing, even while I'm away, thanks to Brenda (and her tech support, Joe).  Next week, the day of the week had to be changed, so the movie will be on WEDNESDAY August 13, still at 7pm.  The movie next week will be Super 8 - an alien/mystery/thriller film from 2011.  You can read more and watch the trailer by clicking here.

• Cool Chicks and Ugly Doclings - in case you are curious about why the movie is changed from Tuesday to Wednesday next week, it is because Brenda and the other Cool Chicks and Ugly Docs are going to be performing next Tuesday, August 12, as part of Portland's summer music series. I know that they have many fans around Two Rivers, so if you would like to head into town to hear them perform, the concert starts at 7pm at Portland United Church.

• Save the Dates:

  Pride Parade - Sat. Aug. 16, meet in the Red Rose Parking Lot at 12:30pm

  Pride Worship Service - Sun. Aug. 17 at 10am at Quispamsis United

  Church Picnic - Sun. Sept. 7, 11am, cottage of Anne and Ross Titus

Thank You Corner - this week's Thank You goes out to Joan Small, for everything that she does for the church (all 3 of our churches). Last week, in addition to everything else, she also joined me at the Snow Centre on Wednesday to play for a chapel service there, and then Thursday morning pulled together a rehearsal for the Long Reach Singers who will be singing a piece as part of the Pride Service on August 17.

And that's it for this week!  For a closing thought, I want to share a link to an image shared a couple of weeks ago by Kate Bowler. What other meanings might you put to the letters ASAP that might help us to become more human? I am know that I am probably more guilty than anyone at trying to push and rush and do and grind; but I have been enjoying the slower pace that summer brings.  You can see the image by clicking here.

Blessings to you and yours, today and always!

Kate.

Rev. Kate Jones

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

(506) 757-2201 (office)

(506) 343-1307 (mobile)

www.tworiverspastoralcharge.com

Pronouns:  she/her/hers

"Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"

Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself."

(Matthew 22:36-39)