Mid-Week Message - August 7

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

Has anyone else been watching the Olympic Games these past couple of weeks? I love watching the coverage every two years, when top athletes from around the world gather together to compete, to play, and to be in community with one another. (Minus the competition side of things, maybe this is a bit like a church? Diverse people coming together for a common purpose?)

There have been a couple of moments that have stood out for me in the coverage of the past couple of weeks, but one of my favourites came yesterday afternoon when Canadian Camryn Rogers won the gold medal in the hammer throw. The smile on her face as she stood on the podium lit up the whole stadium; but then after the anthem, when the three medalists were posing together for the formal pictures, all of a sudden the bronze medal winner pulled out her cell phone, and all three of them ignored the official photographers and instead took a selfie together. (In case you missed this moment, you can see a picture of them by clicking here.)

The joy on their faces is infectious. In this moment, it doesn't matter which country they come from; it doesn't matter that one of them threw the hammer a few centimeters more than the other - what matters is that they did their best, they had fun, and that they did it together, encouraging each other to do better.

Wouldn't it be great if the whole world worked this way (minus the winners-and-losers side of competition)? If we could celebrate each others' victories; if we could encourage each other along the way; if we could have fun and play and be joy-full together?

I'm reminded here of a reading that is most often associated with weddings, but can be applied to any community.  "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

That image of a three-fold cord (or a 15-fold cord, or a 100-fold cord) is a great image for community. In ropes, doubling the number of strands doesn't quite double the strength. If you are looking purely for strength, the cumulative strength of individual strands is greater than their combined strength. But the advantage of increasing the number of strands is so that if one strand falters or breaks, the other strands will be there to continue to offer support.

As a community, if someone stumbles and falls, we hold them up. If someone is struggling, we offer a place of rest and refuge. And as a church, the final strand that we add to our rope is God, who is the strand that will never break or fray or bend, but will always be there to strengthen us.

And then, in community with one another, we can run the race that is set before us, we can do the work of loving the world that we are called to do, and we can play and be joyful together. Thanks be to God!

In terms of 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. Our movie tie-in this week is Frozen - if you haven't seen it before, it is available for streaming on Disney+ (and consider yourself forewarned about the "Let it Go" earworm!). I've paired this movie with Colossians 3:12-17 and will be looking at both with themes of forgiveness and reconciliation.

• Movie Nights are continuing through to the end of August, 7pm every Tuesday in the parlour at Westfield United Church. Our upcoming movie schedule will be: Aug. 13:  Pride (2014) - note that I haven't been able to find this movie for streaming anywhere; I've borrowed the DVD from the library Aug. 20:  The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - because we will be doing "Christmas In August" on Sun. Aug. 25! Aug. 27:  Field of Dreams (1989)

• Learning Opportunities - Last week, I included several opportunities for church people to deepen their faith, and I mentioned that there was a new program being launched this fall at the Atlantic School of Theology. The official announcement arrived in my inbox this morning for the launch of the Atlantic School of Discipleship. It looks like a great program (and I can vouch for the instructors who are almost all my former professors). For more information, you can click here.  (And if this looks interesting but you want a deeper dive, a reminder that a Diploma in Theological Studies, a 2-year program, is also available - you can find out more about that program by clicking here.) Both of these programs are fully online.

• Parish of Kingston 240th Anniversary Concert - a reminder that this concert is happening on Saturday evening at 7pm. You can view the poster by clicking here.

• Saint John Pride Parade - a reminder that this is happening on Saturday August 17 beginning at 2pm, and we will be walking with the other Affirming Churches in the Saint John area. Our gathering point is the Smythe Street Parking Lot (33-29 Smythe Street) and the parade ends at the Area 506 Container Village. I have the signs that we have carried in previous years, but feel free to make your own; and I will bring all of our Rainbow Flags from the church. This is a chance for you to wear your most rainbow-y clothing and accessories and be prepared to celebrate as we proclaim loudly and proudly that God's love is for EVERYONE!

And I think that's all that I have for announcements this week.

For my closing thought, I'm going to begin with a story. Last night when I left the church after our movie, I was driving home listening to CBC Radio (as is the case 95% of the time that I'm in my car). It was the program Ideas and all of a sudden I realized that they were talking about faith and church and other interesting things. And then I recognized the voice of Dr. Aruna Gnanadason, an internationally renowned feminist theologian from the Church of South India, whom I got to know when she was the Dean of Students when I participated in the Global Institute of Theology in 2017 (an experience that I renamed "Theological Summer Camp"). It was only as I was arriving home that I realized that the subject of the program was Lois Wilson, the former moderator of the United Church of Canada (and the first female moderator of our denomination, and a former Canadian Senator).

This morning, I was able to go back and listen to the whole program - it is a great exploration of who we are as the United Church of Canada through the story of one extraordinary leader.  If you want to listen to the episode (it's about 55 minutes long), you can find it on the Ideas website by clicking here (and then click the "Play" button right under her picture); or you can find it in your podcast app of choice as I did, by searching for the Ideas episode entitled "For the Sake of the Common Good: Honouring Lois Wilson." It is definitely worth taking an hour out of your day to listen to.

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)