Mid-Week Message - March 19

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you! Last Saturday was Pi(e) day, and as we have done for the past several years, we gave away free pie in front of Westfield United Church on Saturday morning. Alas, it was snowing (quite heavily at times), so there weren't many cars out and about, and those that were out tended to be reluctant to stop.  (We ended up calling it a day after the snowplow went by on both sides of the road, leaving behind a snowplow bank.)

I've sometimes said that PIE Day is my favourite holiday on the church calendar, and my love for it is layered (a bit like a good flaky pastry).

I am a geek, and I come from a family that embraces our geeky-ness, so a holiday dedicated to a mathematical concept delights me. March 14 or 3-14 is chosen as pi day, since the mathematical constant known as pi or π begins 3.14 (and then the digits go on to infinity).

From there, Pi day becomes associated with pies and other baked goods due to a combination of word play and mathematics. Pies are often circular, and the circumference of a circle is 2πr and the area of a circle is πr².  And who doesn't love a good pie?!

And then the third layer of my love for the day comes with the church connection, and more specifically the Affirming ministry connection. As an Affirming church, we are called to be Public, Intentional, and Explicit that all people, of every gender identity and sexual orientation, are created in God's image, and are beloved by God. We are to be public (it isn't enough to keep this message within the walls of our buildings). We are to be intentional (we make a point of it, rather than letting it happen accidentally). And we are to be explicit (it needs to be more than a generic "everyone is welcome").

And if we can celebrate being PIE with literal pie on pi day, even better!

Each tart that we gave away on Saturday was packaged up with a sticker that had a rainbow flag and the words "God Loves You!"

I keep thinking back to a talk that I attended last year by Diana Butler Bass, a public theologian in the US.  She was speaking in the chapel of the Atlantic School of Theology (AST) in Halifax as part of a big homecoming event, and she said (I'm probably paraphrasing here), "The church today is trapped between two ugly and false narratives in the world. One says that the church is evil and corrupt and beyond saving. The other says that Christian Nationalism is the only way forward. But we know that there is a different way. We know that we have a message that is too beautiful to contain within the walls of our churches."

The message that has been entrusted to us - a message about a God whose very essence is unconditional love; a message about meaning being found in community with one another as we serve God's work together; a message about a God whose image is big enough to contain all people; a message about the Holy Spirit who is transforming us into the very hands and feet of Christ - this message is far to beautiful to keep to ourselves, or to contain within our churches.

Last Saturday, we carried this message beyond our walls, offering this message of deep and abounding love to people driving past in a very simple way. And we had fun while doing so!

But once a year isn't enough. I invite you to think of other ways that we might carry this beautiful message that has been entrusted to us out into the world, and I'd love to hear your ideas!

Jesus told a parable about a landowner who went on a long journey and while he was gone, he entrusted three of his slaves to care for his possessions in his stead. Two of the slaves used what they had been given, and doubled their value, and were praised for what they had done. The third slave buried what he had been given in the ground - hid it away, and gave the owner exactly what he had been given, and for this he was condemned. (Matthew 25:14-30)

When I was a student, I spent a semester wrestling with this parable in one of the courses I was taking, and in the end, I came to the conclusion that the treasure that was entrusted to the slaves was the good news of God's love. It is a more precious possession than anything else, yet if we hide it away, bury it in the ground, it becomes worthless. Good news, when shared with another person, becomes doubly precious.

(And if you missed seeing our pictures from Saturday, you can click here to see the album!)

Moving on to announcements for this week:

• Worship on Sunday will be at 9:15 at Summerville and 11:15 at Westfield and on Facebook Live. This is the 5th Sunday in Lent - Holy Week is drawing closer! - so we will be extinguishing our 5th Lenten Candle. In our "Hungering for God" series, this week we will be "Hungering for Newness" as we read the story of the Valley of the Dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14). I challenge you to hear this reading without humming "Dry Bones"!

• Next week will be Student Minister Steve's last session in his Lenten Bible Study, "Encounters with Paul." This will be on Wednesday from 10-11:30 in the parlour at Westfield United Church.

• Our Tuesday Pray for Peace with Hands and Heart  gathering next week will be at Summerville at 7pm. This time around, we will be praying for Peace Between Nations, and we will have a different activity that engages our bodies in prayer.  To see the poster with the full schedule, you can click here.

• The next Westfield Choir Concert titled "The Best of The Best" is coming up one week today on Thursday March 26 at 7pm at Westfield United Church. Tickets will be $30 at the door; or if you subscribed to the full series, you can show that ticket at the door. This is going to be a very special concert, as each choir member chose their favourite anthem and will be introducing it - we truly will be singing our best, since we will be singing the music that we love to sing.

• Paper Shredding Event - I received a call at the church this week asking for more information about the upcoming paper shredding fundraiser, and I though I would share more details here in case anyone else has questions. On Saturday May 23, there will be an industrial paper shredding truck in the parking lot at Westfield United Church from 9am - 1pm, and you can bring anything you need to get shredded - however many bags and boxes you need to get rid of. Anyone can come - individuals, businesses, non-profits - we just ask for a free-will offering towards the work of the church in exchange for getting your shredding done. Volunteers will be onsite if you need help unloading your car, and if you want, you can even watch the shredding happening on a screen on the outside of the truck! To see the event poster, you can click here; and for a list of what can and can't be shredded, you can click here. (Spoiler: the only thing on the "can't" list is binders!)

• Holy Week is coming up soon - to see the poster with our services, you can click here.

  Palm Sunday (March 29) - 9:15 at Long Reach; 11:15 at Westfield and FB Live

  Maundy Thursday (April 2) - 6pm at Westfield (no livestreaming due to the nature of this service). Worship will be woven together with a catered meal (catered by Debbie Childs). We ask you to "pay what you can" for the meal (with a suggested amount of $20 that would cover the cost of the meal/taxes/tip - if you can't may that much, that is OK, and if you would like to give more to help off-set the cost of the meal for others, that is also gratefully received).

  Good Friday (April 3) - 11am at Long Reach and FB Live

  Easter Sunrise (April 5) - 7:00am at Brundage Point River Centre - we will greet the sun as it peeks over the horizon, and celebrate the empty tomb. Dress for the weather, and afterwards we will head over to Westfield United Church for a potluck breakfast and the warmth of fellowship.

  Easter Services (April 5) - 9:15 at Summerville; 11:15 at Westfield and FB Live

  Holy Week tells a story, from the triumph tinged by fear of Palm Sunday, through the tenderness of Maundy Thursday, through the grief and pain of Good Friday, through the emptiness of Holy Saturday, and on to the joy of resurrection at Easter. I invite you to join us on this journey this year - to move through all of the feelings of the week rather than jumping from Sunday to Sunday. The joy of resurrection is that much greater if you travel through Good Friday to get there.

• Flower Service Dates - grab your calendars! These services aren't until July, but I know that some of you like to plan your summer (or invite out-of-town family) around these special services.

  Westfield:  Sunday July 12 at 11:15am

  Summerville:  Sunday July 12 at 2:00pm

  Long Reach:  Sunday July 19 at 11am
  

Thank You Corner:  This week's thank you has to go out to everyone who made PIE Day another success this year. Thank you to all of you who baked or bought tarts to donate to the effort. (I can't name you, because I wasn't around the church when most of you were dropping them off!) And a special thank you to Brenda, Daniel, Cindy, and Chris who braved the weather last Saturday to give away free pie with a message of God's love.

For a closing thought this week, I want to share Nadia Bolz-Weber's sermon from last Sunday. She was preaching on the same story that we read last Sunday (John 9:1-41, the story of a man born blind who was given sight), and had a take that resonated with the direction I took the story, but that isn't quite the same. When I read it on Monday, I felt it, so I wanted to share it with all of you. You can read it by clicking here.

(My apologies for sending this message a day later than usual. I started writing it yesterday afternoon, but didn't get it done in time to send.)

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)