May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!
I was just saying to Elaine (who is working in the next office over), how can it be the middle of October already?! Life in the church has been busy in the past month, as we have gradually re-opened our building with the new (and always changing) Covid protocols. It is good to be back, and to see your faces again (at least the top half of your faces), even as things are different than they were in the "before times." And I do thank you for your patience as we (both the church and the world around us) learn how to "dance" with this new virus in order to keep everyone safe.
I hope that you all had a good and a safe Thanksgiving weekend - I'm sure that it likely felt different than previous Thanksgivings, whether due to smaller gatherings, or due to not being able to travel. And I hope that you were all able to make a long list of things to be grateful for, even in this very challenging year.
Don't forget that our Gratitude/Generosity Challenge in support of Romero House is going on this week. Boxes will be available in our churches for the next two Sundays to collect your Romero House donations, after which our Church in the World committee will be delivering them to Romero House.
Our big excitement at the end of last week (as announced on the Two Rivers Pastoral Charge Facebook page) is that we have a new website for our pastoral charge! This website can be managed "in house" so should be easier to keep up-to-date than the old one was. On it, you will find our worship schedule, these mid-weekmessages, and information about our churches and programs. Because this is a new site, if you notice any errors on it (e.g. typos, factual errors), please let us know so that we can fix them as soon as possible. And without further ado, (drumroll please!), our new website is:
(For the next year or so, the old website will automatically re-direct you to this new site, but you probably want to update your browser bookmarks to reflect this new site.)
I also want to take this chance to extend a huge thank you to Wil Gamble, who donated his time and money to keep the old website going for so many years.
Worship this Sunday is going to be at Long Reach at 9:15 and at Westfield at 11:15. We're going to be reading the fairly-well-known story about Jesus and a coin, and how Jesus says, "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:15-22) Which means that we get to talk about three of the subjects that aren't usually considered topics for polite conversation: money, politics, and religion!
The last announcement that I wanted to highlight is that it is Broadview subscription time of year (remembering how the United Church Observer re-branded themselves a year and a half ago as Broadview Magazine). Joanne Yorke is coordinating these subscriptions, and for $25 per year, you will receive 11 issues jam-packed full of excellent and thought-provoking reading. We are also going to be gathering on the first Monday of each month to discuss that month's issue. If you would like to subscribe or renew your subscription, please get in touch with Joanne at 757-8080.
And that is it for today!
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)