For Sunday the 5th of April - 9:00 am - Remember the end of Daylight Savings!

Sometimes it’s possible to get the idea that compassion is only an emotional response to seeing a person in need. Sometimes we can forget that to experience compassion is to take some share in the sufferings of others, and to help them carry their burden.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible about the compassion of Christ. We will be hearing how Jesus showed true compassion by sharing our suffering – even to the point of dying on a cross. As we think though what this means, we will consider how God leads us to show true compassion to others. We will consider how God, in leading us to share in the sufferings of others, most mysteriously gives us life to the full.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 9:00am for a service with Holy Communion. There will be a children’s procession with palms as we celebrate Palm Sunday.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 29th of March - 9:00 am

In life, many people can get to know about us: our doctors can get to know about our health; our accountants can get to know about our finances; our mechanics can get to know about the cars we drive. But it is only the people who live with us and love us who can properly get to know us. This is because it is only in the interplay of love, of forgiveness, of reconciliation, and of shared suffering that we truly get to know other people.

This Sunday we will be hearing from the Bible about how we get to know God. While we can learn many things about God both from studying the world and from listening to God’s word, it is only in receiving God’s forgiveness in Christ that we get to know God. And it is only in receiving God’s forgiveness that we are free to show real love for others.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 9:00am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will meet at about 9:45 am.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor.

For Sunday the 22nd of March - 10:00 am

Most of us have an inbuilt desire not simply to set ourselves apart from others, but to think that we are somehow superior. For example: most of us don’t need too much prompting in conversation to talk about ourselves in a flattering way, but to view the words and actions of others as evidence of their ignorance, stupidity, or even of their  downright evil motivations.

 

This Sunday we will listen to a reading from the Bible that deals with this human desire to be boastful. As we think through what the Bible says, we will consider how God frees us from useless boasting by giving us the gift of faith – a gift that we receive not because we are somehow superior to others, but because God is gracious and good.

 

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion. Sunday school will be meeting at about 10:45 am, and First Communion Instruction will meet at about 11:15 am.

 

God’s peace to you,

 

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 15th of March - 9:00 am

Laws can be funny things. On the one hand, they can be a drag – they can hold us back from doing what we’d really like to do. On the other hand, they can be very helpful – they can make it easier to live together in a community, and can protect us from violence and the loss of property.

 

This Sunday we will be hearing the laws that God gave his chosen people. As we think through what the ‘Ten Commandments’ have to say to us today, we will consider how God’s laws can be both a heavy burden and also a path to freedom. We will also consider how Jesus’ forgiveness changes our hearts so that we become people who love each other, and so who spontaneously do what the law requires.

 

This Sunday we will be meeting at 9:00am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will meet at about 9:45am.

 

God’s peace to you,

 

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 8th of March - 10:00 am

Shame is one of the great motivating forces in life. The words we use, the clothes we wear, and the things we do are all more or less calculated to make us fit in, and to ensure that we don’t attract the critical attention of other people. In fact, most of us would rather do something that we believe is wrong, than suffer the humiliation of appearing stupid, or ugly, or weak, or poor in the eyes of other people.

 

This Sunday we are going to hear a reading from the Bible where Jesus talks about the shameful death that he would suffer, and where he calls those who would follow him to share his shame. As we think through this reading, we will consider how what is shameful in the eyes of the world is transformed by God’s love into something beautiful.

 

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 a.m. for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will be meeting at about 10:45 a.m.

 

God’s peace to you,

 

Fraser Pearce, Pastor