Weekly Message Dec 13

Watch Online Worship here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXKJkrCUFLQ

Welcome to the third week of Advent when we light the candle of Joy.

Welcome to the third week of Advent when we light the candle of Joy.

Our worship this week includes a musical offering by the Faith and Life Male Choir – of which John Poettcker is a member – look carefully and you’ll find him there!

And oh what joy this week! Hearing of the imminent arrival of the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Canada brought joy to many here and around the world.

Of course our joy is tempered a bit … this is not an overnight solution to the pandemic that has forced us into isolation and has brought sorrow and anxiety to so many.

Nonetheless, joy is on the horizon.

The prayer from our Advent Candlelighting litany for this week reads:

God, we thank you for the gift of joy – for the times when something unexpectedly brings a smile to our faces or lifts our hearts. We celebrate the joys we find in friendship, and the joy of music. As you bless us with the gift of joy, so may we bless those around us and bless our world with joy. Amen.

Advent reflection daily devotion continues Monday to Friday 11 – 11:30am Please join us (whenever you are able) as we share a reading, a prayer, and brief thoughts with one another. Each day is a new topic, so don’t feel you shouldn’t tune in if you can’t do so on a regular basis.

We are using the book Imagining a New World as a resource. For those interested in having their own copy, it is available as an ebook from Amazon. Join us any time – whatever days work for you.

This is the link to the zoom call:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5999657534?pwd=Q2ZGdWRmdmdrT2JLc0hPM25GOG5oUT09

Blue Christmas/Longest Night

Yes, we are planning to have a service this year. Monday, December 21 at 7pm

It will, of course be virtual, but we will try to make it as interactive and meaningful as possible. There will be candlelight (you may want to have a candle ready at home to participate), music, scripture, prayer and silence. It is designed as a time of quiet contemplation, a time to acknowledge grief, sadness, pain, or loneliness.

If you need help getting set up to connect on Zoom, please let us know and we will do our best to walk you through and do a trial run.

The zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5999657534?pwd=Q2ZGdWRmdmdrT2JLc0hPM25GOG5oUT09

Have you found time yet to “pass the flame”?

We are creating a video similar to the “Pass the heart” one we did in the spring – only this time, we’ll be Passing the Flame – just as we do on Christmas Eve. Sherry (our social media coordinator) will receive your videos and compile them into something that will posted, but also used for our Christmas Eve worship service.

Passing the Flame Instructions:

Make a short video (no more than 10 seconds) of yourself. If there is more than one person in your household, please make a separate video for each person who wants to participate. Imagine you are with others as we circle the sanctuary at the end of the Christmas Eve service. One person lights a candle from the Christ candle and then passes to the next, who passes it to the next. You are one of those people.

  1. Hold your unlit candle in front of you. To your right, out of the frame, you will need to have a second candle that is lit so you can light yours from it (or hold your lit candle out sight).
  2. Turn to your right and reach out (as if someone were offering you a candle to light yours from. Light your candle from the candle you have placed out of the frame.
  3. Bring the candle back in front of you for a moment, then turn toward your left and move your lit candle out of the frame (as if you were passing the flame on to someone beside you.)
  4. Please record your video in the landscape mode (i.e. wider than it is tall).
  5. When you are done, send it off to Sherry Rasmussen, our social media coordinator, and she’ll compile them all – just like she did with the heart videos. Don’t worry about the beginning and ending when you are pressing start and stop – Sherry can crop those out of your video.
  6. Send your video to: communications@harrowunited.ca  

DEADLINE to send your video to Sherry is December 20th. AND YES! We really want YOU to participate. Recruit your family and friends to send theirs too!

Thank you to all who have responded so far to our Giving Tuesday or to the Harrow Annual Anniversary Appeal. And to those who are prayerfully considering your contribution. We appreciate your support – in fact we count on it for our continued existence and ministry!

Until next week, may the gifts of the season – hope, peace, and joy – be with you.

Teresa

(Rev.) Teresa Moysey

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