Rev. Janet is currently on vacation so the worship service this coming Sunday is being led by Rev. Don Muir.

The Epistle reading is Romans 5:1-11 and the Scripture reading is John 1:14-18.  The sermon title is “The Gift of Grace”.

A short bio from Rev. Muir —  Don graduated from Knox College in 1980 and began a ministry that would lead him to the pastoral charges of Burks Falls, Sundridge and Magnetawan (1980-1983), New Liskeard (1983-1994) and Stouffville (1994-2003).  In 2003, Don was appointed Deputy Clerk of the General Assembly and works out of the national office in Toronto. Don resides in Toronto with his wife, Irene, and is the doting father of three daughters. In his spare time he loves to read historical fiction and take long walks or bicycle trips along the cities many trails.

DATES TO REMEMBER

• Wednesday, November 2nd – No drop-in hours.
• Thursday, November 3rd – Drop-in hours from 9 – 11 a.m.
• Sunday, November 6th – Remembrance Sunday
• Sunday, November 6th – Budget Presentation
• Sunday November 13th – Rev. Dr. Charles Fensham, Professor of Systematic Theology at Knox College (Anniversary Sunday guest preacher)

ANNOUNCEMENTS (older announcements are below)

With sincere thanks…

We sincerely thank Blair for all his hard work, enthusiasm and energetic endeavours to build the body of Christ over the years. Our former clerk of session submitted his resignation from active service as an elder in September’s session meeting. We sincerely apologize for the delay in letting the whole congregation know but we wanted to give Blair some time to contact the members of his district first.

   Holidays

Rev. Janet will be on holiday from October 27th to November 2nd. She will return on Thursday, November 3rd and drop-in hours will be that day from 9 to 11 a.m.

2017 Budget Presentation

Please attend this important presentation on Sunday, November 6^th immediately following the worship service in the sanctuary. Fellowship Hour will take place after the budget presentation. We will vote on the budget two weeks later.

Financial Results – January 1 to September 30, 2016

Receipts –                                                 $149,181

Disbursements –                                       $156,478

Excess of Disbursements over Receipts – ($7,297)

Please note that the disbursements include $16,354 in expenses related to MHP 125 projects. These expenses will be removed from disbursements, capitalized and shown on the balance sheet in the year end financial statements.

In addition, there has also been an additional $9,746 in expenses related to the completion of the men’s bathroom that have been capitalized and are therefore not included in the disbursements total shown above. These expenses were shown as disbursements until the August financial results.

Calling All Men

If you enjoy singing and plan to join us for the Remembrance Day service on November 6, come and be part of the pick-up male choir. A rehearsal will be held today for not more than 30 minutes immediately following the morning service, and between 9:45 and 10:15 on Nov 6. The two songs are: On Eagles’ Wings, and Days of Elijah. — All are welcome!

Spic and Span

Do you like things neat and tidy? Do you like to dust or vacuum, sweep or mop? Please speak to Pat R or Peter C if you are able to help clean our church.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to all who came out to the Holy Week worship services and helped in leading them. This past week-end was most meaningful and joyous.

This week, we will be looking at John 20:19-31. It is a well known passage in which Thomas gets his famous descriptor, “Doubting”. I must confess, I never used to like this passage until I had an epiphany. I look forward to sharing it with you this Sunday although many of you may have had this epiphany already.

Peace in Christ,

Janet

DATES to REMEMBER

APRIL 17th & 24th – Belonging Matters from 12 to 1:30 p.m. with Rev. Janet

Apr. 24th – Solar Celebration after Worship

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Session Highlights  

• Starting in April, Session Meetings will begin at 7 p.m.
• Blair’s term as clerk of session ends this June.
• A Solar Celebration will take place after worship on Sunday, April 24^th. Belonging Matters will be delayed by 20 minutes.
• Financial Updates will be printed in the bulletin the 1^st and 3^rd Sunday of every month.

Operating Budget

• New Drop-In Hours for Rev. Janet! Rev. Janet will be in her study on Wednesday mornings (except for the Wednesdays when session meets) from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for those who would like to drop by. Outside this time frame, please call or email Janet if you would like a visit. She will continue to work from home on Fridays and some Thursdays.

Christian Education Team Update

As people of faith who follow Jesus Christ, worshiping together as a community is essential to shaping our identity. In light of this, the C.E. Team and Rev. Janet will be working together to include our children in worship in meaningful ways on a more consistent basis.

On April 3rd and May 15th (Pentecost), children in grades 5 and up will worship with their families for the entire service. On June 12th, children in grades 2 and up will stay for all of worship. The services on these Sundays will be a little different in order to accommodate the needs of our children and our desire to help worship be more accessible to them.

If you would like your child to participate by reading scripture, helping to collect offering or greeting in the morning, please email Rev. Janet.

The Garden

Do you have a green thumb? Would you like to learn how to have a green thumb? It is officially spring and the gardening season is upon us.

In the past 3 years, the community gardens at MHP have produced and donated over 600 lbs of food, educated local Montessori students, reached out to our community, traded saved seeds with other community groups and sent some of our saved seeds to Africa. This year, we will be adding fruit trees thanks to a generous grant from Treemobile.org and Orchard People.

Our gardens need people to help till, plant, weed, water and care for them in addition to teaching children, providing beverages and snacks to helpers, conversation and more. Please contact Gina if you are able to help.

APRIL 17 & 24 – Belonging Matters

What does it mean to belong to a community of faith? What is church membership? If you are interested in exploring these questions from about 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday the 17th and 24th, please RSVP with Rev. Janet by Sunday, April 10^th at minister@morningsidehighpark.com.

Hi Everyone,

So you know you’ve been tossed off the pedestal when your teenager looks at you and tells you, without batting an eyelash, “It’s boring, mom.” Ouch… Well, I did ask him for his opinion.

Boring, a.k.a. slowing down, being quiet and/or still, doing something repetitive like wiping, sweeping, doing dishes (no, not child labour as my eldest would claim), is something I keep telling my kids is actually good for them as it gives the brain a break and helps the imagination. And yes, both kids roll their eyes at me whenever I tell them boredom is good for them.

In the swirling busyness of go, go, go, thoughts and emotions twirl right next to things to do, things to get done, things to look into and just more things. What is precious to the soul and lies deep within becomes clouded over by all those things. So, like a gentle stream disturbed by violent movement, one cannot see the bottom as the sediment swirls and twirls in the water. But, once the water slows down and the sediment gently falls to the bottom, the tiny, little minnow hiding by the rock all of a sudden becomes visible.

One hope of Lent is that what is buried within our innermost being will become uncovered by the Holy Spirit in our slowing down and quiet reflection and this, in turn, will help us to grow closer to God. Through stillness, we move (I know, this seems like an oxymoron) with a deeper understanding and more profound sense of gratitude to the climax of Lent, Good Friday. And then, the joy of Easter Sunday becomes that much brighter, greater and more glorious.

This Good Friday, we will go through The Seven Last Words of Christ. A finger labyrinth has been printed in the bulletin to aid those who wish to use it in reflection.

On Easter Sunday, we will celebrate with dramatic monologues written by Andrew F, music and communion. I hope you are able to join us for services on Good Friday and/or Easter Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Peace in Christ,
Janet

p.s. Worship bags will be made available to pre and early readers as there is no Church School this Sunday. Church School teachers will be in the worship service. For those with children who need the nursery, please head downstairs and stay with your child.

p.p.s. Please note that next week I will be working on Wednesday and Thursday only in lieu of working on Good Friday and the extra time put in to prepare for Holy Week services.

Hi Everyone,

Our annual general meeting (AGM) is taking place this Sunday after worship and our potluck lunch. I think it is safe to say that like most churches, we do food scrumptiously well and I’m already salivating. 🙂

Please know that your presence, your prayers and your thoughts are important and appreciated but especially during this meeting when we all come together in faith to reflect upon the year past and hope for the current year as well as our future.

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled, “A Generous Law – Not an Oxymoron” and the Scripture reading is Matthew 12:1-14.

Looking forward to good fellowship, good food and a good meeting,

Janet

p.s. Please keep me in your prayers. I’m a wee bit nervous leading my first AGM with you.

DATES to REMEMBER

FEBRUARY 28 – Annual General Meeting (AGM) & Pot Luck Luncheon

MARCH 6 – Evangel Hall

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Session Highlights

• Fire safety was reviewed. If anyone would like to donate boxes of baking soda, please bring them on Sunday. Did you know that lots of baking soda can help put out grease fires? Also, monthly checks on pressure gauges for fire extinguishers, the locations of fire extinguishers, procedures for exiting the church and other important details were discussed. A sincere thank you to our elder Marc Dunn who led the review.

• Session is responsible for setting the date and time of services and we will be having a Good Friday service this year at 10:30 a.m. We hope you will be able to join us for this special service on March 25th.

• MHP will be hosting the World Day of Prayer service in 2017.

• New adherents (those who are not members but worship at MHP regularly) were assigned elders. If you are an adherent and do not have an elder, please let someone on session or Rev. Janet know. All congregants should have an elder.

EVANGEL HALL

MHP serving Dinner on Sunday, March 6

Do you like to cook or bake?

We are serving salad, chili and dessert in about 2 weeks time for clients of Evangel Hall and would be delighted by your contributions. **Please read all ingredients when preparing the food as someone has a dangerous allergic reaction to mushrooms.

If you’d like to do something but don’t like to cook or bake, we need rolls, servers, and drivers too. So please sign up in Fellowship Hall or contact Marilyn or Sheila , the co-coordinators from the Mission & Outreach team.

Lastly, if transporting the chili is difficult, Marilyn can pick it up from you on Saturday, March 5th.

Please keep this outreach in your prayers.

Updating the Readers List

Do you speak clearly?

Do you like to read aloud?

The  Worship Team invites anyone interested in reading to give their name and contact information to our Office Manager Laurel  who contacts readers to let them know when they are reading. Whether you have a little or a lot of experience or somewhere in between, age is of no consequence.

Contact information can be left by phone (4167-766-4765) or email  Thank you for enriching our worship service by sharing your love of reading.

BOARD OF MANGERS 

Since we are between custodians at the moment, we would appreciate any help you might be able to offer in terms of cleaning, shoveling and minor repairs.  Please contact Maria or Peter .

Lent in Pictures

To everyone who likes to take pictures, draw, paint, sketch, cut and paste, colour, etc., I invite you to send pictures about generosity to generosity@morningsidehighpark.com.

The theme this Lenten season is “generosity” and the hope is that we can post people’s understanding and interpretation of generosity through pictures on our webpage.

I look forward to your submissions!