Greetings!

Megan Shin joins us again this Sunday to lead us in worship at 10:30 am, and she will preach from the psalm on the topic “Seeing beyond what is seen.”

This week’s psalm is number 139. As I read over it just now it stopped me like it sometimes has in the past when I’m feeling a bit busy and tired.  In the middle of harried day to day Toronto life it is easy to feel a little bit detached.  Then Psalm 139 hits:  “O Lord, you have searched me and known me.”  Regardless of the world around I am never isolated because I am known by God.

This week’s readings are:

• Romans 8:35-39
• Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

You can click on the readings above to read them online.

This Sunday is also the target date to have congregational surveys submitted.  A precursor to looking for a new minister is to prepare a “congregational profile,” and these surveys are an important part of that process.  I’ve attached a PDF of the survey in case you did not receive a paper copy or are not sure where yours is.

Peace,
Lauren Matheson.

• Congregational Priority Survey (PDF)

Greetings!

This Sunday Rev. Katherine McCloskey from Evangel Hall will lead us in worship at 10:30 am.

If you would like to peek ahead, the readings follow the lectionary calendar and are Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7 and Mark 1:4-11.  If you have a few minutes now at your computer or on your phone, you can read these online all in one place at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=60.  In the Church calendar, the Sunday after Epiphany celebrates the Baptism of Jesus, and Rev. McCloskey sermon is titled “Something About the Water.”

Remember to bring your skates to church this week to join in skating to celebrate the new year together just down the road at Rennie park right after coffee hour (about 1pm).

This Sunday is also the deadline for Annual General Meeting reports, so if you are responsible for one please aim to have it done by then.

Peace,
Lauren Matheson.

Happy New Year!

On Sunday Rev. Jan Hieminga will lead our service at 10:30 am.
This week is Epiphany, and that will form the theme of the sermon. The scriptures are Psalm 72:1-7,10-14, Isaiah 60:1-6, and Matthew 2:1-12.

The January Messenger newsletter is being assembled, so if you have anything to submit please send it to Tristan Gerrie (tristan.gerrie@gmail.com) by next Friday, January 9. Reports for the Annual General Meeting are due by next Sunday, January 11.

See you soon,
Lauren Matheson.

Hello everyone!

So close to Christmas I can almost taste it! Okay, maybe I’ve been doing too much tasting. Love those Christmas cookies!

Thanks once again to our associate ministers here at MHP Reverend John Peter Smit and his wife Tori for leading us in worship during this time of advent. The sermon is titled “Emmanuel: God with us.” Scripture Luke 2:1-20.

Blue Christmas service will be Sunday evening (Dec. 21) at 7:00 pm. We gather as the darkness arrives and the day closes. This is a service of prayer, candle lighting and communion, remembering together and with God, the loneliness, loss and pain that can be felt so acutely at Christmas.

DECEMBER 24 – 7:00 P.M. CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE OF LESSONS AND CAROLS. The offering will be evenly divided amongst Armagh, Evangel Hall and P.W.S. & D. (PCC)

Merry Christmas and may the joy of the birth of Jesus Christ be with you all!

Blessings,
Marc

Hello MHPer’s! Happy Saturday to you all!

This coming Sunday, the second week of Advent, service will be led by one of our Ministers in Association, the Reverend John-Peter Smit. This week, the theme is “the Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Prepare the Way of the Lord.” Scriptures: Isaiah 40:3-5, Luke 1 5-25, John 1:6-8, 19-28.

Keep in mind the January Messenger is being assembled. If you have anything to submit, please send it in to Tristan Gerrie by January 9. Speaking of deadlines, AGM reports are due January 11.

Although the snow’s not here yet, I’m getting excited about the Christmas season! Time to bring out the decorations, and don’t forget to bring your hats, mittens and scarves for the Mitten Tree.

Looking forward to see everyone on Sunday.

Blessings,
Marc Dunn

Hello and happy Friday to all!

Morningside-High Park session met on Wednesday and thought it would be a good idea to continue to send out the Friday emails to give you a brief description on the upcoming Sunday.

As you know, our minister Karen Dimock has moved to St. Andrew’s in Ottawa and is preaching there this Sunday. We wish her all the best. In the meantime, our pulpit is “vacant” and will be filled under the direction of our interim moderator Reverend Thomas Kim from University church  He will be preaching on Acts 1:10-14 this Sunday, “HOPE is in your prayer”. Reverend Kim moderated our session meeting this past Wednesday and will continue to do so until we have a new minister. Calling a new minister is an involved process and will be outlined this Sunday and throughout the next few weeks.

Please feel free to ask questions of our session members and ministers in association (Rev. John-Peter Smit and Tori Smit) during this time of transition.

Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday,

In Christ,
Marc Dunn, Elder.

Good morning and Happy Friday!

As we prepare for worship this coming Sunday, we will be taking a time for Remembrance as November 11th comes close. I find it very touching and powerful that on this same Sunday when we remember before God those who have died in wars, we will also be celebrating the baptism of David Matheson. The hope with which we turn to God in both these acts is profound and deep and it being my last Sunday with you, I cannot think of a better way to worship.  

Our Scripture readings for this week include Jesus own baptism in Matthew 3: 13 – 17, in which we hear God speak “You are my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased”.

A few years ago when Hugh and I were in France, I was struck by how in so many parts of that country you cannot go far without coming upon a war cemetery. In Flanders in Belgium, we saw many gravestones; hundreds and thousands of them, some with names and regiments, and others marked simply, “Known unto God”.

For me, those words, Known unto God, etched on the graves of unknown soldiers buried far from their homes and families, echo the hope we find in the words spoken at Jesus’ baptism. That each one of us is God’s own child, beloved and held close in God’s own heart. That there is nothing, not even the worst of all wars, that can separate us from the love of God. I believe that it is God’s prayer that we come to see and know God and each other with that same love that has been given so freely to us. It is for this that we are baptised into the death and life of Christ himself.

See you Sunday,

Grace and Peace

Karen

Good morning and Happy Friday!

After eight weeks we are coming to the end of the Exodus story. In Deuteronomy 34 we are skipping ahead through forty years in the wilderness to that moment when God takes Moses up Mount Nebo to catch his first glimpse of the Promised Land! This is the land that God had promised Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and all their descendants. God shows it to Moses, then Moses dies and a new leader Joshua takes his place, ready to begin the journey into the Promised Land. That’s our story this week in a nutshell.

I have been thinking this week about how true and how often this story happens. Moses has lived the past forty years, orienting his people to the promises of God, encouraging them and guiding them and then at the end he dies before the promise comes true. It was like that for Abraham as well. Abraham spent his whole life struggling to be faithful to the promises of God, promises whose fulfillment he only caught glimpses of in his own life but that he passed on to his children and his children’s children right down through the years until they came to us.

And I think if it was like that for Moses and Abraham, then it is like that for us as well…In our own time and our own place, we live into the promises of God and though we never see their total fulfillment we catch glimpses of them and we pass on the hope of them to those who come afterwards, a source of living water that will never run dry.

It is like tending a garden, a friend of mine once said. You often inherit your garden from those who tended it before you, and in the end you will pass it on to the ones who come later. In different times and under different care the garden might look very different but the shared vision of beauty and fruitfulness; life lived to the glory of God, remains constant.

I wonder who it is that passed on the beauty of God’s promises to you, inspiring you to live into them.  And who you in your turn will pass them onto?

See you Sunday.

Just a quick note that the Spiritual Types workshop planned for this Sunday has been postponed. If you are interested in finding out more please talk to Tristan.

Grace and Peace

Karen

Good morning and Happy Friday!

This week in worship we are going to be talking about Glory!

And I wonder as I say that what comes to mind for you? What is glory? Would it be fame and big lights?

What is Glory when we speak about the Glory of God?

What is the Glory of God that we read about in the book of Exodus?

In our journey through this book so far we have been learning with the people of God, who God is and how we can trust God. This week we arrive at Chapter 33 and while we will be reading verses 17 – 22, we are going to be talking of the conversations and interactions that Moses has with God both in this chapter and also the ones right before and right after. It fascinates me that one minute we hear that it was like sitting and talking as old friends do, and then a few verses later the Bible tells us that God’s presence was too much for Moses to comprehend or even see.

In this thanksgiving season we will be continuing our Food Drive for Evangel Hall so please bring your offerings for that.

And please remember as well to RSVP your attendance for the anniversary dinner on November 1st. We are 125 years old and this is a celebration and thanksgiving not to be missed!

Looking forward to seeing you Sunday.

Grace and Peace,

Karen