Sunday’s Coming 118

Greetings.  Grace and peace in Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we’ll look at the parable of Jesus, where the Kingdom of God is related to a great banquet with a peculiar list of invitees.  Luke 14: 12-24.

There are two services, 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.  Kids faith program and Nursery at both.  At the 11:30 a.m. there is Holy Communion, followed by lunch (food provided).

Next week’s March Camp is a go, with children signed up for each day.  More information here.  Thank you to Danielle, who is organizing this event.

Tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at St. George’s Anglican in St. Anne de Bellevue is the World Day of Prayer service.

With best wishes,

Rev. Greg

www.briarwoodpresbyterianchurch.ca

March 2013 Newsletter Letter

“The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die….What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it….What you do in the present—by painting, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.”
― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

Greetings Friends,

As we begin the month of Easter, we are in the middle of a set of services focused on the Kingdom of God.  The kids’ faith program at both morning services is following the same themes.  In the quote above, Tom Wright links the resurrection – the main Easter event – with the Kingdom of God.

What we are doing now matters.

What we are doing now as a church matters.

Briarwood, in the last 4 years, has discerned as one of its main priorities reaching out to the wider community – with a special focus on children, youth and their families.  We have begun that journey together as a church.  And others have been joining in the journey month by month.

The point of Christian faith is not ‘to get into heaven’, with no connection to what we’re doing now.  Eternal life – resurrection life – starts now.  In how we treat each other.  How we work for God’s kingdom where lives are transformed in the radical love of Jesus.

How we pass on the heritage of faith to the next generation.

This is a high and holy calling.  And it’s one we’re taking together.

May the grace of Jesus attend each of you, as we enter this Easter month and Holy Week (services:  March 24th 10 a.m. and 11:30; Maundy Thursday 8 p.m.; Good Friday 11 a.m. (worship band) and 7:30 p.m. (choir, organ); Easter Sunday 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.)

You’ll find many amazing events and opportunities for growth and service in this newsletter.  Please keep our Youth Group in prayers, and our Children and Youth Director Danielle Pierre, for their Youth Retreat March 15-17.

With all good wishes,

Rev. Greg

http://www.briarwoodpresbyterianchurch.ca

Sunday’s Coming 117

Greetings Friends,

Thank you, thank you to everyone for an amazing Service/International Potluck/spirited A.G.M. on Sunday.  I am told we were over 160 people, with 24 children and youth.

This Sunday is Christian Camping Sunday, with two services, 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. with Nursery and Children’s Faith Program at both.  The P.C.C. recommends congregations to celebrate different thematic Sundays throughout the year and this is one of them.  It is a ministry that is important to the Church and valued.

We are blessed to have our Director of Children and Youth, Danielle Pierre – a former Assistant Camp Director at a Christian camp in Quebec – preaching this Sunday.  The text continues with Stories of the Kingdom.  The Good Samaritan.  Luke 8: 25-37.

At 11:15 a.m. The Rev. Dr. Harry Kuntz, one of our Ministers-in-Association will lead the first in a four part study series on The Apostle Paul and Corinth.

You’ll notice that our Organist, Alejandro Duran, has chosen alternate tunes for the 10 a.m. congregational responses for this week.  We also look forward to having Stevie Pemberton  and band, back leading in worship music at the 11:30 a.m.

With best wishes,

Rev. Greg

http://www.briarwoodpresbyterianchurch.ca

Sunday’s Coming 116

Greetings Friends,

This Sunday is ONE blended service at 10:30 a.m.  Thank you to the choir and the worship bands for all their work in pulling this together.  After the service is our International Potluck and Annual General Meeting.  Thank you to Heather B. for organizing the lunch, and to Margaret B. for putting together a slide show of the past year for the meeting.  Everyone is welcome for both.  This year we’ll hold our meeting out the hall around tables just after the lunch.

The text for Sunday continues the current set of services on The Kingdom of Heaven.  This week is Luke 8: 1-15, the parable of the sower and the seeds.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Greg

http://www.briarwoodpresbyterianchurch.ca

Ash Wednesday Service

Ash Wednesday Service tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the church.  Imposition of Ashes.  Remembering Baptism.  Celebrating Holy Communion.

 

Sunday’s Coming 115

Greetings Friends,

This Sunday are two services 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. with Nursery and Kids’ Faith Program at both.  The scripture passage this week is the story of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15: 1-3b, 11-32.  At the 10 a.m. we’ll meet Cindy M., the new St. Andrew’s Home Foundation Health Care Liaison.

This Wednesday, February 13th, to mark the beginning of Lent there will be the noon Lenten lunches at Christ Church, Beaurepaire and a service at Briarwood in the evening, 7:30 p.m.  This will include the Imposition of Ashes and Communion.

Wishing everyone all the best,

Greg

http://www.briarwoodpresbyterianchurch.ca