What year is it?

It’s that time of year when it can be a challenge to write the date.

It is still early enough into a new year, that when we write the date we may automatically list the year as 2020!

We write a cheque, then wonder, “did we write the date as January 15, 2021, or January 15, 2020?”

Sometimes we become so familiar with doing something a certain way, that we pay little attention to what it is we are doing.

We can also become so familiar with aspects of our worship lives that we pay little attention to what we are actually saying.

This can happen when we say ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ We are so familiar with the words that we can say them without thinking about what we are saying.

So, we suggest ‘intentionally’ praying the ‘Prayer that Jesus Taught.”  As you say each phrase, think about what is being said, ‘feel’ the implications of what is being said.  If you find that you have defaulted to saying the words by rote, then stop, and begin to re-pray the prayer. This way of praying will take longer than usual, but it can be a meaningful spiritual practice.  We invite you to try a few times during the next week.

This week we received a wonderful note reminding us the ways God’s spirit unexpectedly and wondrously unites people at all times. The note came from Ginny Day:

Dear Transcona friends,

I belong to Loomis Basin United Church of Christ in Loomis, California.  We needed a “sing-along” hymn for last Sunday’s worship so our pianist suggested that I search online.  

I found your wonderful choir singing “Spirit” which is one of our favorites, so several of our choir members joined you in singing and I added the captioning so our entire congregation could sing it online.  It turned out pretty well so I thought I would share the link with you.

Thank you, again. for providing such wonderful music to our crazy world!

Here is the link to our joint choirs singing ‘Spirit of Gentleness”

We also are sharing a message from the Youth and Young Adult Committee (YAAY) of the Prairie to Pine Region of the United Church:

“YAAY is fundraising to bring a refugee family of four to Winnipeg to be connected with their daughter. As a fundraiser we are hosting an all-age inclusive Trivia Night over Zoom on January 16th from 7-9pm. Tickets are minimum $5, but we greatly appreciate donations above that. You can reserve tickets by emailing p2pyaay@gmail.com  and tickets are payable through E-Transfer, Canada Helps website, cash or cheque.” 

Reminder: We are currently preparing TMUC’s Annual Report for 2020. While the pandemic restrictions limited the activity of the congregation, we ask teams or groups that did continue to function or meet in some capacity to please submit a report.  Please email reports to tmuc@shaw.ca. Thank you.

TMUC’s weekly Thursday ZOOM check-in and chat continues tomorrow at 9 a.m. Everyone is welcome to join this online time of visiting.

Here is the ZOOM link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219

If you prefer to join us by being on a ‘Party-line’/’Conference Call’ style of phone call, the number to dial is: 204-272-7920

You will be asked if you want to ‘join a meeting’, (say yes), and then enter the meeting ID number: 753 844 9219

We look forward to seeing you!

Carol and Jeff