This is the post-Easter edition of our Monday Musings. I almost want to call this the “Oh Come On” edition as it is snowing once again – mid April! However, we know that “this too shall pass” and soon we will celebrate the warmth and sunshine of Spring.
The “tag line”/purpose of this weekly newsletter is that this is our attempt to keep everyone up to date with what is happening in the life of (and the lives of the people of) Ottawa Trinity Church. Admittedly, the attempt is only as good as the information that comes in. Sometimes the news comes in too late to share it. Sometimes those involved don’t want their news published. But we will do all that we can to keep our “community” informed of the comings and goings and doings of the family and friends of our church.
We begin with our Easter Sunday – Resurrection Sunday – Celebration Sunday – New Life Sunday service. The “bad news” of Friday’s events sat heavily on the minds of those close to Jesus through that night and all through Saturday, as they hid together, remembering His life, remembering their time with them. John was to later write that as yet they did not know [understand] the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead [John 20:9], even though He had plainly told them:
the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. [Mark 8:31-32]
Sunday was different. Sunday the pall disappeared. Sunday the disappointment changed to celebration as they discovered the empty tomb and began to realize what He had meant. Life changed (again) for them that day, as it changes for all people who discover what He is risen! means. Because He died, we have life. Because He lives, our lives have meaning.
In response to a request, I shared an Easter message given a few years ago: From Devastation to Celebration (the Easter Rap) in our service. The text is found in the SERMONS section of our web site – click here to download a copy. You can also “revisit” yesterday’s service on our Facebook page (click here) and on our YouTube channel (click here). And yes, there were some difficulties with audio at the beginning of the service but they were (eventually) corrected.
Every Easter we receive a special offering to support those who are sharing the Good News of Jesus around the world. Our Easter Offering is used to meet our World Evangelism Fund obligation. This year’s Easter Offering goal is to receive $3,000, giving that is over and above our regular giving/tithes and offerings. We are more than half way to reaching our goal – thank you for giving! We will receive funds toward this goal for the remainder of the month.
“Missionaries” are real people. “Missions” is the good news of Easter in action. What we give is used to help people all over the world – right now the work of caring for refugees in Ukraine is a high priority. Click here to “meet” Tolik and to see a bit of what Nazarene Compassionate Ministries is doing. This is because of your faithful support of Nazarene missions.
This coming Thursday is Earth Day. Some wonder why we as the church of God should listen to secular dogma and follow the lead of worldly teachers when it comes to climate change (which some believe is just a political issue created in order to provide for wealth redistribution). A better question might be why the church is not taking the lead in creation care – after all, after God created all living things He created mankind in His image and told them – us – to
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth
[Genesis 1:28]
For far too long we – mankind – have believed that we are God’s greatest creation and that everything that had been created until that point was just in preparation for “us” – after all, as the Psalmist wrote,
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps. [Psalm 8:6-8]
However, having dominion (New King James Translation of being put in charge of the world) and holding domination (our interpretation of being put in charge of the world) are two different things. So if it takes a reminder from the secular world to better care for the holy world, so be it! Next Sunday, then, we ask the question What On Earth? as we focus on God’s creation and our responsibility to it.
If you feel comfortable, join us in the sanctuary as we sing of the God of Creation and look at some of the ways that we can honour Him as we live here (awaiting the new heavens and earth). If you do not feel comfortable joining with others in the congregation in person please join us through our Facebook feed (click here) or our YouTube feed (click here) – or link directly from our web site (click here). Please “check in” – let us know if you worship with us “live or delayed”.
I will say, though, that it was good to have some of our “old friends” back with us in our service Sunday – we do return carefully, still social distancing and aware of others.
Speaking of creation, registration for the community garden will take place this Thursday evening. All plots have been allotted, and there is again – already! – a waiting list for next year. The garden has been regarded fairly favourably by the people in our community for the past number of years (this is its 10th anniversary) and have learned (and are learning) how to co-exist as gardeners.
For many reasons the garden is led by a volunteer board of gardeners – we as a church provide the land and a leadership committee sets guidelines and policies, and makes decisions regarding the operation of the garden.
Please talk with Pierre if you have any questions or want to know more about the garden.
We have the opportunity to meet every Wednesday evening at 7:00 – through ZOOM – for a time of prayer. We share with one another, we discover the needs of others who are part of our church near and far, and we pray . . . some silently, some vocally. Why not join us this week? E-mail the church office for log-in information.
Members of our church in North America have been called to prayer in a half million mobilization. The hope is that everyone who is part of our denomination will commit to pray for God’s protection, direction, and revelation. The prayer: to see renewal and revival in our churches.
To that end, we are Praying Our Way to Pentecost beginning Sunday, May 1 (through June 5). The dream of the Half-Million Mobilization is that we will experience unity as a region, that we will hear from the Spirit in our times of prayer, that we will share with each other what the Spirit is saying, and that we will discover His plans for our hope and future. A prayer journal has been developed to help us in our focus (download your copy from the main mailing page). A Holiness Today Special Edition devoted to prayer is also available (please e-mail the church to receive a copy). Print versions were made available but were sold out before we could order them.
And thank you for your faithful support of the work we are trying to accomplish for Christ through what we do as a church . . . for giving generously of your tithes and offerings to the meet the needs of our local church. We continue to receive our tithes and offerings through e-transfer (ottawatrinity@rogers.com) and through the Canada Helps web site (click here).
We have begun to prepare for our yearly celebration of music and would like to invite everyone to participate. Talk with Matt if you would like to sing or share some prose/poetry/a story in our service June 5. Yes, it is Pentecost Sunday . . . so we’ll be filled with praise!
Also note . . . our Annual Meeting will follow our May 15 worship service . . . District Assembly will be a hybrid event again this year and will be streamed on the district YouTube channel as well as being in person at Rosewood Church in Scarborough June 10 . . . Pastor André of our Ottawa Haitian Church will have his credentials recognized by our denomination (he comes to us from the Mission Evangélique d'Haiti) . . . our June 12 worship service will tie in with the District “Family Reunion” service and will also be shown on the District YouTube channel (the sanctuary will be open for Trinity people to gather but we will broadcast the District Service) . . . the property committee will share a “spring cleaning needs” list; we ask that if you can you sign up for a cleaning need, to be completed at your convenience; this is instead of holding a work day . . . a pastoral transition team has been formed, made up of Barb, Emmanuelle, Matt, and Pierre; they will begin working with our District Superintendent in the days ahead and will be seeking input . . . a “transition handbook” is available on the district web site.
Community Notes
Elections Ontario is looking for people to staff polling stations for the June 2 provincial election. Advance poll work is available May 19 through 29 (11 hours per day). Election day (June 2) polling stations will be open 9am-9pm. Call Denise Kennedy at 613738-9724 if you are interested.
Jacob Moon will perform at Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church May 7 – a fundraising concert for Christian Counselling Ottawa. He will be featuring music from his newly released album, “Under the Setting Sun” as well as many of his past hits, and will also share his heart for mental health. Tickets can be purchased through EventBrite (click here).