Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, and we all know what that means: Punxsutawney Phil and Wiarton Willie will emerge from their burrows early in the morning and if they see their shadows it will mean that we have six more weeks of winter ahead of us. Unfortunately, whether or not they see their shadows it seems that we still have six more months of burrowing and hiding ahead of us! While the “resistance” against the restrictions placed on us because of COVID is growing it seems the best way to stop the spread of the disease is to continue to follow health guidelines of social distancing, wearing masks, and washing hands . . . and being vaccinated when we are able to. Soon . . . soon it will all be over (we hope!). Until then, follow the health guidelines given . . . and continue to pray for our front line workers!
Yesterday as we met “together” for worship and celebration we continued our series on the Christian virtues, looking at patience against anger. Normally when we think of biblical patience Job comes to mind. We, though, looked at Jacob’s patience. Before yesterday, I wonder how many of us thought of Jacob as a patient person, but maybe it became apparent as we looked at his situation: promised Rachel as a bride if he worked for Laban for seven years; tricked/hoodwinked/deceived/lied to and given Leah as a bride instead; “getting” to marry Rachel if he promised to work for Laban another seven years. That’s patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious (as my dictionary defines patience).
Our challenge is not just to remain patient in situations that confront us, but to live patient lives – to be patient people – to have patience as a core part of our being. This means that we will trust God and wait even when we don’t think that waiting is possible . . . that we will not “rush ahead and do” (that’s a message for another day – see 1 Samuel 13).
Click here to download a copy of yesterday’s message. You can watch yesterday’s service on our Facebook page (click here) and on our YouTube page (click here); you can also link from our web site (click here).
Thanks to those who “checked in” during our service yesterday. We do want to know if you joined us, either live or delayed (the feeds are saved so that anyone can go back to them later). Please use trinityconnects@rogers.com to check in rather than the church e-mail address.
And . . . our apologies to those who were planning to join us through our YouTube stream. YouTube continues to be a work in progress. We do have the proper equipment now (thanks again to all who helped out with the cost), but we are still learning how to work with the software. We are using freeware, and it seems to be a bit buggy and glitchy. We’ll get it yet!
We’re also continuing to work on the sound levels in our services. Cesar (from the Spanish congregation – we use their sound board) will meet with our “sound and video technicians” and the worship team this evening in another equipment training session.
One thing that did seem to work right was the “launch” of our new web site. Last Monday we transitioned from one web host to another. You will still find all of our information on the site; it just looks a bit different with the update. You’ll notice a couple of the differences: a link to the YouTube video of our previous service is on our front page, and we’ll have a picture of the week on the front page as well (soon, hopefully a “current” picture; for the next while it’ll be a picture from our archives). Check it out at ottawatrinity.ca.
Once it is updated, the church directory will be available from the web site, but only to registered users (those from our congregation who ask for it). I will be contacting everyone within the next few weeks to make sure that the information that we have is current.
Reuben Welch’s little book We Really Do Need Each Other (available from Amazon.ca for . . . what??? $45.60 used or $123.09 new??? I may need to start selling my library off to fund my retirement when it happens!) is quite applicable these days. We do need each other. Unfortunately, we are isolated from each other.
I think that it is important that we keep in touch with one another. We have not been all together on a Sunday for over ten months (and who knows how much longer it will be?). We have not seen each other (one of the downsides of having an on-line service rather than a ZOOM service) for five months. So let’s “get together”: I’ve set up a ZOOM meeting for Tuesdays at 7:00 pm. I realize that the time isn’t good for everyone, and I apologize for that. But if you can join us . . . pop in, say hi, let us know how you are doing. E-mail me at the church office and I’ll send you the ZOOM information – see you Tuesday evening!
And then join us for our prayer time at 7:00 Wednesday evening in our virtual prayer room as we gather to pray for one another and for others . . . audibly or silently. E-mail me at the church office and I’ll send you the ZOOM information
The joke has been that I consider country music an oxymoron (in some ways true), and that I detest country music (that’s a pretty strong word). I mentioned that I really don’t like the genre . . . and from there “the legend grew”. Now if one of the songs we sing has a hint of country to it someone comes up to me with “a look” and a hint of a smile and says “Pastor . . . that sounds country to me!”
I admit . . . country music is not my favourite. I’m not a big fan of “twang”. But I enjoy some artists that are considered country. Johnny Cash. Jerry Reed. Johnny Horton. Glen Campbell (though I’m not a big Rhinestone Cowboy fan).
And that brings us to next Sunday. We might say that Glen Campbell sang the theme song for this coming Sunday’s message. As we continue our study of the Christian Virtues we’ll be looking at Kindness against Envy (the song on my mind is Try a Little Kindness).
A couple of weeks ago I suggested that non-Christians think that Christians are selfish, racist, homophobic, narrow, judgmental and out of touch . . . sometimes unjustifiably, and sadly, sometimes very justifiably. We talk about being loving and forgiving and compassionate and kind. But are we? Let’s see how virtuous we really are as we compare ourselves to God’s call and an example through Scripture.
Of course, there wouldn’t be anything wrong with looking through your Bible and reading up on what it has to say about the topic either. Click here to join us on our Facebook feed, click here to link to our YouTube feed, or to link from our web site click here.
We continue to receive our tithes and offerings through e-transfer to the church e-mail address and through the Canada Helps web site (click here). You can also drop your tithe envelopes through the mail slot at the church or mail them to the church. Receipts for last year’s donations have been sent – thank you again for your faithful and generous giving.
Our Current Series . . . Christian Virtues
- Feb 7 kindness against envy
- Feb 14 heart: a message for Lent
- Feb 21 chastity against lust
- Feb 28 diligence against sloth
Interlude
Thoughts on Joseph
- Mar 14 Favoured
- Mar 21 Unfavoured
Looking to Easter
- Mar 28 The Rise and Fall of Jesus
- Apr 4 The Fall and Rise of Jesus