Elgin Portland United Church Council
The Young at Heart Breakfast Club will meet this month August on Thursday the 21st at 9 am at the Junction Restaurant.
All are welcome but let Clint or Ted know by noon on the 20th if you are going to attend………..Thanks……..Ted
County Road 44, Saturday, August 23rd, 2025 @ 7:30 p.m., Portland United Church. This is a Fundraiser for the Portland Foodbank. A free-will offering will be received. Refreshments will be served.
Mary’s Merry Minstrels, Saturday, September 27th, 2025 @ 7:00 p.m., Portland United Church. This is a Fundraiser for the Portland Foodbank. A free-will offering will be received. Refreshments will be served.
PUC: Your 100th Anniversary Books are in. Please see Duncan or Annette. $10.00 per book.
A huge thank you to the Portland CEC and The Galley Restaurant for a fabulous picnic on August 4th in Hanna Park. It was a perfect day and a good turnout. We are grateful to the Ontario Government for the Senior’s Grant to cover expenses. Thanks to MPP Steve Clark for his kind words.
Devotional Reflection
August 9, 2025
Inscrutable – Impossible to understand or interpret.
Have you have come across just such an event? Perhaps it was a car in a ditch, on a straight stretch of highway. And you wondered how such a thing could happen!
Or maybe, you were walking, with confidence, and suddenly you are flat down on the ground (hopefully with only your dignity hurt!). And you look around for the cause of your fall. And you see nothing!
Or why those beautiful purple beans, you grew in your garden, turn green when you cook them?
Or why two people fall in love – the attraction that brings them together?
Why are some people attracted to thrilling roller coaster rides? Or dangerous sports?
Why do children always want to reach beyond their grasp? Or touch those objects that they have been told would hurt them?
Why does my friend love olives and just the smell of them causes me to gag?
As I continue with this line of questioning some of you, my readers, are fumbling for answers to the questions, with a scientific mind. You understand about taste buds being cultivated by different textures, and that your palate can be trained. So, you are content that I could love olives, if I tried.
You can talk about children needing to discover for themselves – part of the growing up process.- even though they get hurt!
And even though you have no idea why a car would be in a ditch, you formulate a story to match your thought process.
We, being who we are, need to understand. We cannot live with the inscrutable. There has to be an explanation. We cannot rest until we are satisfied with the reason, even though it might be entirely false!
I have personally spent far too much time trying fathom these and other events in my life – needing to satisfy myself, even if the conclusion is false. And I do not believe I am alone in this.
And for many of my examples, there may be simple answers. But I have a question that has a bit more depth.
Why would God choose humility? Do you understand what I’m trying to say? That is exactly what He did!
Can you fathom why God, the Creator of all, chose to humble Himself to save us? Laughed at, beaten, rejected!
Inscrutable – beyond understanding! That God, who could have destroyed us, chose to give us a new life – another chance to walk worthy of calling ourselves Christian.
I cannot say it more clearly – God of the Universe, looking upon Liz Church, chose to give me Eternal Life – at a great cost! – Inscrutable – impossible to understand or interpret!
And He has done the same for each person in this world. Inscrutable!
Humility, beyond my understanding, brought to us an indescribable gift.
You are blessed and loved.
Liz Church, Director of Pastoral Care
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge