Elgin Portland United Church Council
EOORC
Letter of Invitation
This autumn, EOORC is hosting two gatherings to discuss our future as the United Church of Canada. These gatherings will be the first of their kind, bringing together congregational leaders from across our region.
At these full-day events, participants will be given the opportunity to hear about the state of the church today, where we would be in ten years if the trajectory were to continue, and how we might work collaboratively to impact and shape that future.
The events will take place:
Friday, September 19th – Riverside United Church, Ottawa
Saturday, October 4th – Trinity United Church, Smiths Falls
Both events run from 9:30 – 4 pm. An agenda will be available shortly. Please choose one of the two events.
We encourage members of your decision-making body (Church Council or Board) to attend. Chairs and Presidents of congregations and pastoral charges, as well as key decision-makers in your community of faith are key players in the future of the church. This is why we are asking you to take this time out of your schedules to come and reflect together how we move forward.
Lunch will be provided at no cost. You can see the menu here. You are also welcome to bring your own lunch if you have special dietary needs or simply prefer to bring your own. EOORC is not covering mileage for these events.
As these will be large gatherings, registration will help us plan and prepare, including meals and group facilitation. You can learn more about the events and register at https://eoorc.ca/holding-a-vision-for-the-future/.
Announcements
We read them at the start of worship services and the beginning of meetings; however, they are but mere words, empty rhetoric, unless we do something. National Truth and Reconciliation Day and Orange Shirt Day are September 30th. What will you do to give the words of Territorial Acknowledgements meaning?
We’re sold out! Thank you for your pie orders and to all who helped make them. Portland UCW.
Official board on Monday September 29th at 7:00 in Portland.
“THREE! A Musical Adventure “ an event by the Tipped Ship – Trish Bolechowsky, and hosted at Elgin United Church, 7:30 PM October 4th. Thomas Bethune (Pontoon Tom) is an opera-trained tenor known around Broadway and Sand Lake. Anne Lewis is a Rideau Lake musical treasure who shares her singer-song writer music from her perch at the grand piano. Campbell Woods is a true folk singer who sings and writes soft songs about hard luck. Tickets are $25, available at the Tipped Ship, online at https://thetippedship.ca/events/6220964/732444814/three-a-musical-adventure or at the door.
Bible Discussion Groups
Two meetings each week. Monday evening at Portland UC at 6:30-7:45 and Tuesday mornings at Guthrie House in Elgin (10 Perth St.) at 10;00-11:30. All are welcome to join in the friendly discussions and fellowship. For more information contact Jim Barton at ccjimbarton@gmail.com or 613-328-4089.
Mary’s Merry Minstrels, Saturday, Sept. 27th, 2025 @ 7:00 p.m., PU. This is a Fundraiser for the Portland Foodbank. A free-will offering will be received. Refreshments will be served. Air-conditioned building.
And as an added “BONUS”, you can visit our craft table and purchase any of the following: Canadian-themed luggage tags, a colourful variety of handbags, eyeglass folders, various-sized food-safe baggies, zippered pouches, gift bags, and numerous Christmas items. All proceeds go to the outreach programs of PUC. Air-conditioned building.
Devotional Reflection
September 27, 2025
The world is changing. Some would say – not for the better. Others would smile and say we are doing OK. And others would quickly point out the sensational news stories – bad and good.
My thoughts today come as a stark reminder of what next week will bring. September 30th, we will be called upon to remember the horrors of Indigenous communities – a time of our history that we will never forget.
It has been termed by many names – Truth and Reconciliation, Orange Shirt Day, Every Child Matters. Millions across Canada will show support. School children will draw and hang posters, as they are taught the history of Residential Schools. Government agencies will stand and offer apologies. Demonstrations will take place across our country.
We will be triggered to remember – children torn from their communities and families; brought to strange places to live; punished if they spoke their own language; suffered atrocities beyond our imaginations.
And we, as Christians, will need to examine again our own spiritual lives. We will be caused to remember that reconciliation is not a single event. It is an ongoing journey.
I love this country of ours. Our freedoms go beyond what most of the world knows. We are free to walk our own journey, to experience many joys, to choose where we are educated, where we buy food, with whom we socialize, where we worship.
And we thank God that we have begun to make amends where we can.
But for many, even those who read this reflection, you may not recognize the gift that has been given us – God’s love – given, rejected, thrown away. Yet still, He comes and offers us a further chance.
If it wasn’t enough that He created the world, a beautiful place for all to live, a place that we are still destroying through selfishness, greed, power, He continued to show love. He gave us Christ. And we killed Him. His shed blood, on the Cross at Calvary, gave us the opportunity to have a perfect life, but we still refuse. Still God continued, and He gave us Someone to walk with us, to lead us, to teach us, to carry us. Holy Spirit live within each of us.
I have to ask – are we trying to make Him like us? Are we trying to change the colour of His skin, the length of His hair, His heavenly language? Are we trying to wipe Him out of this earth?
There is coming a time, and we are not privy to the exact day, but it will come.
God has called us to live for Him, and we will be held accountable. Truth and reconciliation can be ours – it has been provided and we have this moment in time to make the difference in our own lives, and in the lives we encounter each day.
The term “EVERY CHILD MATTERS” was coined long before this time in history. God declared it, Jesus proved it, Holy Spirit lives it in each of us. May Jesus Christ be praised.
You are blessed and loved.
Liz Church, Director of Pastoral Care
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge
