Elgin United Church
On the celebration front, Michael Gordanier and Jack Gill celebrated Birthdays this past week. Marg Ross’s Birthday is Monday and Cindy & Greg Carbino’s anniversary is Tuesday. Congratulations and best wishes to one and all.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who may be experiencing troubles. You are not alone.
Unfortunately good old COVID is still around and jumping around our area. Please take appropriate precautions to protect yourself and others.
Elgin United’s Beef BBQ is September 24th from 4:30-6:00 pm, serving from the Elgin Community Hall. As part of our “Community Committed, Community Strong” initiative, we are partnering with the Rideau Lake Swans to bring you this delightful take-out meal. Serving BBQ beef, baked potato, corn & peas and 2 kinds of pie. Adults $20, ten & under $10.
Watch the Ontario Small Halls website https://ontariosmallhalls.com/ for the launch of ticket sales to the Festival of Small Halls October 14th concert at Elgin United.
Mark October 15th on your calendar and plan to attend Elgin United’s fall Crafters and Vendors market. Watch for details.
The Elgin and Area Heritage Society is hosting Music in the Park featuring the Beverley Trio at Heritage Park, beside the Red Brick School, 2-4pm, Sunday August 28th.
A huge hug and thank you to Bonnie Bilton for her piano accompaniment during August. We are blessed to have Bonnie and her talent in our midst, and rest assured she will have many more opportunities to play as our music programme builds. Thank you Bonnie.
Do you like to sing and have fun? Come join the Elgin United Church Choir. No experience needed. Starts Thursday September 15th 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Elgin United Church.
Elgin United Church Council
Portland United Church
We can’t thank Morgan enough for his musical contribution to our services over the past months. He has however decided not to return to us on a regular basis. He will be joining us for the first two weeks of September. Our blessings and good wishes go out to him. If you have any contacts or suggestions for a replacement Music Director/Pianist, please pass it along to Duncan, Katy, Joan or Norma.
We are enjoying the music of John Wanless former Minister of Music at Trinity United in Smiths Falls for the rest of August and the last two weeks of September. Many thanks to John for sharing his talent.
Will French and the tech crew are almost ready to start live-streaming the Sunday services. We look forward to learning how to tune in on those Sundays when attendance is not possible.
Our dedication to raising funds for the Flex Fund at Country Roads Health Center is very much appreciated and goes a long way to helping members of our community. We do not have a volunteer for the September or October lunches. If you are interested in contributing your talents to one of these luncheons, please contact Connie Cochran at 613-220-7914 or by email at portlandparadise55@gmail.com
This Sunday we welcome Rev. Doug Powell to the pulpit.
Portland United Church Council
Help Wanted
We are still looking for someone to do the reporting for One License on the music we use in both churches.
We did have someone, but they haven’t come back to church yet and we are using music and it needs to be reported.
It entails going over the bulletins and recording what we use every Sunday over a period 3 or 6 months and sending it in to One License.
They do cover most of what we use, and they seem to be picking up more music all the time that will come under our license.
If you are already busy don’t apply. It would be nice to have someone that isn’t too busy to do this.
Kept up on a weekly basis you are only looking at a few minutes a week.
We do have a list of what is covered.
If interested would you contact Ted .
ted302@live.com or 613 928 2719.
Thanks……..Ted
The Beverley Trio to Perform at Music in the Park
On Sunday, August 28th, 2022, the Elgin and Area Heritage Society is delighted to be able to bring the Beverley Trio to an open air concert in Elgin’s Heritage Park. This group, already known in the Delta/Lyndhurst area for their “Bach on the Beverley” concerts, is a highly talented trio of professional musicians and music educators. Tom Heinze, oboist, Gayle Morgan Klaber, cellist, and Harold Levin on viola have enjoyed overlapping careers as members of the Bach Festival Orchestra of Scranton, Pennsylvania and as colleagues at Marywood University, also located in Scranton.
Gayle Morgan Klaber Cello |
Harold Levin Viola |
Tom Heinze Oboe/Oboe d’amore |
Each summer, the threesome, whose friendships have deepened over their many years working together, treat themselves to a working holiday on Lower Beverley Lake. To emphasize the site’s significance to them, Tom Heinze, their spokesperson, remarks “that our choice of name is a testimony to our love of Lower Beverley Lake.
The audience that attends this concert will experience not only The Beverley Trio’s love for the works of J.S. Bach, but also their equally passionate appreciation for compositions across the musical spectrum highlighting such other masters as Haydn, Beethoven, and three of Bach’s sons.
Those who have had the opportunity to attend one of the Beverley Trio’s concerts, comment on their unique, warm and informative style of program delivery. Tom Heinze, speaking of their process, comments: “We engage with the audience on an informal basis and provide suggestions for directed listening that, we hope, will give the listeners a more complete experience than the more “stuffed shirt” concerts we often need to perform during the chamber music series we find ourselves presenting during the fall and winter. We hope that our listeners leave with a complete experience which allows them to relate to the musical masters as “down to earth” people who happen to have had great gifts as musicians.”
The Elgin and Area Heritage Society invites all to Heritage Park, Elgin on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Admission is free. Bring your own chair and sit back, relax and enjoy this musical gem. The performance begins at 2:00 p.m. Should we have rain, we will move inside to the Red Brick School.
Devotional Thought – August 27, 2022
Do you remember when: Having a good bone China pattern was part of getting married? I certainly do. In my case, numerous ladies of the church chose for me. I came from a family where that kind of prissy stuff was just that – prissy. We had lots of plates in our house, and we never really cared if the cups and saucers matched. And by the number of visitors that came to my house to have tea with Mom? I would say they cared little about that stuff either. But when the church ladies gave me shower gifts of Lavender Rose Bone China tea cups, I felt they were beautiful!
A few years after my marriage, my husband and I were moving from Halifax to northern Ontario. On our way, we stopped to buy a few things for our young family. Beside the Bi-Way store was a jeweler’s store. In the window was a display of my Lavender Rose dishes. The sign said $130.00 a set. Now, in the early 70’s, that was a lot of money but we took the time, out of curiosity, to go in. The clerk agreed that was a lot of money but a good buy, just the same. This wasn’t just 1- 8-piece place setting they were advertising. Here’s what we got: 8 dinner plates, 8 salad plates, 8 bread & butter plates, 8 coffee mugs, 8 cups & saucers, a gravy boat and stand, 2 sets of salt and pepper shakers, 2 serving bowls, a coffee pot and a tea pot. Add to that a covered butter dish, a cream & sugar set, a cracker & cheese plate. And, there were 9 dessert dishes. And then she added a soup tureen. All for the low price of $130.00. We discussed with her that it was not possible to sell us all that for the given price. She insisted. So, we left the store that day with our purchase and it has been the topic of conversation many times over the years.
I guess you could say I cherished those dishes. They never got put into a dishwasher, always saved for special times and special company. Each time I laid out a table with them, I was happy. It meant that we were having guests, family and friends. But they also could tell some heart-wrenching stories of having been placed in boxes and packed away for a number of years when my marriage broke up. And how difficult it was to bring them out again and enjoy using them.
For 46 years, these dishes remained intact. Until this week. I broke a salad plate. And I began to think about this. How easy we are led by the things of this world and the meaning they take in our lives. We place importance on physical well-being, and wealth and happiness. We struggle when life is in upheaval, and we fret at the most inconsequential parts of our life. Somewhere along our life’s journey we are sidetracked from living a full and satisfying life. And we place emphasis and care on trivial elements like a good set of China dishes.
Last week we were reminded of God revealing Himself to us. And this week I want to bring to our remembrance a similar thought. The words from Psalm 19 say it best:
Where I am, wherever I go,
I can sense something of the power of God.
The grandeur of the mountains, the vastness of the oceans,
the breathtaking wonder of interstellar space;
all this proclaims the glory and majesty of God.
Even amid the clutter of our cities, built and abused by our hands,
there are reflections of divine splendor. God’s voice can be heard.
He makes His presence known throughout the world.
God has made a path on which we are to walk.
In His will there is order and purpose.
He has proclaimed and demonstrated eternal truth
through the lips and lives of His children.
There are set before us precepts and principles that
direct God’s creatures in the way of peace and joy.
He has given meaning to life, goals and objectives to this existence.
Therein is the answer to our inner need, the fulfillment of our deepest longings.
These things are more precious and of greater value than
anything we could ever experience or even dare to imagine.
This is the course which I must travel. It is not easy;
I make so many mistakes. Faults and obsessions plague me.
O God, forbid that these should destroy me.
Set me free from their tenacious hold. Encompass me with
Your love and grace that these things may not stand between You and me.
O God, these are the thoughts that crowd my heart today.
Accept them and respond to them. Enable me to realize anew
the security and serenity of Your loving presence in my life. Amen!
Psalm 19 paraphrased from Psalms Now by Leslie F. Brandt (Concordia: 1974)
As you focus this week on God’s revelations, may you sense anew His presence and power in your life.
Blessings, peace and love to each of you,
Liz Church -Pastoral Care Director
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge