Elgin Portland Pastoral Charge
Please find below an invitation to the Athens United Church preparing our 100th Anniversary Planning. If you want to be part of the planning gathering please contact Clint Halladay or Katy Gibson.
100th Anniversary Planning
Good morning to all of you and Happy New Year !! I would like to invite you now to our 1st Planning Gathering for the Celebration of our amazing United Church of Canada. !!
I have booked the time and meeting place for :
Saturday, January 18th, 10.00 a.m. at Athens United Church ( 17 Church St )
Please bring others with you who might be interested in attending and also your possible plans for worship dates in May or June. I’d appreciate knowing too how many to expect so i can have enough copies of the agenda available.
Lastly, you might want to join in on the Epiphany Study Sessions beginning this Wednesday, January 8th at 7.30 on YouTube . The 1/2 hour programs are designed to prepare us for three Anniversary services that will help us appreciate our Song of Faith.
I’m personally thankful for all in this special celebration of our church anniversary that will uplift us spiritually, and mentally in the midst of such turmoil in our country and world.
Looking forward to meeting you all in joy and enthusiasm !!!
With God as our Guide,
Kathryn Powell
Elgin Portland United Church Council
The Young @ Heart Breakfast Club meets again on Thursday, January 16th, at 9 a.m. at the Junction Restaurant. If you’re coming let Ted or Clint know by noon on the 15th so we can reserve a spot for you. Everyone is welcome……….Ted
Duncan Pickard – We thank the Lord that Duncan’s recent hip surgery was successful and that he is doing quite well.
Sylvia French – Celebration of Life – Saturday, January 25th, 2-4 pm – The French Family are inviting friends and family to PUC to remember the life of Sylvia, a mom, grandmother, friend, and active member of her community. Please join us as we celebrate her life.
Annual General Meetings (PUC/EUC/OB) are scheduled for Sunday, February 16th, 2025. OB will be in Elgin. General reports are due by January 20th, and financial reports are due by January 27th, for the Annual Report to be done. Please forward your reports to office@eppc-ucc.com.
Bible Discussion Groups meet on Monday at Portland UC (6:30 PM) and Tuesday in Elgin (10:00 AM) at the Guthrie House. All are welcome. Info: ccjimbarton@gmail.com or 613-328-4089
Advance notice JAN 25, 2025 – our Canadian Women in Song troupe plays at the Joshua Bates Centre, Athens. Get your tickets early. joshuabatescentre.com
Alex Price left for Africa on January 6th to serve in international aid. Please pray for Alex’s safety and may she enjoy her service and have a positive and rewarding experience. We will share more information as it is available. Blessings Alex, your EPPC family.
THE PORTLAND UNITED CHURCH FAMILY IN 2025
Let’s hear from every PUC family as we look towards celebrating the 100th anniversary of UCC.
Why did you decide to call PUC ‘home’? When did you 1st come to PUC? How long has it been your church -does the connection go back a generation or more in your family? Were you baptized, confirmed or married at PUC? If not, where, when, how did you begin your affiliation with UCC in other areas of the country?
Please take a few moments to write your personal and/or your family’s story in order for us to include it in a book and hear it one day in church. By signing the sheet on the bulletin board, we will know how often to schedule each family’s story over the coming months. If you are close to or know of a family that in recent past is no longer with us, please feel free to share their story also.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Details/questions – contact Jane or Duncan
Devotional Reflection
January 11, 2024
I bought my car second-hand. It’s a great car and I am still discovering things I don’t know how to work. There are often flashing lights on the dashboard. Since I do not know (or remember) how to stop this, I am forced to stop at a garage to have them reset the panel. Everything goes all right for a while and then it acts up again.
One other thing about this car. When I bought it, I was told it had an automatic car starter. I was excited about this. And according to my key fob, it should be installed in the car. Of course, I didn’t try it out until last winter. I carefully push the correct button on the key fob – nothing happened. It appears that it is not working.
Every car I have ever owned, whether used or new always has a manual in the glovebox. It often looks brand new, hardly used at all. Everything you need to know about you car can be found within the pages of this book. So, I reach in to get it – none there! Now what! Another trip to a mechanic!
My oldest grandson will turn 21 this week. As a younger child, he could tell you the make and model of cars, how they work, the size of the engine, its performance rating. He would scour the pages of the latest car magazine until he had absorbed all the information given within its pages.
I have watched Pharmacists reading Drug Manuals to make sure there are no contraindications to the medication prescribed to me.
We are given instructions in recipes and when followed, our baking or cooking will produce a close facsimile to the picture. The results are satisfying to all who enjoy the fruits of our labour.
By now you have probably figured out what the next part of this devotional is about.
Recently, at our weekly Bible Study, we were reminded that we have an Owner’s Manual provided for us. Within its pages are everything we need to know about 
living a purposeful, rewarding spiritual life. The crunch? Many of our Owner’s Manuals are still as pristine as the day we bought them.
I am sure most of us can recall those times in our families when the Bible, pages worn from use, would be at the table ready for family devotions; or lying on the bedside table, ready to be opened to find solace at the end of a hard day, searched through to find the guidance needed for every question we had.
And you have all heard stories of people, alone in their hotel room, open a drawer and find, the Holy Bible, placed by the Gideons. Lives have been changed, renewed, restored, as page after page in our Owner’s Manual have been opened. You have opened your Bible and the exact verse you needed was there before you – an answer to prayer.
A Prime Directive has been given us, at our fingertips. Open, and discover for yourself the Operator’s Guide to an effective Christian lifestyle. Sometimes hidden, sometimes direct, always enlightening and never disappointing. Exactly what I need.
You are loved. You are blessed.
Liz Church,
Director of Pastoral Care
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge