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/.
The joint Trustees meet after church in Elgin this Sunday, the 14th at 12:15
Portland United Church Council is having a Meeting on September 16th at 7 p.m..
The Young at Heart Breakfast Club meets in September on Thursday the 18th at 9 am at the Junction restaurant. All are welcome and if you are coming let Clint or Ted know by whatever means you are comfortable with by noon the 17th so they can prepare for us…………Ted
Elgin United Church Council is called to meet at EUC at 7pm, September 23rd. This is an in-person meeting, all are welcome.
UCW will be making Apple Pies on September 23rd from 9 am to Noon. Please let us know if you can help peel the apples and/or roll.
Free Art Classes in the Portland Village – 6-12 yrs. Monday 4:30-6:30 at the Portland Restaurant & Pizzeria. Visual Art Teacher – Darlene, call to book your spot 905-801-5060.
Bible Discussion Groups
After a Summer hiatus, the Bible Discussion Groups resume their weekly meetings. All are welcome to join in. We read a small portion of the Bible each day on our own and then meet weekly to discuss what we read or any other spiritual concerns we want to share. The meetings are lively, interactive, respectful and welcoming. Please do consider giving it a try. We meet in Portland, at the UC church on Monday nights from 6:30 – 7:45 and a second group meets on Tuesday mornings at the Guthrie House in Elgin on 10 Perth St. from 10 to 11:30AM. For more information contact Jim Barton at ccjimbarton@gmail.com or 613-329-4089.
Mary’s Merry Minstrels, Saturday, September 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.
Pillowcases will return on the third Wednesday of the month from 9 to 12. All are welcome!
The Hospital quilting sewers return to a regular schedule on Wednesday, September 10. Mark your calendars for the second Wednesday of every month, from 9 to 2. Bring along a bag lunch (coffee and tea supplied) and share your “Show and Tells” with us. All are welcome.
Devotional Reflection
September 13, 2025
Since I was a little girl, I have loved paint by numbers. Every year for Christmas I would receive one and I would diligently paint each area, clean my brushes, and take great care not to mix the colours. And over the years I have graduated into being able to draw a number of pictures freehand. And they were passable.
In fact, there was a period of time when I spent hours painting animals on rocks. Many houses in Halifax have animal doorstops that I gifted them.
But in recent times, I have succumbed to the computer pictures that you can create – just like the old paint by numbers, but more advanced.
There are even some pictures that are hidden and you move through the colours, not knowing what will develop, number by number, filling it in, until completion.
But there is one thing that bothers me – when a picture turns out to be something totally different than I was expecting.
Let me explain. I’ll be more specific. I love yellow roses. And just this week, I was mindlessly filling in colours on what I believed to be a yellow rose. The centre was a deep yellow. And as I fanned out something weird seemed to be happening. The rose that I thought was yellow contained many different hues of yellow, for sure. But to my surprise, it was a pink, almost fuchsia colour in the end, with only the centre my beautiful yellow. I was tricked into a mixture of colours as the computer filled in blended colours, one after the other until I could barely recognize what I was painting. Gone was the magnificent yellow.
Disappointed, I wanted to discard the picture – start over. But I couldn’t. I persisted, and finally came to the end of the drawing. And as I stared at the finished product an ‘aha’ moment was there in front of me.
As I was painting, my mind did not clearly see the transformation happening. It was focused on the feeling of being robbed of the beauty I thought should be there. My mind had failed to see the tremendous colours that had blended and shaded in together. The hues were radiating out from every direction. The bright fuchsia transformed the centre of my flower as it threw shadows over my rose. The light pinks seemed to allow rays of light to filter through the petals of yellow, deepening the colours of my rose.
The beauty of hues and colours, mixing together as partners on a dance floor float across the expanse, or birds during the mating season, flaunting their dazzling feathers.
We see beauty when we are open to it.
I am a believer in these transformations that happen. You accept Christ. You are ecstatic. You grow in maturity of faith. But then you become perhaps stagnant in your spiritual walk, okay with how much you know about the Lord. Then something happens. You have to move forward, take another step. You are uncomfortable, but you continue. And as you throw caution to the wind, you paint yourself into another colour, another more glorious child of God, coming closer to who God has made you. You see your true colours shining through. Amazed and breathless, you waltz into the next frame of your life – there’s a new picture to paint, more resplendent than before!
Go ahead, start to paint, and see where God takes you this time!
You are blessed and loved.
Liz Church, Director of Pastoral Care
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge