Weekly Announcements
Thanksgiving Message
Last week I wrote a prelude to Thanksgiving and hinted at our responsibilities, both as members of society and as Christians. This week, I’m delving a little deeper into what I meant by that hint.
Many of us, indeed, I say most of us, have our basic needs met: food, clothing, shelter, freedom, and security and for these, we are thankful. Having our basic needs met is a blessing, and we should never take those blessings for granted.
But being thankful is only step one. To stop there is to fall short of our responsibilities to one another and to our covenant with God. The fact that some of us are so blessed does not mean we are more favoured or more loved by God than others. Without getting into the many and varied theological interpretations, and arguments, of this, the simple message is: when we have been blessed with more than we need, we have a responsibility to share with those who have less.
1 John 3:17 puts it plainly: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
And in Luke 3:11, we hear an equally straightforward message: “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
We are not to feel guilty or ashamed of our blessings. We are to be thankful for them, and to understand that true thankfulness is something to share. Our blessings are not simply for our own comfort. They carry a responsibility and give us the opportunity to be a blessing to someone else. We are blessed so we can be a blessing.
And for that, we can truly say, Thank God.
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UCW meeting Tuesday, October 13 at 1:30 pm. Everyone welcome.
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Happy Birthday Jim Campbell. May you enjoy a perfectly awesome day.
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The Young @ Heart Breakfast Club meets again on Thursday the 22nd of October at 9 am at the Junction Restaurant.
If you are coming, and all are welcome, let Clint or Ted know by noon on Wed. the 23 rd. …………Ted
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Bible Discussion Groups
Meetings have resumed on Monday evenings in Portland and Tuesday mornings in Elgin.
Everyone is welcome. Contact Jim Barton for info. Jim Barton @ ccjimbarton@gmail.com or 613-328-4089.
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The Bells of St. Paul’s In Concert at Portland United Church on October 18th, 2026 @ 2 P.M.
Devotional Reflection October 9, 2026
This week was the start of Thanksgiving preparations where I live. We enjoyed our first taste of turkey and ham and most of the 
trimmings, but in a unique way. We had a ‘cold buffet’. About 23 of us got together and thoroughly enjoyed an evening meal of salads – made with love and care. People brought their own unique recipes. The variety was exceptional – cauliflower, potato, bowtie pasta, macaroni, Greek, rice, coleslaw, jellied salad. In addition to that there was turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberries, sweet mustard, rolls, pickles – everything to make this meal scrumptious. And of course, topped off with Pumpkin Pie and whipped cream.
My mind wandered back to those days when all this was preparation was for my own family, and whoever was on the guest list. Always seemed to be a feast, for sure. And exhaustion at the end of a day!
Many of you will still be following that tradition. And some of us will be invited guests. We will arrive at a friend’s house, or at the home of a family member. We may be reminded to “Stay out of the kitchen!”
Since I have an overactive imagination and much experience in this field of meal preparation, I begin to picture the chaos behind the scenes – counters buried under the stack of dirty mixing bowls, pots and pans; flour still sprinkling the cutting board (and the floor) from a rolled out pie crust; vegetable peelings; spilled gravy, and the inevitable newly broken serving dish (grandmother’s favorite) that in your hurry, you hit too hard against the stove.
Sensory overload – but just in time, you finish the preparation, close the door to the mess, and sit down to enjoy the fruit of your labour, give thanks to God for His provision, and an evening to be remembered moves forward.
And I am reminded as the guests sit down that the table is beautiful not because the process was flawless, but because everything came together in the end.
As everyone departs and clean up commences, the many shards of the broken dish are still sitting there, waiting to be thrown out, or salvaged.
Did you know there is a Japanese process called Kintsugi? It is a traditional art of fixing broken pottery with gold lacquer. In Kintsugi, the artisan uses a resin mixed with pure gold to join the broken pieces. The gold is highly visible; he makes no effort to blend in with the original ceramic.
I think about this and I begin to recognize that this is exactly how God works in our lives. We want to hide the brokenness, the mistakes in our lives. But God, the Master Potter, takes us, as we are. He doesn’t sweep away the fragments. He sits with us, picks up the pieces, and begins to shape a new vessel. He has provided the ‘gold’ through Christ. And it is good. All those cracks, that you have tried so hard to hide are looked at from a new perspective – it is the evidence that our Saviour has mended our brokenness and we shine with His glory and righteousness.
In the Japanese tradition, this Kintsugi pottery is considered more beautiful because it tells the story of survival and restoration.
During this Thanksgiving season, we will experience moments of reflection when we look through our lives, perhaps even trying to hide the cracks.
May this devotional bring to remembrance that God does not hide the blemishes. He takes the broken pieces and pours His grace into the cracks, and we are more beautiful than ever before!
You are loved. You are blessed.
Liz Church, Director of Pastoral Care
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge
The cracks are your story of redemption and a testament to God’s mercy and faithfulness