Announcements
The Portland United Church Women, Elgin-Portland Pastoral Charge, unite in leading worship at Elgin United Church October 18, 2026. They led worship at Portland earlier in the morning. Thank you for your leadership of a meaningful and inspiring worship service. Blessings, Elgin United Church.
PUC Council Meeting on October 28th, 2026 @ Portland United Church
Devotional Reflection October 23, 2026
My cupboard is filled with tea. In fact, I think it would be lovely to have a separate tea cupboard. As I gaze at my collection, I look at it as more of a sanctuary than an obsession.
And today, as I was contemplating writing to you, I decided that a hot tea would give me the help I need to share my thoughts with you. Now, all I had to do was decide which flavour I would choose.
I began to picture where I would place each tea. Some, I only need occasionally for when I’m feeling stressed. Others have been placed there for when I need a balm for aching muscles or a pick-me-up in the middle of a busy day.
As I continued in my decision making, I realized that my tea collection was more than just a cluttered shelf in my cupboard. It was a map into my soul and a mirror of the heart of God. Think about it this way – just as my tea variety gives me choices for my physical need, God provides my peace – not just in one way – but in the right way for the time I need it.
God offers us peace and I can Him hear saying to me, and to you: “I know exactly what kind of day you had, and I have prepared a specific comfort for this exact hour.”
I also take this moment to remind myself that God does not just give us the essentials, but the muti-faceted ways of His love – He shows us peace through love, through joy, through protection. Psalm 72 tells us He gives us peace in abundance.
Sometimes when I reach for a tea, I am not sure why I choose the one I do, I am drawn to it. That is, I believe, how God comes to us – he transforms an ordinary moment into a sacred space, allowing us to savour our connection and see that the Lord is good.
I can feel my thoughts increasing toward an understanding of God. Imagine for a moment that your Raspberry Zinger represented a peace that “zings” through the deadness of depression or fear. It is a bold, passionate peace that aggressively reclaims your mind from the enemy, infusing you with the reminder of God’s love.
And then I take down the Peach Passion, and I begin a prayer of thanks to God for the blessing of family and comfort. For within the walls of safety are friends and family who are sweet and comforting.
And what about the deep sweetness of black cherry – a tea you are afraid to contemplate for it carries a season of life that is difficult – grief, struggles you are going through. And as you reach for this tea your mind reminds you that God is there. As you sip the sweet dark flavour you call out to God and thank him for his presence and for keeping us close to Him.
I cannot possibly write in one devotional about all the tea in my cupboard or how this garden of God’s peace dwells within me.
I am grateful that the chamomile, and lemon balm, and peppermint are there for they allow me to give thanks for a gift of patient endurance. To know that in the dark times, God hold me.
And I learned that turmeric tea by itself does not fully use its healing powers. It needs Black pepper. We so often want the golden, peaceful life, free from irritation. But real, transformative peace is activated when we face circumstances that remind us of God’s peace. Without the sharp element, the golden healing agent is unrealized.
We often pray for peace as if it were a single, uniform thing—a blanket of quiet to match every storm. But our lives are not uniform. Some days, our anxiety leaves us feeling raw and scraped by the abrasive words of the world. Sometimes the panic hits in the dead of a lonely midnight; other times, we are simply exhausted by the natural shifts, changes, ups and downs, or turning points of life.
God’s peace doesn’t always wait for when we are ready. His presence settles over our overactive minds when we feel most vulnerable. He doesn’t necessarily change the reality of tomorrow’s troubles. He wraps our hearts in a gentle, divine sedative. He reminds us that the universe stays perfectly upright when we allow His peace to invade us.
I will finish with this – tea in a tin holds potential, but unless we take it out, the flavour, the healing, the fragrances are locked away. We must add the boiling water. And steeping the tea takes time.
So, it is with God’s peace – our lives, our circumstances cannot be rushed. And slowly, ever so slowly, the hidden strength is revealed, and your tea (your life) is transformed.
As Isaiah reminds us in 40: 31 – ‘They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength.’
You are loved. You are blessed.
Liz Church, Director of Pastoral Care
Elgin/Portland Pastoral Charge