Dear Church Family October 2023
We have enjoyed a lovely Fall this year. The days in September were warm and sunny. The Fall is a special time of year, when we see our earth quietly getting ready for the winter months which lie ahead. Our land is producing the crops which will be harvested. The birds and animals are preparing for the colder months which will come.
We are given this quieter time to reflect upon the special moments we have shared over the summer months.
We will be celebrating World Wide Communion on October the 1st.
Thanksgiving is October 8th. On October 29th at 10 am at Coldwater we will have the 100 year celebration of the reconstruction after the 1923 fire. It will be a combined service. Reverend Linda Butler will be the guest preacher on that day.
There will be special music and lunch will follow the service.
Our Remembrance Day service will be a combined service on November 5th at 10 am at Eady.
Here is a prayer for us.
God of Restless Nights, Teach Us To Be Peace.
God of Restless Nights, teach us to be peace. We are weary of our fears and the isolation of the past years. We wrestle with anxiety and expectations. It is easy to get lost in what we have missed or cancelled or cannot do. Grace us with courage to notice how good it is to be alive, here and now. When we become distracted or discouraged, God of Restless Nights, teach us to be peace.
Christ who comes not to judge but to reconcile, we pray for relationships that have been broken, between siblings, parents, and children, between spouses, neighbours, and nations. For the hurtful things we say, forgive us. From the hurt we carry, release us.
In the grief that burdens us, comfort and strengthen us, that we in turn we might comfort others. Pour out your healing presence onto each one of us,
that we might be restored in mind, body and spirit. Grant us strength to choose love and seek justice even in the midst of uncertainty or fear.
God of Restless nights,
teach us to be peace.
.......
Wetaskiwin Writers, Grace Lutheran Church and First U.C., Wetaskiwin, Alberta.
Gathering Pentecost 2 Year A, The United Church of Canada.
Let us look forward to the season ahead with peace in our hearts.
Reverend Kathleen Mowat
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