Dear Congregants,
Loraine is sending blessings of hope as she takes a one week break. She will return next week.
BECAUSE THERE IS HOPE HERE: LENT 2021 WORSHIP SERVICES
This year’s Lenten services will feature congregational reflections on hope.
March 14:
Loraine will be on holiday March 8-14 and Rev. Earl Gould will be leading worship.
March 21:
The heart of the cross; Celtic-themed Lenten service with Emily Casselman singing.
HOLY WEEK SERVICES
All of our Holy Week Services will be offered jointly with St. Andrew’s River Heights United Church
March 28:
Palm Sunday live-streamed at Westworth at 10:45 am
April 1:
Maundy Thursday pre-recorded at St. Andrew’s and available at 6:00 pm. Have communion elements, water, basin and towel ready as you join the service from home.
April 2:
Good Friday pre-recorded at Westworth, St. Andrew’s, West Broadway Community Ministry and Oak Table, available at 10:30 am
EASTER SERVICE
April 4 live-streamed at Westworth at 10:45 am with 6 youth confirmations and Morna-June M on handbells.
SPECIAL APPEALS
Every Lent, we invite donations for our special appeals to support our non-profit community agencies and ministry partners. The congregation usually raises around $1600 and the UCW contributes $1800 from their Rummage Sale and Bazaar fundraisers. Because the UCW was unable to hold either due to COVID-related building closures last year, the congregations generously gave $2500, which allowed us to continue supporting most of our partners. This year, the UCW is again unable to contribute because our building remains closed to fundraisers. We are therefore asking the congregation once more to consider giving more than usual so that we can continue supporting our partners, who are more stretched than ever. These are the partners we were able to support last year through Special Appeals:
Theological education
Prairie to Pine Regional Council Bursary Fund, St. Andrews College, Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, Centre for Christian Studies
Local social justice
Willow Place, West Broadway Community Ministry, 1 Just City, L.I.T.E. (local investment towards employment), Rossbrook House, Jubilee Fund
Youth support
Rock Lake United Church Camp
Our Special Appeal donation deadline is Easter Sunday, April 4.
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS
This is the Fourth Sunday in Lent- our service theme will be HOPE.
This week’s Sunday school lesson ‘The Transfiguration’ has been sent by e-mail, it includes all the age groups from N/K to G5/6, with the activity sheets. If you need a printed copy of the curriculum, please let me know at churchschool@westworth.ca.
The Sunday school teachers will be on Zoom this Sunday from 10.15am-10.30am to chat with you. Our theme this week will be about ‘Light of Jesus ’. Then join the online service starting at 10.45am this week with Loraine following Zoom Sunday school .
This week’s bible story is read by Julia, and The Lord’s Prayer is read by Danielle, your Sunday school teachers are on the Westworth Face Book page for you to view, there is also a link in the CE drop down menu on our web site.
The Bible Story is also available here:
Holy Week and Spring Break fall on the same week this year (March 29-April 2nd), with Friday being Good Friday. If there is any interest CE is willing to do Zoom programming on Holy Week and the Days of Easter each day for 1 hour for our Westworth Kids to stay connected.
Please email me at churchschool@westworth.ca if you are interested.
Zoom Sunday School Information
Zoom Meeting ID 743 937 1522
Pass Code 042976
Maggie
DAILY LENTEN CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER
Rev. Barb Jardine has put together a Lenten series that introduces us to the practice of contemplative prayer. Her introduction, along with her daily 10 min. YouTube videos are designed for beginners who have never tried this form of prayer. These can be found in the link below and on our website home page in the What’s New section. Barb has produced these for her congregation, but she is willing for Westworth to have access to them as a thank you for the inspiration she received from Thriving Churches.
Here is this week’s installments:
Day 15:
http://westworth.ca/2021/03/take-ten-day-15-by-rev-barb-jardine-daily-lenten-contemplative-prayer/
Day 16:
http://westworth.ca/2021/03/take-ten-day-16-by-rev-barb-jardine-daily-lenten-contemplative-prayer/
Day 17:
http://westworth.ca/2021/03/take-ten-day-17-by-rev-barb-jardine-daily-lenten-contemplative-prayer/
Day 18:
http://westworth.ca/2021/03/take-ten-day-18-by-rev-barb-jardine-daily-lenten-contemplative-prayer/
Day 19:
http://westworth.ca/2021/03/take-ten-day-19-by-rev-barb-jardine-daily-lenten-contemplative-prayer/
Day 20
http://westworth.ca/2021/03/take-ten-day-20-by-rev-barb-jardine-daily-lenten-contemplative-prayer/
WEST BROADWAY COMMUNITY MINISTRY
Lunches
The Outreach Team is overwhelmed with your generous support for the lunch program that Westworth will continue to offer on a monthly basis. Thank you so much for your contribution to the cost of each month’s lunch of which is approximately $350. Cheques may be sent to the Westworth office with the memo line indicating “WBCM lunches”.
Emergency Pantry
As the building remains closed, weekly donations of food, toiletries and feminine hygiene products cannot be placed in the WB Buckets, please consider making a donation to the purchasing of food and supplies for the pantry. Cheques to Westworth with “WBCM Pantry” on the memo line are gratefully received!
WEST BROADWAY COMMUNITY MINISTRY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
West Broadway’s annual general meeting will take place on:
1 p.m.
Sunday, March 14, 2021
For a Zoom invite, Contact: Lynda Trono at lynda@1justcity.ca
ANTI-RACISM WEEK
The City of Winnipeg is hosting Anti-Racism Week from March 21 to 27, 2021. The theme of Anti-Racism Week is “What would Winnipeg look like without racism?” Anti-Racism Week will kick off with a virtual launch event on Sunday, March 21 at 2 p.m. to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21, 2021. For detailed information about the week as well as interesting and thought provoking presentations offered by various ethno-cultural groups prior to then, click on the following:
https://winnipeg.ca/interhom/anti-racism-week/default.stm.
AFFIRMING COMMITTEE
At the Annual General Meeting on February 28, Westworth members and adherents resolved to become an Affirming Ministry and join Affirm United. After presentations by two young members, Phio and Ava, the Affirming Action Plan was amended to include the following actions items:
Seek opportunities to include your pronouns in communications such as name tags, Zoom names and emails
Represent diversity in many ways, including through renderings of Jesus Christ that speak to the universal ethos Christianity strives to represent
Thank you to everyone who took part in the Affirming process for the past two years. Watch for more news about a celebration we will plan for sometime in 2021!
For those who are not familiar with Affirming Ministries, these are congregations within the United Church that publicly declare their commitment to inclusion and justice for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The commitment to justice is broad and may include challenging bias and discrimination based on appearance, culture, class or age, working to end racism, promoting economic justice, increasing accessibility or caring for the environment. Affirming Ministries seek to go beyond issues of gender identity and sexual orientation to work for justice and inclusion for all people.
This Sunday, March 14th is PIE day. In the Affirming community the initials P.I.E. stand for Public, Intentional and Explicit. As we are now an Affirming Ministry as of Westworth’s Annual Meeting, we are called to be public about our stand, to be intentional in what we do in our worship, meetings and gatherings and to be explicit as to what it means to be affirming, which are mentioned in the paragraph above.
Congratulations and thank you for your support and continuing growth on this journey.
Heather R, Rhea Y, Dorcas W, Petra T
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR COMMUNITY CARE TEAM
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in March place an emphasis on all things green. Rather than focusing on leprechauns, luck, or green beer, let’s think about green as the color of life, nature, and renewable energy. Green is associated with growth, harmony, freshness, safety, fertility, and the environment. Referring to a worker as being “green” can suggest a lack of experience …but also an opportunity for growth.
In this spring season when plants are coming back to life with fresh growth after the cold winter months, let’s celebrate the greening of our surroundings. Look for opportunities for growth… for “greening” within yourself and in others. God’s gift of spring and new life await us all!
FROM THE COMMUNITY:
SOUTH WINNIPEG SENIORS RESOURCE CENTRE NEW ZOOM PRESENTATIONS
Container Gardening
Spring is in the air! Dorothy Dobbie will present “Beautiful containers all season long” – a slide presentation featuring containers of all sorts.
She will discuss:
- design ideas
- what’s best to plant including annuals, trees, succulents and veggies
- “free” plants for containers
- keeping containers moist
- fertilizing
- pruning
Dorothy Dobbie is a former MP and radio show host, owner of Pegasus Publications and volunteer editor of the Prairie Garden, now in its 83rd year. Two sessions will be held:
Tuesday, April 6th at 1:30 p.m.
or
Thursday, April 8th at 10:00 a.m.
Exploring Winnipeg During a Pandemic
Dr Gordon Goldsborough and his wife have been taking daily walks in communities around Winnipeg. In the process, they have learned about the city’s history and architecture, including its bridges, early apartment blocks, public utilities, home and coach houses, stores, and more. This Zoom presentation will provide some of the highlights of their walks.
Dr. Gordon Goldsborough is an active member of the Manitoba Historical Society, being its Head Researcher, Webmaster, and an Editor of Prairie History magazine. He has mapped thousands of historic sites around the province, and has written four books on Manitoba history including the national bestsellers “Abandoned Manitoba” and “More Abandoned Manitoba.”
He has a weekly series about Manitoba history on CBC Radio 1.
Two sessions are available:
Tuesday, April 20th at 10:00 a.m.
or
Thursday, April 22th at 1:30 p.m.
For all our presentations, registration is on a first come first serve basis. To sign up, email: resources@swsrc.ca or call 204 478-6169, Please indicate your session choice and include your name, phone number and email address.
