ANNOUNCEMENTS NOVEMBER 22, 2020

Special Congregational Meeting will follow this service. A candidate has been called as Minister for St. Mark’s. The congregation will be asked to approve the recommendation of the Joint Needs Assessment (JNAC) for the appointment.

The Prayer Shawl Knitting group will resume on Monday Dec. 14^th at 1PM in the hall. Masks must be worn. Covid-19 guidelines will be followed regarding safe distancing and sanitizing. There will be no access to the kitchen. It will be great to get back together again. Stay Safe!

The W&P committee will be decorating the church for Christmas. We need a festive spirit during these difficult times. For this year, it is suggested that in lieu of a Poinsettia plant, if anyone wishes to make a monitory donation in memory of a loved one to St. Mark’s United Church, it would be appreciated. 

December Church Services Lead by Keith Wiseman at 3 PM

December 6th

December 20th

December 24th - Christmas Eve - time to be determined 

Lay Readers for December

December 6th - Larry Evans

December 20th - Barb Macintyre

December 24th -

Mission Moment Readers:

December 6th - Anna Marie Langley

December 20th - Linda Howlett

ORDER OF SERVICE, NOVEMBER 22, 2020

THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH OF 

ST. MARK’S UNITED CHURCH

Port Hawkesbury, NS

Reign of Christ Sunday – November 22, 2020 

Minister:   Pastor Keith Wiseman, DLM

Pianist:  Adam Cooke

WE GATHER IN COMMUNITY AND APPROACH GOD

Musical Prelude:

Introit:                 ‘This Is the Day”                              VU #412  

Lighting of The Christ Candle:  

Call To Worship:

God’s reign is coming! God’s reign is here!

We live God’s reign. Guided by Jesus,

the king of our hearts. The king of our souls,

the king of our lives.

We live God’s reign:

serving in love, celebrating life, worshipping God! 

                                                        

Hymn:             ‘We Are Pilgrims On a Journey’            VU #595

Prayer of Approach, Confession and Words of Assurance:

       WE LISTEN FOR GOD'S WORD 

Prayer of Illumination: 

When we open the scriptures, it is as if we have struck the rock with a staff.

The water of insight and understanding gushes out.

When we open the scriptures, it is as if our lives are explained to us.

The water of refreshment gives us what we need for the journey.

Let us be nourished by the waters of the Spirit this day.  Amen.

A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures:  Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24

A Reading from the Psalms:                                           Psalm 100

A Reading from the Gospel of Jesus Christ:   Matthew 25: 31-46

Vocal Solo:            “Great is Thy Faithfulness”              Everett Vass

WE RESPOND TO GOD'S WORD 

Sermon:     “A Spirit of Wisdom, Revelation, and Hope” 

Hymn:         ‘Be Thou My Vision’                                     VU #642

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer:

THE WORK OF CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Announcements & Minute For Mission:

Dedication of Offering:

Loving and Trusting God, through the elements of your creation, we are reminded every day of your abundant love: the abundance of the seas, the air we breathe and the fire that keeps us warm.  All are gifts from you.  We ask that you accept our gifts of money, time, and talents so that they too may be used to bring your love, light and abundance to the world.  Bless us and bless this earth, as we seek to walk in your way.  Amen.

SENDING FORTH

Closing Hymn:   “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me”     VU #575                   

Commissioning:

People of God, let us go from this place with daring insight.

We go to reach out to others heart to heart.

Go from this place with courageous trust.

We go to build relationships one by one.

Go from this place with growing faith.

We go to live that faith in love.

Benediction:

Selected from our Song of Faith, 2006

We sing of a church

seeking to continue the story of Jesus

by embodying Christ’s presence in the world.

We are called together by Christ

as a community of broken but helpful believers,

loving what he loved,

living what he taught,

striving to be faithful servants of God

in our time and place.

Our ancestors in faith

bequeath to us experiences of their faithful living;

upon their lives our lives are built.

Our living of the gospel makes us part of this communion of saints,

experiencing the fulfillment of God’s reign

even as we actively participate a new heaven and a new earth.

The church has not always lived up to its vision.

It requires the Spirit to reorient it,

helping it to live an emerging faith while honouring tradition,

changing it to live by grace rather than entitlement,

for we are called to be a blessing to the earth.

We sing of God’s good news lived out,

A church with purpose:

faith nurtured and hearts comforted,

gifts shared for the good of all,

resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize,

fierce love in the face of violence,

human dignity defended,

members of a community held and inspired by God,

corrected and comforted,

instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ, creations mending.

We sing of God’s mission.

Announcements for Nov. 8, 2020

Announcements

A Special Congregational Meeting will be held at St. Mark’s on November 22nd, 2020 following the 3 p.m. Service. A Candidate has been called as Minister for St. Mark's. The congregation will be asked to approve the recommendation of the search committee for the appointment. Please mark this date on your calendar and make every effort to attend.                                                                                                                                                  

A Memorial donation-in-kind to St. Mark’s United Church was received from Dennis MacDonald in memory of Imelda and Al Fougere.                                                                                                                                                     

We regret to announce that Kenley MacNeill passed away November 6th in Truro. Kenley was our minister from 1979 to 1987. Arrangements have yet to be confirmed. We express our sincerest sympathy to Kenley's family.                                                                                                                                                

Some Good News to share - The Take-Out Dinner on November 5^th was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who donated, delivered, worked in the Church, made desserts, etc. and thanks to all who purchased the meals, we so appreciate your support. And finally, thanks to our motivator Ruth and to Jean and the team of fund raisers. You made it happen.....................so drum roll........................ The profit from our Take-out Cold Plate was a whopping $4241.80.

We still need to put our thinking caps on. We need ideas for out next Fundraising effort. Suggestions are welcome. This one was hard work, but made much easier with so many of St. Mark's folk being "Community" at it's best.  

Have a Blessed week. 

Rev. Kenley MacNeill Obituary

KENLEY MACNEILL'S OBITUARY

MacNeill, Rev. Kenley Murray – the Rev. Kenley M. MacNeill of Truro, passed away November 6, 2020 in Truro. He is predeceased by his wife, Dorothy (Bourne) MacNeill, and his parents, Nelson and Isabel (Murray) MacNeill. He is survived by his children, Kathy (Ron) Curtis, Karen MacNeill, Mae Douglas, Peter (Linda) MacNeill and John (Terri) MacNeill; grandchildren, Brian (Melissa) Curtis, Kerry (Michael) Cullihall, Anthony Douglas, Jenny (Zach) Monaghan, Danica MacNeill, Jasper MacNeill and Spencer MacNeill; great grandchildren, Keegan, Joshua, Ryland, Grace and Kate; his brothers, Ian and Eldon (Darlene), as well as nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Kenley had a life-long commitment to building and nurturing strong, vibrant community. He did this through his work with the United Church and throughout the twelve years that he worked outside the Church at all three levels of government. Kenley always sought to work cooperatively with others, and has been a mentor to many people, be they co-workers, parishioners, student ministers, or his own children.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time. A private funeral service will be held later and the day and time for the public to watch the service by live webcasting will be announced by newspaper and Coulter’s Funeral Home web page. We are inviting you, if you would like to share a memory or story with the family, to please make a short video about it. Then contact Kenley’s grandson, Brian Curtis (bmcurtis@gmail.com) to arrange the transfer of your video. These video stories and remembrances will and put together in a montage to be shared at the service. We suggest the following format: Your name, how you knew Kenley and what you remember and/or appreciated about him. Kenley knew many storytellers. If we could gather in a crowd, we would tell these stories to one another but due to the pandemic, we must find other ways to mark the passing of our loved ones. In lieu of flowers or cards, donations could be made to the Transformative Learning Fund through the United Church Foundation at United Church of Canada Foundation, 3250 Bloor St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario M8X 2Y4 or at www.unitedchurchfoundation.ca; a fund which Kenley established as a legacy for both he and Dorothy.

Three generations of ministers: Rev. Karen MacNeill, Rev. Brian Curtis and Rev. Kenley MacNeill

November 8th, 2020, Order of Service for Remembrance Sunday

THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH OF 

ST. MARK’S UNITED CHURCH

Port Hawkesbury, NS

Remembrance Sunday – November 8, 2020 

Minister:   Pastor Keith Wiseman, DLM

Pianist:  Adam Cooke

WE GATHER IN COMMUNITY AND APPROACH GOD

Musical Prelude:

Introit:     ‘O God, Our Help in Ages past’                  VU #806

 

Lighting of The Christ Candle:

 

Welcome:

Call To Worship:

The measure of a people’s heart is this:  

do we remember the sacrifices of the past:

do we work for peace in the present;

do we declare hope for the future?

And so, we come now before God to name our dream of a better world and commit ourselves to the cause of peace.  

Let us remember, and worship God.

Hymn:             ‘Make Me a Channel of Your Peace’            VU #684

Prayer of Approach, Confession and Words of Assurance:

       

WE LISTEN FOR GOD'S WORD 

Prayer of Illumination: ‘Break Now the Bread of Life’       VU #501

A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures:    Joshua 24: -3a, 14-25

A Response Reading from The Psalms:                              Psalm 78: 1-7

One: Give heed to my teaching, O my people,

turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

All: I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will reveal the hidden meanings of things in the past.

One: What we have heard and known, 

what our parents have told us,

we will not hide from their grandchildren,

All: but declare to the next generation,

the testimony that you gave to Jacob

and the law you appointed in Israel,

which you commanded them to teach their children,

One: that the next generation might know them,

Children yet unborn,

And these in turn should arise, and tell their children,

All: that they should put their trust in you,

and not forget your great deeds,

but keep all your commandments.

ACT OF REMEMBRANCE

Reading of the HONOUR ROLL

Poem “In Flander’s Fields”

“We shall remember them.” 

A Reading from the Gospel of Jesus Christ:                 Matthew 25: 1-13  

WE RESPOND TO GOD'S WORD 

Sermon:  “Stories From Generation To Generation”  Pastor Keith 

Hymn:         ‘Spirit of the Living God’                         VU #376

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer:

THE WORK OF CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Minute For Mission:

Dedication of Offering:

SENDING FORTH

Closing Hymn:           ‘May the God of Hope’                   VU #424

Commissioning:

Benediction:

May the blessing of God be ours as we leave today. May we use the blessing of peace to calm our troubled spirits and our troubled world.  Thanks be to God! ‘

The Salad Luncheon was a TREMENDOUS SUCCESS!!

Thanks to everyone who generously donated their time to make this fund raising event so successful! According to Ruth MacRae, expenses were $583.11 and the grand total profit was $4,215.80!!! What a super team effort! 

Thanks to Sandra Praught from St. Joseph's who was a great help with the planning for this event, made a donation of a large bottle of Miracle Whip, and loaned us some styrofoam take-out plates, which we will replace when we buy more.

Thanks to Ruth and Jean MacPherson for your organizing skills in putting it all together.