Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As was mentioned in last week’s eNews, there is a lot going on at St. Paul’s as we make our way into the spring months. Here is a recap of what is coming up before the end of the month of April.
This Sunday, April 22nd, St. Paul’s is hosting a Spaghetti supper at 5:30 pm. Come and enjoy spaghetti with meat or vegetarian sauce, Caesar salad, garlic bread and brownies with ice cream for dessert. Please come with yourself, your church friends, and friends from the wider community. All are welcome! Free will offering will be collected at the door.
The UCW spring rally is being held in Fredericton this year on April 28th. If you are interested in gathering with other women from across the Maritimes contact Donna for more information
Early on April 29th the youth group will be gathering to do a final run through of the service they will be leading that same morning. Breakfast snacks will be provided. The rest of the congregation is invited and encouraged to invite others to join in worship lead by the youth at 10:30 am. They have been working hard to get everything together. Come and join them as we worship together. Following worship the younger children of St. Paul’s United Church will be hosting a food sale with the proceeds being split between the Pantry right here at St. Paul’s and “Food for the North,” an initiative from the Mission and Service fund’s Gift With Vision program. Let us open our arms wide to serve brothers and sisters near and far.
St Paul’s supports the campus ministry at UNB, the chaplaincy is having its AGM on April 30th, if you are interested in attending contact Rev. Michelle for more details.
So even with a week left, there is much to take part in! And along with this we continue our journey through our “Called to be the Church…Loving our Neighbours,” program. We hope that the stories of faith both in scripture and the “Why I/We Give,” insert each week help to deepen your own understanding of why you have been called to worship and serve in this place. This week our program focuses on the wider way that many of us give through the Mission & Service partnerships both in Canada and around the world. We already have 22 response cards, and hope to have the rest that were sent out back by April 29th. If you can’t get a response card in and would prefer to call, our Administrator Cathy will be glad to help you out. Don’t worry, if you forgot to send one in or misplaced your response sheet, a member of the Giving team will be in touch in the coming weeks.
As we come to the end of April, we also look forward a little bit into May!
On May 5th, the UCW will be having a bridge luncheon at noon in Fraser Memorial Hall.
That Sunday, May 6th, marks the end of our “Called to be the Church…Loving our Neighbours,” program, and it is also the day that we have a Congregational meeting planned. In worship this will be a celebration Sunday where we get the final count of how many within our congregation sent in Response Cards. We hope that you make time to stay after, and to encourage you further, the ministers will be providing a light lunch. Later on that same day we hope you come back to take part in the Messiah Sing-a-long that our own Sharon Pond has been organizing.
The men of St Paul’s are organizing a breakfast in Fraser Memorial Hall on May 12 . The guest speaker will be The Very Reverend Peter Short. Breakfast will be served at 9 am with coffee available at 8:30 am. To give us an idea regarding numbers you can contact Blaine Irving at 476-1810 or email bmirving@nb.sympatico.ca. Come and Share in the fellowship!
May is full of other important days and events, but we’ll get to those in later eNews editions.
For one last look far into the months ahead though, we want to remind you that registration is open for 2 programs happening this summer. The first takes place in July from the 16th to the 20th for those in grades 2-7 (ages 7-12). The second is the Vacation Bible School happening the last week of August right here at St. Paul’s United church for youth aged 4-12. We look forward to being a part of both of these programs!
But with all that is going on in the weeks and months ahead, we also want to bring your attention to worship for this Sunday, April 22nd. The focus scripture of the day will be James 1:19–25. Here James emplores the people (and that includes us) to not simply hear the word, but live it, to be doers of the word. Let us hear these wise words from scripture as we seek to be servants to one another and to God.
Let us Pray:
God of us all, remind us that we are created in your image. Remind us also that it takes the whole of creation to truly reflect the glory of that image. Help us to serve one another in this part of the world, but also inspire us to find ways to reach around the world to serve others in need who though strangers are still our brothers and sisters. Guide us to live lives with open arms and hearts, ready to embrace a world in need. It is in Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Richard & Rev. Michelle
The bulletin for this week can be downloaded here.