"Sowing Tears, reaping Joy: The Bible and Brahm's Requiem"

During Lent there will be seven sessions of Bible Study on Wednesday afternoons at 1 p.m. The same session will be offered on Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. for those who prefer that time. The Theme of the study is "Sowing Tears, Reaping Joy: The Bible and Brahm's Requiem" This study follows the famous "German Requiem" on a tour of Biblical prompts about death, grief, the brevity of life, and faith for here and hereafter. Through music and Scripture, we move from graveside to grieving, from the challenges of self-reflection to new perspectives and hope beyond. RSVP to the PCF office if you plan to participate so Rob can arrange enough materials. We will meet first at the church office in the Whiteshell Centre but may move if we need a larger venue. First Session is on Ash Wednesday, February 6 and the final Session is on March 19th.
Check out the Wikipedia post on Brahm's Requiem (with sound files).

More Music at PCF!

You may have heard of Bruce and Cheryl Harding before, through their worship music and recordings or through their leadership in churches and gatherings across the country, including the last two General Council gatherings for The United Church of Canada plus worship services and evenings with congregations of many denominations. You may have read one of Bruce's articles on music and worship in various publications, or you know of his work as Managing Editor for More Voices, the forthcoming supplement to the United Church hymnbook, Voices United. Well, now you can meet Bruce and Cheryl in person: They are leading an "Evening of Singing" at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 24, in Pinawa Manitoba at the F.W. Gilbert School. We will be accepting donations at the door to support Bruce and Cheryl's ministry and their cds and songbooks will be offered for sale. Here's a great opportunity to lift up our voices, united in praise! For more information on Bruce and Cheryl Harding check out their website www.evensong.ca

June Fiddle Concert

We have a neat idea for a fund raiser and need some helping hands! Scott Woods has captured all the major Canadian fiddling titles, including Canadian Open Fiddle Champion, Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Champion, and Canadian Fiddle Entertainer of the year. For seven years he was the musical director and played the part of Don Messer in Memories of Don Messer’s Jubilee, a tribute show which has toured across the country. He's coming to the Pinawa Community Centre on the evening of Saturday June 14th. We need help with publicity and selling tickets, crew for the day, all the usual stuff for an event like this. Call the church office if you can help.

Mennonite Church Manitoba - 2007 Report to Congregations

The Mennonite Church Manitoba 2007 Report to Congregations is available online here. Here's an excerpt,

"The theme for Mennonite Church Manitoba in 2007 was “Living on the Edge” and is reflected in Luke 4: 18 & 19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

This year’s theme is the conclusion of the three year theme “Rooted in the Centre – Living on the Edge”. The development of the “Living on the Edge” theme has called us to reflect on four important issues: the various stages of faith development, being the Church in our cultural context, dealing with conflict and change, and the development of leadership in the Church. These four issues will be the focus of our reflection and discernment for the next four year"

The PCF has "associate membership" in the Mennonite Church Manitoba. If any of our Mennonite members would like to explore that aspect of our identity I would love to talk about it.

PCF GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING

PCF General Committee met on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at Mel and Sim Gascoyne's. The draft minutes are available here.
The whole General Committee has decided to meet about every two months with the Executive (Convener, Vice and Past Conveners, Secretary, Treasurer and Minister) meeting in between. We're hoping this will streamline our administration and free folks up for the more direct ministry that our sub-committees provide. If you are curious about how the congregation organizes our business you could check out our mission statement and our governing by-laws online or just chat with Rob or a member of the General Committee.

FYI

Presbyterian is an anagram for Britney Spears.

"The People Next Door"

An interfaith education event jointly sponsored by Manitoba Interfaith Council and the Faculty of Theology at the U of W. It is titled "The People Next Door". We will be visiting the worship centres of 5 faith traditions. At each centre we will experience worship and receive a presentation on the faith by a member of that tradition. The dates are:

Th. Jan 17 6.30pm Buddhism at 39 Tecumseh (Tecumseh and Winnipeg)
Th. Jan 31 6.30pm Hinduism at 999 St. Anne's Road
Sun Feb 17 6.00pm Judaism at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, 561 Wellington
Th. Feb 28 6.30 pm Sikh at 1244 Mulholland Road
Th. Mar 13 6.30 pm Islam at Grand Mosque, 2445 Waverly

The course will be concluded on Th Mar. 27, 6.30 pm. with a panel discussion at the U of W

There is a course fee of $25, paid on the first or subsequent evenings.

For more info contact Tom and Julie Collings - tomjulie@mts.net