Christmas Service Times

Just a note to update our Christmas Service Times...

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December 21 - Fourth Sunday of Advent
10 am Worship
in the F.W. Gilbert School
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December 24 - Christmas Eve
7 pm Family Worship
11 pm Holy Communion
in the F.W. Gilbert School
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December 28 - First Sunday after Christmas
9:15am. Shared Worship and pot-luck brunch
in the Pinawa Lutheran Church
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The United Church of Canada launches its own YouTube Channel

Last week the church launched its own YouTube channel, featuring a playlist of more than 20 videos with more to be added in the weeks ahead. The list includes videos of some of the United Church’s hundreds of community projects, both in Canada and overseas, as well as video messages from Moderator David Giuliano. The United Church of Canada’s YouTube channel can be found at http://www.youtube.ca/unitedchurchofcanada

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Despite the cool and rainy weather 20 people came out for the first annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup on Sunday the 28th. Folks spread out from the Pinawa Sailing and Rowing club and covered the shore from the diversion dam to the campground. The Cann's and Westdal's canoed to the little islands just offshore and Captain Keith Reid in A2 led an expedition to Porcupine Island where a treasure trove of assorted junk was found. The good news is that our shoreline is quite clean. We only managed to fill 3 large trash bags and two recycling bags - not counting the 9 tires that wouldn't fit in the bags. We need to thank the people who don't wait for a special day to pick up litter as they walk their dog or exercise along the trails. The bad news is that we did find a bewildering variety of trash, a lot of it related to "recreation". We can do better than this Pinawa. The "Antiques Roadshow" award goes to John Trueman who scored a very cool old patent medicine bottle in pristine condition. Statistics from the event were sent to the Vancouver Aquarium who collate our data and add it it to International Coastal Cleanup information. TD Bank supplied t-shirts, gloves and bags and the Pinawa Christian Fellowship was very pleased to host the event and to provide a campfire with hot chocolate and marshmallows for the workers.
So, what did we find?
2 paper Bags
36 plastic bags
7 Cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons
25 Food wrappers/containers
2 Beverage bottles (plastic)
15 Beverage bottles (glass)
55 Beverage cans
1 Shotgun shell
10 Caps, lids
13 Straws, stirrers
5 Clothing, shoes (a pink flip-flop!)
3 Toys (Golf balls!)
2 Bait containers/packaging
1 Oil/lube bottle
1 Plastic tarps
5 Fishing line
2 Rope
7 Fishing lures/light sticks
1 Strapping band
118 Cigarette/cigarette filters
2 Cigar tips
3 Tobacco packaging/wrappers
3 Cars/car parts
1 55-gal. drum
9 Building materials (pieces of lumber / docks)
9 Tires
1 tampon applicator
17 chunks of Styrofoam insulation / dock flotation
1 lid from a town garbage container (in the river)

Pinawa Hospital Pastoral Care Team

These are the folks from the churches in Pinawa and Lac du Bonnet and Seven Sisters who visit at the Pinawa Hospital (Along with Leah Bueckert our new Spiritual Care Coordinator for all of NEHA). Our next gathering on October 30th from 1 till 4 pm in the Pinawa Lutheran Church will be a training session, a perfect opportunity to find out what we're about. You're invited!

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup started 15 years ago as a small beach cleanup by four Vancouver Aquarium employees and has now grown into the second largest cleanup in the world (The U.S. is in first place - for now!) Powered by Canadians, this program allows people from all regions and all walks of life to make a positive difference to their environment. Last year alone, over 52,000 Canadians registered to clean up 1,240 shorelines removing 87,489 kg of harmful shoreline litter. The Pinawa Christian Fellowship would like to invite Pinawanians to join us at 1 pm on Sunday September 28th at the Pinawa Sailing and Rowing Club to walk, cycle, row, paddle or sail the Pinawa shoreline and collect garbage. The main goal is to clean up, but the program also collects statistics about the state of our shorelines. Please take a moment to register at the Shoreline Cleanup website and help out by bring litter back to the starting point to be catalogued and properly disposed of.

Back to (the) School

Summer worship with the Lutherans is over.
This Sunday, September 7th, we meet at 10 am in the FW Gilbert School.
Children's programs begin next week.
Annual General Meeting the week after. Welcome home!

The season after the Labour Day weekend is always a little ...sad. Yes, we'll have some good weather before the snow flies but it really does mark the end of summer. With the late spring this year it feels like we barely got started. Don't give up yet. We're working on a shoreline walk and picnic and clean-up for September 28. Look for details at the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Haggadah

A year or so ago I picked up a book at a used book store, The Book of Legends Sefer Ha-Aggadah: Legends from the Mishnah and Talmud It's an early 20th C compilation and translation of a huge variety of commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. Commentary is probably a little too weak, they are creative responses and sometimes expansions of the Scriptures, collecting the wisdom of ages of storytelling. Now there's an on-line group starting a two-year journey through the stories. I can't promise I will check in every day, but I will look from time to time and I've joined the Facebook group to keep up to date. Check them out Sefer Ha-Bloggadah.