Cedar United Church
1644 Cedar Road V9X 1L4 Nanaimo, BC, Canada

As people will remember Lynn Haley is helping to keep us together while Rev. Erin is away on sabbatical - thank you Lynn. Lynn is well known AND WELL LOVED by our congregation. So we know that we are in good and nurturing hands. She has sent us a wonderful message this Mother’s Day: Together we celebrate....especially Moms! We come together in the Spirit to celebrate God’s precious gift of love in our lives.... On this of all Sundays, we celebrate all those women who have laid down their life in the service of love for us and for so many whose lives they have touched over the years. We pray, we remember, we give thanks and ask you, God, for your blessing on each of them. Together we listen, together we love Today's reading from John 15 As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends..... Together we pray, together we care As a community of faith, we pray for each other, trusting that the prayers of our heart are held close by our God who loves each of us just as we are. We pray for all those who are so desperately in need both in our communities and in our world. God, we ask your blessing so that we may continue to reach out to others in love. Amen And reminds us that though we are spread apart - we don’t have to be in a church to be CHURCH. Don’t forget to join her and others at the Sunday fellowship zoom hour at 1:00 p.m. tommorrow. If you did not get the email invite please DM me. Also remember you can call Lynn anytime. If you don’t have her number DM me.

New time for our zoom coffee social - each Sunday at 1:00 p.m. hosted by Lynn Haley - hope to see everyone there.

Hello everyone this is Erin’s last service before she goes on her sabbical so please check in: She introduces it as: Every year we return to the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and in this service we will look at Psalm 23 and John 10: 11 - 18 as we ponder what it means to be a sheep in these challenging times.... I'm glad to be in the fold with you! As we are with you Erin Sterling. I know that we all miss each other and we will miss the awesome services that Erin has been providing us for the past year as we have been making our way through this COVID time. During Erin’s sabbatical we will have the pleasure of Lynn Haley (who will be offering some care and connection), and to Foster Freed (who will be the pastoral charge supervisor). We know both wonderful people and know that we will be held lovingly while our Erin is away. Erin will be providing links to other churches for people check out in the weeks to come. I will post them when I get them. Here is the link to the worship service (remember it becomes available at 6:30 am Sunday morning): https://www.youtube.com/playlist

Hello everyone - here is the service for tomorrow. Enjoy: Rev Erin says: Tomorrow's service is reflecting on both Earth Day (April 22) and post-resurrection stories, and how important this beautiful, fragile Earth and our beautiful, fragile bodies are. The worship service is found below: (it becomes available at 6:30 am Sunday morning):... https://www.youtube.com/playlist

Got this from a friend

Here a link to our worship service for today for the 1st Sunday of Lent. Rev Erin is using Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8 (for everything there is a season) as a framework for our Lenten journey - in all the changes of life, how we are called to follow Jesus. This she will also be exploring the story from Matthew of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. She asks if the tempter were assigned to us, what temptations would prove more challenging than others? How do we keep our focus on what is truly important? Remember we also have our weekly zoom coffee chat at 11 a.m. See you all there. https://www.youtube.com/playlist

A nice article a found about Lent which is coming upon us quickly now. A time for reflection. Giving something up or taking something on to honour the Spirit. What are you going to do this year for Lent? https://www.countryliving.com/life/a26294776/when-is-lent/

Call to Worship One:Look back! Look back with courage! All:Face the truth God reveals to you! One:Look forward! Look forward with hope! All:Look to the future! See possibilities growing from the seeds of lessons learned!... One:There is NO shame in learning history! There is NO shame in relearning history! All:Let us learn and unlearn history together. OneWisdom is vindicated by all her children. All:And all God’s children proclaim: So be it! Amen! Written by The Rev. Debbie McMillan lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She currently serves the Cayuga Pastoral Charge for a special service for Black History Month this year. Let’s look back in our history, learn from our mistakes and glorify in the richness of all of the people who make up the country of Canada.

This morning is Transfiguration Sunday the last Sunday before the 40 days of Lent. Please join us for worship and then Zoom Coffee at 11 a.m. As always if you don’t have the zoom invite please DM me or Erin. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/playlist

Exciting initiative from the United Church of Canada for Black History Month - have a read: https://united-church.ca//young-adults-lead-church-become-

Sunday January 17, 2021 Communion

It’s Communion Sunday today. Please join us for virtual communion! Here is a message from Rev. Erin: After the story of the Magi, the lectionary gives us the story of Jesus' baptism, this time from the gospel of Mark. Unlike Matthew and Luke's nativity stories, Mark begins his gospel with Jesus as an adult, coming to the river to receive baptism. Repentance, affirmation, and acceptance all take center stage. As we consider Jesus' baptism, and perhaps our own, we will al...so partake in communion, to consider how these ordinary things (water, bread, juice) can become life-changing experiences of God at work in our lives. Before you start the service Sunday morning, please bring a cracker or piece of bread, and some juice or water with you - this way we can celebrate communion together! Thank you to Marty for the music and to Elisabeth for the lyric videos this week. Here is the link to the worship service (it becomes available at 6:30 am Sunday morning) https://www.youtube.com/playlist

The true Epiphany

Sorry for posting this so late but things have been busy around the Leith Strain household. So for those who have not had a chance to worship this week below is the link to this week’s worship service. Erin also sends the following message: Hello friends - I hope you are well and keeping each other safe and healthy.... It was with sadness that I saw our BC health order extended for another month, but I agree that it is necessary when we continue to see an increase in new cases. It is my dearest hope that we will flatten the curve again and be able to meet in person sometime in February. In the meantime, Epiphany is here, the time to seek knowledge - to see what God is revealing. God continues to speak to us, each in our own way, just as God spoke to the magi through the stars they studied. The story of the magi is very appropriate for us this week as we consider the violent world that the Christ child was born into, and continues to be revealed in. Thank you to Josslyn for the music and to Andrew for the sing-a-long videos this week. I hope that everyone enjoys the first Sunday of Epiphany. Blessings. https://www.youtube.com/playlist

Here is the link to the Christmas Eve Service. Wishing everyone a joyous Christmas Eve. https://www.youtube.com/playlist

November 20, 2020 The Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20, was set aside to recognize those who have been killed due to ignorance and hatred, targeted because they were trans or gender non-conforming. The first event took place in 1999 in San Francisco to honour Rita Hester, who had been brutally murdered the previous year. https://www.united-church.ca//gender-sexuality-and-orienta

Hello everyone November 15th is Children’s Sunday. The United Church’s website describes Children’s Sunday as an opportunity to lift up the needs and celebrate the gifts of young people in their own communities and around the world, is celebrated annually across the church on the Sunday closest to November 20. Consider participating in the No Way to Treat a Child campaign to end the detention of Palestinian children. Here is a link to the campaign if you want to get involved. https://www.united-church.ca//israeli-military-detention-n

Let us remember all of the many souls who sacrificed their lives, bodies and minds to defeat the evil that moved across the world in WW 1 and WW 2 and the families forever changed. Also, let us remember the other men and women who have fought for our way of life since then. But also let us remember the toll that war takes not only the soldiers and their families but all of the civilians that are so often just thought of as collateral damage. Woman, children, elderly the sick, those who refuse to fight. The societies that are ruined, people forced to flee for their lives because of conflicts that they have no part in. Without memory there is no ability to change our actions. Let us remember and commit to never allowing the tragedies of the world wars to happen again and to stop the carnage of the current wars now.

Also Rev Erin has announced that our Board met last week and made the official decision to try to begin modified in-person worship services starting on November 15th (next Sunday!). Everyone is going to be getting a phone call to advise if you are assigned to either Group A (meeting on November 15th) or Group B (meeting on November 22nd). On those Sundays we will be welcoming you to a shortened, physically distanced worship service in which we all wear masks or shields, we... do not sing (but do enjoy some music) or touch, and we leave the building as soon as worship is over. It’s going to be a big challenge especially now that the COVID numbers are growing and the Board is going to be keeping an eye on this and as Rev Erin says If our Island cases continue to increase, we will likely have to go back to "online worship only" again, so hopefully everyone will remain vigilant to protect their neighbours. I am sure that Rev Erin will continue to send emails around and I will also try to keep people in the loop as to what is happening. See more

Hey everyone I know that this is a bit late -sorry - but for people who did not get the email here is the link for our service today Many thanks this week to Josslyn and Andrew for the music and lovely slides to sing along to! https://www.youtube.com/playlist