During the Christmas Season our regular two-service schedule will be changed to one service only at 10:30 am on the following dates:
December 18– “Sunday School Concert
December 25– “Christmas Day”
January 1– “New Years’ Day”
This year we are involved in the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoe Box Campaign.
Please return your boxes no later than Sunday November 17th. Donations for the shipping costs can be done online by clicking on the OCC logo. If you would prefer, you can also purchase boxes that have already been packed for you.
UPDATE: This year we packed 60 shoeboxes. PTL! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Fall is on it’s way. Summer is quickly becoming a memory. Things are starting back up. All of these things point to us going back to two services.
The switch-over will take place October 16th when we will move to a 10:00am and a 11:30am service time. More fun, more worship, more long-winded message!
On Sunday October 2, after our worship service, we will be heading to Dixie Orchards to have lunch together and go apple picking.
We also encourage you to pick an extra bag or two and donate them to our local food bank, “The Sharing Place.” Dixie Orchards are located at 14309 Dixie Road, Caledon, ON. To visit their website click on the graphic.
One of the problems with being a preacher is that you are always in evaluation mode. This is particularly true when you visit other churches while on holiday!
What is the worship like? Are there songs to take back home? What was the greeting like? Are they friendly enough? Are they welcoming enough? How comfortable am I in this particularly church culture? How weird do I feel? That last question isn’t my everyday general open-ended question that always seems appropriate to me. This is more of a ‘How weird does being here make me feel?’ question.
Then there is the preaching. Just as doctors make the worst patients, preachers make the worst preachees. We often get wrapped up more in critiquing than in listening to God’s speaking. Though, I have to say that I think I am better than many of my preacher friends in this regard—at least that’s my critique.
Keele Street/Maple Leaf Christian Churches, with the help of youth from Athens and Mt. Palaski Christian Churches collected food in West Toronto on Wed night.
The community support was wonderful and we were able to collect a substantial amount of food for the Sharing Place (624 Annette St.), our local food bank. In fact we were able to fill their pantry to overflowing! Thanks are extended to all the volunteers that helped and thanks to our generous community that responded so well to the challenge to help their neighbours!
One of the things I hate with a passion is having someone stand behind me and look over my shoulder. This is the case whether the person is the love of my life or a total stranger. They could be coming in for a kiss or the kill—it doesn’t matter because it pretty much affects me the same way and I pretty much react the same way.
It isn’t something that I admire about myself. It isn’t something I even fully understand. I think it goes to a much more basic and primordial level than I am able to access. Perhaps it is a protective instinct that God gave us so that we know when an enemy is creeping up on us? Maybe it has something to do with being a preacher and living next to an elder when I first entered the ministry? Maybe it is something to do with having three sons and only one computer for the majority of their lives growing up? Maybe this is just one of those areas in which I am able to exercise my unvarnished jerkiness? Because, believe me, I can be a big jerk if you stand behind me for any length of time!
What would it be like to look over God’s shoulder and watch Him work? Would you be able to follow the billions of things that He is able to juggle all at once? I don’t think so! Would you want to point to out a few things you would like Him to do differently, or faster? Probably! After all, that is part of the jerkiness of the human heart (Yes the word of the day is ‘jerkiness,’ but you may not want to use it in a sentence too often today!).
On Aug 4th, 7:30 pm, Keele will be hosting a combined youth worship event.
Robbie Sevilla, Youth Minister from Churchill Meadows Christian Church, will be speaking and a youth group from Athens IL. will be in attendance. Youth from all our area churches are invited to attend, as well as anyone from the congregations that are are young at heart and hard of hearing!
A free-will offering will be taken up in aid of Jose and Regina Fernandez and the new Brazilian church-plant meeting here at Keele.