Windsor Park United Church

11/28/2024

Looking for a place to Worship this Advent season? WPUC is kicking of the season with our Annual Craft Sale on Sunday, November 30th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Worship celebrating the 4 Sundays of Advent begins at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday starting Sunday, December 1 with Rev. Jeff Cook. Communion will be observed. Watch this page for further Advent events.

11/28/2024

WPUC's annual Cookie Walk is Saturday, December 7, 2024 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Fill a box for $15.00 (lid must close), take home, and enjoy. The box holds about 3 dozen cookies. This is not a nut-free environment.

11/28/2024

Join us on Saturday, November 30, 2024 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for our Annual Craft Sale. Some fabulous vendors have signed up.

12/24/2023

Reminder. No service at 10:30 a.m. on the 24th.
Service is at 6:00 p.m.

12/06/2023

03/30/2023

Scripture

Philippians 1:3–11

3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Reflection

I look at the world right now and all I see is confusion and uncertainty. I think that in many ways it is challenging to be a person of faith in the world today. There seems to be so much strife, violence, war, hatred, confusion, and uncertainty that it can cause one to question everything, even their faith. How do we as people of faith continue to move forward in the world, and in all honesty in our community, these days? The scripture from Paul’s letter to the Christian community at Philippi might be something for us to consider. Paul, as Paul often does, begins this letter to the community with a reassurance that things in the community will continue to move forward. Paul’s assurance came from his understanding that God has begun something within that community and therefore God would continue to move forward. The struggle that I think we have is that we don’t like ambiguity in our lives. We, as people, like to know what is happening, where we are going, and what the final outcome will be. That might not be possible with everything that is happening in our world and in our lives right now. It is challenging enough when there is uncertainty in the wider world, it become even more challenging when there is uncertainty in our own lives, in our own communities, in our own futures. I believe that this is where many of us are right now. Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet and author, speaks to this challenge when he says; “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your hearts and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” As people of faith we are called to live in the midst of the ambiguity of these times. There are so many questions that don’t seem to have answers and I believe that we are called to live into the questions right now and to trust that one day we might live into the answers themselves as well. To trust in the things we don’t know, to trust in a future that we might not be able to see, that is what we might just be called to do right now. It is challenging, but when we read Paul’s letter to those Christians at Philippi, we are reminded that God has started something with each one of us, and with us collectively as a community, and God will not abandon this work. So in the midst of the uncertainty of life, in the midst of our own unknowing what the future might bring, we trust that God will continue the work and one day we might have those answers and until that time we all continue to move forward in life trusting in that which is unseen and yet ever present.

Prayer

God of all of our journey, you know how uncertain our world is, our community is, our lives are, and we ask for your presence with us during this time. Give us the courage to face the uncertainty of the future trusting in you. Give us the wisdom to know that what you begin, you always finish. Give us patience to live with all of the questions and very few answers that we might be open to your gently nudging as we continue to try to move forward. We ask all this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

Patrick Woodbeck
Minister

03/22/2023

Scripture

Matthew 5:38–42

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

Reflection

In the scripture from Matthew Jesus was speaking against retaliation but was also speaking in a way that ensured that one would not allow others to take advantage of someone. We often hear this idea of turning the other cheek and struggle because it appears to tell us that we must allow others to ‘walk all over’ us. But the reality is that don’t believe that this is what Jesus meant at all. In the ancient world one would only be able to use their right hand, as their left hand was used for something that we won’t mention here but suffice to say it has to do with going to the washroom. So if one were to hit you with their right hand, and you were to turn the other cheek, well then, the person who hit you would have to use their back of their right hand to hit you. Hitting someone with the back of one’s hand only brought shame to the one who was doing the hitting. Some see this scripture as a moral imperative that we must turn the other cheek, but I think that in some ways Jesus was speaking of a social contract where violence for no reason was unacceptable and when one perpetrated violence on another the one who had violence visited upon them no longer had to honour that contract and could turn the other cheek and in that way shame the one who was violent. We too live in a world of many implied social contracts. An example of this is a four way stop. We come to a four way stop and we hope that all others will follow the rules of the road, but there is no way to really enforce this unless it was monitored. The other day I pulled up to a four way stop and when it was my turn I started to pull forward to turn left and the driver immediately opposite from me pulled forward and shaking their fist at me proceeded to drive right through the intersection. It was a social contract that was not honoured. Some people believe that tolerance is a moral imperative too. If with think of it this way then we must tolerate those who are intolerant of who we are, but if we understand tolerance to be a social contract then it changes everything. If we understand tolerance to be a social contract, then those who are intolerant are no longer a part of that contract and we do not need to put up with their intolerance. It is always a two-way street in a social contract, never only one way. Being a member of a community of faith is also a social contract. It is a social contract that we will not only just be present in the community but that we will be active in the community as well. Being a part of a community of faith is not being a spectator but rather being a member and with that it means that we will be active in the community. So we live in a world where we engage with many different forms of social contracts and each of these requires something from us. Whether it be to wait our turn at a four way stop, to be tolerant of others when they are tolerant of us, or being an active member of a community of faith, each requires something from us. So what action will you bring to this community of faith today?

Prayer

God of all our lives, help us to see that you call us to be a member of a community of believers. Give us the courage to bring all that we are to our community and in doing so become people of action within the community. Give us the wisdom to see the ways in which we can honour our social contract of being a member of a community of faith and in doing so enliven both our own lives and the community itself. We ask this in the name of the one who came to show us the way, your son, Jesus. Amen.

Patrick Woodbeck
Minister

03/15/2023

Scripture

Mark 11:15 –18

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.

Luke 1 51–53

51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

Reflection

I have been thinking a lot lately about our call as Christians and how we are called to live out our call in the world today. I received a call from someone who asked me, “how do you do this?” What I think they were asking is how do I live in a world where there are so many issues and challenges and continue to hold tight to my faith. I suppose that that is a very good question. It is overwhelming to exist in the world today. It is difficult to continue to be a person of faith in the midst of so much pain, anger, struggle, strife, hatred, and challenge in the world. When one looks at the big picture it can cause us to question all that we believe and whether we are going to even be able to make a difference. I have been in this place many times in my life asking myself, is anything that I can do going to make a difference. Yes, looking at all the challenges and struggles in the world can lead us to a place where we feel helpless and powerless to make any change and so in many ways we become paralyzed and don’t act. But we are called to act, as Christians we are called to act. Our faith is a faith of action and this action is important in how we live out our faith. I don’t believe that that means that we are called to take on the whole system to try to change the entire world, but rather we are called to small actions. We are called to small actions in our own lives that might just, with other who are taking small actions as well, cause change to happen in our communities, in our cities, in our countries, and possibly even the world. The scriptures I chose speak to action. The scripture speaks to Jesus’s action in the temple as he turns over the tables and drives out the money changers. In all reality we know that they were probably back the next day, but Jesus, for that one day, changed the culture of the temple to what it should have been. The reading from Luke, which is Mary’s song of praise and challenge, speaks to God’s action in the world, God’s desire to change the way the world is now to what the world should, could, be. Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, American Civil Rights advocate, reflects on this idea of our call to change the world when she has said, “It’s not about supplication, it’s about power. It’s not about asking, it’s about demanding. It’s not about convincing those who are currently in power, it’s about changing the very face of power itself.” We are called to change the very face of power from those who currently hold power, those who currently maintain the status quo, those who continue to perpetuate this world of violence, war, inequality, hatred, and marginalization to a power that is based in equity, care, compassion, inclusion, and love. As Christians it is our call to take actions in our own lives to make small changes, to speak truth to power, so that we might actually change the face of the world and God’s kingdom will finally come. It is you and I, it is our call, and it begins with one small act. Let us all begin with one small act.

Prayer

God of Mary’s song, give us eyes to truly see the world as it is. Help us to see all of the challenges, struggle, strife that exists in our world because without seeing that we can’t hope to change it. God give us the wisdom to see how we might take one small action in our world this day and in taking that one small action we might start something new. Give us the courage to act today, to act today to make one small change and to encourage others to do that same. We long for your world to come, your world of peace, justice, mercy, compassion, and love, help us to see that it starts with us as we give a new face to the power which currently holds sway in our world and our lives. We ask all this in the name of the one who turned over those tables, your son, Jesus. Amen.

Patrick Woodbeck
Minister

03/08/2023

Scripture

Isaiah 43:18–19

18 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Philippians 3:13–16

13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16 Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

Reflection

I was having a conversation with someone the other day and they were interested in the fact that I was a former competitive ice dancer. They asked all sorts of questions about and finally they asked what made me stop competing and not get back on the ice. These two questions really made me think about my past and decisions that I have made and choices that I really have not had in life. I was thinking about the course of my life and where I am now. I suppose in some ways I could say that not continuing to compete, to see where I might have ended up, is one of the regrets that I have in my life. As I think about that I also know that that single choice, had I made it differently, would have changed the trajectory of my life completely and I would not be who I am today and where I am today. I have been thinking a lot about regret and how it can be easy to live within that regret. The challenge with living in the midst of regret is that we don’t come to see our lives as they truly are this day, right now. Is my life perfect right now? No! Have we lived through loss and grief? Yes! I remember hearing a line in a movie once that went something like this (I am going to paraphrase as much as I can remember); “I was reading an article in a paper that said everyone has the life that they want.” As I heard this line I thought that doesn’t make sense because for some lives has been a struggle, full of challenges, grief, pain, and sadness and I don’t think that people actually choose that for their life. What I think that point of this movie quote was that we can live in the midst of our regrets or we can move forward from them. I don’t think that our we necessarily chose our lives as they are but the circumstances of our lives have brought each of us to where we are and if we only see behind us, how might we see in front of us. The scripture that I chose speaks to this idea. It speaks to the former things being over and that there is a new way in front of us and in that there is always hope. Emily Maguire, singer and songwriter has said, ‘But then, life is a constant withering of possibilities. Some are stolen with the lives of people you love. Others are let go, with regret and reluctance and deep, deep sorrow. But there is compensation for lives unlived in the intoxicating joy of knowing that the life you have – right here, right now – is the one you have chosen. There is power in that, and hope.” To understand that what has happened has happened and in those lost possibilities there might be regret, pain, and loss, but our lives are not defined solely by our past. Our lives are also defined by the possibilities of our future, which is yet to be. So it is important to understand where we have come from, but it is equally important to understand that our future is always yet unwritten. The old things have passed away and if we are Christians we understand that God is always doing a new thing, even if we can’t perceive it right now.

Prayer

God of all of yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows, help us to see our past for what it is, our past. Help us to see our futures as those not yet written and help us to see the possibilities in front of u s and not the regrets that are behind us. Give us the courage to look at our pasts honestly but also to look to our future with hope. Give us the wisdom to know that you are always doing new things even if we can’t see or feel them right now and allow us to open ourselves up to those possibilities in our own lives and in the lives of those we love. We ask all this in the name of the one who came bringing hope for a new tomorrow, your son, Jesus. Amen.

Patrick Woodbeck
Minister

03/01/2023

Scripture

Hebrews 11:1–3

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Romans 8:24–25

24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Reflection

I have found that I have been struggling these past few weeks. I think in many ways it has been challenging for many of us. We look at the world and we see all that is going on and it sometime becomes difficult to find the positive in the world. Then there are those times when we might think that we find something positive only to see behind the veil the reality of what is there, and it once again is a challenging experience. I heard an acapella version of Joni Mitchell’s both sides now and it touched me deeply. I want to share the lyrics of the song with you today as I think they speak to much of what we have experienced in the world lately;

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
And you leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It's love's illusions that I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say, "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads and they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

This song is about the illusions that we have of clouds, of love, of live, and how in the experience of each of these things there is another side, a side that isn’t always a positive side. It in this realization that we are challenged to recognize that we really don’t know much about life, about love, and in some ways about our world. This can leave us in a place, much like I have been in these past few weeks, a place where we struggle to find the positive in the world in therefore in our lives. The scripture that I chose today reminds me that faith is something that exists in that which I can’t yet see and that I am also called to hope in those things that I can’t yet see. To understand that in our limited knowledge, our limited understanding, and our limited vision, we don’t know all that is in front of us, we don’t really know what nature is about, we don’t really know love, and we don’t really know life. Yet it is in this unknowing that we are called to still have faith and to still have hope. Even when we realize that we have been blinded by the illusion of something we are called, as Christians, to trust and hope in that which we cannot see. We are called in the midst of what is happening in our world and in our lives to believe in a God of love, compassion, justice, mercy, forgiveness, patience, and hope. Even when it is ‘life’s illusions’ that we can only see we are called to remember that God is with us, that God loves us, that God is working in ways that we cannot see. So life is a struggle, life is challenging, life is unknown, yet we are called to continue to trust and hope that there is always more.

Prayer

God of mysterious ways, help us to remember that you are with us through every moment of our lives. Give us the courage to admit when ‘life’s illusions’ have gotten the better of us and the wisdom to know that you are always working in ways that are unseen. Give us the patience to know that the challenges we face today might lead us to a new tomorrow. Help us to always remember that our faith and hope are built on that which is yet unseen. We ask this in the name of the one who came to bring us hope, your son, Jesus. Amen.

Patrick Woodbeck
Minister

02/22/2023

Scripture

Psalm 9:7–10

7 But the LORD sits enthroned forever, he has established his throne for judgment. 8 He judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with equity. 9 The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Proverbs 22:16–17

16 Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss. 17 The words of the wise: Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching;

Reflection

I have been thinking a lot lately about oppression and its presence in our world today. This past weekend, at the NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, Canadian singer Jully Black sang the national anthem and she, while singing this, changed one word as she sang, “Our home on native land.” Ms. Black said that she had stopped singing the anthem a few years ago after news of that groups had found evidence of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools. When she asked to sing the anthem at the game she said that she really needed to think about the words of the anthem she had been singing since she was a child. When she really looked at the words, this change seemed to be honest and true to her. This little change of one word has set off a firestorm of controversy for many. There are those who believe that this should be a permanent change and then there are others who find what she did as completely disrespectful. I believe that the challenge we face is such that we live in a land where there is still much oppression and yet we don’t see that oppression. The anger at the change of one word of a song to me indicates that many still don’t see the oppression and systematic violence that is faced by indigenous communities each and every day. I think that many, who have never been subjected to real oppression, don’t understand the reaction of the oppressed when they get angry at the injustice, oppression, and violence, that they constantly face. We see the lashing out of people in the US around the murders of black Americans and we don’t understand these reactions. We don’t understand why indigenous communities here just don’t get over it and move forward. The challenge is that this has been happening for so long and we still don’t see it. Frederick Douglass, who was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman, after escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, and becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings, said, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, robe and degrade them, neither person nor property will be safe.” The scriptures I chose today speak to God’s call to end oppression. It is God’s call for us to hear the cries of the oppressed and then to work towards the dismantling of those structures that continue to oppress in our world today. As Christians, as those who say that we are followers, we are called to hear the voices of the oppressed, to learn from those who have been oppressed, and truly know that God is found with those who have been, and continue to be, oppressed. It is only in opening our eyes to truly see the oppression that still exists in the world, in opening our ears to listen to the voices of the oppressed, can we truly change the world.

Prayer

God, of the oppressed, we ask that you open our eyes to see the ongoing oppression that exists in the world. We ask that you open our ears so that we might truly hear the voices of the oppressed. We ask that you give us the courage to honestly look at our role in maintaining the structures that continue to perpetrate the ongoing systematic oppression and violence against so many in our communities. Help us to bear witness to their pain, to hear their voices, and to truly learn so that we might bring about your kingdom of justice, mercy, compassion and love. We ask this in the name of the one who walked, lived with, became, the oppressed, your son, Jesus. Amen.

Patrick Woodbeck
Minister