Knox Shuniah United Church

"A friend is one to whom one may pour out the content of one's heart, chaff and grain

together, knowing that only gentle hands will take and sift it."

- George Eliot (1819 - 1880)

English Novelist

In light of current events in Washington, our Moderator Richard Bott offers the following prayer:

Prayer for Our US Neighbours

As we follow our newsfeeds,

and observe with horror

what is happening in the capital of the United States of America,

we call on you, Creator of All Love.

We painfully remember peaceful protests of tangible and documented injustices,

led by Black and Indigenous peoples

who were sadly met with undue hostility and violence,

and characterized as rioters,

in contrast to how the violent clashes incited by Trump supporters

on baseless claims is being responded to

and reported on.

We pray for those who are most acutely experiencing the terror caused by these actions,

and those who deeply understand the hatred and racism that such acts fuel.

We call on you, Prince of Peace,

and pray for your wisdom, your guidance, and your love,

that those who are rioting would leave Washington,

so that elected decision-makers can go back

to their chambers,

to the lawful work that they have been given

by the people of the United States.

We pray, with all that we are,

loving God.

Amen.

―Moderator Richard Bott, Adele Halliday, and Alydia Smith

Rev. Rob Smith is leading Virtual Lectionary Bible Study on Mondays at

1:00 p.m. through ZOOM. The participants explore the scriptures for the

coming Sunday. The regional lectionary Bible study by ZOOM will start

again on Monday, January 11th  at 1 p.m.  I hope you will join us.  We are

averaging about 6 people.  We can always find another place at the table

for you.  Here is the ZOOM invitation for the study:

Time: Jan 11, 2021 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84679577617?

pwd=dnZja3hlWWgvRjNzV3Z1OTRMK2FyQT09

Meeting ID: 846 7957 7617

The Worship Committee thanks Christina Stricker for

her unfailing leadership and contributions almost every

week to the Sunday Live Stream Services. We are

grateful to all of the choir members of Harmony, and

readers, for their willing contributions.

Future Services & Updates about Reopening:

January 17th – Pinegrove will coordinate (closed until further notice)

January 24th – Trinity will coordinate; Anne Macdonald will preach (no set time to reopen,

but   continuing to Live Stream)

January 31st – St. Paul’s will coordinate (no services until further notice)

Broadway: (hoping to reopen January 11th if the lockdown is lifted on January 9th)

Worship Service Outline:

For those of you who would like a

copy of the service emailed out to

you, before or after presentation,

please contact me by email and I

will send whatever is available each

week. This may not always include

the sermon. I'll send whatever I can.

[email protected]

Here is some Good News from Zambia!

It is just a beginning, but Rev. Sakala has received a letter from Immigration Canada to go and get the 'Medicals' part of the process completed within the next ninety days. Hallelujah! One caveat: only Rev. Mastard has his letter, the rest of the family are still waiting for theirs, but we all live in hope. The completed Medicals are the last stage before the issuing of Visas. 

The Sally Sunshine in me suggests that the four applications of the Sakala Family would be more or less attached to one another so the other three notices should appear soon. 

In a recent Chronicle Journal newspaper article it was reported that Immigration Canada is about 90% back on track in their processing of Immigration Applications. This is good news as everything was virtually shut down since March. There is a backlog, of course, but it seems that Immigration Canada is eager(!) to work through this backlog as quickly as possible. And the best news is that Rev. M's letter indicates his application is still 'on the table', not lost forever in an administrative wilderness. Carry on Immigration Canada!!!!

(Submitted by Christina Stricker, Chair of the Search Committee)

Harmony United Church 

Telephone: 345-5065

email: [email protected]

web site: http://www.harmonyunited.webs.com

Announcements

Serving & Helping...

• If you aware of anyone who is in hospital or requires a pastoral

telephone call, please notify the Church Office.

• Do you have a suggestion for any of our church committees? If so,

please put it in our locked mailbox until further notice. The

Committee Chair will be notified of your suggestion.

• Harmony’s Facebook Page site administrators are Gary Pederson

and Teri Lynch. Please share any ideas and words that may bring

comfort or joy to members of our congregation, and pictures of

what you are doing to keep busy: Teri and Gary can be contacted at

[email protected] & [email protected]

• Greeters, Scripture Readers and Coffee Hosts/Hostesses will be

needed when we get back together again. Please call the church

office to indicate your interest: 345-5065. • Monthly GO Team

Collection: 3rd Sunday of the Month. (January's  collection will

benefit “Teen Challenge Thunder Bay”.)

• Donations of Canadian Tire Money are gratefully appreciated to

help offset our operating costs! • New Broadview Magazines are

available. Please come by during office hours if you would like one.

• Lillian Gillson would welcome calls. She can be reached

at 768-0589, or via the Glacier Ridge desk: 343-0242.

Events Happening at Harmony United...

• Until our banking arrangements have been

finalized, please continue to make out your

cheques to Knox United Church. Many thanks to

those who have been dropping off giving

envelopes and donations in the church’s locked

mailbox!

• Wednesday’s 'Coffee Drop In' and 'Home Group'

are  cancelled until  further notice.

Attention all wanna-be SINGERS!!

Here's a rare

opportunity to practise your singing from home!

All are invited to join in Harmony's Church Choir

practices, as we continue to meet via ZOOM

(or telephone) on Thurs. evenings at 7 p.m.

The  ZOOM   meetings open at 6:45, for those that

want to come   early to "chat." At 7:00 p.m.  we start with

vocal warm- ups, then sing through the hymns of the week, and

work on learning our different parts of anthems. Because Zoom

doesn't precisely synchronize all the voices, the leader will "mute"

everyone but herself (or it will sound like chaos!) while we are

singing. This makes for a safe experience practising your singing -

because you are the only one that will hear you singing - as you

sing at home following the voice of the leader, and the piano.

Although, in some ways it's not as good as singing together in

person, Kim is leading Zoom practices each week with 2 different

small choirs, and both are finding it enjoyable and valuable. If you'd

like more information, or want to know the simple process of

joining  with a computer, ipad or by telephone, phone Harmony's

choir director, Kim Fuzzen at 473-5271.

Sign In Clipboards During our response to

COVID-19

Please ensure that you sign one of the two

clipboards ... in Crittall Hall, or in the entrance to

the Sanctuary. Please note your name, the date,

time in, time out, and your telephone number.

(Courtesy of Christina Stricker)

“Chickenpox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.

Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.

HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years. As well, it has been studied medically for many years.

Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is So far, the symptoms may include:

Fever

Fatigue

Coughing Pneumonia 

Chills/Trembling

Acute respiratory distress

Lung damage (potentially permanent)

Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)

Sore throat

Headaches

Difficulty breathing

Mental confusion

Diarrhea Nausea or vomiting

Loss of appetite

Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)

Swollen eyes

Blood clots S

Seizures

Liver damage

Kidney damage

Rash

COVID toes (weird, right?)

People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for a total of 62 days, and while he was well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.

Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.

This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know. For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity: How dare you? How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly? How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as “getting it over with”, when literally no one knows who will be the lucky “mild symptoms” case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30-year-olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died. Infants and children too. How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend:

baseline precautions such as: - Frequent hand-washing

 Physical distancing

Reduced social/public contact or interaction

 Mask wearing

Covering your cough or sneeze

 Avoiding touching your face

 Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces

The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts. I reject the notion that it's “just a virus” and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance.

Dr. Fauci

News from Christina Stricker...

Update: Rev. Mastard Sakala and

his family are safe and well in

Lusaka Zambia. There was a

meeting with the Church Elders last

Saturday, November 14th

concerning the unsustainable

timetable for Rev Sakala.

He had been expected to preach six

days a week, usually at 5 a.m.

except for Sunday morning. This

came about as the congregation is

huge (about 1000!) and the Covid

restrictions meant that no more than

150 people could be in their building

at one time. In addition, Rev. Sakala

was also expected to continue with

his usual daily office and pastoral

care routines. He was approaching

exhaustion. The Elders proved their

wisdom by reducing the

workload somewhat, to a tolerable

timetable, and Rev. Sakala feels he

can now manage properly. Lay

leaders were also going to be

encouraged to serve in the pulpit on

occasion. Rev. Sakala always sends

his warm greetings, and his

gratitude for our prayers. He ends

his emails assuring us that the

Harmony family are in his family's

prayers. They are all looking forward

to arriving on our doorstep and

settling into the process of

becoming Canadian Citizens ... in

the fullness of time. Zambia is

moving into their rainy season with

usually very wet weather and

temperatures between 23'C and

37'C. Thinking of these

temperatures should help us keep

warm as ours drop into the -C

numbers, with snow instead of rain!

Covid numbers in Zambia are

considerably less than in Canada of

course, but still significant. As of

November 16th, there were 434

active cases across the country.

Third item of possible interest:

Michael and Arlien Wesa and

Christina have been working at

cleaning up the paperwork and

some of the kitchen supplies, etc. at

the Current River site. A full set of

dishes has been set aside with the

other Sakala Family furnishings still

onsite there. The Sakala furnishings

will all be moved to the Harmony

gym once the yard sale material has

been moved. Most paperwork has

been sorted into 'discard and

recycle', 'shred' or 'archive'

groupings and these actions will be

taken as soon as possible. This

amounts to at least forty boxes of

paperwork! MEMO (Dr Jerome

Harvey) has expressed interest in

anything left (furnishings, books,

etc) for a shipping container being

prepared for an orphanage, a

school, and a church in Zimbabwe

in the spring. This would certainly

reduce our workload of clearing the

building to be ready for sale. They

will move the material out of the

building when we are finished

removing what we want to retain.

(Submitted by Christina Stricker)

We have just received word that our

free Web Site provider, Webs.com

will no longer be offering this service

after March 31st 2021. If someone

in our congregation is interested in

exploring a web site offered through

the United Church of Canada,

please contact Ruth Kamo.

A Prayer for People of Courage

(From the United Church of Canada)

We offer to you, O God, our prayers for those who

seek justice and resist evil. We pray for those who

need your presence and strength to stand firm; for

those who are oppose the use of violence in any

form in faithful response to the Prince of Peace.

We pray for those are prepared to be firm to

protect those in danger. We pray for those who

walk with others who need strength. We pray for

those who protest, those who organize letter

campaigns, those who give sacrificially on behalf

of others. We pray for those who speak the

unpopular truth; who protect the unpopular

victims; who choose the unpopular path of peace.

We pray for those who do not let their desire for

peace hinder the requirements of justice, and for

those who do not let their zeal for justice override

the call for peace. —from "On This Day of

Remembrance," prayers for Remembrance Sunday

(by the Rev. Dr. Neil Parker, military chaplain

at the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre in

Meaford, ON)

Minister's Message

July 30th, 2020

“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;

and the greatest of these is love.”

1st Corinthians 13:13

It is with a deep sense of gratitude but also sadness that I write my last weekly message to you, the good people of Harmony United Church. I am grateful to have served as your minister for over a year, for we have shared so many special times together. I will miss seeing you on a regular basis, sharing spirit-filled worship, visiting together in times of joy and times of sorrow, enjoying times of music, fun, amazing food, and laughter, and doing our best to serve God together in our community and in our world. Peter and I feel truly blessed to have been part of this church family.

I will be on holiday during the month of August, and will be retiring (again!) after that. I was ordained 30 years ago, and have had so many great and varied experiences. But now it's time for new experiences. With COVID 19 restrictions still in place, our holiday travel, like that of many of you, will be limited to exploring our local area. We have been fortunate enough to be able to reserve a cabin for a week at the Sleeping Giant Park, and look forward to rest and relaxation in that lovely setting.

I have great affection for all of you, dear friends, and will hold you in my heart and in my prayers. I also pray that Rev. Sakala and his family will soon be able to come to our city, and that his ministry with you will be a great blessing, as I know your warmth and support will be a great blessing to him and his family. You are special!

God bless you,

(Rev.) Joyce Fergus-Moore