2017 OFFERING ENVELOPES Envelopes are ready for pickup in the Narthex. Note that envelopes are sorted in numerical order. Please use the alphabetical name list as a guide.
PARKING A reminder that parking is allowed on Orleans Blvd. (in front of the church) on Sunday mornings.
WELCOME REV. CAROLINE PENHALE! We are excited for the Rev. Caroline Penhale to begin her call with Orleans United! Rev. Caroline is currently taking time to decompress from her previous pastoral charge and get charged up for life at OUC. Her first day with us will be January 17 and her first Sunday in worship will be January 22. Please be sure to welcome Rev. Caroline to our family!
JANUARY 15 WORSHIP The Rev. Dr. Tom Sherwood will lead us in worship for our anniversary service. Rev. Tom served as minister at OUC for 15 years (1984 to 1999). He was Ecumenical Chaplain at Carleton University until 2009. He volunteers with First United as well as Faith and Arts Ottawa, and teaches undergraduate and supervises graduate students in the Masters program in Religion and Public Life program at Carleton University. In 2009, Rev. Tom was appointed Senior Scholar and commissioned to work on the “Listening to The Echo” study. The National Church asked him to offer his work as a book, which was published last fall. Rev. Tom will be talking about the issues raised in this new book Listening to The Echo – young adults talk about religion, spirituality, God, gods and their world. Rev. Tom will sign copies in the coffee hour after the service. Lorena Duncan, whom he met at OUC and married in 1990, will also be with us.
OUC REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR – 2016 Thank you all for your generous donations to our Reverse Advent Project! Sunday January 8th will be the LAST DAY donations will be collected. We look forward to sharing some totals with you after this date. As always the Food Bank and Centre 507 donation drop off bins will be in the entryway, but we will not be collecting and disseminating other goods (as per the Reverse Advent Calendar) after this date. Thank you all for your support!
Activities Around Our Church
If you require financial assistance to participate in any OUC program, please contact Rev. Molly.
SUNDAY SCHOOL CHANGES With the start of the new year we will have some changes to our Sunday School program. A lack of teachers plus varying attendance has meant we have changed our model. Along with Nursery for babies & toddlers, we will now offer 3 classes each Sunday: preschool/JK, SK/Grade 1/Grade 2 and Grade 3/4/5/6. Even with this change, we are still short 2
team teachers – one for preK/JK and one for Grade 3/4/5/6. These teachers would teach once or twice per month from January to May. It is important that we offer our teachers the chance to attend worship and fill their spiritual buckets, and so we hope there will be volunteers who would come forward to offer either one or two Sundays per month to spend with some of the most amazing children you have ever met. Please talk to Rev. Molly if you might be able to serve our faith family in this way.
ANNUAL REPORTS It’s that time again! If you are responsible for a group or committee within OUC, please get your annual report in to the office no later than January 16 to ensure inclusion in the booklet. Thank you!
ORNAMENT “EXCHANGE”: Coming sometime this February, we plan to hold an event at which you can bring Christmas ornaments and decorations you no longer use, acquire new ornaments or both. Hopefully, this will provide material our crafty folk can use to upscale ornaments and wreaths to sell at the 2017 bazaar and provide the food banks with ornaments to hand out for next Christmas… and save you a bit of storage space as well. More details to follow.
YOUTH CONFIRMATION Those families with youth (grade 7+) interested in confirmation please contact Rev. Molly so we can begin planning. If there is sufficient interest, we will offer confirmation with a flexible schedule, pairing youth with adult mentors, in March – May 2017. More details to follow.
LADIES’ NIGHT OUT Let’s have a grand gathering at Connor’s Pub on Wednesday, January 18, 6:30 pm. Good food and fellowship. Feel free to bring a friend. Please contact Joan to confirm a seat (brocjo@sympatico.ca, 613.827.2523).
OUC LIBRARY BOOK REVIEW: What the Psychic told the Pilgrim by Jane Christmas. The author, a Canadian journalist, editor, and mother of three, decided on impulse to embark on Spain’s Camino de Santiago de Compostela to celebrate her 50th birthday. She was joined by 14 middle aged women from Toronto. The story takes you through beautiful villages in Spain and France and is seasoned with catfights, loneliness episodes, physical strengths and limitations with some detours for historical data and the search for the meaning of life. It is narrated with wit and depicts comical encounters. This book is a humorous account of a journey on which hundreds of thousands of Christians set out each year; 800 kilometres traveling by foot as did some of their medieval counterparts. In addition, many hikers walk the route for other reasons: travel, sport, or simply the challenge of weeks of walking in a foreign land. Also, many consider it a spiritual adventure and a retreat from the bustle of modern life. A fun read if you wish a glimpse of the pilgrimage from the comfort of your own home. – Angele Gagnon
“ONE IN THE SPIRIT” VIDEO SERIES This week’s “One in the Spirit” interview features a visit with Shirley and Peter Holt. Don’t miss this opportunity to get to know two very active volunteers at OUC. The program can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYqVay8Utmw. Next week there will be an interview with Rev. Caroline Penhale coinciding with her arrival at OUC. If you have any suggestions for future interviews or you have comments, you can contact Kim at the Church Office or David Clemis (davidclemis@homemail.com).
LADIES RETREAT at Camp Merrywood on April 28,29,30th. While the snow if still flying outside, it is time for us to start planning for this year’s spring retreat. If you signed up to be on the planning committee or would like to help out with the planning of this year’s event, please contact Joan Brockelbank (brocjo@sympatico.ca) .
LUNCH BUNCH meets next on Tuesday January 10, 12:30 at Boston Pizza. Come out and enjoy good food and conversation.
WE LOVE COFFEE TIME! After service every Sunday there is always a large social gathering in the hall sipping coffee, tea or juice, eating muffins and joining in lively conversation. What a pleasure it is to see so many people enjoying each other’s company! While you’re pouring yourself a cup check out the new January-February sign-up sheet on the wall right beside the coffee urn. You might find a date when you are available to volunteer. And as always, Mike and Lin will be happy to assist you as needed (squidma@outlook.com, 613.837.6720).
Community Outreach Ministries
FOOD BANK FOCUS FOR JANUARY Clean-up/storage: dish & laundry soap, paper towels, garbage bags, plastic wrap & storage bags. Protein food: canned meat, fish, peanut butter. Other: Olive oil, baby food and diapers; canned soups and pasta.
OUC BUY NOTHING If you are interested in joining the Facebook group where our community shares their unwanted items big and small with each other, please contact Rev. Molly.
CENTRE 507 is a drop-in program for women and men in downtown Ottawa, operating out of Centretown United Church, at 507 Bank Street, which continues to need our support. In particular toiletries, regular ground coffee and jam are needed. Contributions can be placed in the marked container in the parking lot entranceway.
EMAIL PRAYER MINISTRY Are you interested in participating in our congregation’s confidential email prayer ministry? Contact ouc.prayersforall@rogers.com. You can ask to join the team and receive prayer requests, or simply make prayer requests for yourself or others.
CARE AND SUPPORT If you are interested in joining the Care and Support Team (CST), the prerequisites consist of obtaining a police check for the vulnerable sector, signing a memo of confidentiality, participating in an interview with one of our clergy, and taking the Pastoral Care Course, which will be offered next in March 2017. For more information contact a CST member through the Church Office.
RELIGION IN LIFE PROGRAM FOR SCOUTING & GUIDING Saturday January 28. Youth aged 8 and above who are interested in working on this award in a one-day workshop (10 am – 3 pm) are invited to contact Rev. Molly, Scouter Ian Mollison (imollison@hotmail.com), or Joni Boyd, Group Commissioner 8th Orleans (joniboyd@bell.net) for registration and information. This program is being offered by OUC in collaboration with 4th and 8thOrleans Scouting Groups.
ASSISTED LISTENING Those requiring assistance with hearing the service may use any portable FM radio with headphones to listen to our worship service. We are transmitting on 95.7 Mhz.
OTTAWA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY & SPIRITUALITY Winter Term 2017 OSTS is a lay and volunteer school that has provided adult theological & spiritual education courses of interest for over 50 years. Its Winter Term of courses this year includes a series of lectures on Pope Francis, Music in Worship, Forgiveness, Jewish Thinkers, Nehemiah the Old Testament prophet, and Theology. Registration & courses start on Monday January 9 at 7pm at the Dominican University College, 96 Empress St. (near Somerset & Bronson). For more information or to register, please visit the website (www.osts.ca) or contact Peter Holt (osts.president@gmail.com).
DID YOU KNOW? Audio recordings (CD) of every Sunday worship are available. Drop by the audio-visual room at the rear of the Sanctuary any Sunday and talk with Dave, Marni or Pat. A donation of $5 per disk would help defray the cost.
Fundraising
FROZEN BERRIES Now’s the time to contact your friends, relatives and work colleagues to find out how many berries they would like to order. Meet Joan Brockelbank in the Hall after church for the next few Sundays to put in your orders. The berries are high quality, and this is a fund-raiser for OUC.
GIFT CARD FUNDRAISING TABLE Grocery gift cards are sold in the Hall each Sunday and in the Church Office. Cards are available for Superstore/Independent/No Frills, Metro/Food Basics, Farm Boy, Tim Hortons and Sobeys. There is no additional cost to you, and the church receives a percentage for each card we sell. We still have some Tim Horton gift cards in $5, $10 and $25 denominations as well as Loblaws and Metro in $25 denominations.
RONA CARDS OUC/RONA discount cards are available for your wallets. Present the card to the cashier and you will receive 5% off your purchase and the church will make the equivalent 5%. Pick up your card today at the fundraising table in the hall. (When using this card, go to Cash 1)
BOSTON PIZZA ORLEANS, CHURCH REBATE PROGRAM OUC will receive 10% rebate on all Boston Pizza purchases (before taxes). Please write “Orleans United Church” on your receipts and deposit them in the box at the hostess stand in the restaurant.
OUC FAMILY NEWS To help keep in touch with each other we have created a bulletin board outside the main office called “OUC Family News”. We invite you to post any important milestones or announcements that you would like to share with the congregation.
This Week At a Glance
Monday January 9 Scouting, 6 pm
Wednesday January 11 Men’s Breakfast – Gabriel’s Pizza, 7 am
Thursday January 12 Choir – Sanctuary, 7:30 pm
Finance – Room 12, 6:30 pm
Friday January 13 Coffee & Conversation – Library, 9 am
Youth Group Nerf Battle, 6:30 pm