SUMMER MESSAGE 2025
Judy Pearson

Why Celebrate?

This June our celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Canada’s United Church culminated in a Regional Council hosted event at the EY Centre in Ottawa – a service of celebration, mass choir, a pop-up museum, activities for the children and a picnic lunch – all elements of a great gathering! Planning for this landmark anniversary began years ago and many people at the national, regional and local levels worked very hard to plan and carry out many initiatives to honour this milestone. Thanks Jo-Anne, Vicki, Tim and Liz for leading our church in these efforts. So why do we do it? Why is it important to celebrate our churches anniversaries?

I didn’t have time to ask a lot of people for their ideas, so I took the “modern” approach – I asked google! I was selective with my sources, and liked what I found. Here are some highlights:

It is an opportunity to stop and reflect.
We look back to see where we began, to review our journey to where we are now.
We honour the people who helped establish and lead this church.
We renew and strengthen our faith community.
We are reminded how blessed we are to be a member of this church.

In October our little church in Lyn will mark its 150th year. This week’s message is a teaser for the special celebration we will have on Anniversary Sunday, October 26th. We will revisit our church’s storied past and there will be some fun surprises.

 

 

 

 

 

 Each of us will have our own special memories. I’ll share a couple of mine. The picture above is of a painting of our church when it was still the Presbyterian church, so before 1925. One clue would be the carriage house at the back. It was a gift to my father, Grant Hudson from the Mathewson family in 1977. Rev. Mathewson, pictured below, ministered at Christ United for many years, starting in 1942. My first memory of being in church was of him behind the old pulpit, three times as big as the current one, in his voluminous black gown with his arms raised for the benediction. I was awestruck by his imposing presence and asked Mom if this was God!

 

 

 

 

 

Outside our membership, within our local and broader communities, 1000s of people will have little snippets of their memories of how they were touched by our Village Church with a Heart for the World. Map out where our Bee’s Knees quilts have traveled – we have reached around the world! One aspect of our church life of which I am deeply proud is our AFFIRMING status. Many have expressed their feeling of warmth and safety within our space.

 

 

 

 

 

So let’s celebrate! Let’s lift ourselves up and let God’s Spirit continue to guide us to move forward joyfully as an active presence within our congregation and out in our community and beyond.

Be sure to join us on October 26th – 150 years!!

 

         "A Village Church With A Heart For The World"

Christ United Church

12 Perth St., Lyn, ON, K0E 1M0
(613)498-0281 (Phone)   (613)498-2589 (Fax)

 lynunitedchurch@cogeco.net               www.lynunitedchurch.com               Follow on Twitter:  @Ch1United