All are welcome to join us for Sunday Service on Sunday, March 17 at 10 am.  Sunday School runs during the service and there is coffee in the Fellowship Hall afterwards.

Rev. Heather Koots is leading the service this Sunday.  Here are a few of her thoughts about Sunday’s Meditation.

Notes from Heather:

     The lush green of the UK, as many of you have experienced is a welcome sight after months of dry Alberta winter. As one born and raised in Vancouver, I felt so at home. Yes, England is lush…but there is a cost. And that cost is day after day of drizzle, fog and rain which was most of the weather while I was there. Even the people who have lived there all their lives are complaining this year!

     The lesson in John’s Gospel follows this same theme, minus the daffodils and blossoming trees. How? Some Greeks have decided that they want to see the Jesus so many are talking about. We don’t know their exact motivation but can imagine they are curious to see what is true in the stories spreading about this person who can heal, teaches profound life lessons and has even been purported to perform miracles; and what is simply exaggerated hype. We are given the impression that this group of Greeks are looking forward to a show and tell of the amazing things Jesus can do.  This is not what they get however, and as the story unfolds, we learn with them that all of who Jesus is comes at a cost.

     The road to the crucifixion is getting shorter. We have walked through Lent together and now we, like the visiting Greeks and Jesus’ own Disciples must confront the reality that this is not a feel-good story about turning water into wine. It is a story that leads to a bitter ending, and, as John hints at throughout his Gospel, a very new kind of beginning.

    If we only want to experience Jesus as a fascinating figure who can work wonders, we miss the most wonderful part of his story. The critical point at which God and God’s Son come together as one. It is not always easy to hear, it is not a cheerful story, however if we too are to feel the pure joy and transformation of Easter, listen we must. This is what we are asked to accept. The joy of the resurrection is waiting for us, inviting us to participate and be thankful. However we must first walk through the wilderness of betrayal, oppression, pain and death alongside the One who fulfilled God’s promise to us all. Come, join us.

                                               Heather