UPCOMING SERVICES
Sunday September 12, 2010
Rally Day Sunday
10:00
Information on our
Wednesday Night Immersion Service
2489 Lakeshore Rd. W.
Oakville, ON L6L 1H9
(905) 827-1643
email: waltonmemorial@cogeco.ca
The Bible
The Bible is central to The United Church of Canada. As a source of wisdom, personal prayer, and devotion. We believe the Bible can bring us closer to God. It remains one of our best ways of experiencing God's continuing work of creation and liberation in the world, while offering us forgiveness, healing, and new life in Jesus.
We often refer to a passage as "the Word of God." By this we mean the writer was inspired by God.
Yet we also know the various books that make up the Bible are the stories of two ancient communities trying to be faithful to God under difficult circumstances - ancient Israel and the early Christian movement - and some of what was experienced and written then doesn't fit with today's world.
Nevertheless, in its stories and teachings the Bible has a mysterious power to inform our lives.
Sacraments
A sacrament is a holy act - a ritual of our faith. The United Church has two sacraments: baptism and communion. These are of central importance to our faith.
Baptism is a symbolic action that signifies the new life God gives us as we join the church community.
Baptism uses water as a symbolic cleansing that signifies the acceptance of new life within the church family. The sacrament of baptism is the single rite of initiation into the Christian community, the church.
The United Church offers baptism to all ages. We believe the gift of God's love doesn't depend on our ability to understand it, so we baptize people as infants right up through adulthood.
With children, instruction is given to parents or sponsors to equip them for the child's Christian nurture. During the ceremony, everyone in the congregation pledges support for the child and his or her parents.
Baptism is not a requirement for God's love. We believe people who die without baptism are in no way condemned, lost, or damned.
Baptism in the United Church is recognized by all denominations of the Christian church which practice infant baptism. Similarly, if people have already been baptized in another church, the United Church recognizes their baptism and welcomes them as Christians.
Communion
Communion is a symbolic meal that is open to everyone. It's a reminder of Jesus' last supper with his followers and continues as a sign of God's enduring love.
Jesus welcomed everyone, whether they were poor, rich, or just getting by; ill or healthy; self-made or educated; popular or a loner; secure or full of doubts.
The United Church of Canada prides itself on welcoming everyone the way Jesus did, regardless of age, race, class, gender, orientation, or physical ability.
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