Today’s service will be offered in 2 formats – video and text.
• View the video below
• download and print the service from this document – link
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Please contact office@waltonmemorial.com if you would like to be added to our email list.
• We are hiring! Do you take pride in a job well done? Are you looking for a part-time opportunity to serve your community? Walton United Church is searching for a part-time weekend Building Superintendent / Custodian. This role is available as either a part-time employee position or as an external, independent contractor. The weekend superintendent/custodian is responsible for the weekend maintenance (Friday – Sunday) of the church building and property to ensure they are clean, safe, and well-maintained, as well as setting up / taking down rooms for scheduled activities and rentals.
The ideal candidate is:
– Able to communicate clearly and follow instructions verbally, in writing, and by text/email
– Able to lift heavy items and perform physical work, both indoors and out, in all seasons
– Reliable, energetic, and independent
– Flexible
– Organized and detail-oriented
– Handy with tools
– Takes pride in a job well done
– Experience as a commercial cleaner is an asset
This is a part-time hourly position working Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Hours are flexible and will vary each week depending on events scheduled at the church – approximately 6-12 hours per week. To apply for the position, please send a résumé and cover letter no later than Sunday, February 5th, 2023.
• UCW Meeting – All Walton women are invited to come to our next meeting on Thursday, February 9th at 1:30pm when we will be hearing about the ministries and responsibilities of various Walton Church committees and deciding how to disburse current UCW funds.
• Naloxone Kits at Walton – Naloxone is a safe antidote for emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. It’s safe for everyone and simple to use. We have two kits on hand at Walton in case of emergency: one kit is in the kitchen directly above the first aid kit and the second is in the office. Each kit contains 2 nasal sprays. For more info please speak with Cathy Winn, through the church office.
• The CVITP Committee(Community Volunteer Income Tax Program) is beginning to make appointments for March and April 2023. If you need help filing your return, have a modest income, and a simple tax situation, the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program may be able to help you. There is no charge for this assistance. For details about the Free Tax Clinic, you can visit the following online page: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/free-tax-help.html or call Ruth at 905-631-6188 or John at 416-840-9418. Tax assistance will be by appointment only – taxes can also be prepared by phone and by e-mail/internet. As the pandemic closure has been somewhat lifted, we will have you come to Walton Church Allen Entrance for an appointment with a tax preparer, however, you must be masked. Details also found on our website – https://www.waltonmemorial.com/cvitp-tax-clinic/
• Hospital – Please let us know if you are going in or are in hospital; access to patient lists in all hospitals by Walton volunteers and staff hospital visitors has become very limited. If you would like us to know of a procedure, operation, treatment or hospitalization please let the church office know.
• New to Walton? Are you visiting today? Welcome! Please feel free to ask the ushers if you have any questions during the service and we invite you to fill out a welcome card in the pew racks and leave it in an offering plate at one of the doors. Please join us for coffee, tea or cold drinks and conversation in Bronte Hall after the 9:30 service ends and before the 11:00am service begins. There you’ll also find the Welcome Centre with information about Walton and someone to chat with. Walton nametags, hats, pickles etc. are also available for purchase.
• Annual Meeting – Please join us, Sunday, February 26th, at 12:00pm for the Annual Meeting in the Bronte Hall. All are welcome to attend. More details will be on our website as they are available – https://www.waltonmemorial.com/events/annual-meeting/
• Pickles by Sam– Lady Rose Pickles & 3 Pepper Relish are available in the Church Office – $5.00 per jar. All proceeds go to the Walton Treasury to fund programs and ministries.
• Smile! Photographs and videos will be taken throughout our services, programs and special events, to be used on our website, print media, or social media channels. If you do not wish to be photographed, please let us know by contacting the Church Office.
• Master List – Would you like to receive email information or written information, envelopes or equivalent or have your name and information added to Church Center? (our congregational organization program) Please contact the church office to be added.
• Children and youth are invited to view this week’s virtual Sunday School lesson online. Do you need a lift? Then God will pick you up!
• Walton’s prayer chain is open. Confidential prayers requests can be sent to office@waltonmemorial.com
• If you need Rev. Jim for a pastoral emergency, please email him directly at jamescgillwuc@gmail.com.
As we gather today on these treaty lands, we are in solidarity with Indigenous brothers and sisters to honour and respect the four directions, lands, waters, plants, animals and ancestors that walked before us, and all of the wonderful elements of creation that exist. We acknowledge and thank the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for being stewards of this traditional territory.
Jim: Welcome to the service this morning.
Val: Am I correct in that we are talking about the Ten Commandments this morning, Jim?
Jim: Yes Val, we sure are.
Val: You know I love boundaries, but I’m not sure I like rules!
Jim; What do you mean? Are you ok with laws?
Val: Well yes, I am ok with laws, without laws we would have chaos and craziness….
Jim: Let me put it this way Val: in our boundaries Bible study this week, we talked about how biblical towns and cities had walls and gates both to keep people out and to welcome people in. They also had a watch tower where those on the lookout could determine if the gate should be open or closed.God’s teaching is to help us to do the same. When we are to say no, and when we are to say yes. When we follow that our lives are much more abundant, less anxious and a blessing to others and ourselves.
Val: Thanks Jim. This is the perfect introduction to our first hymn this morning “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.”
One: In the pews or at home, remind us, God, that worship is more than showing up.
All: Inspire us, O Comforter, that our hearts may recognize your presence in worship today.
One: Through prayers and readings, remind us, O God, that worship is more than sharing words.
All: Awaken us, O Teacher, that our hearts may receive your word for us.
One: In this worship space, remind us, O God, that worship is not something just to be observed.
All: Engage us, O Saviour, that our hearts and lives may proclaim and enact our relationship with you.
Gill Le Fevre, The Gathering A/C/E 2022/23
One: God gave us the covenant of the law to guide us and help us live with our neighbours in love.
All: When we break God’s law, we leave our neighbours hurt and bruised.
One: God’s law is a gift to us, showing us how to keep our part of the covenant.
All:Even through old pain and wounds,may we embrace the new life that Christ can bring.
Words of Assurance
One: May the God of the law guide us in living lives that keep the covenant of love.
All: May Christ’s forgiveness grant us new life, even when we break God’s law.
One: May the Holy Spirit of conviction lead us to confession and renewal.
All: May we respond in love to the God of covenant and change.
written by Rev. Dr. Emily K. Bisset. Produced byPresbyterian World Service & Development and posted on their website
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Today Glenda and some of our Junior Youth Group members are going to teach us an easy way to remember the 10 commandments using only our fingers.
#1 There is only one God and you shall have no other Gods before him. Hold up 1 finger.
#2 Do not make or worship idols. Which means do not make anyone or anything more important than God. Move your fingers back and forth to remind you that nothing comes before God.
#3 Don’t misuse God’s name. Look at the three fingers, they look like a W don’t they? Which will remind you to “Watch your Words.”
#4 Keep the Sabbath Holy. Which means give one day a week to God. You’ll remember this by holding up 4 fingers to remind you of a family of 4 going off to church.
#5 Honour your Father and Mother. You can remember this one with a salute with one hand.
#6 Do not murder. You can remember this one as your one finger becomes a gun pointed at thr 5 fingers of your other hand.
#7 Keep your marriage promises. Remember the two fingers off on their own, on one hand stick together, like a couple. The five fingers on the other hand represent other people.
#8 Do not steal. Back in biblical times, a common punishment for stealing was to cut off your thumbs. So keep your thumbs tucked away, hold up your eight fingers and remember, not to steal.
#9 Do not lie. Hold up nine fingers, keeping one thumb hidden away behind your hand like a secret, or a lie you are trying to hide..
#10 Do not covet, which is a fancy way of saying do not be greedy or want what someone else has.You can remember this by turning your hands up and wiggling your fingers like a greedy villain. Don’t be greedy!
I hope using your fingers will help you remember the Ten Commandments.
Can we say a prayer together?
Loving God, Thank you for loving us so much that you gave us some boundaries, and guidelines in which to live our lives. Help us to use them every day to live the way you want us to, with your love, hope, joy and peace in our hearts, and loving our neighbours as ourselves. Amen.
The Ten Commandments
Then God spoke all these words,
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
“Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
The Beatitudes
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Words by Gill Le Fevre, Music by Linda Fletcher)
Be still, be still, be still and know that I am God,
When the rush of the day seems to lead you astray and you can’t find the way to your heart,
Be still and know that I am God
What a great way the youth showed us to remember the 10 Commandments with our fingers. Thank you Glenda and the Junior Youth Group. The 10 Commandments are the basis of the Judaic Law. How many of the commandments do you recall word for word? Even more challenging: how do we remember to apply them to our daily lives?
Maybe you have images in your mind of that very old movie with Charlton Heston playing Moses. You can see Moses coming down off Mount Sinai, holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments. God gave Moses 10 Commandments for the people out in the wilderness in the shadow of Mount Sinai.
Some of you live and/or work in Hamilton. You know so well about the unique Hamilton Upper and Lower Streets or which Mountain access is best to use. On a clear summer night I love going out to the end of Bronte pier and looking to Hamilton in the south west. You can see the car lights of those vehicles actually going up and down the mountain access roads.
The title of this message is “Hamilton’s Ten Commandments.” A fair number of you sent me or spoke to me about an article by Steve Paiken. The article was about Bernard Baskin, who for 40 years was a Hamilton rabbi. Baskin. At the time of the article, Rabbi Baskin was 102 years old and he had written his own version of the 10 Commandments. It was never intended to be a replacement for the original 10 which Moses brought down the mountain, but more 10 commandments for applying the Mount Sinai ones to today’s life. These Baskin commandments apply whether or not you live in the shadow of the Hamilton Mountain.
The Hamilton Commandments stem from the first two of the original ten: “You shall have no other gods before me,” and “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them,”.
How do we live out those two commandments, along with the other eight, day-to-day in 2023? Here are some of Rabbi Baskins’ suggestions, his Hamilton Commandments, if you will.
First: “You shall not overpopulate the Earth.”
Baskin fears global overpopulation, “Millions of our fellow human beings will suffer, and multitudes will die of starvation and malnutrition,” he says. We can get into that mindset where more, bigger, faster, higher, stronger, richer becomes our life goal. If we worship at the altar of that uncontrolled pursuit of “more,” it can become our God. If this year needs to always be “more” than last year, the finite resources of our planet can’t support our desires.
This leads me to the second Hamilton Commandment: “You shall share your natural resources with others.” We can “covet” in such a way we just get more and more. While others go with less. Food prices for example are inflating it seems daily. Yet we still as a society waste so much food.
Baskin in his third Hamilton Commandment says, “You shall not pollute or despoil the Earth.” Ever walk along Burlington Beach or Hamilton Beach? They are two local gems in our area which many are not familiar with. They really are lovely beaches. However, after a storm we see what is washed up on the beaches. I’m not talking about driftwood but so much plastic! We have heard recently about areas of Hamilton not hooked up to the sanitary sewers, with sewage being pumped directly into Hamilton Bay for years and years. God has entrusted his creation to us to be good stewards. Caring for the earth is fundamental to our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Not only do we need to pursue the lost sheep but also our lost garbage floating around in the waters.
The fourth new commandment is, “Preserve the family to keep it secure.” Have you heard about the restaurants that give you a 10% discount if everyone at the table puts their phones in a rack away from diners for the whole meal? Do we actually look at each anymore or just our phone screens?
Fifth is an adaptation of the original commandment, “Thou shall not kill.” But it is updated to say, “You shall not engage in wholesale murder.” Think of mass murders, gang violence, terrorism and mass bombings. Technology has made wholesale murder easy. It can be done using a keyboard for a drone attack. You see, Moses’ 10 Commandments are not out of date. What we need to constantly update is our understanding of how they apply to our lives here in January, 2023.
The sixth commentate Baskin suggests is a new one: “You shall have respect for the elderly.” Think about the long term care situation here in Ontario that has come to our attention with Covid. Ageism does exist.
Number 7 in the Hamilton commandments comes out of Moses’ commandment: “Thou shall not bear false witness.” But Baskin says it this way: “You shall not pervert the truth.” You and I are surrounded by those who pervert the truth in often dangerous ways on social media, such as conspiracy theories. We need to be our own fact checkers every day. I do not owe the CRA money. My grand-kids are not in jail. I did not receive money from a Prince’s estate. Oakville Hydro is not turning off my power. You know the scams. They go on and on.
The 8th Hamilton commandment is: “Strive to make your life worthwhile.” Baskin thinks there should be so much more to life than simply accumulating wealth and having fun. “The purpose of life is to be useful, to be honourable. It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make some difference,” he says. Most of us are living a material dream that so much of the rest of the world would love to have even part of. Think of the things we take for granted like turning on the tap and getting clean water, or being able to gather in worship today, which is not only warm but safe and secure. We are more than what we own, or should I say what owns us. As the Mount Sinai Commandment says: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.”
Baskins’ 9th commandment is about community. Community is pivotal in the Christian life. We use words like “the family of faith” or “fellowship” or “our shared lives in Christ.” The rabbi instructs us: “Learn to live together as members of the human race.” This is a very micro as well as a macro way of being. It is not only about how nations or groups interact, it is about individuals interacting.
Steve Paiken ends his write-up with these words: “Rabbi,” I point out, “there are only nine commandments here. Where’s the tenth?” Baskin peruses his notes and confirms I seem to be right. Then, without missing a beat, he adds: “I’ve done that just to keep you guessing.” Then he invites us to suggest our own 10th commandment. What would yours be? What commandment would you write to help apply the 10 which Moses brought down from Mount Sinai to your life today? What would you say?
One: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your mind and your soul.
All:We will love God with an intensity such that no substitute will suffice, the very mention of God’s name will be precious as we cleave to our time of communion with the sacred.
One:Love your neighbour as yourself.
All:We will respect the wisdom of our elders. We will protect the lives and the reputations of those around us.We will cherish the relationships entrusted to us.We will not take what is not oursWe will learn the value of enough.
One:Love the Lord your God.
All:Amen.
Copyright © 2002 Katherine Hawker. Posted on her Liturgy Outside website.
It can be difficult to give when all around us we keep hearing about the price of food going up, talk of a recession, job insecurity, bank lending rates going up. But doesn’t Jesus teach us and reassure us that we are to love one another, and to carry one another’s burdens? “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
So let us give then, whatever way we can to help our neighbours, both here in our community and around the world. Trusting that God will provide and bless us richly with his amazing grace and love.
♥ by secure online payment from your debit or credit card. Click here to go to our donation page to make a single or recurring donation. Multiple funds can be included in one donation by using the “Add Donation” button
♥ by cheque through the mail slot at the Church office entrance or by Canada Post
♥ by monthly PAR payments. To sign up contact stuart@waltonmemorial.com
All: Loving God, we offer up to you today these gifts, knowing that all we have is a gift from you. We offer you thanks for all we have, and ask that you bless not only us in our giving, but also bless those who will be humbly receiving these gifts. May your work through us both in the giving and the receiving build your kingdom here on earth. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
As we go out today into the world, may we remember the wise counsel of God, the Creator and Jesus the Christ who have taught us. May we use these teachings and boundaries daily as we live life together. May God’s healing words guide us and comfort us and may God’s Holy Spirit send us out in kindness and love everywhere we go. Amen.
Here is Rev. Jim’s mid-week update for Wednesday, January 25th
