Today’s service will be offered in 2 formats – view the video below, read the service below, or download and print the service from this document – link.
For the latest news and updates from Walton, please check our Facebook page, Instagram and website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for videos of service, the choirs and more!
Please contact office@waltonmemorial.com if you would like to be added to our email list.
♥ 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 on Sunday, February 26th, at 12:00pm for the Annual Meeting in Bronte Hall. All are welcome to attend. The 2022 Annual Report is now available electronically and in print. Please contact the church office to request your copy. More details will be on our website as they are available – https://www.waltonmemorial.com/events/annual-meeting/
♥ Thursday morning Bible study – A new book study led by Parish Nurse Cathy Winn begins Thursday February 23rd, 10:15 to 11:45 and runs weekly in Bronte Hall through Thursday, May 11th. The topic is “David: Developing a Heart for God.” In this twelve-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, author Jack Kuhatschek introduces you to David the servant and the leader, the sinner and the redeemed, the man and the instrument of God’s creative purposes. As you explore David’s tumultuous story, you too will discover what it means to have a passionate heart for God. Registration is required online or through the church office. The study guide is $10 and may be purchased during the online registration process, or in person at the church office.
♥ HPIC has team building day offered to Walton Outreach committee filling medical boxes on February 17th, be there for 8:45am, packing 9-11am then break, pack continues 11:30-1:30pm, must be able to lift 25 pound boxes, closed toe shoes, bring reading glasses if you need them, follow covid rules, form must be filled out.10 Volunteers are needed. If you are interested, please contact Catherine through the church office.
♥ 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.
♥ Rooms for rent – Looking for somewhere to host a meeting, bridal shower, birthday party, music recital. exercise classes, sports groups, craft lessons or more? Walton has room for you! We have a number of rental spaces to accommodate groups large and small, for a one-off event or weekly sessions. Contact the church office for more details.
♥ 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. This Valentine’s Day, all you need is love!
♥ 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.
Good morning and welcome to worship at Walton! We come together today to praise God, to know God, and to follow God, so that we may more completely love God, and affirm God’s love for us.
One: We are choosing this morning to come together to worship.
All: In worship, we remember and give thanks for God’s presence in the world.
One: We are choosing this morning to come together to pray.
All: Through prayer, we ask for God’s help in our lives and remember his promise to hear our hopes and cries.
One: We are choosing this morning to come together to follow.
All: Through faith, we affirm the care God has for us, and his loving guidance leading us forward.
All: Caring God, As we journey through our lives filled with blessings and adversity, guide us to choose the life you would have us lead. Strengthen us to follow you with courage, so that our choices bring us closer to you and turn us away from thoughts of selfishness and greed. Encourage us to follow you with commitment, that through each day we might live your teachings and deepen our faith. Nurture us to follow you with compassion, seeing the world around us as you do, and loving others as you love and support us. Amen.
All: 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.
Back on Bring a Friend Sunday in January we talked about putting on the whole Armour of God. Not war armour but armour to protect us to live God’s way. Sometimes our choices aren’t always the best ones, and we need God’s protection from things that might harm us. Like lies, taking something that isn’t ours, We unveiled for the first time ever at that service and dedicated the Vacation Bible School Banner made last summer at the Walton VBS.
We learned about the:
∙ The Belt of Truth.
∙ The Breastplate of Righteousness.
∙ The Gospel of Peace.
∙ The Shield of Faith.
∙ The Helmet of Salvation.
∙ The Sword of the Spirit.
What do you think God’s armour and oranges have in common?
Nothing, you think? Well I think they do….
Do you know what happens when you put an Orange in water?
Does it float or sink in the big bowl of water?
Yes the skin is like an armour around the orange to not only make it float, but it makes the orange last longer when dropped on the floor, or infected by bugs and other critters. God created the orange with it’s full armour. Pretend now the orange peel is like God’s armour.
Do you know what happens when you remove it?
We remove armour of Truth. How does it float?
Now the armour of righteousness and peace. How does it float? Notice the change? Wow this orange smells great. But it does not seem to float as well
Now remove the armour of faith, salvation and spirit. Now put in in the big bowl of water.
It kind of sinks.
In life, we need the protection of living life, God’s way, so we do not sink in life around us. God’s way, God’s armour, God’s peel of protection makes all the difference.
Let us pray:
God we give thanks for oranges to eat and drink. May we seek out your way to live to be like the peel’s protection of an orange. Amen
Exhortation to Choose Life
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
One: Eternal God, Be in our hearts and our minds and our souls, as we struggle with the challenges of this world.
All: Help us to love you more deeply and follow you more closely that our lives may be blessed by your peace.
One: Be in our hearts, and reassure those overwhelmed by increasing costs or a loss of income. Support us to care for each other and to find new ways to make ends meet. Be in our minds, especially for those of us struggling with pressure at work or school. Guide us to trust in your commitment to us, and to find purpose in the problems we face. Be in our souls, and comfort those troubled by ill health. Sustain us with your peace and healing.
All: Help us to love you more deeply and follow you more closely that our lives may be blessed by your peace.
One: Be in our hearts and our minds and our souls, and help us appreciate the blessings of this world.
All: Help us to love you more deeply and follow you more closely that our lives may be blessed by your peace.
One: Be in our hearts, and help us love and care for those around us. Be in our minds, to remember you in our joy and celebration. Be in our souls, to see you at work in the world, in the everyday miracles of our lives.
All: Help us to love you more deeply and follow you more closely that our lives may be blessed by your peace.
One: Be in our words and our thoughts and our actions, that in every day our choices bring us closer to the life you want for us and the communities we grow in.
All: Help us to love you more deeply and follow you more closely that our lives may be blessed by your peace. Amen
Our offering is an act of faith, hope and love.
Faith, as we trust in our ability to help God and to make a difference in the world. Hope, because we recognize all that is beyond us, and we pray to God to bridge the gaps between what is needed and what we feel we have to offer. And love, for without God’s love, we would have no love to move us and no love to bring us to serve. We only love because God first loved us.
♥ 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
One: Ever-faithful God, You lead us through the wilderness of this world, and promise to care for and sustain us.
All: In faith, let us worship you with praise and thanksgiving.
One: You are with us when we face hardships.
All: Bless our offering and our service, that we might help others in their times of need.
One: You are with us, even when we turn away from you.
All: Magnify our offering and our service, that others may come to know your redeeming love.
One: You are with us when we seek to start over.
All: Accept our offering and our service, that through these acts of faith we might renew our hearts, our souls and the world you have entrusted to us. Amen.
Go into this new week and choose life. Choose a life of connection and caring, to shine the light of God’s love into the world. Choose a life of praise and worship, renewed each day to find God in your ordinary moments. And choose a life of faith and prayer, that your hearts and minds may know God’s peace. Amen.
Here is Rev. Jim’s mid-week update for Wednesday, February 8, 2023
