Come as you are.
Life-long Jesus follower, or never cracked open a Bible. Shirt and tie guy, or jeans and sneakers person. You are welcome here. We invite you to join our perfectly imperfect community where we explore together the big questions: What’s the meaning of life? Does my life have a purpose? Who is Jesus? What does it mean to be a Christian? No question is dumb or insignificant. We explore these together, we seek to bring hope and healing in our neighbourhood and city through practical projects all while having fun and the odd potluck!
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St Paul’s Presbyterian Church
1545 Monaghan Road – enter at McDonnel Street
Join us at St Paul’s Presbyterian worship sanctuary located at the front north corner of The Mount Community Centre
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StPaulsPeterborough on YouTube
The service video will be playing live on Sunday or the recording will be available after to view / listen in if you missed it.
We are experiencing more and more extreme weather events throughout the globe. These are the result of climate change, and many of us have taken pains to educate ourselves on how we might modify our lifestyle or purchasing habits to lessen our contribution to global warming. However, have you heard anything about climate justice? Rich, developed countries contribute far more to global warming than poorer underdeveloped cocuntries, yet these poorer nations suffer far more from the impact of global warming. Join us Sunday as we study God’s account of creation in Genesis and the responsibility he entrusted to us to care for his good creation.
We’ll also learn how our international aid and development arm known as “Presbyterian World Service and Development” is working with other agencies to achieve greater climte justice. We will take up a special offering to support their work. Please prayerfully consider what you may be able to give to support this important work.
In English we have an expression that we sometimes use when describing another person: he (or she) is the “salt of the earth.” But what does that mean? It means they are a person of integrity, honesty, humility, they work for the good of themselves and others. This expression arises from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew where he gives wise counsel on how to live as people who belong to God’s kingdom even as they dwell here on earth. So what does it mean to be “salty” Christians and how can our saltiness add flavour and preservation to our lives and society in the midst of unjust trials?
Join us Sunday to find out!
This Sunday as we come to the dramatic conclusion of Jonah’s story we discover that Jonah, having delivered God’s message to the people of Nineveh, doesn’t return home. Why is that? It appears that he hopes Nineveh won’t repent and they will get what Jonah feels they deserve! So he selects a ringside seat to the coming “fire and brimstone” show.
When God spares Nineveh the predicted destruction, Jonah’s attitude reveals something is still eating him – this time not a whale, but anger. He doesn’t share God’s compassion for the people and animals of Nineveh. He also fails to see that he himself is a recipient of God’s grace, and as such should desire such grace for others!
To prepare, read ahead: Psalm 103 and Jonah 4
This Sunday we rejoin the reluctant prophet Jonah as he finds himself suddenly and unceremoniously spit out on a Mediterranean beach. But while Jonah has been released from the belly of a large fish, he’s not off the hook from an assignment from God — the very same assignment he was given in the first place (and that he ran away from). God is giving Jonah a second chance to do the right thing. This time, Jonah does not delay in fulfilling his task and warning the people of the ancient capital of Nineveh of coming destruction.
How will they respond to God’s message delivered by Jonah? Will they gratefully respond to God’s second chance, or will they, like Jonah, turn their back on Him. How about us….how are we resonding here and now to God’s invitation to be part of his life-saving work?
To prepare, read ahead: Psalm 32 and Jonah 3
Last Sunday we accompanied Jonah as he ran away from God and hopped onto a boat headed for Tarshish. But this wasn’t a pleasant Mediterranean cruise, but instead a near shipwreck as God sent a storm upon the sea. Jonah, in disobedience to God brought only more hardship upon himself and others. As we rejoin the story this Sunday we find Jonah deep in the belly of a whale. This may lead us to ask: how are we to understand this story? Is it pure fiction with a moral lesson, or is it an actual historical account of events? We’ll explore these questions as well as examine the content of Jonah’s prayer to God from inside the whale.
To prepare, read ahead: Psalm 130 and Jonah 2
This Sunday we will begin a new, four-part series on the Book of Jonah. Many of us may be familiar with the Book of Jonah from our Sunday school days. The idea of a big fish (or whale) swallowing a man whole, and him living to tell about it captures our imaginations, even now, well into adulthood! But the story of Jonah is not just a tale about a whale…in fact, the whale is just a bit player in the overarching narrative. At its heart this story reveals the great lengths to which God will go to call people back into an intimate relationship with Him – a relationship marked by mercy, compassion and a need to “love others as we love ourselves” regardless of their mistakes and foibles.
In Part One, titled: “You can Run from God, but you can’t Hide!”, we’ll consider how we hide from each other, ourselves and God. We may hide to avoid confrontation, because we are fearful, because of poor self-esteem or because we dislike others. This Sunday, we encounter Jonah running from a task God has asked him to complete. He runs in the opposite direction because he hates the people God has asked him to visit. Jonah runs not from God’s wrath…but from God’s mercy.
Have we ever been tempted to run away or hide from God? Join us this Sunday for this look at how God’s grace is greater than our failures.
To prepare, read ahead: Psalm 139:1-10 and Jonah 1
What will the light of Epiphany shine on in your life this year?Will it reveal something new in your relationship with God?
Will it spark a revolution in how you live your life?
We welcome Elder Brenda Roxburgh to our pulpit this Sunday, with her sermon titled ‘Resolutions. Revolutions. Revelations.’
To prepare, read ahead: Isaiah 60: 1-6 and Matthew 2: 1-12.
We welcome Elder Eric Prugh to our pulpit this Sunday, with his sermon titled ‘Letting Go, Letting God”
To prepare, read ahead: Psalm 142; Roman 8: 1-8,28; Matthew 11:27-30.
Join us for a special Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve. We will celebrate Christ’s birth with a number of beloved Christmas carols and a message that asks us to consider the “uncountable” gift that is our Saviour!
For those of you joining us by Zoom, please use the same link as for our Sunday morning services. For your convenience the link is below.
Once again our best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and many blessings in 2025!
Love magnifies the beloved. It notices the unnoticed. It heralds the unheralded. It calls down blessings on what has been ignored and overlooked. Love is a cherishing attention that requires our whole hearts and our whole selves.
Having been noticed and favoured by God, the virgin Mary erupts in a love song. Before she was one of many women, not particularly noteworthy, just one face among many. But now, God’s notice and love transforms her into one who will be agelessly blessed.
How do we, as Christ’s agents in Peterborough, notice those who may feel invisible? Can we give them time, attention, a listening ear, and by so doing show God’s love for them?
To prepare, read ahead: Micah 5:2-5 and Luke 1:39-55.
This week we have seen images of joyful crowds in Syria celebrating the fall of the Assad dynasty, a dynasty marked by violence, corruption, supression of human rights and more. It is a reminder to us that when things seem bleak, suddenly and often unexpectedly, a breakthrough can occur and with it a joy buried and smothered by worry, want and sorrow, can erupt and overflow.
This Sunday we will study John the Baptist’s words to the crowds who flocked to see him on the banks of the Jordan river. His words seem brutal. He calls his listeners, a “brood of vipers” ! At first glance it seems that John is more of a killjoy than a bringer of joy, an announcer of Good News for all people!.
Yet the Holy Spirit has drawn these crowds there and they ask John “What shall we do?” In his answer we find enduring joy, a joy for all where no one is in want, no one is excluded or exploited, and everyone is transformed by exuberant, unexpected joy. And couldn’t we all use more of that?!
To prepare, read ahead: Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Luke 3:7-18
This Sunday we will pause our “More than Words” Advent series for a special “Lessons and Carols” service. Please join us as we continue our journey toward Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus Christ. This service has more than the usual amount of music with a mixture of familiar carols and advent pieces, including an anthem from our Choir entitled: “Creation shall be at Peace.” A wonderful service for the whole family.
This Sunday we continue our “More than Words” Advent series with a look at the word Hope. Just as care is sometimes confused with love, so too hope can be confused with optimism.The renowned theologian Juergen Moltmann, wrote a classic text on the subject called A Theology of Hope. In it he helpfully explains the difference between hope and optimism. Both, he says entail positive expectations with regard to the future. But they are radically different stances toward reality.
Have I lost you? Here’s a way to think about it: If my daughter Rachel could pick up Little Bear and read it when she was in kindergarten, I could legitimately be optimistic that she would do reasonably well in the first grade. If extrapolation is incorrect, optimism is misplaced, illusory. Perhaps my younger daughter Stephanie is very good at doing cartwheels as a young child (which she was), but it would have been foolish of me to bet that based on that skill alone she would win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics.
Our positive expectations of the future are based mostly on such extrapolative thinking. We see the orange glow on the horizon, and we expect that morning will be bathed in sunshine. Such informed, grounded optimism is important in our private and professional lives, for the functioning of families, economy and politics. But optimism is not hope.
One of Moltmann’s lasting contributions in Theology of Hope was to insist that hope, unlike optimism, is independent of people’s circumstances. Hope is not based on the possibilities of the situation and on correct extrapolation about the future. Hope is grounded in the faithfulness of God and therefore on the effectiveness of God’s promise.
This is the hope that energizes to work for positive change even when as the world gives into despair.
To prepare, please read: Jeremiah 32: 1-12; 33:1-16 and Luke 21:25-36.
Maybe, like me, you grew up watching courtroom TV such as “The Peoples’ Court” or “Judge Judy.” If so, you might have come to the conclusion that justice is about fairness, responsibility and keeping your word. I think we’d gladly use that definition in daily life. We often see justice as people getting what they deserve, and Judy certainly tried to make sure everyone received what they were owed, that everyone paid their dues and that no one got a free ride, and that no one was treated unfairly.But in scripture, justice isn’t meted out by a pop-culture icon. Justice is the dominion of the Divine. The ability to rule belongs to God and to those whom God has chosen to lead. They are the ones who make sure that dues are paid and that there is a proportional retribution for injustices committed against everyday people.
But what are we to make of our ruler Jesus, standing before Pilate in the gospel lesson from John 18? Jesus is hardly on a throne. He isn’t sitting above anyone. He isn’t administering justice or issuing rulings. Jesus is the one on trial, and the trial itself is a sham, far from just. Join us this Sunday as we study two trials: Jesus trial before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish rulers) and his trial before Pilate. What do they teach us about what justice looks like in Jesus’ kingdom and how we can “do likewise” here and now?
To prepare, please read: 2 Samuel 23:1-7 and John 18:28-40.
This Sunday we will continue our new Advent sermon series titled “More than Words” as we look at scriptures that bring to life the word: faith. It’s one thing to say we have faith, but quite another to act out our faith.We often talk about faith as something we must generate within ourselves: “Just have a little faith,” you might have heard (or maybe you have even said this to someone) while struggling with a difficult problem or relationship. This command to “just have a little more faith” suggests that faith is a matter of will power. But faith, like all the Advent themes we’re exploring this season is a gift from God. However, God gifts us all differently and faith is a gift that not everyone has. The good news is that faith isn’t something you are required to have to come to church. Rather, church is the place to go when you don’t have faith for yourself, because it’s where other people carry faith for you. We lean on each other in loving vulnerability.
If we want to know what faith is, we should begin with God’s own faithfulness. This Sunday we’ll consider the story of Hannah, who longed for a son and believed God could fill her barren womb. She was right. What can we learn from her example? We’ll also consider “misplaced” faith as we eavesdrop on a conversation between Jesus and his disciples. Sometimes it is easier to place our faith in visible, concrete displays of power and wealth than in the honest vulnerability that is the true source of our salvation.
After our Remembrance Day commemoration portion of our service, we will transition into our regular service of worship. This year we are going to have an extended advent of seven weeks versus the usual four. Our theme for Advent this year is “More than Words.” This won’t be a look at how to control our tongues or advice to choose our words carefully…although both are worthwhile pursuits!
No, instead, we’ll be asking how do we, as Christians embody these words. How do we show them in our actions, attitudes, priorities and how does our triune God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit show these in scripture and practice?
Our first word is “care.” Care often gets confused with love. You can care about something without necessarily loving it. For example, if you care about your body you might eat more green vegetables and exercise, although you don’t particularly love either. Making a distinction between love and care isn’t just wordplay; it’s a necessity. Care is characterized by devotion, consistency, attention to detail, and some sense of obligation. It may require specialized skills, or it may just require time. Either way, care requires consistent investment — attention provided over the long haul.
Scripture is full of examples of God’s care for us, and this Sunday we’ll study how different leaders cared (or not) for the people in their communities. God so cared for this world, that He sent his only son, Jesus, at Christmas to show us how to live, love and care for others.
During Advent you will also receive a weekly devotional every Monday morning in your mailbox helping us to reflect and pray about the word we’ve studied the previous Sunday. Your first devotion will arrive November 11th.
To prepare, please read: 1 Kings 17: 8-24 and Mark 12:38-44
If you, or someone you know has recently experienced the death of a loved one, St. Paul’s would like to invite you to join a community of support called “GriefShare” beginning in January. Over the course of 13 weeks we will explore some of the common experiences and feelings individuals face when a loved one dies through video presentations and group discussions. Among the topics covered are: loneliness and fear; regrets and anger; how grief affects other relationships and duties within the remaining family, how to cope with difficult emotions, brain fog and fatigue and much more.OFFERING
You can send weekly or monthly offering by mail, by dropping off at the church’s new letter slot in the green door, by Pre Authorized Remittance (PAR), and through www.CanadaHelps.org by searching for St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church Peterborough. Electronic bank transfer (e-transfers) can be sent to finance@stpaulspeterborough.ca
