awareness - st. andrews presbyterian church, barrie, onstandrewsbarrie.ca/images/awareness.pdf ·...
TRANSCRIPT
Awareness
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Barrie, ON Advent 2019
From the Interim Moderator…
Dear friends at St. Andrew’s,
It hardly seems possible that we are entering the Advent season again, and that
Christmas Day is only a few weeks away.
It hardly seems possible . . . . . . . . That theme appears throughout the Christmas
story.
When Mary was told by the angel that she would be the mother of Jesus, she
wondered how that was possible as she was still a virgin.
When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, he must have wondered at the dilemma
he was now in. Mary’s news - it hardly seemed possible.
And how is it possible that the King of Kings was born in a stable in a small backwater
village, and not in the capital city, the child of royalty?
And surely the shepherds had never considered the possibility of angels appearing to
such humble folk as them with the good news that the long- awaited Messiah was
born.
And how is it possible that well educated people such as the Magi would have enough
faith to risk a long, uncertain, undefined journey by following a star in the sky?
It hardly seems possible! But as the angel reminded a questioning, and yet obedient,
Mary, “For with God nothing is impossible.” (Luke 1:37) Or as another translation puts
it, “For every promise from God shall surely come true.”
This is the faith the season of Advent calls us to. To believe in God’s promises. To
build our lives on them. And when we do, even in the tough, uncertain times of life,
God will never disappoint us. And he may well surprise us with his blessings.
Debbie and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and every good wish for the coming
year. We hope to see you at worship during the Advent and Christmas season.
Neal
Rev. Dr. A.R. Neal Mathers
St Andrew’s
Presbyterian
Church
47 Owen Street
Barrie, ON L4M 3G9
(P) 705-728-3991
(F) 705-728-3506
www.standrewsbarrie.ca
Staff Directory
Rev. Dr. A. R. Neal Mathers
Interim-Moderator
Ms. Barb Drummond,
Secretary & Treasurer
705-728-3991 Ext. 1
Mr. Herb Ciceri,
Director of Praise and Organist
Miss Mia Drummond,
Church School Leader
705-728-3991 Ext. 4
Check out our web site at:
www.standrewsbarrie.ca
From the Membership Team
We would like to welcome the following
persons to membership at St. Andrew’s by
transfer: David and Carol Steele and Jane Von
Bredow.
We note also the passing of Bryon Brethet and
Hazel Devers and express our sympathies to
their families.
Our Website
We encourage you to check out our website:
http://www.standrewsbarrie.ca. We are
continuing to improve and add new
information and pictures regularly to our web
site. If you are putting notices about programs
and events at St. Andrew’s in the bulletin,
please ask Barb to post them on our web site
too!!
Ushering, Greeting and Elevator
Operators
Would you like to help with this important
welcoming ministry?
Can you help at our Christmas Eve services?
To become part of this ministry, call or speak
with Arna Atkinson.
Thank you to the people who have been
offering to help with our welcoming ministry as
ushers, greeters or elevator operators on
Sunday mornings.
Ruth Millar, for the Membership Team
Mission & Outreach In early November, your Mission and
Outreach Team worked with Reverend Boyer
to organize our Fall Mission Service.
Congregants heard three mission-related
messages, including one delivered by
Reverend Boyer. Another message was
given by Reverend Ruth McDonald from
Burton Street United Church, who provided
an overview of the "Listening Post", a
program that is being delivered in various
locations in Barrie.
"We nurture listeners and create spaces in
Barrie where people can be heard
one-on-one with compassion, respect and in
confidence
because listening is a gift for both the sharer
and the listener"
The concept has its basis in the scriptures
and is considered an effective method of
living faithfully—being able to listen without
judgement or bias, or even expectation. Our
third speaker was Sandra Burns, a member
of our congregation, and the newest member
of our Team. Sandra will be participating in
a medical mission trip to Guatemala in mid-
January 2020. She will be able to bring
donations of various medical supplies
(aspirin, etc.) and other needed items, for re-
distribution to Guatemalans. Our Team will
be launching an appeal for these donations
shortly after Christmas.
Looking ahead, we are preparing for our
annual donation drives. We will be
collecting donations of toiletries, socks,
etc., for re-distribution to individuals
through the Canadian Mental Health
Association. As well, this year we will
again be appealing for donated presents
for one family (two parents and three
children), identified through Family
Connexions (formerly Children's Aid
Society). We also have some PWSD
greeting cards from previous years that
we plan to offer at no cost, along with a
limited number of PWSD calendars that
will be sold for $7.
Along with keeping you informed about
the work of our national church, in
Canada and around the world, as it
supports people and communities
struggling with poverty or natural
disasters, the Team has been
investigating what our next major project
should be.
For the past several years, we have
hosted sessions about Middle East culture
and tensions, as well as Healing and
Reconciliation efforts in Canada. We have
celebrated St. Andrew's work with Out of
the Cold, and continued to assist those
struggling with poverty.
If you have an idea for a project or what
our next major focus should be, please
let us know!
Your Mission and Outreach Team
members are: Laurie Watt, Joan Jarvis,
Brenda Cripps, Patricia McCallum, Graig
Fraser, Carolyn Boyer, Lorna Power,
Sandra Burns, and Sherry Phillips
(Chair).
Stitchery Group
We meet the 2nd Wednesday of the
month from 1-3pm. We are a small group
of ladies who love to knit and crochet and
welcome anyone who would love to join
us. We also have a prayer/lap blanket
ministry that some ladies in the
congregation help us with. This we are
very grateful for. Please contact Cathie
Blair or Betty Grant for more information
about our group if you are interested.
The Pastoral Care Team
Your Pastoral Care team continues to support
many people who are experiencing a variety of
health concerns.
We offer thanks to all of you who make us
aware of these needs so that we can reach out
with cards, visits and phone calls.
Once again we will be providing Christmas treat
bags and calendars this year. Please check out
the weekly bulletin announcement regarding
this. If you are able to provide goodies for these
bags it would be very much appreciated.
Please remember in your prayers the families
and friends of the following people who have
passed away since our last Awareness as well
as the many members of our congregation who
have experienced the loss of loved ones
recently:
Bruce Hall
Bryon Brethet
Arna Atkinson, Chair
Gift Card Fundraiser With Christmas almost upon us, something we can always make use of is gift cards! Gift cards are an easy solution to the challenge of grocery shopping for students near and far, Christmas entertaining and gift giving!
Our dedicated group of volunteers has been selling gift cards for grocery stores – PC group, Sobeys group, Metro and the Cara group of restaurants for 13 years! . We set up every Sunday during coffee hour. All you need is cash or a cheque. We purchase the cards in bulk at a discount for you to purchase at face value. It’s that easy! So far this year, we have sold $107,800, giving St. Andrew’s a profit of $5,409! And it doesn’t cost you a cent! Please stop by our table this Sunday and help with the most worthwhile fundraiser.
From our Sunday School By Mia Drummond
The church school has had a successful two
months working with our new (revisited) SPARK
curriculum. In October we focused on The
Lord’s Prayer, and the response was wonderful!
The children were more engaged, and I found it
helpful that this particular curriculum is more
relatable to children – which makes learning
about God easy AND fun.
For November, we have been working with The
Fruit of The Spirit. The children have really been
understanding this material as well! Our next
month’s theme will be focusing on Advent, and
I am excited to explore it with the children.
We also have our Christmas intergenerational
event approaching. A big “thank you” as always
to the Education Team for helping to organize
this service, which is sure to be as successful as
our last intergenerational service!
Finally, just a reminder that my office hours are
now on Monday’s (9:30am-2:30pm).
Lifelong Learning at
St. Andrew’s The Lifelong Learning
Team has been busy over
the fall season. Mary Helen
Garvin leads Aging
Gracefully once a month
on Thursday afternoons to play games and
enjoy some fellowship. This popular group is
for seniors. Susan Stott-Hood is facilitating an
eight-week book study on Richard Rohr’s latest
book called the Universal Christ. Through the
sharing of life experiences as they relate to the
concepts and themes of the book, there has
been a growing sense of community within the
group. Keith Boyer completed a fall Bible
Study that focused on the history of Israel and
the development of its religious life. A winter
study on the New Testament will launch on
January 7th. See below for details.
Alex Carman keeps our display of Care Notes
up to date and varies the themes and titles
each month. He is currently gearing up for the
Christmas season. The Lifelong Learning team
is in the midst of sourcing speakers for our
2020 Spring Speaker Series. We are
exploring an environmental theme.
Our team members include Sheila Atkinson,
Keith Boyer, Alex Carman, Marilyn Carman,
Mary Helen Garvin and Susan Stott-Hood.
Respectfully submitted by
Susan Stott-Hood
Winter Bible Study: Introduction to the
New Testament
Using video lectures by Dr. Bart D.
Ehrman, we will explore the New
Testament in winter and spring units of
study. Dr. Ehrman is Professor of
Religious Studies at the University of
North Carolina (Durum). He has written
or edited 30 books, five of which have
been on the New York Times bestseller
list. He is a graduate of Wheaton College
and Princeton Seminary and is an
engaging presenter. His lectures
approach the New Testament from a
historical perspective. Rev. Keith Boyer
will facilitate the study noting the
spiritual perspective. Each session is held
in the Activity Room on a Tuesday
evening beginning at 7:00 pm with
dessert.
Dates and topics for the Winter Session
are:
January 7 The Early Christians and Their Literature January 14 The Greco-Roman Context
of the New Testament January 21 Ancient and First Century
Judaism February 4 The Gospel of Mark February 11 The Gospel of Matthew
Board of Managers Report
The Board of Managers continues to be
busy looking after the Church and our
rental properties. We have many projects
on the go and work hard to keep ahead of
necessary repairs.
One of the projects we are working on is
having the Church locks re-keyed. New
procedures are in place for individuals
and groups who are renting the facilities
and the actual re-keying will take place in
the New Year. The surveyor target
prisms have had a 2nd set of readings
taken and we were pleased to hear that
the results show no measurable
movement of the Church walls or
foundation has taken place since the
target were installed. Our building is
currently very stable!
You may have noticed we now have 2
defibrillators installed in the Church. One
is installed outside the Sanctuary doors
near the Church office, and the other is
located in the Gathering Hall near the
ladies washroom. We have also recently
had the elevator controls overhauled for
safety and reliability.
A dead Ash tree at our Worsley St. rental
property is slated to be removed very
shortly and the large overgrown Maple
tree at the front of the Church will be
pruned back at the same time.
The Board works in conjunction with the
Session to decide where to spend our
budgeted funds and we appreciate your
patience and support on matters brought
to our attention.
Respectfully submitted by Andrew
Douglas on behalf of the Board.
Aging Gracefully at St. Andrew’s
Last Awareness, I wrote about the importance
of story telling, whether verbally or through
writing, as an important function of the
psychological development of Seniors.
Another important part of aging gracefully and
staying healthy too, is being socially active.
That is why one of our goals in the Aging
Gracefully program is to just have fun with
other people. Playing games, doing puzzles,
singing and laughing together, chatting over a
cup of tea, keep us physically, intellectually
and emotionally active. Staying connected to
family, neighbours and friends is the key to
longevity and good quality of life in our later
years. “It is our relationships that bring us joy
and make life worth living”. (1)
Of course, the older we get, the more dear
friends and loved ones we are losing and the
more funerals we seem to be attending. Being
together with those who are still with us
provides us with support in our times of
grieving, and reminds us to celebrate the time
we all have left. We encourage one another to
keep on being socially active, whether is in
attending groups at our church, volunteering
in our community, reaching out to those who
need our help in whatever ways we are able,
going to exercise groups, walking with a friend,
playing games that keep our minds active,
talking to someone we care for on the
telephone, and so on. Aging Gracefully
requires that we stay really alive while we are
alive! So, join us on the 4th Thursday of the
month in the Gathering Hall at 2:00 p.m. Next
meeting is November 28th. December date to
be announced.
Submitted by Mary Helen Garvin
Endowment Fund Update
We are pleased to report that our congregation
has generously contributed $756,791.00 to the
Endowment Fund to date. We can also report
that St. Andrews will receive approximately
$25,436.00 in dividends and interest
generated in 2019 by this fund for the 2020
budget. As of November 12, 2019, the total
portfolio value of the Endowment Fund is
$817,661.00.
We are grateful to all of our members and
adherents who have supported and continue to
support this very worthwhile initiative.
Brian Davis, Endowment Fund Chair
JESSE TREE SUNDAY – December 15th
Worship on December 15th, the Third Sunday of Advent, will focus on the biblical events and
people who prepared the way for Jesus using the image of the Jesse Tree. Planned by the Education Team, it will be an intergenerational
service. Worship leadership will include St. Andrew’s children and youth. Everyone will
participate in decorating our beautiful new sanctuary Christmas Tree with symbols pointing to the birth of Jesus.
The Jesse Tree Story
Probably referring to the Judaic King Hezekiah (ca. 715 BC), Isaiah, who began his prophetic ministry in Jerusalem around 741 BC, wrote
this poetic oracle (pronouncement): A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord. (Isaiah 11:1-2)
Although not quoted in the New
Testament, Christians associated this poem with Jesus who traced his family tree lineage to King David. (Jesse was
King David’s father.) Around the 12th century, images of Jesus’ family tree
were included in illustrated manuscripts of the Bible and stained-glass windows in the great cathedrals. The Jesse Tree
remains a popular artistic motif in Christian art by linking the witness of the
Old and New Testaments.
Search Team Report Ruth Millar and David Boyd
In October and November, Search Team
members have gone to listen to candidates
and have listened and watched services of
potential candidates online.
We are meeting on November 24th to
discuss our findings and to arrange to
interview candidates to further their
determine suitability for St. Andrew’s.
Women’s Missionary Society
The WMS ladies meet at 1:30 pm on the
first Monday of each month in the Church
Library. We are currently making decisions
on the Mission projects that we will
support this year. We will be helping Youth
Haven, Grannies in Malawi, PWS&D and
the National WMS projects dealing with
Gender Based Violence in Haiti and the
Kenora Fellowship Centre. We are
currently researching how we can best
support The Barrie Listening Post and
other local Mission projects. A decision on
all these projects will be made at our
December meeting. At our November
meeting, the ladies donated toiletry items
which were distributed to the youth at
Youth Haven. On October 26th, 21 ladies
from the Presbytery attended “Day Apart”
sponsored by the Presbyterial WMS and
hosted by our WMS group at St Andrew’s.
Rev. Linda Paton Cowie, minister at St
Mark’s, Orillia, was our guest facilitator. A
variety of activities kept the ladies busy
and Linda lead an interesting presentation,
ending the day with communion. The
Barrie group catered a delicious luncheon
of soup and buns, fruit and cookies. The
National Women’s Gathering will be held
May 15th-18th, 2020 in Richmond Hill. If
you are interested in attending, check the
WMS bulletin board in the Gathering Room
for registration information. Our Annual
Christmas Potluck luncheon for WMS
ladies, church staff, ministers and spouses
will be held on Monday, December 2nd at
12:30 pm. On Tuesday, November 26th,
the WMS ladies and members of the
Pastoral Care Team will be filling Cheer
bags with candy and cookies donated by
members of St Andrew’s. These bags will
be delivered to church members who are
house bound, experiencing difficult times
or have recently experienced a death in
their family. All donations of treats would
be appreciated and can be left in the
church kitchen prior to the 26th. Please
mark FOR CHEER BAGS on your donation.
Thank you! If you are looking for a
mission-based group to be involved with,
please join us in the church library on the
first Monday of each month at 1:30 pm.
You will be most welcome.
The Art Guild of St Andrew’s fall
classes for Art for the Heart were:
Sew What, So Why, Sew Here!
In our six week together we sewed a
canvas tote, mesh produce bags, and
stitched a pin cushion jar toppers for our
Mason jar filled with sewing goodies.
We had an opportunity to make name
tags, Bees wax food covers and reusable
snack bags. We learned how to use
decorative embroidery to mend our
clothing and how to repurpose old
clothing into new useable items. We
learned that no matter what the textile
is, it can be used to make something
(even your dryer lint) to keep the
textiles from ending up in our landfill
sites and then ultimately in our water
systems. We had a clothing swap for our
last two nights that we gave and took
items.
We learned all about Fashion take Action
and the 7R’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,
Research, Repurpose, Repair and Rent.
Thanks you to our team of very
dedicated and caring ladies who use
their recourses and talents to make this
class a very successful learning time for
all. Sandra Chanko
St. Andrews Photo Gallery October and November
Services
Sunday Worship Service, 10:00
am
Dec 1st – 1st Sunday of Advent,
Communion by Intinction
Dec 8th – 2nd Sunday of Advent,
Mitten Tree
Dec 15th – 3rd Sunday of Advent,
Intergenerational Service
Dec 22rd – 4th Sunday of Advent
Dec 24th – Christmas Eve Services,
6:30pm Family, 8:00pm
Traditional –Communion by
Intinction
Dec 29th – Regular Sunday
Service
Jan 5th – Epiphany
Jan 12th – Regular Sunday Service
Jan 19th – Regular Sunday Service
Jan 26th – Regular Sunday Service
Feb 2nd – Regular Sunday Service
Feb 9th – Regular Sunday Service
Feb 16th – Regular Sunday Service
Feb 23rd – Regular Sunday Service
Meetings and Events
Mondays – 3:30 pm Centering Prayer
4th Tuesday –11:00 am Prayer Group
Ministry
Thursdays – 7:00 pm Choir Practice
1st Monday of each month:
WMS 1:30 pm
2nd Wednesday of each month:
Stitchery Group 1:00 pm