Let Them Eat Cake

 The link to our live-streamed service is here.

Marie Antoinette infamously said, "let them eat cake," in disparagement of the peasants pleading for bread. Historians argue that she never said those words, but they have now entered our collective consciousness so the French Queen is stuck with them. At SPPC we eat cake often and for many reasons, none of which have to do with starvation.

We eat cake to celebrate happy occasions, like Will's baptism. On Nov. 6 Joan's grandson took his own vows of baptism as an adult. We're more accustomed to infant baptism, so Will's event was a very special time. Of course, we celebrated with cake.

This Sunday, we used cake to mark a less joyous occasion. Jim is moving away. He is a long-term member, having joined the congregation in 2001, and served as secretary for the Board of Managers for many years, where he kept meticulous minutes. We are very sorry to see him go but we wish him and Cindy every happiness in their new home. We comforted ourselves with a piece of cake, just as we did earlier in the year when Archie left us to take up residence in Calgary.  

 

Also on Sunday, we had three birthdays. Of course, they were also acknowledged with cake. 

Gladys, who is very young

Benjamin, who loves cake, and Max

Missing from the photos is Kathy, who spent her birthday recuperating from her flu shot. We kindly ate her piece of cake for her.

A Sunday without cake is a rarity at Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church. The addition of bakery goods to our coffee hour speaks not only to the congregants love of sweets but to our commitment to be a church family. In baptism we are asked,  Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, promise to guide and nurture N. by word and deed, with love and prayer, encouraging her/him to know and follow Christ and to be faithful members of his church? 

I think the many cakes served at SPPC are one of the ways we nurture each other. We share the joys and sorrows of life together. As members of the congregation, we promise to listen, to provide a shoulder to lean on, to offer the hand of fellowship--and to enjoy a gooey piece of cake together no matter the moment.

Welcome Will, fare thee well Jim, Happy Birthday Gladys and Benjamin and Kathy. Thanks for the cake.