The Giving Season

The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

Friendship coffee met this past week, the last get-together before Advent. As usual, good friends, good conversation and good goodies filled a couple of hours on Thursday morning. 

In the "olden days" neighbours used to gather around a pot-bellied stove at the General Store to swap stories, catch up on the news, and bind the community

together. I think Friendship Coffee is reminiscent of that long-ago practice. The longing for human connections and close friendships goes back centuries. The venue changes but the desire for a "village" transcends the times.

A glance at the calendar shows Christmas racing toward us. I had a momentary panic last week as I considered my "to do" list and the short number of days in which to do it.

Fortunately, the charitable donations part is quick and easy. I can send a cheque through the mail, go on-line and click the "donate" button, or I can drop my envelope into the collection plate at SPPC.  

This time of year the letter mail and the e-mail is flooded with requests for donations. If you haven't already picked which to support -- none of us can do it all!-- SPPC is collecting for the Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank. Foodstuffs, money, toiletries, personal hygiene products, and baby needs are all requested. There are collection boxes in the narthex of the church, and, you can enter a draw for a Christmas plant every time you drop off a donation. Win-win, as they say.

The Compassionate Resource Warehouse is an overseas mission supported by many churches, including SPPC. They went into recess during the pandemic and have been slow to re-open, but now, November 2025, they are building a shipment for a large orphanage in Ukraine. There are 250 residents ages 3 - 18, plus 50 staff. As you can imagine, they need everything.

Here are some specifics:

• toothbrushes and toothpaste, hairbrushes and combs
• balls and boardgames (checkers, chess, snap, snakes and ladders)
• reading glasses, sunglasses
• needlework supplies, art supplies, beading supplies
• socks and underwear, leggings, slippers, gloves
• bedding, tableware

This list is anything but complete but it is a start. 

If possible pack your donations in paper or cardboard (plastic is difficult to recycle) and drop it off by the donation box in the narthex at SPPC.

Last week, Rev. Irwin encouraged us to reflect the light of Christ in the world around us. A box of supplies for war orphans in Ukraine will send a beam of Christ-light into a very dark place.