Happy Father's Day

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

Sunday was Father's Day so SPPC celebrated with cake. That's cake two weeks in a row. The coffee hour was well attended. 

Every year we ask a "dad" to cut the cake. This year's choice was Wayne. He did a mighty fine job. There were no complaints about "my piece is smaller than yours."  Thanks Wayne for serving the congregation.

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The twenty-first was also a Communion Sunday, a fitting reminder that no sacrifice is too great for our Heavenly Father. How blessed are we that His love is offered so freely to His children.

 Some families use Sunday as a day to call home and talk to dad. We can call "home" any time, anywhere and Our Father will answer, but there is something special about calling on Sunday morning. It is a bit like being on a party line (remember those?) -- we can all listen in to the many conversations, and experience the love of God and the fellowship of family together.

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Rev. Irwin has started a series of sermons for the summer season, based on the Psalms of Ascent, (Psalms 120-134) In ancient times, every Jewish male was required to attend the temple in Jerusalem three times a year for major religious festivals. These psalms (songs) were used by the travellers to accompany their journey, a reminder that they were a pilgrim people walking with God. They weren't exactly marching songs, but I expect the singing helped to encourage and cheer the pilgrims on their way.

On Sunday, Psalm 121 (Unto the Hills) informed the sermon. This well-loved passage has been set to music in many forms. On Sunday we used the hymn version found in our Book of Praise, set to the tune Sandon, a plain 4/4 melody with a range of less than an octave, eminently singable by a congregation.

The poetry of the psalm is so powerful it has been used by many composers, from chant to choral anthems, to folksy hymns and jazz renditions, to name a few.

A much more elaborate setting for some verses can be found in Felix Mendelssohn's great oratorio, Elijah. A trio of treble voices begins the passage with "Lift Thine Eyes," followed by a full chorus of "He watching over Israel,"  Not arranged for congregational singing.😀

Whatever the musical style, the psalm brings comfort and assurance to the listener. Dr. Cecil Kirk, late of this congregation wrote:

. . . As Christians we remember how God watches over us on our pilgrimage through time, journeying on our way to the eternal city. . . God guards the soul, the inner citadel of each of us which is the seat of human happiness or misery. . .God has promised that He will see us right through to the end of the journey. He will be there when night falls and we go into the darkness: He will be there to meet us when morning breaks and the shadows flee away. "the Lord shall keep thee, henceforth, yea, for evermore."

We've been promised a series of summer sermons on fifteen psalms, but, if you're looking for a summer reading list, there are one hundred and fifty of them in your Bible.  Certainly more familiar reading than last summer's series on the Book of Revelation!

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Don't forget the food bank. For the rest of this month and into July, we are making an extra effort to stock the food bank shelves. Summer is a time of plenty for those of us with gardens, but it is a time of stress for the food bank, as regular donors go on holiday and school children need more lunches at home. Bring your offerings of food or cash and place them in the bins in the narthex.

Highlights of the Week

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

Congratulations to Abigail! On June 4th, she was promoted from Leading Cadet to Master Cadet. We are so pleased to see her developing her leadership skills within the cadets, an organization she truly loves. Well done, to the "congregation's baby."  

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On Monday, our faithful volunteers served up the Sunshine Lunch. The Hawaiian theme signified summer. Even though there was rain outside, there was plenty of sunshine inside.

                                                                

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On Saturday we laid to rest one of our congregants.  There were tears and laughter as we remembered a long life, well-lived. Our brother-in-Christ was a stalwart supporter of SPPC and we will miss his presence among us. We pray for comfort and peace for his family. "Grief is the price we pay for love." But though we grieve the loss of an earthly companion, we rejoice in our hope in the Resurrection. 

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On Sunday we welcomed Rev. Irwin home back General Assembly. He got home in time to have cake on Sunday morning. At the same time we bid farewell to one of our elders, Elizabeth. She is heading to Alberta to be closer to family. I don't know if "celebrated" is the right word when someone moves away but we give thanks for her presence in our congregation over the past number of years and we wish her well in her new home. We also thank her for the excuse to have cake! 

A Peaceful Place

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

This week Rev. Irwin is at General Assembly in Toronto. Please remember this highest court of our denomination in your prayers. To tune in to the Assembly, you can use this link.

We were happy to welcome the Rev. G. Grant Wilson to our pulpit. His theme was transformation.

Last week we held a small interment service in the Garden of Remembrance at the north-west corner of the church. As we witnessed the placing of the ashes of our brother in Christ, sang a hymn and listened to scripture and a few memories, it struck me that this little corner of our property is a very special place. 

It moves between the built structure of our church and the natural beauty of the forest. A few cultivated plants mark the front edge while the back merges into the woods. 

Benches on both sides invite the visitor - or mourner- to rest. A gazebo adds a note of whimsy.

    

Because this little corner of our property is a "Garden of Remembrance" and not a cemetery it is intended for the interment of members and adherents of the congregation. There are no markers in the garden itself. Instead, a plaque on the wall of the church records the names and dates of the deceased. Flowers may be placed in the containers against the church wall.

Family and loved ones often come here to rest and meditate and remember. 

There are times when I think the world is too much with us. We are bombarded on every side by news of disaster or outrage, or misinformation, or demands for our attention and our time.  I consider our Garden of Remembrance a refuge, a place of calm, where we can sit quietly, listen to birdsong, hear the wind in the trees and seek peace for our souls. 

To echo the Sunday sermon, here is a quiet place, a place to listen for the still, small voice, a place for transformation.

Rinse and Repeat

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

Another Friendship Coffee event happened last week. It had one of the biggest turn outs since we resumed this ministry following the COVID-19 shutdown. 

Sylvia celebrated a big birthday and the group sang for her

I've written about Friendship Coffee on this blog for some fifteen years. What a testament to the need for community within and without SPPC, and to the faithfulness of those who make it possible.

Men's table  2014

Women's table 2014

There have been changes in that time. They used to meet in the Ross Lounge, and there was a men's table and a women's table. Apparently the men "fixed" all that was wrong in the world, while the women knit baby layettes for the hospital foundation and for distribution in war-torn parts of the world. Hazel was a prodigious  knitter who produced nearly 2000 of these knitted dolls for children who had no other toy.

As the photos at the top of this post show, Friendship Coffee in the post-COVID era takes place in Molloy Hall and the tables are co-ed. The knitters have left their needles at home and the "aid" focus is on the Ukraine. The friendship is still warm, the coffee and cookies are delicious and newcomers are welcome.

Sunday marked the end of our clothing drive for the Mustard Seed Church. Every fall, for years, we have conducted a "dry socks" campaign for those whose feet are wet and cold. This spring, we've added a clothing drive. 

 We collected more than 13 large bags, 15 small bags and two suitcases full of clothes. The last of the donations came in on Sunday morning, just before service.  

They were really heavy!

Used clothes in plastic bags don't make the most beautiful picture, but they make a beautiful contribution to the lives of those without housing or a place to do laundry. 

These donations are more than just old clothes. They are an offering to the people of God from the people of God. They were placed in the sanctuary and blessed as part of our offering time. We pray the gift will ease the days for someone in need.

Where are They Now?

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

For Pentecost Sunday, we wore red! Even the choir anthem had a red cover.

Over the years I've written this blog, many members of the congregation have moved away. I caught up on news from a few of them this week.

Edna was a stalwart member of the congregation. She sang in the choir, founded the prayer chain, was a steady and thoughtful member at Bible Study, and organized a grief support group after her husband passed away. We miss her, but she tunes in to our service via the internet. She lives in Southern Ontario and Joan visited her earlier this month and took the photo above.

Helen sat in the front pew on the forest side of the sanctuary. She was there every week, always elegant, wearing beautiful suits. She participated whole-heartedly in worship and always had a kind word to say at the coffee hour afterward. She moved east to be nearer family but she is remembered by her friends at SPPC. She has just turned 104!

Chris and Phyllis are now in Alberta. I got this lovely note from Chris.

Yes Mom and I are in Calgary.  Though my heart is on the Island, Calgary is the right place for me: medical access and doctor availability, commutability, costs, no PST, Calgary to Sidney is a simple 90-minute flight away and interestingly the weather is just fine with dry, clear and blue sky conditions.  Winter is easy as little snow.

 I was medically released from the military after one too many injuries. 

I attend online church either with SPPC ( Ed. note, we often see his name pop up in the chat panel)or other churches.  I hike, bagpipe, volunteer at my mother’s care facility and with my home owners association.

 Mom is 96 and physically well.  She is mobility challenged and wheels herself around with skill.   I visited Mom Sunday.  Though caught in a dementia repeating question loop, her brain remembers most unique memories but unable to remember recent events.  Mom and I actively participate in a care home ministry hymn sing and comprehending the five-minute condensed sermon.  Mom is blessed beyond belief and, within budget, expertly cared for. 

Felicity is Blooming

Felicity is happily living with her partner in the Interior. She is remembered as a prime mover in sending our first mission team to the Dominican Republic, and for her work with the parking lot club. Her big news is a baby expected in the fall! Not to get ahead of events, but wouldn't it be wonderful to have a baptism at SPPC?

Shakespeare wrote: "The evil that men do lives after them;/ the good is oft interred with their bones."

The Bible reminds us that followers of Jesus were often in direct contradiction of the world's values. In this season of Pentecost, let us reverse Shakespeare's worldly cynicism, and remember the good gifts of the saints who have lived among us.  

Many Gifts, One Spirit

The Spirit's Calling

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

Last week we heard an appeal from the pulpit for helpers with the Blue Bus Ministry. A few days later, I received a newsletter from the Blue Bus. I took these two reminders as a nudge to write about the big Blue Bus again. It has featured on this blog numerous times, but ministry is never a one-and-done event.

The Blue Bus is a mobile ministry serving Indigenous youth on the Saanich Peninsula and in the Cowichan Valley. Its director, Rick Wismer, has frequently visited SPPC (with his big blue bus) and spoken from our pulpit. 

For many years SPPC has supported this ministry with cookies and snacks and financial donations. The appeal this time is for able-bodied helpers. We can supply "snack grannies" but not many in our congregation are up for a game of soccer. So, if you, or anyone you know, has the energy, the muscle, the lung capacity, and flexible joints, you are encouraged to get in touch. 

The newsletter included some heartwarming stories of the Blue Bus making a difference in the lives of youth and elders. It also put out a request for garden implements. These tools will allow youth to help out their neighbours on "serve" days. Anyone downsizing from a house to an apartment might have serviceable rakes, hoes, shovels, and shears. To donate, you can contact Rick of drop them off at SPPC and we'll see to it that they find a new home.

To read the entire newsletter, click this link.

For the past several weeks, Rev. Irwin has been including "homework" -- or, as he likes to call them, "invitations" at the end of his sermons. In some ways, this practice is a bit like an altar call but instead of congregants coming forward to testify within the sanctuary, we are asked to take the message out to the world, into our families and our community. 

On Mother's Day the first invitation asked us to "choose one person outside these walls--a neighbour, a colleague, a family member--and pray for them by name, every day this week . . ."

I'll admit, I took the invitation casually, but a name popped into my mind that surprised me--a family member but not someone I'm particularly close to--but I took the sermon to heart and have prayed for this man all week. I don't know if my prayers have affected his life,--this is where the third invitation comes in, ". . .trust the One who finishes what He starts" -- but they have touched mine. 

Thanks to Rev. Irwin for his specific invitations. I encourage all of us to take them to heart and respond.

Mothers of Salem

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

This week we celebrated Mothers' Day, with cake. Yay!

When I was a child, we wore a flower to church on Mother's Day, a coloured one if your mother was living and a white one if your mother had passed away. In northern Ontario, finding flowers in bloom in early May was a challenge. We often resorted to the potted geraniums on a sunny windowsill. Not exactly a fashionable boutonniere but it did the trick. The actual flower wasn't important. What mattered was the symbol of love and respect for mothers. 

Fathers' Day didn't carry the same cachet. And there was no "children's day." Perhaps that is why the church, in her wisdom, has moved to "Christian Family Sunday," so we can celebrate the special kind of love that binds kith and kin together.

As part of the Sunday service we sang, When Mothers of Salem, a favourite with our clerk of session. We use the 1972 Book of Praise at SPPC. The hymn did not make it into the "new" Book of Praise, published in 1997. In fact, many of the hymns I sang as a child are omitted from the latest version of our hymnbook. Anyone remember "When He Cometh?" It's not in the new hymnbook either, yet, while I was pulling weeds in the flower bed and thinking about this blog, I discovered I remembered every word. What we teach children really matters. Those lessons and poems will last a lifetime.

"When Mothers of Salem" was penned by  William Medlen Hutchings, in 1850. It was was written for the anniversary service of St. Paul's Chapel Sunday School, Wigan, in 1850, and was published in a revised form in the Juvenile Missionary Magazine of June 1850. The text is based on the Biblical story told three Gospels, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18

Although the text is a retelling of the Biblical story, it was seen as a "missionary" hymn, due to these lines in the last verse, "O soon may the people of every land and nation, /Fulfil Thy blessed word, and cast their idols all away;"

The new hymnbook does not have a children's section, but it has an index of "Items for Children and Youth." The index includes everything from Christmas carols to communion. The segment on Mission contains seven suggestions, including "Jesus bids us shine." That's one I recognize from childhood. 

Neither our "old" nor our "new" hymn books list "mothers" in the topical index, but both refer to "family," and both include the hymn, "Happy the home when God is there." That hymn is a great reminder that giving mom a day off and maybe breakfast in bed, is a great way to show her love, but it is God who makes a home truly happy. Another memory from my childhood was that the whole family pleased mom by going with her to church on Mothers' day!

Western culture has secularized many of our holy days, while the church has taken the secular Mothers' Day, and shaped it into a celebration of family with God at the heart of our human relationships. 

I hope everyone had a Happy Mothers' Day and that the children did the dishes. I also hope we all gave prayers of thanks to God for His divine love.