Aging with Agency

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

All Saint's Day on Sunday marked the end of our autumn "Cozy Toes" collection. After the hijinks and "treating" of Hallowe'en it is good to remind ourselves that those who have gone to glory are not lurking behind tombstones waiting to frighten the susceptible. Rather, those saints we have known in life have left us with the gift of faith, the traditions we cherish, and an example of a godly life. They wish us no harm. On the contrary, they wish us blessing and guidance as we walk in the way of Jesus.

One of the ways we at SPPC walk in that way is by collecting warm clothing, particularly socks for distribution by The Mustard Seed Street Church, to those in need. The collection does not make a pretty picture, but it provides great comfort and a display of Christian love in action. 

Something different coming up at SPPC this week, we are sponsoring a workshop on Aging with Agency, on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 11:00 am.

Demographics for Vancouver Island, show an aging population and a quick glance over our congregation on Sunday morning confirms that trend. So, a workshop on the topic seems appropriate. Knowledge is power, after all.

The session will be led by Mackenzie McNiven, currently completing her Master of Science degree at of the University of Victoria.  During her undergraduate studies she was involved in dementia-focused research, and has carried that knowledge and interest into her continued studies. Her work with BRANCH, BRain Aging and NeuroCognitive Health, includes exploring the effects of social engagement, physical activity, and community-based programs to improve the lives of an aging population. 

The concept of aging with agency is really a fancy way of saying, take charge of your own life, even as the years take a toll. Folk can still make meaningful choices, maintain autonomy and direct their own well-being and life-experiences as they age. 

There will be a discussion of current population-specific trends, information from the research emerging from U. Vic and an exploration of evidence-based strategies, such as music and exercise group activities can enhance quality of life in the later years.

If you want to read the full paper on her research at U. Vic you can find it here. It is a long and thorough read, so attending her session at SPPC might be the better choice. It will give you the added benefit of group activity -- a positive for aging brains, less homework, and a chance to ask questions in person. The workshop is open to all. Bring a friend.

It is somewhat ironic that this workshop is being given in a church. Study after study shows that those who attend worship services regularly have, on average, a longer life expectance than those who do not. Similar studies prove that singing in a choir not only extends life but adds to its quality as well. So, to have a long, happy and healthy life, please join the church choir.  No audition necessary. We'd love to have you!

Food for the Soul

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

This Sunday we welcomed Rev. Grant Wilson back to the pulpit at SPPC. He's becoming an old hand with our congregation, and we thank him for sharing his faith, his learning and his enthusiasm with us. 

After worship, we celebrated Janet's birthday with cake. The rule is that if your birthday falls on the Sunday, we sing to you before service and we all have cake afterward. Seems like a good rule.😀

Coming up this week at SPPC is our Friendship Coffee time on Thursday Oct. 29 at 10:00 am. Coffee and goodies is one of the favourite pasttimes at our church. The photo on the right was taken at the September, Friendship Coffee morning. Twenty-one folks gathered to chat and laugh and solve the world's problems. The event is not restricted to members of SPPC, so feel free to drop by and enjoy a time of Friendship.

 

I've written a lot about food events at SPPC lately, so I thought I'd highlight some of our "food for the soul" events, too. 

 Larry's musical event on Saturday night was an example of music's charm, "to soothe the savage breast." If you missed this one, there is another on Nov. 28, 7:00pm, and early Christmas offering.

Our Wednesday study sessions nourish the spiritual life of the congregation. This term we are taking another Drive Thru' History with Dave Stotts, and his trusty Land Rover, named Steve McQueen,  following the road from Acts to Revelation. The Book of Acts is full of detail, much of it easily overlooked as we tend to focus on the Gospels and the Epistles, but the first steps along "The Way" following Pentecost are breath-taking.

Some will have covered this ground before, but I find the visuals --either landscape or art work-- offer new perspectives on the text. For example, art depicting the stoning of Stephen showed him as a young man. Since he is a "saint" my mental image was of a person with a long, grey beard -- my mistake. More food for my soul.  

For those who think videos are an easy out for Bible Study, let me assure you we have homework! A worksheet handed out at the end of each session assigns scripture readings. 

If music and history and architecture and country walks feed your soul, you might want to check out Youtube for The Salisbury Organist. As mentioned on a previous post, I am a fan.  A recent episode had Ben in Baverstoke playing a small electronic organ and reminiscing about his first instrument -- a Yamaha Electone with two short keyboards and a half-length pedal board. 

The church at Baverstoke is fascinating. First erected over a1000 years ago, it has undergone restoration, additions and refurbishments over the years, but still shows its ancient foundations. As a lover of history, the virtual tour of the building was food for my soul, all by itself, but then Ben played "The Day Thou Gavest," and brought peace to my spirit.

Near the end of the presentation this photo from inside the church appeared on screen and gave me a good chuckle -- a dollop of ice cream to my visual and aural feast.

I don't know at what date this plaque was attached to the wall, but the instructions are in English, not Latin, and the font is easily readable, so I suspect the Victorians had a hand in it. 

In case you can't read the bottom line in the photo, here is a transcription. 

When the Choir and Clergy enter or leave, the Church, then stand up in a body. When they have passed by, kneel down in Prayer for them and ourselves.

Wishing us all a week filled with good food, for the body, the mind and the soul. 

Cold Feet

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

This week we were blessed to have the Rev. Mitch Coggin for a return visit to our pulpit while Rev. Irwin is away at Synod.  He is the interim moderator for Trinity Presbyterian in Victoria and takes on guest preaching spots from time to time as people like our Rev. Irwin need time away.

The first time Mitch visited us was in July of 2025. His bio at the time showed a very busy life, but he menitoned he was trying to learn how to be retired. 

Below is his updated resume and I think he may be failing at the "retired" part. He has added tai chi and improv to the list of activities, but hasn't removed anything!

Rev. Mitch Coggin moved to Victoria at the invitation of the Presbytery of Vancouver Island in 2018 to serve as the Transitional Pastor at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Victoria.  He held this position until March, 2025 when he officially retired from the Presbyterian Church in Canada (although for the last year has served as Interim Moderator of Trinity Presbyterian, Victoria. 

 He holds dual membership as a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and The Presbyterian Church (USA).  Mitch is an experienced Interim Minister having served multiple interim roles in the States before beginning his work in Canada.    

 Mitch is a certified coach through the International Coaching Federation and teaches coaching as a valuable understanding in guiding congregations through the transitional process.  

On a personal note, Mitch is a passionate woodworker, creating fountain pens on a lathe from the beautiful wood found in the Pacific northwest. . 

Mitch plays golf at least three times a week and has taken improv and tai chi classes during the last year. He and Linda were sworn in as Canadian citizens in January of this year and just this week voted in their first Canadian election!

"The cold floor under her bare feet shocked her awake, a sudden, freezing reminder of the world she had forgotten while asleep."
— The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

If you've ever slid from a warm bed and placed your bare feet on a cold floor on a frosty Canadian morning, you can relate to the above quote. When the wood stove in the kitchen was the main source of heat in the house, the temperature in bedrooms could drop to near freezing overnight. When morning came, those aroused from slumber shivered into the day, scrambled for clothes and yanked on wool socks in fewer minutes than it takes to tell, before racing for the warmth of the kitchen and a hot breakfast.

I think a warmed bathroom floor is one of the great luxuries of life. 

Sadly, what many of us remember with a hint of nostalgia, is still a reality for many living rough in our towns and cities. Cold, wet feet are a misery, especially when there is no relief in sight. 

Except, we are the relief. 

Every autumn for as long as I've been posting this blog, our congregation collects warm socks, sweaters, coats, blankets . . . for those who cannot come in from the cold. 

Mostly, we concentrate on socks. Socks filled with compassion for someone suffering cold toes and blistered heels. Someone who is loved by God.

The reasons for homelessness are many and complicated. We've been doling out care baskets for decades and still the problems persist. It is tempting to shrug and expect "someone else" to find a solution. 

There is an old adage about one person being unable to change the world but we can change the world for one person. A pair of warm socks -- simple, affordable and immediate. Will change the world for one person with cold feet.

Bring your donation to the church and place it in the baskets in the narthex. Help change one person's world.

  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matt. 25:40 KJV

Happy Thanksgiving

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

Thanksgiving and gratitude are a daily part of our Christian practice, but on the second weekend of October, we celebrate the harvest and the abundance bestowed by our bountiful God.
We decorate the communion table with the fruits of harvest. We sing thanksgiving hymns, we know all the words, and we rejoice in the providence of our God. It is a joyful time of worship.

Getting it just right

As usual, this year, the table was decorated with gifts from the garden and the orchard -- a bushel of apples, a dozen quince, corn stalks, dried grasses, zucchini (!), squash and pumpkins -- as well as fall flowers and preserved food. It's enough to make a body hungry just looking at it. 

Flowers in memory

Clean up finishes the decor

But, there was no excuse for being hungry this year because we had a full turkey dinner on offer on Saturday afternoon. Soup, turkey, duchesse potatoes, turnip casserole, corn, carrots -- plus all the trimmings and dessert. What a feast! 

There were places for forty guests and we had 36 turn out. 

Testing the soup

Many hands make light work

Setting a beautiful table

Welcome to the table

Joy of fellowship

Pumpking mousse for dessert

Many thanks to Pam for her organizing, cooking, planning and delegating, at this first of what may become a tradition. Thanks to her crew for following orders and seeing to it that dinner was served hot and plentiful.

And thanks also to the folk who came to the table, sharing time, sharing food, sharing stories, sharing the love of God with each other. Full stomachs are only the beginning of Thanksgiving. Full hearts, comforted spirits, hands around the table, these things fill the soul.

One more reason to give thanks this year. Our clerk of session, Janet, is now a great grandmother. Congratulations to Felicity and Ian on the birth of a baby girl, Amelia. Thanks be to God.

Ministry Milestone

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

This Sunday we celebrated thirty years of ordained ministry for our own, Rev. Irwin Cunningham.  After taking his undergraduate degree at University of Victoria, he went on to complete his M. Div. at Knox College, University of Toronto. He was ordained into full-time ministry at Knox Presbyterian in Victoria, in a service conducted by Dr. Kirk, in June 1996.

Later that year he was inducted into ministry at Faith Presbyterian in Fort MacMurray. While still a student he served in churches in Edmonton, Prince George and Sylvan Lake. Those years in "the north" were a bit like pioneering in ministry--his first baptism, his first wedding, his first change of the clock (he was still eating breakfast at the hour when worship began.) 

He met some rough and ready folk from the oil patch, who became friends and elders in his church. He took on the chaplaincy of the RCMP and gained a whole new perspective on policing and the people who serve in that capacity. He comforted officers at the time of the Meyerthorpe shootings.

For the past nineteen years we have been privileged to have him as our minister, teaching elder, pastor, tech support and friend at Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church. 

In the early years of his time with us, the Bible Study flourished with upward of 20% of the congregation in attendance. With so many engaged in study, our corporate faith deepened and broadened and "showed forth in our lives."    

The Christmas Play became a staple of SPPC's December, with the whole Cunningham family taking part.

2015

The first Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic launched SPPC on a long and nurturing relationship with the House Upon the Rock ministry. A second trip followed two years later and a third was planned when . . .

Then came COVID.

Everything changed. The Mission trip was cancelled. Church services were closed down. All group events were forbidden. 

A graduation card for Benjamin, delivered during COVID

And yet . . . under Rev. Irwin's guidance, SPPC found a way. We held communion service in the parking lot.

We learned about cameras and youtube and pre-recorded worship services. 

preaching to a camera and a microphone

watching "church" from home

 While other churches remained closed, SPPC was the first to re-open, allbeit with a very different look. We rearranged the pews. We moved the wall. We measured out seating at six foot intervals.

As restrictions lessened, little by little, folk started coming back to church on Sunday morning, while wearing a mask and singing very quietly into it. SPPC became the model for other churches re-opening their doors as the pandemic eased.

Previously, many of us joked about Rev. Irwin's fondness for gadgets and techie stuff. Now we depended on him to teach us how to run the cameras and the video and figure out how to jump into the post-COVID world through the internet. I'm sure he never dreamed he'd need those skills when he enrolled in theology!

Under Rev. Irwin's guidance and hard work, SPPC recovered from the COVID shut down and is once again holding Bible Study, offering a worship service (no longer socially-distanced). We sing hymns with gusto, celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and anything else that gives us an excuse for cake.

We held a street party in honour of Queen Elizabeth's 70 years on the throne. Great fun and an opportunity for the community to mix and mingle.

 In 2023 another team made the trip to the Dominican Republic, then last year, another team, including Rev. Irwin made the trek to House Upon the Rock.

2025

Sunday, in typical SPPC style, we celebrated Rev. Irwin and his thirty years of ministry, with a party after worship.

A few words

Thank you, Rev. Irwin for all you do at SPPC and for your faithful answer to God's call. 

* * * *

Late Breaking News:

Diane found the bulletin from Rev. Irwin's induction service at Fort MacMurry.  

Text from the service:

Irwin Cunningham was born in the Hague, Holland, the youngest of the four sons of Dr. Joseph and Mrs. Edith Cunningham. In his earliest years the family moved from there to Vienna, Austria, then Helensburgh, Scotland and finally to Victoria, where he completed his schooling. In Victoria Irwin became a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church, and later transferred to Knox. He became active in youth ministry both at Knox and St. Andrew's Presbyterian Churches, and quite active in Vancouver Island Presbytery Camping.

 After finishing high school, Irwin studied physics and later history.

 While working on a masters in history at the University of Victoria, Irwin discerned his call to the ordained ministry and his name was put forward to Vancouver Island Presbytery by the Session of Knox Church. The Presbytery certified him to the care of Knox College, where he recently completed his theological education.

 It was after the first year of his studies that Irwin married Diane Attwell, an elder of Knox Church, a fellow youth ministry worker and an active Christian camper. Diane joined Irwin in Toronto and has since supported him in his ministry and studies in Prince George, B.C., then in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, where Irwin interned at Memorial Presbyterian Church, and returning to Toronto for Irwin's final year at Knox College.

 Irwin then accepted the call to Faith Presbyterian Church, in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Both Diane and Irwin are looking forward not only to serving Jesus Christ, putting into practice many years of study, but also to the possibility of settling into one home for more than twelve months.

 

SPPC and the Blue Bus

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

Exciting Things are Happening with Y.F.C. Blue Bus.

                       by Pam Day

For most of us Summertime is a time of “winding down,” but not so for South Island YFC (Youth for Christ).

The Nanaimo team’s Summer Adventure Camps are the culmination of the year’s contacts with Youth, 84 Juniors and 46 Teens participated in sports, climbing wall, skywalk, tubing down the Cowichan River, beach activities, worship with music provided by the youth, a lot of fun in a safe Christian environment resulted in several Juniors and Teens making the choice to welcome Jesus into their hearts. We pray that they will go forward and allow the Lord to walk with them as they return to their families and local schools and churches.

 Programs such as Blue Bus do take a break from their regular activities, but this gives time for evaluation of the past year and planning for the next.

God has answered many prayers this past year, one of which was to provide more staff and volunteers. Our leader Rick Wismer is approaching retirement, and this has been a great concern.

The Lord has provided! Samuel de Oliveira (and his wife) have been volunteering for a few years now, and he has become the Program Director for the Cowichan Tribes.

Samuel is a younger spirit- filled man who has the energy for climbing gyms, kayaking on the lake and other active sports. Rick still has oversite for the Cowichan and will be there to mentor Samuel, but this takes a big load off his shoulders.

 And more recently, Jon Rothon has come to the Peninsula from Kelowna, where he worked with YFC in youth pastoring, and has hit the ground running!

We are thankful for these younger, energetic men answering God’s call to reach out with the love of Christ to our First Nation’s Youth. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as they take on their roles as true Ambassador’s and Reconciler’s for Christ Jesus.

And not a moment too soon! as the Pauquachin Tribe has given permission for us to expand our present Tuesday after school Teens Program, to include some Thursday afternoons, and Saturday serving days. This sometimes needs volunteer drivers to enable the kids who live further away to participate. If you feel God calling you to do this, please respond to Rick Wismer 250-216-8287.

In addition, the Elders at Tsawout Nation have invited us back to do twice a month Thursday evening Teen Programs again from 6:30 – 8:00pm. Of course, this means that we will need to have some more Volunteers to be able to safely and legally be able to comply! And more snack providers too.

Our Church has been supportive of Blue Bus Ministry for many years, by financing the provision of snacks and providing volunteers to purchase and deliver them, and the occasional volunteers for program help.

 It is a great opportunity to offer sincere recognition of our shameful participation in the aberration of the Residential Schools, and to seek sincere Reconciliation by both word and deed.

For more information or to volunteer, please speak to Pam or call the office, 250 656-2241