Welcome Rev. Reid Chudley

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

This Sunday, while Rev. Irwin is recovering from his surgery, we welcomed Rev. Reid Chudley to the pulpit . He is a Victoria boy who grew up at Knox Presbyterian where his youth group leader was our own Rev. Irwin. Ordained in 2004, Rev. Chudley has served congregations in Hillsburgh, Ontario and Victoria, B.C. He has also been a prison chaplain at William Head Institution. He is currently working with Knox Church in Sooke as their Interim Moderator.

He is married to Mary Chudley, Director of Health at the Cool Aid Community Health Centre. They have two children, Clara and Simon, who will be attending Spectrum Community School this coming September. 

Some may remember that Rev. Reid's mother, Nan, attended our Bible Study sessions some time ago. He also took part in Rev. Barbara Young's funeral service, held at SPPC. So, although he was a guest in the pulpit on Sunday, Rev. Reid is no stranger to the congregation of SPPC.

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Sunday was the last service with the choir in attendance before they take their summer break. To celebrate the beginning of summer they went out to dinner at the Spitfire Grill on Friday night. There are only six in the choir pews on Sunday morning, but there were ten for dinner.

Even though the choir is on break for the summer months, expect individual singers to present special music on Sundays for the months of July and August. We hope to hear from some instrumentalists as well.

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Speaking of instrumentalists, our organist, has arranged a series of Saturday night concerts at SPPC over the summer. Although we've had the DieMahler String Quartet and others play at our church, this is the first time we've tried putting on a whole series of chamber music concerts. It's a bit of an experiment to see if  an audience exists on the peninsula  for regularly scheduled chamber musicconcerts  

The first concert is this coming Saturday, July 1, at 7:00 pm.  Admission by donation.                                                                   The program is String Quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

This is the first of four quartet concerts that will draw on Haydn's set of six quartets, Opus 50, which he wrote in response to six quartets Mozart sent to him. 

Beethoven's Opus 18 quartets were his effort to establish himself against Mozart and Haydn as the heir to their chamber music dominance.

Maybe the audience can be divided into Team Haydn, Team Mozart and Team Beethoven, with cheering sections.

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One more thing, Friendship Coffee meets this Thursday in the rose garden in Sidney. Come along at 10:00 am and meet your friends and share a cuppa.

Dear Old Dad

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

During coffee hour Sunday morning, we held wrapped up the drive for the food bank. The bins in the narthex were full to overflowing and Joan reported around $800.00 in cash as well. To celebrate we held the draw for the hanging basket. After a number of refusals, the Jim Dallimore was declared the winner.

In honour of Father's Day on Sunday, I've posted a number of "Dad Moments" collected from members of the congregation. 

Joan writes:

On June 1968 I was married in Scotland.

My dad and I left for our church in the wedding car with the white ribbons on the front.  I was obviously in a white dress that had a train, with dad in a morning suit, (which was another story.) On arriving Dad helped me out. Before entering our beautiful old church Dad asked "are you sure this is what you want?"                                

Inverkeithing parish church, in Fife, Scotland

 

I replied, "Yes, I'm sure" Again Dad spoke. "It is not too late to call it off." I think he said this because I was shaking so bad. Finally Dad came out with his real concern. "Are you sure? He's English, you know." But I was sure and we proceeded down the aisle with my bridesmaids following behind us.

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 From Pam:

Pam’s Dad, Reginald Middleton

 Serving as an engineer with the RAF taking care of ‘Lancs” during the war, my father suffered Tubercolosis as a result of neglected Pneumonia, which landed him in a Sanitorium for the remainder of the war.

Many did not survive this disease, and this could have been a real tragedy for this young, newly married airman; as he was about to become a father, my father!

His health was quite fragile during my early childhood which meant that he spent a lot of time at home, however, it provided an opportunity for father daughter bonding which was quite unusual in those days, becoming the foundation of a deeper and lasting relationship.

Although my father was not an overtly religious man, he realised that he had been blessed with a new lease on life, and was grateful for it. He lived every day as a gift, and as he said “each day he lived on borrowed time.”

His example demonstrated to me that one must embrace each day as if it was one’s last and to do whatever good one could do in it.

His life was indeed a gift and a blessing to me; and when he had a massive stroke at the age of 84yrs, he waited until I flew out from Ottawa to Yorkshire and prayed by his bedside, before he breathed his last.

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Barb writes: 

Campbell’s Perfect Tea is a well loved tea in Ireland. I bought several cans when I was there late last year. 

Mr Robert Campbell was a wonderful inspiration is us sixth graders at Tillicum Elementary School in the late 1960’s. I did not have a father t home due to my Dad’s untimely death but I had a perfect substitute at school with Mr. Campbell. He taught us all right from wrong and made learning a jobHe said a lot of us were from families without a lot of money but with hard work and perseverance we would overcome our circumstances.

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Larry recalls:

Arthur Bentley Skaggs was born December 17, 1919, in Long Beach, California.The “Bentley” middle name was given to distinguish him from his father, Arthur Beard, and avoid his being called “Junior”. His Texas relatives all called him A.B.

 Arthur was a proud native son of California, and lived his entire life there, except for 5 years of military service during World War 2 and the Korean War. He served overseas in India, and during his time there, courted my mother by mail. He proposed to her during a lengthy correspondence, and they were married on July 2, 1946 in Las Vegas. He had driven from Long Beach to the wedding with his parents, so, of course, they spent their honeymoon on a car tour with his mother and father.

As a young father to me and my sister, Clarice, he undertook a law degree, studying at night school in Long Beach. He was admitted to the Bar of California in about 1961, and did a number of pro bono cases over the years, but never practised professionally.

 Always active in a church wherever we lived, he sang in the choir almost throughout his life, and often served as a deacon or trustee (somewhat equivalent to an elder). He loved opera, and was a huge fan of Joan Sutherland and a Russian bass, Ivan Rebroff. During high school he often ushered at the Los Angeles Opera to get free tickets.

He joined the Rotary Club at a young age and always took an active interest in their meetings and charitable work, always planning his trips with Rotary visits wherever he found himself.

While supportive of my career in music, he had held out a hope that I would follow him in accounting or the law, but graciously accepted and honoured my musical path. [Ed. Note: When Larry had a big solo number with the Victoria Symphony, his father surprised him by coming all the way from California to attend the concert and cheer on his son ]

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From your blog editor:

So many great memories, but one that stands out is an evening when the whole family was playing the board game "Life." Dad took the early lead and we were all blowing on the dice in hopes of a roll that would advance our playing piece past his. The playing pieces were in the shape of a car. Sadly for Dad, he kept landing on a "have a child, miss a turn" square. It happened over and over until his little car was stuffed with children and he fell behind. When I commiserated with him he replied, "Oh, I don't care about winning. I'm glad to fill my life with children." 

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Happy Father's Day to all Dad's everywhere. May your children bless you and may you be a blessing to your children.

 

Fruits of the Spirit

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

Rev. Harold McNabb

As Rev. Irwin is on sick leave for the next two Sundays, we have guest ministers, Rev. Harold McNabb and Rev. Reid Chudley filling in at the pulpit.

Rev. McNabb was a recent visitor to our church as part of the presbytery visitation team in April. So, he knows a lot about SPPC while we might not know him so well.

Harold is originally a native of Southern Alberta, but has lived on Vancouver Island since 1980.

He is the former minister of West Shore Presbyterian Church in Langford and most recently interim minister

at Knox PC in Sooke. He is married to Valerie and they have 4 children and 5 amazing grandsons.

When not preaching elsewhere, they are members and attend Knox, Victoria.

Curious as I am, I looked him up on Google.

Among other things I found several of his contributions to the PresbyCan Daily Devotional series. I have that devotional delivered to my inbox every morning, but I hadn't seen the ones from Rev. McNabb. They were before I was a subscriber.

One in particular caught my attention. It was concerned with naming a new church he had been called to on Vancouver Island. On the drive across Canada he contemplated different names.   We are almost at the end of the Trans-Canada highway and have many seniors, and so I thought "Last Chance Presbyterian" would be good. No one else seems to agree 

When that idea didn't fly, he considered the Fruits of the Spirit.  Lutheran denomination favours such names as Peace and Grace, two of the fruits of the Spirit. In that vein he had a couple of suggestions for a church name. It is curious too, don't you think, that no one uses all the fruits of the Spirit for naming churches. I've suggested the name "Long-suffering Presbyterian Church", and get some knowing glances. . . .Come to think of it, I don't care for that name or even "Patience Presbyterian", though is has a nice sound.

On Pentecost Sunday our choir sang an anthem titled "Gifts of the Spirit," and named those gifts as love, joy and peace.

Now, wouldn't a church named "Joy Presbyterian," confuse folks?

Several years ago, we did a Bible Study on nine Fruits of the Spirit-- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Other sources include generosity, modesty and chastity in the list. 

The point of Rev. McNabb's devotional was not about the naming of Christian virtues, but rather the outward expression of those values. that in the long run we will be known by our fruit, if not named by them.

No matter which list we look at, love is always at the top. I was heartened recently when a friend, not a member of SPPC, remarked "There is so much love that comes down from your church. . ."

Although our church has an awkward name - Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church -- does not trip lightly off the tongue, it is reassuring to know that we bear fruit.

We'll miss Rev. Irwin in the pulpit this coming Sunday, but I look forward to hearing from Rev. McNabb.

P.S. I'm still looking for Father's Day memories. Please send them to me at avaldal@shaw.ca by Friday, June 16. Thanks.

Families

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

 Our on-going food drive is doing very   well. The bins in the narthex are nearly   full, there are extra bags of groceries   stacked up around them and the cash   donations are mounting. In celebration   we held the draw for the first flower   basket after church on Sunday   morning. The winner was Margaret S.   Well done, Margaret, we hope you   enjoy the flowers.

• Congratulations to Peter! For the second year in a row, his Rugby 7's team from Stelly's Secondary School has won the provincial championship. Since the competition has only been held for two years, they hold the all-time record.

Peter is dear to our congregation, he's "family." As such, we can all bask in his achievement and cheer him on to the next challenge.

Families have been top of mind for me this week. Perhaps because summer holidays are approaching and I've made plans to visit my brothers in Ontario. They are a long way away and COVID made visits awkward if not impossible, so it has been over three years since we touched base. There have been many changes.

But, even without a pandemic, the family I meet this summer, will have changed. Over our lifetimes, we all experience family in different incarnations.

When I was a kid on the farm, all of the city relatives would spend their vacations visiting us. I knew my many aunts and uncles and hordes of cousins very well. We thought summer meant relatives. It meant hide and seek in the hay mow, taking shifts around the dinner table, begging some adult to take us to the lake for a swim, and, if we were lucky, ice cream cones on the way home. 

But, as I grew older and my siblings scattered, family meant something different. It meant less time with cousins and more precious time spent nurturing those bonds of immediate kinship that had seemed immutable in childhood. We could decide if we liked each other and wanted to be friends as well as family. As we chose to be close, the family bond grew stronger. 

Then as the next generation came along, roles changed again. A new crop of carefree youngsters ran barefoot in the wet grass  and we were now the ones responsible for keeping everyone fed and safe and held close in the bosom of love. Family get-togethers were busy and exhausting. 

Now that my generation has moved to the head of the line, the family is different again. The succeeding generations are the doers, the ones who must choose if they want to be part of this clan or if they'd rather opt out. Do they have time for the "elders?" Apart from sharing a gene pool, do we have anything in common? Will we make new memories together?

I don't know the answers to those questions, but I do know that within the family of God, His love and care is steadfast, unchanging, unwavering and permanent. In Bible study, we've been looking at the Apostles' Creed, which opens with "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." What comfort lies in those words. Our heavenly Father is always there, with arms outstretched, ready to welcome us home. We are never too old or too young, too lost or too broken. 

In the poem, "Death of the Hired Man," Robert Frost says "home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."  Those words are meant to be comforting, but it is a grudging comfort. With our heavenly Father there is no such reluctance. As in the story of the prodigal son, God runs to welcome us and throws a party.

The "lazy, hazy days of summer," are upon us. May yours be filled with rest, recreation and a renewal of the bonds of love that God has seen fit to bestow upon you.

For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild,

Lord of all, to thee we raise,
this our sacrifice of praise.

Ed. Note: Fathers day is just around the corner and I'd like to share your memories of your dad or a father figure in your life, in this space. Please send your reminiscence to me at avaldal@shaw.ca