$20.00 DEALS.

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

Thanks to our clerk of session for this week's blog post.

   Two quite different outings this week, both worth the $20.00 for each event.

The first one on Thursday with the ‘Out to Lunch Bunch’ when 13 of our congregation enjoyed lunch together at Zanzibar. We had a wonderful time of laughter, chatting and eating on a beautiful warm Spring Day.

You should join us next time & yes, my lunch and drink came in just under $20 00.

Then on Saturday, being International Organ Day, I caught the bus and went on an Organ Crawl with about 30 other people. It was arranged by the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Registration fee was $20.00! Proceeds were split between the RCCO Hart Memorial Scholarship Fund and the venues.

Both events were so enjoyable and worth every penny.

What an adventure this one was!

The morning was scheduled from 10:00am to 12:15pm, however, were didn’t finish until 1:00 pm.

Our host for the day was Mark MacDonald the Assistant Director of Music for the Cathedral. Mark is an internationally recognized performer, choral director, and teacher, based in Victoria and very knowledgeable regarding the 3 churches and their organs.

We met at the Church of our Lord, from there we walked to St. Ann’s Academy and finally up the hill to Christ Church Cathedral.

The Church of Our Lord, built in 1866-1870 and is located at 626 Blanshard Street in Victoria, it is an historic Carpenter Gothic church that is designated as a National Historic Site of Canada. A typical Anglican Church.

The oldest extant organ in B.C. stands in the chancel of this building where it has been since 1876 and came from America.

The organ, was purchased by Sir James Douglas and was transported to the brand-new Church of Our Lord and set up by John Bergstrom in 1875

Bishop Ridge, Emily Carr, Sir James Douglas and other such well known people have most lightly sat in the pews and heard this organ.

Across the road at St Ann’s Academy, we found a very different venue.

It has a French-Canadian history.  The chapel, now deconsecrated but it is still used for weddings, was built in Roman Catholic French style, very ornate, lots of gold paint, very open and bright. The organ too is French and located in the loft at the rear of the church. The organ is by a French company started by Joseph Casavant of Montreal.

 

Finally, to the Cathedral which houses 5 organs that I counted, the largest being housed at the rear of the Cathedral up in the organ loft. This was an adventure in itself getting up there.

This one was built by Hellmuth Wolff a Canadian organ builder.

Mark played all of the 3 main organs at each church and here at the Cathedral he played, Holst’s, The Planets – Mars, as the grand finale.

Standing right by the organ console was an amazing experience and loud!

So that we could compare all of the organs, Mark played Judas Maccabeus by Handel (Thine be the Glory) @ each location.

There was so much more information that I could share, the background history of the churches and the organs in which they are housed but time and space is limited. If you are interested in more, just Google them.

 

 

 

 

 

Our safe place

 

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

Wednesday morning was a busy time at SPPC. Inside, a group had gathered to study "The Safest Place on Earth," while outside, a boom truck arrived carrying our new heat pump.  

At the moment the truck pulled up we were discussing Crabb's "Foundational Conviction #3" A safe place to own and trace our desires to their source will put us in touch with our hunger for God. 

The topic and the truck seemed to compliment each other. Keeping our physical sanctuary warm is not what Crabb had in mind while discussing a spiritually safe place to explore our faith, yet our church life is enhanced because we have a warm, safe place to meet.

Just because I love watching other people work, here are many pictures.

The old heat pump is loaded to take away

                       

The new heat pump is unloaded

The platform is removed and rebuilt

Rot in old beams cut out and replaced with new wood

New heat pump is hoisted up

heat pump on platform without ducting

Note the fresh beams on the platform

New heat pump with ducting

There is still some tidying up work to do and a bit of fresh paint to be applied but we are grateful to Coastal Heat Pumps for their hardwork in getting the unit functioning in time for Sunday morning service.

I didn't hear anyone singing "Work for the Night is Coming," but they did work hard, because Sunday was a-coming!

Annual Congregational Meeting, 2024

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

Questions: How many Presbyterians does it take to change a lightbulb?

Answer: I don't know but I'll form a committee to find out.

We often joke about how many committees we have in our congregation, and in our denomination as a whole. The annual congregational meetings is an opportunity to note the work of all those committees. 

On Sunday morning we held our annual congregational meeting and received reports from the following committees:

• Compassionate Resource Warehouse
• Fellowship
• Friendship Coffee
• Sunshine Lunch
• Garden of Remembrance
• Geneaology Group
• Library
• Mission and Outreach
  
• Dominican Republic Mission
• Pastoral Care
• Prayer Chain
• Sunday School
• Web Ministry
• Music and the Choir
• Property and Grounds
• Rentals
• Finance Committee

And that doesn't include the various volunteers who serve the congregation and the community on the A/V system, cleaning, greeting, office assistance, and a host of other tasks that arise from time to time. 

It is remarkable to see how many groups and individuals operate mostly behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operation of our congregation. It takes a lot of work to make it appear that the place runs itself! 

The ACM was an opportunity to recognize and say thank you to all those worker bees.

It was also an opportunity to say thank you to our choir director and church secretary.  Their work is visible week to week, but there are many hours of unseen preparation as well.

Finally, we said thank you and congratulations to our minister, Rev. Irwin Cunningham, who celebrated his 60th birthday this week. Ministers will tell you that it is the congregation that makes the church, but our congregation will tell you that it is the minister who guides, teaches, encourages, commisserates, befriends, comforts and blesses the congregation.

Happy Birthday, Rev. Irwin, and thank you.

A Passion for Worship

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

Christians are admonished to "rejoice in all things." Most of us found it hard to rejoice in COVID-19. However, one of the consequences of the pandemic is that more and more churches have put their worship services on-line. For the curious among us, that has been a blessing.

Now that I can check out the worship at a neighbouring church, I often find myself scrolling youtube, just to enjoy -- or not-- another service. We have had some new members at SPPC because they found us on-line first. So, in that way, the pandemic was a blessing, although we didn't know it at the time.

When the Presbyterian Connection arrived in my mailbox a few weeks ago, I put it aside to read when I wasn't so busy. When I opened it up, my eye was caught by two articles about worship. The first was on the preaching of the Word, the second on the habit of worship.

In our book study on Wednesday morning, we pondered the concept of "a passion to worship."

I feel I've been nudged toward a blog post on worship!

According to one authority, Robert Webber, "Worship is the response of the people to God's saving initiative. The inner person receives God's acts of salvation communicated in public worship with humility and reverence, service and devotion."

Using that definition we should note that worship is a response . . .to God." 

When I'm scrolling church services on the internet I'm responding to the event more than to God. My response is that of an observer, distanced from other participants. I'm more judge than worshipper. Similarly, reading a printed sermon, becomes an intellectual exercise. I'm more focussed on typos and syntax than on the message.

On the other hand, being present in a concert hall soaking up the sound of a great oratorio, or standing in a forest of tall trees and hearing the wind brush their branches, or experiencing the might of a storm, with its flashes of lightening and rolling thunder, do provoke a worship response. I am humbled, and cannot help but respond. I bow down in awe to the Creator and give thanks.

We can't bring the grandeur of nature or the talent of a hundred voice choir into SPPC but our worship can and should bring us closer to God. 

For me, being present when the Word is preached, when the Gospel, with all it's grace and judgement is expounded, when the words "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life," -- when those words are spoken directly to me, I do respond to God. 

A recent choir anthem, "Wondrous Love," touched many in the congregation with its portrayal of the unfathomable love of Jesus, "who chose the cross out of love." A response to God, not the choir.

The larger catechism of the Presbyterian Church says, "It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives."

Reading the catechism is not common practice in our day, but we can take note that the response to God depends as much upon the hearers of the Word as upon the preacher.

Perhaps another choir anthem, "Here I Am to Worship," provides an more accessible instruction than the catechism. The next time you come to church, remember . . .

Here I am to worship

Here I am to bow down.

 Here I am to say that You're my God

You're altogether lovely, 

Altogether worthy, 

Altogether wonderful to me.

Easter 2024

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

Easter morning at Cy Hampson Park. Even though Easter came early this year we had one of our nicest days in recent memory. As is our custom, we took a photo. There are two here. Your task is to find who swapped out for the second photo.

For many years we had a little sparrow come to our service, but the tree she sat in was cut down. This year, we had a lovely robin come to sing in the Resurrection.

Back at the church, we were treated to hot coffee and a breakfast buffet.

The sanctuary was decorated with lilies. Thank you, Janet.

We celebrated the Lord's supper.

Happy Easter.