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.

Cheerful Meetings

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

I attended four very different "meetings" at church this week. The first, on Wednesday was Bible Study, the second, on Thursday, was a district lunch for parishioners on Joan and Janet's elders list, the third, on Thursday was choir practice, while the fourth, on Sunday was the much delayed Annual Congregational meeting. 

The Wednesday and Thursday meetings were marked by much laughter. I know, not everyone associates laughter with Bible Study, but at SPPC we've thrown out the "dour Presbyterian" label. Listening to, learning from, and sharing a laugh with each other is a hallmark of our study, whatever the topic. We have two more sessions on the Letter of James, if you want to come along on a Wednesday.

The Thursday lunch included lots of food, conversation and more laughter.  There was plenty of head scratching as well. We were given a gardening quiz with 20 questions. The highest score was 12. 

 We did much better on the general knowledge questions with answers like Albert Einstein, Pamela Anderson, J. F. Kennedy and Walt Disney.  (You had to be there.😕)

Since the lunch had been originally scheduled for Christmas, we all got presents, one for Christmas and one for spring. 

 

Thank you Joan and Janet.

Also on Thursday, the choir met. We're a small but dedicated band, who find joy in making music together. Practices are not as efficient as they might be because they are punctuated with much laughter. We sing praise to God with cheerful hearts.

The Sunday meeting was the Annual Congregational Meeting. Those with a long history in the church often groan at the mention of the ACM. Admittedly, they can be tedious. But we zipped through the business portion with alacrity. Voted yes on Session's recommendations and said thank you to dozens of people who  helped out at SPPC during 2022. There was even a laugh as we discussed the financial review.

Mary Poppins sang "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."

The Bible says: Psalm 126:2: “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’”

In every moment of our lives, we witness to Christ's love for us. Let us reflect His love with joy.

Another Step Toward Normal

 This week's live-streamed service is here

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, Friendship Coffee returned to SPPC. A goodly turnout of old friends and some newcomers enlivened the hall. There were lots of green hats and green ties along with Irish jokes and happy smiles. 

Earlier in the week the Bible Study group met and enjoyed a far-ranging discussion on fasting. Many perspectives from those who fast regularly and look forward to it to those who cannot fathom ever willingly going without food.

In another move toward normalizing our church services, the worship committee met and made plans for extra services over Easter and re-instating the choir. So, next week there will be a choir at the front to lead the hymns and provide an anthem. Anyone interested in joining can turn up on Thurs. evening at 7:00 pm, or speak to Larry on Sunday. 

Finally, on Sunday, we held our Annual Congregational Meeting. This was for 2020 and 2021. We got through the usual business of the meeting with no hiccups. Then we had to appoint new trustees for the church. Our previous trustees had been serving in that capacity for many, many years and felt they wanted to step aside. Five members allowed their names to stand and were appointed by the congregations. 

This was a formal process and will need to be legally confirmed to meet B.C.'s new requirements. Apparently the province is bringing in new rules to prevent money-laundering in real estate. 😮

As a reward for our work, we had lunch.

Full on Smiles

 Link to this week's live-streamed worship service is here

After so many weeks of trying to interpret an eyebrow waggle, it was a delight to see so many smiles at church Sunday morning. Let's hope the case numbers continue to subside and our hard-pressed health care system can cope, even as the mask requirements ease.

Notices:

Busy week at SPPC coming.

• On Wednesday Bible Study resumes at 10:00 am and 7:00 pm. Are you ready to talk 'fasting?' Are you ready to do it?
• Thursday, 10:00 am, Friendship Coffee. Come meet your old friends and make new ones. This is a great way to meet and mingle.
• Annual Congregational Meeting, Sunday, March 20 following the worship service. There will be a light lunch too. Actually, this is a double annual meeting as there was none in 2020.

Compassionate Resource Warehouse

For years SPPC has worked with the Compassionate Resource Warehouse, collecting and creating goods for distribution to those in need. For you knitters in the crowd, the Friendship Coffee time was often a time to knit cotton squares that could be disinfected by sunshine. Our congregation sent hundreds and hundreds of those items to hospitals in third world countries.

Then COVID came along and everything shut down.

Now, with the war in Ukraine, the CRW partnering with ICROSS Canada is packing a container for a field hospital on the border of Poland and Ukraine.  They are also setting up a house that medical or counselling teams can us as a home base.

Here's how SPPC is helping. We are receiving and delivering

donations of: 

• $$$ Monetary donations to assist with shipping costs and purchase of a 40' HC container. https://www.crwarehouse.ca/donate
• First aid supplies - bandages, tensors, gauze, gloves
• First aid; braces, supports, slings
• Baby items -- diaper cream, baby lotion, bowls, cups, spoons, diapers
• Toddler - diapers and pull-ups, bowls, plates, cups and cutlery
• Child and adult -- new shoes
• Receiving blankets, twin blankets
• Towels -- bath, hand and face cloths
• New tea towels and dish washing cloths
• Folding tables
• Team House dishes, utensils, cutlery, cups for 16, pots
• Thermos and hot carafes
• New drinking bottles and travel mugs
• Women menstrual pads
• Hygiene - toothpaste, toothbrushes, wrapped soap, lotion
• New combs and brushes
• Trauma counselling supplies - drawing paper, construction paper, beads, sidewalk chalk, crayons, pencils, sharpeners, hand puppets
• Small stuffed toys - beanie baby size
• Reading glasses all strengths
• While boards, bulletin boards, chalk boards
• Coloured 8x11 paper, 3 hole
• New cloth shopping bags for distribution
• Feeding Centres: large pots, cutlery, cups, large cooking utensils

No Clothing Donations at this time.

Please prepare a written list itemizing everything you are donating and attach it to the container, box or bag, and bring it to the church on:

Tues:   Mar 22 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Thurs: Mar 24 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

The images on the nightly news are so heartbreaking, praise God there is something we can do.