Food Bank Sunday

You may have received a plastic bag at your door this week, asking you to donate to the Food Banks of B.C.  If you missed getting your bag of food to the curb on Saturday, don't despair, you can bring it to the church on Sunday, Sept. 25.  In fact, you can bring it to the church any Sunday. It will be picked up and delivered to the Sidney food bank on the Monday after the last Sunday of the month.
Right now, in the season of harvest, many gardeners are overwhelmed with produce.  Don't despair. You can take that to the Food Bank too.  They will accept tomatoes and squash and apples and pears and similar fresh produce during the first three weeks of the month.  They are closed for distribution on the last week of the month and can't store fresh produce that long, so check the calendar. When I've missed getting fresh produce to the Food Bank at the right time, I've taken it to the Community Thrift Store on Third Street.  So long as the food can last a few hours without refrigeration, you can leave it there for customers to help themselves.
The Food Bank is just one example of SPPC working in co-operation with other groups such as Faith Link, Our Place, Saanich Peninsula Hospital and the Compassionate Warehouse for the benefit of our community and our world.  So, clean out your store room, clean out your garden, clean out your closet -- the church was in the recycling business long before the blue box!

10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?

11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

Luke 3:10-11King James Version (KJV)

WEEK OF PRAYER

Sunday marked the beginning of a "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 2016,"  an annual ecumenical celebration under the auspices of the World Council of Churches, traditionally held in January. During this week, we join with the people around the world to pray for Christian unity – in worship, reflection, study, and fellowship.
 The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as we now know it was first proposed in 1908 Fr Paul Wattson, founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement in Graymoor, New York, although a Penticostal movement in Scotland, ca. 1740  included prayer for and with all churches in its revivalist message.  The tradition in various forms until 1948 when it was formalized by the World Council of Churches.  
  On Sunday afternoon, a service was held at SPPC under the auspices of Faithlink as a start to the prayer week.  The service was prepared by the a team in Latvia, made up of representatives of many churches, on the theme "Called to proclaim the mighty acts of God," inspired by 1 Peter 2:9 – You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.   Christians around the world are invited to reflect on what it means to be the people of God, and how we are called both to proclaim and to respond to the acts of God in the world.

The service on Sunday was only the kick off to the week.  There are seven more days of prayer.  To see a complete list of suggested scriptures, reflections and prayers see  here.  Feel free to use the resources listed there for your personal prayer in the coming week -- or the coming year.  God listens any time.

Bottle Drive

     

We expect the church to be busy on Sunday, but Saturday? Check your expectations.  This Saturday, we had a very active parking lot.

    The bottle drive was another fund-raiser for the mission trip to Dominican Republic.

 Young and old pitched in to help.  Some drove a truck.  Some sorted cans and bottles.

 Some made coffee and cookies for the volunteers.

    By the end of the afternoon, we'd collected a respectable outcome for our efforts, and then the bounty overflowed.  Just after closing time a truck, with a trailer full of bottles and cans made a drop off, and our "respectable" showing, became a "wow" showing.  Enough that the recycle depot waived their pick up fee.

 

     The final tally is not yet in, but we've raised over $600.00 through the bottle drive.  The good news is that it's not over yet.  As Rev. Irwin explained during the children't time on Sunday morning,

the church will continue to receive recyclable bottles up until the time of the mission trip, so if you have a few empties still sitting in the basement, bring them in.  If you see some empties in your neighbour's garage, offer to bring them in too.

 As Diane remarked, the big truck and trailer was a wonderful sight, but it is truly amazing how "a little" times "a lot" adds up to a big offering.  

   Our thanks to all the volunteers from the congregation for their contributions.  We also had help from a neighbouring congregation and personal friends, so thanks to them too.

    A few weeks ago, I mentioned "Faithlink" on this blog.  One of the goals of that group was to make our churches more visible in the community.  As well as raising funds for mission, the bottle drive made us visible to those outside our congregation.  Thanks be to God. 

FAITHLINK

 

  

Matt 5: 14-16 

   Lecturers on church growth like to ask the question, "If your church closed today would anyone notice?"  It's an uncomfortable question.  Our congregations are important and relevant and dear to the hearts of members, but does the outside world take any notice?  Why?  Why not?  What can we do about it?
   A number of churches on the Saanich Peninsula have banded together to work on an answer to that question.  Representatives from four Anglican congregations, one Catholic, one Lutheran, one independent  church and Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church met in the spring to explore ways of working together in the wider community. to share the love of God and Christ, to raise the profile of the Christian church here and to publicise the good works that the churches are already doing.

   Possible future activities include joining pre-established events such as markets, fairs, and parades; creating our own event, perhaps an outdoor worship service in the band shell; a community service.
    A letter will be going out to all nineteen churches on the peninsula inviting them to join with us in this initiative.    
   The venture is named "FaithLink."  The representative from our congregation is Jean Strong, our clerk of session.  If you'd like to participate on the committee or just share some ideas, feel free to talk to Jean about it.
    The influence of the Christian church in our society has waned, but that doesn't mean we give up. 

Luke 13: 20-21

  The theme of Sunday's service was Moses and the burning bush.  Rev. Irwin made the point that a burning bush in the desert was not unheard of.  Heat and aridity did create spontaneous combustion from time to time. What was remarkable about the burning bush described in Exodus 3 was that it burned and was not consumed.  It was an attention getter.  He illustrated his point during the children's story with a blowtorch!  It worked.  We all noticed!  That's what Faithlink is all about.  

Let's get noticed.
   

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