Advent 4 2022

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

Whee, what a week! It seems SPPC is making up for time lost to the pandemic.

The beginning of the week, Monday, saw the Christmas edition of the Sunshine Lunch. People who live alone often miss out on Christmas parties; the Sunshine Lunch remedies that lack. The guests enjoyed good food, laughter, and companionship. Even Santa made an appearance.

On Friday 25 people rode the bus and went to the Legislature for lunch--we enjoyed the last outing of this sort so much, we asked for another. Most had the turkey dinner. Most also went for the fabulous dessert tray. One couple from Sidney got on a Langford bus when we were heading home but I saw them in church on Sunday, so they did find their way up the peninsula.

Sunday morning worship, the choir turn out was 100% and we sang a rouser of an anthem. If you missed it, listen to the YouTube version linked at the top of this page. Oh yeah, the sermon was pretty good too.

Also on Sunday was a bake sale to raise funds for our Mission Team that's heading to the Dominican Republic in the spring. It was a great opportunity for people who love homemade Christmas goodies but didn't want to make their own.

And . . . we had the blessing of White Gifts. These are items collected during December for the members of our congregation who find getting out and about difficult. As usual, the congregation was generous. At home, far away, or in the pew, we do not forget the members of our church family.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, we invited the community to join us for a carol sing. There was snow in the air so numbers were low but those who came were enthusiastic. 

Our emcee, Minister Emeritus, Rev. Kinnon

We had an abundance of cookies after the singing, and folks did stay around and visit. Shortbread, mince tarts, almond tarts, apricot balls . . . Why go out in the snow when you can stay in and get a sugar high instead. 

And now we wait, in anticipation of Christmas Eve, that Silent Night, Holy Night, that hails the birth of our Saviour. The One who came to bring us hope and peace and joy and love. 

Please join us at SPPC for the 7:00 pm service on Dec. 24th.

Advent 3 2022

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

Here we are at Advent 3 already. If you are like me you are racing about getting parcels wrapped and into the mail, writing Christmas cards, shopping, baking, decorating, making lists and forgetting where you put the list of your lists. I just had to leave off writing this blog to rescue my newly-purchased gift wrap paper from the cat!

At the church, the same sort of busyness occurs. On Monday we have Sunshine Lunch, an event for members of the congregation who live alone.  Later in the week there is a worship committee meeting, choir practice, lunch at the Legislature, then a bake sale and Community Carol Sing on Sunday the 18th, not to mention regular maintenance chores and Sunday morning worship. It's very easy to get caught up in the hurry and "must do's."

Last week, I came across a quote by Roy L. Smith. “He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.  

It struck me that much of my rushing about had more to do with the "tree" than the manger. In my mind the two are not disconnected. Wanting to show love to my family and friends and strangers with gifts and food and support is tied into the spiritual gift of hospitality. Showing love to others is witness to God's love for all, as manifested by the Infant Jesus and Christmas. Like most things in life, it's a question of balance. 

I'll keep working on my list of "to do's" but I'll try to feel less frantic. I'll remind myself of the why of my chores. I'll look for the Prince of Peace and rejoice. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Advent 2 2022

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

This Sunday we lit the second candle of Advent, the candle of peace, and celebrated the Lord's Supper.

    Rev. Irwin was back in the pulpit (welcome home Irwin and Diane) and he spoke of how society doesn't really recognize Advent as distinct from Christmas. Coincidentally, I had been asked that question just a few weeks ago. "What is Advent?" inquired my interlocutor, who had already put up her Christmas decorations.

    "A time of waiting," I replied. "A time of quiet and contemplation." A very simple reply to a complex topic but it was the best I could do.

    We're not good at waiting. I have a friend on the waiting list for medical treatment. The wait is draining him of "life," as he avoids any activity that could aggravate his heart condition. I have every sympathy with him for disliking the wait. But that's a different kind of waiting than what we do in Advent.

    I remember an adage from my youth that said "anticipation is half the fun." Waiting was vital to making Christmas Day wonderful. We used the month of December to plot and plan and dream and imagine the perfect Christmas morning. There were events leading up to the Big Day -- concerts, and carolling, and baking, and decorating, and letter writing, and counting how many Christmas cards arrived in the mailbox. We counted the days of waiting as a blessing. 

    Sunday's scripture was about John the Baptist and his cry to "Prepare the Way of the Lord." There is no shortage of preparations taking place for the great unwrapping of gifts on Christmas morning, or gorging on a feast on Christmas afternoon. But John called on us to prepare our hearts too. For that we need inner peace. We need time to pray. We need a period of waiting.

   

Among the preparations for Christmas are opportunities to visit. Last month a couple of our elders invited their district members to an Advent gathering in the lounge. Thanks to Joan for sharing the picture. 

And here is advance notice for one of my favourite Advent activities, a Community Carol Sing, on Dec. 18, at 2:00 pm in the Sanctuary. Bring your friends and lift your voices in favourite carols. Refreshments will be served. Parking is free. The welcome is warm.

May your waiting this week be blessed.

Joy and Love

Happy Birthday to Don. Beautiful cake too!

The third Sunday of Advent is Joy.

A few extra lights to brighten the darkness

The fourth Sunday of Advent is Love

Our Advent lighting is complete

Last week's blog was very long so some events received only a short paragraph. This week, I'm making up for that.

On Sunday afternoon, Dec. 15, Love and Joy pervaded our sanctuary and our hearts. We shared music, fellowship and food with the Jesus is Lord Congregation. We are so happy they've been able to use our sanctuary on Sunday evenings and they are so happy to have a place to worship. 

This Sunday we lit the fourth candle
of Advent. In the afternoon we assisted
with a worship service at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital leading in carol singing.
We had a larger than usual crowd and many happy faces. Christmas carols seem to touch our souls in a special way, evoking memories of happy times, family and loving friends. They make us smile and shake hands and rejoice, regardless of our circumstances.

Music is a gift we celebrate at SPPC, especially at Christmas time.
On Christmas Eve we'll enjoy another time of carols and readings and candlelight.
Plenty of free parking. Enjoy a hot drink and a shortbread cookie.

Advent at SPPC

So much is happening around the church during Advent, this week's blog is an update on events past and others still to come. Get out your calendar.

To begin, Peter had an idea and Tore has a basement workshop. Together they created these

lovely outdoor decorations using the themes of Advent, hope, peace, joy and love. Hope, peace and joy are in place off the roof of the church. Love will appear next week, as we approach the fourth Sunday of Advent. Thanks you two. It looks great and provides a much needed bright spot on the outside of the building.

Last Sunday, the third of Advent two new elders were ordained during morning service. Elders in the presbyterian church bear significant responsibility for the well-being, both temporal and spiritual, of the congregation. Our thanks to Darlene and Tore for filling these positions.

The "out to lunch bunch" has been enjoying good company and good food since September, but this month we had a special event. Thirty six members of the congregation enjoyed a special Christmas buffet at Haro's restaurant in Sidney. We had our own room so all our visiting didn't interfere with other patrons. Fortunately no one kept track of the number of repeat visits to the buffet table.

Sunday was white gift day when we collected some extras for the shut-in members of our congregation and for those in need in our community. The Sidney Food Bank is always grateful for our donations.

There was a bake sale following worship. Thanks to Diane and Darlene and Joan and Linda and Aarol and all who contributed goodies. Thanks also to all who opened their wallets and took home the treats. The money raised goes toward our mission projects.

Sunday afternoon we put on our usual Community Carol Sing. We see many of the same faces year after year. Good to know the church is part of the community Christmas tradition. 
We followed the carol sing with a pot luck supper, shared with the Jesus is Lord congregation. Lovely to meet the evening worshipers in our church building.

Next Sunday we light the fourth Advent candle during morning worship, 10:00 am. In the afternoon we'll host a carol service at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital.

Christmas Eve is our lessons and carols service, complete with candles and Silent Night. Service begins at 7:00 pm.
Christmas Day at 10:30 am we celebrate Jesus' birthday with a short, family service.

With all this activity, it's easy to forget that Advent is a time of waiting. Linda has sent along this little reminder.

Thoughts on an Advent Devotional

Christmas is a busy season and one of the ways I cope with the busyness is to make lists.  One of  the important tasks on my list is to complete an advent devotional.  Today is day sixteen and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts so far.

• In order to clear the clutter for Christ we have to take a moment to listen intentionally and expectantly.
• Christ is the most important present to unwrap.
• Rethink, rearrange and refocus so Christ has room in our lives.
• For some there is little joy in the season, remember Christ came for the broken.
• When does Christmas officially begin?  Christmas “officially” began with the fall of man when God put His rescue plan into motion. I never considered this before.
• Advent means coming--lets be ready for this special guest.
• Christmas brings us unfathomable Grace and unstoppable Love
• Don’t doubt God's power, Mary didn’t.
• Joseph showed no fear when he was obedient after God spoke to him.

Llinda Cliff

  These are some of my reflections from reading the devotional “Making Space” written by Susan Narjala a freelance writer who lives and writes in India.  The devotional is available on line, why not it read for yourself?
I wish you all a merry Christmas.

Caol Sing 2019

One of our favourite Christmas traditions at SPPC is the community carol sing.
This year the event takes place on Dec. 15 at 2:30 pm.
We'll sing old favourites like "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Away in a Manger," "Silent Night," and many more. Words supplied so no need to bring a carol book--just bring a friend and prepare to get into the Christmas spirit. 
The Jesus is Lord Congregation has been using the SPPC building for worship on Sunday evenings. We're delighted that they've agreed to join us for the Carol Sing and for a pot luck supper afterward.
As the old song goes -- "please to put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do,. If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God Bless You."  If you haven't got a dish to contribute to the supper, don't worry about it, we wish you God's blessings anyway. There will be lots of food to go around. If you'd rather just have a cup of tea and a cookie, that's fine too.
We look forward to meeting all our friends and neighbours at the Carol Sing.

9296 E. Saanich Road (at airport roundabout)
Free parking
More information at SPPC 250 656-2241

Advent Event

Carol Sing-Along

 As has been our custom for the past few years, SPPC held a community carol-sing on Sunday afternoon.  It was well attended and I saw lots of smiling faces while we raised the roof with old favourites like Joy to the World, and Hark the Herald Angel's Sing.

    We began, though, with a quieter carol, one the choir has been using as an introit this month, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

This ancient hymn originally comprised a series of seven antiphons which would be sung in the monastery on each of the seven days of the week preceding Christmas.  Sometime around the twelfth or thirteen century five of them were put together to form the verses of a single hymn,  Each stanza concentrates on a different Biblical name for Jesus making the whole work rich in allusions to Scripture and thus a fine guide for our meditation.

One of the problems with our Advent hymns is deciding whether they refer to the first advent or to the second coming.  A quick reading of these verses will show that the reference is to the birth of Jesus.  The opening verse compares the Church to "captive Israel" languishing in exile in Babylon, longing for the worship of the temple now lying in ruin.  to these exiles came the word of the prophet Isaiah telling them that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and she would call him "Emmanuel." - God with us. (7:14) as the people of Israel in Babylon longed for the coming of their deliverer, so the Church longs for release from this world and the coming of its rightful King.

This Emmanuel is also the "Lord of might" whose name was proclaimed to the children of Israel at Sanai, where the law was given to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning so that the people were afraid to draw near, and Moses alone went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone. (Exod. 19: 16-20)

The third verse describes him as the Rod of Jesse.  Isaiah, again, had foretold that a deliverer would appear from the house of Jesse.  This was the family of which David was a member but the promised One would be greater than even David, the greatest of the Israelite kings.  He delivered a lamb out of the mouth of a lion. (1 Sam, 17:34-35) and later rescued his people from the tyranny of the Philistines and other enemies, but before Christ, even death must flee away.

When we think of Jesus as "the Dayspring from on high" (Luke 1:78) a number of pictures come to mind: the dispelling of darkness by light (Isa. 9:2), the  rising of the sun (Mal.4:2), the giving of life (John 1:4).  These are referred to along with the dispersal of the "clouds of night" and the putting to flight of "death's dark shadows".  What a ministry is carried on by our Messiah!

The concluding verse refers to Jesus as the Key of David".  The function of a key is to open or to close a lock.  So Isaiah refers to the placing of the key of the house of David on the shoulder of Eliakim, "he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open? (Is. 22:22) The same words are used of Jesus by the angel of the church in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7).  Through the coming of Jesus the way to "our heav'nly home" will be opened wide and "the path to misery" will be closed.  That is good news for a captive people.

The thought and imagery of this old hymn is very remote from our modern approach to religion, but if we take time to think seriously about it, there is so much to encourage us.  Here we see aspects of Christ's work that we might not ordinarily think about.  More than that, if we can look beyond our Lord's first coming, here is a prayer that still needs saying as we await His return.

                                                                 -- devotional by Rev. Dr. Cecil Kirk

We hope all who came enjoyed singing the carols.  A reminder, that the Christmas Eve service at 7:00 pm on Sunday, Dec. 24, is another opportunity to sing the music of Christmas and enjoy the beauty of a candlelight service.

 

 

 

 

Christmas and Food

In my world, Christmas is associated with lots of company and feasting.  It seems my church, Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian, shares that culture.  We have cookies with coffee hour after service every Sunday. 

On Monday, the Sunshine lunch bore a Christmas theme and special goodies for the season.  This is a wonderful ministry in our church, designed to give those who are single, whether by choice or through bereavement, an opportunity to share a meal together.  One of the great, hidden sorrows of our culture is loneliness.  The Sunshine lunch is a great antidote.  Rides are provided for those who no longer drive.  Thank you to the faithful crew of volunteers who cater this event.

On Sunday afternoon, there was a Christmas tea.  This is part of the fundraising drive for the Mission to the Dominican Republic in the spring.

  This time the volunteers served high tea, complete with three tier serving dishes and fine china.  Who needs the Empress when we can enjoy such festivities at home?  And the money raised goes to a good cause.  

Next Sunday, Dec. 17, we'll participate in another favourite tradition, carol singing.  Come and bring your friends, lift your voices and sing out the joy of Christmas.  The music starts at 2:00 pm and we promise not to keep you for more than an hour.  There will be hot apple cider and shortbread afterwards, if you wish to linger.  So there we are, back to festive goodies, again. 

Many bemoan the extra calories consumed over the Christmas season and gyms are full of those with good intentions at the beginning of January.  But I make no apology for associating special foods the the celebration of Christmas.  After all, food unites and strengthens a community, providing a common identity among those gathered at the table.  Good food is best enjoyed as a shared experience, its the social glue that binds families and friends and, yes, strangers together in a common event.  Even Christ spent his last moments with the disciples sharing a common meal, on the special occasion of Passover.
So eat heartily, sing lustily and give thanks for the privilege of sharing food and fellowship.



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