Family Time

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

I went away for a few days last weekend for a family event in Ontario. As the picture at left shows, the snow was deep and soft and beautiful. Fortunately, it was not falling on our travel days so we only experienced the gorgeous landscape not the frustrating, dangerous slipping and sliding and heart-in-your mouth driving.

I had a wonderful time catching up with three generations of family and even some old high school buddies. Mostly we gathered around a table, whether for dinner, brunch, coffee or snacks. It seems food draws family together.

When I returned to N. Saanich, I found several sets of photos in my e-mail. Apparently SPPC had been using food to draw the church family together.

Thanks to Joan, I have these photos of the sunshine lunch, with its Valentine theme.

Janet sent me these pictures of the out-to-lunch bunch at Good Fortune restaurant. It was quite a bunch, eighteen to be exact.

Then one more photo from Friday's Friendship Coffee. This time there were 25 present, a high turnout, even for this popular program.

Building family memories together is a boon to the heart. It would seem the same holds true of our church relationships.

Despite the beauty of the snowy woods of Ontario, I couldn't refrain from sending back this photo of blooming Victoria in the month of February.

Let Us Give Thanks

At Thanksgiving, this blog usually features gratitude for the harvest of the garden, the field and the orchard.  This time, I want to celebrate a different harvest with a poem.

Let Us Give Thanks

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

For children who are our second
planting, and though they grow like weeds
and the wind too soon blows them away,
may they forgive us our cultivation and 
fondly remember where their roots are.

Let us give thanks,
For generous friends - heart-
and smiles as bright as their
blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions
and cucumbers, keep reminding us
that we've had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as 
rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as
eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn,
and others, as plain as potatoes and
just as good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly 
as Brussels sprouts and as amusing
as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends,
as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages,
as subtle as summer squash, as persistent'
as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless
as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted
on to see you through the winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the 
evening-time, and young friends coming
on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us
like tendrils and hold us, despite our
blights, wilts and witherings;

And, finally, for those friends now
gone, like gardens past that have been harvested,
and who fed us in their times that we
might have life thereafter;

for all these we give thanks.

                          -- Max Coots

Ed. Note:  Bible Study begins this Wed. Oct. 12, 2016

 The Parking Lot Club is every Thursday, rain or shine.  When it rains, we play hockey in the hall.

Amigos de Christo

by Alice Valdal

               This summer we've been enjoying congregational choices for the offertory hymn.  Not surprisingly, most of these have been old favourites, beloved of several generations.  Not so on August 26.  That Sunday the offertory was Amigos de Cristo, by John C. Ylvisaker, written in 1985 and published in 2006.
          Since this hymn is new to our congregation, I've printed out the text.

        I found the order of words in the refrain interesting.  Most often we hear of Jesus as a friend to us, "What a friend we have in Jesus," "Jesus, friend of little children," for example.  In this hymn we are friends of the Lord.  A small distinction to be sure, since friendship is a two-way street, but one that captured my attention.

Scripture:

John 15:14-15;

Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord;
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.
For we've been forgiven, and we've been restored,
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.

1. Friends of the covenant renewed each morn;
baptized and loving it, we've been reborn.
Gift of the dove is ours for evermore.
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.

(Refrain)

2. Born of a family, the young and old,
we'll be on hand to see new life unfold.
We understand the need to be made whole.
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.

(Refrain)

      Writer and composer John C. Ylvisaker, was born in Moorhead, Minnesota and is a graduate of Concordia College and very involved in developing new worship materials for the church.  His compositions appear in hundreds of worship resources, including the latest hymn book of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
       In addition to being an artist and composer, Ylvisaker is a high school music teacher, a choir director and producer of SCAN, an  weekly radio program sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).   He is much in demand as a performer and is working on the recording and publication of over 1000 of his own compositions.
      Much as we love the old favourites in our hymn book, it is good to experience new work and new ways of interpreting the words of the Gospel.  This week, I'll be thinking about what it means to be a "friend of the Lord."  Thanks to Benjamin Cunningham for widening my horizons.

        

      And speaking of friends, the congregation was delighted to share in the celebration of the Dodds' 70th wedding anniversary after service on Sunday.  Congratulations to a wonderful couple.