New Year 2023

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

Having Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall on Sundays this year has had me discombobulated for most of December. I was forever asking, "Are we there yet?" and then scrambling to catch up when we arrived at "there." To add to the confusion, Epiphany Sunday will occur two days after Epiphany. 

Another reason I've felt out of kilter over Christmas was the snow storm that derailed our pre-Christmas routine. Not only did snow need to be cleared from the parking lot,  the roof needed attention too. Melting snow and ice clogged the gutters and overflowed the edges of the skylights. On Christmas Eve day, there were leaks and wet carpets in the narthex. 

 

Snow on the roof 

Snow in the parking lot

Slush in the parking lot on Christmas Eve Day

Anyway, we are now at the beginning of the new year, 2023. Anyone remember the panic in 2000 with predictions of system failures over Y2K? The clocks struck midnight that year and the world did not stutter to a halt. The pundits and the doomsayers should have turned to Ephesians 1: 9-10 , a reminder that the earth and time are under God's command. .Computer systems have rejigged for a four digit year instead of a two and our communications network remains robust -- unless you're an airline passenger caught up in the fiasco of airports during our December storm.

As 2023 begins, are you looking at the bathroom scales and resolving to starve yourself until those extra pounds come off? Are you sorting your Christmas cards and resolving to cull your list for next year? Or are you basking in the glow of loving tokens from family and friends? Perhaps you are looking at an empty calendar and resolving to fill it with meaningful days.

I hope this little bit of nonsense will inspire you to make 2023 a key year.

 XvXn though my typxwritxer is an old modxl, it works quitx wxll xxcxpt for onx kxy. Thxrx arx forty-six kxys that function wxll xnough, but just onx kxy not working makxs thx diffxrxncx.

Somxtimxs it sxxmx to mx that our class is somxwhat likx my typxwritxr; not all thx kxys arx working propxrly. You may say, "Wxell, I am only onx pxrson, it won't makx much diffxrxencx," But you sxx thx class, to bx xffextivx, nxxds thx activx participation of xvxrty pxrson.

So thx nxxt timx you think you arx only onx pxrson and that your xffort is not nxxdxd, rxmxmxbxr my typxwritxr, and say to yoursxlf, "I am a kxy pxrson and nxxdxd vxry much." Charles Carnes, Choir Director, Des Moines, Iowa.

Happy New Year to all. May we  fill the calendar with acts of kindness, moments of joy, and hours of service.

Give up winter for Lent?

Wouldn't you know, our latest blast of winter happened over a weekend. Last Sunday the shovellers were out early clearing a path into the parking lot for the few people needed to run our livestreamed service. 

On Tuesday Tore was clearing snow preparatory to Wednesday's in-person session meeting and was joined by one of the Tai Chi ladies and later by a cyclist who'd parked in our lot before taking her ride. Nice to have the help and nice to connect with our neighbours -- even if it is shovelling snow.

Snow hasn't stopped the bottle collection at SPPC. If you have empties to donate, call Joan (250 656-6130) and she'll come and pick them up for you. Proceeds go to our mission in the Dominican Republic.

 

Painting by Marianna Rosetto SAH

  Time to add a new skill to your     repertoire.  Rev. Irwin has set up a   zoom room where we can all meet at   9:00 am every weekday morning through Lent. The link was sent to everyone in the weekly mail out, but, if you lost it or never got it, you can call the office to have it re-sent.

The devotional we are using is one prepared by St. Andrew's Hall in Vancouver. The pdf for it is available here so, even if you don't "zoom," you can read the devotional for yourself.

It's not the same as our normal Bible Study--you have to make your own coffee for one thing, and there is no pre-study chat time. However, Irwin has offered to leave the room open for a while after the devotional if we want to "talk among ourselves." On Thursday we talked about "waiting for the Lord" and "waiting for the pandemic to end." 

  The discussion was short but left me with lots to think about. e.g. what are we doing with our waiting time? The Israelites wandered in the wilderness to prepare to enter the Promised Land. As we wander in the pandemic, how can each of us prepare for a return to church?

  I've missed all my Bible Study friends as well as the rest of the congregation. Even waving to you on screen would lift my heart. If you haven't already given it a try, please join in any morning you are able. 

  While we wait, here's a hopeful image. Thanks to Linda's gardening work last summer, Tore found this determined daffodil poking through the snow in the church's front garden. Brighter days will come.

Our most recent livestreamed service is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWrLvhAPTal9KXHGnDLeAfA/live

Snow

It snowed this week. And then snowed some more. Then it snowed again. The wind came up. It got really cold. It snowed.
Our intrepid secretary resorted to a taxi to get to work. 

Just like B.C. Ferries, the airport, the school district and many businesses, SPPC cancelled or postponed most events in the early part of the week, including the discussion of the book If You Want to Walk on Water you have to get out of the boat.
The police issued warnings for everyone to stay home, so instead of showing you pictures of the snowstorm at SPPC, here are a few from around my house.

By Thursday the weather let up a bit. Crews arrived to clear the snow from the parking lot. The sun shone. Our brave choir members came out for rehearsal on Thursday night.

The sun came out and the world was beautiful

crew at work

Sunday service will proceed as usual and all is set for our 2020 luncheon on Monday at noon.

Being snowed in is a good reminder to us all that we do not have the control over our lives that we think we do. Proverbs 19:21 Be grateful if you were warm and dry and thank God for this bounteous, beautiful world -- His gift. Col 1: 16-17    

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the Beauty of the Sky

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

Snow Day!

Like most of the Greater Victoria area this past week, SPPC had to hang a "closed" sign in the window.  Roads were treacherous, the parking lot was inaccessible, and care for our parishioners urged a "stay at home/stay safe" attitude.

Sunday the sun shone and roads were passible. Our parking lot has been ploughed so we were open for morning service.

Our valiant secretary, Patricia, worked from home then waded through the snowbanks on Friday, to produce a bulletin for Sunday morning, despite the weather.

Our loyal choir, unable to rehearse on Thursday, pulled together an anthem on Sunday morning.

Stalwarts of the Vision 20/20 committees posted reports and gathered information and suggestions in the hall after service. 

Well done, everyone. I'm not sure the Old Testament writer envisioned a snow storm when he wrote these words, but they seem apt for the week that is past. 

"But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work."    2 Chronicles 15:7

  

Snow Day!

Snow!  Days of it!  In Victoria! In February!  The complaints are loud and long;  stuck cars, missed meetings, cancelled flights, power outages.  The weather this week was definitely not part of any human plan -- unless you were a kid out of school and sliding down a hill on a toboggan.
And yet . . . the snow is beautiful, covering the landscape with purity, hiding the dead flowers, the unsightly garbage, the broken toys.   Beauty is a gift of God.

Storm after storm adds to the snow pack in the mountains, and that means more spring run-off and that means more water in the streams come summer.  

For the past two years we've wrung our hands over the drought, fish dying because the rivers are too low, communities trucking in water as wells and reservoirs dried up.

   Instead of looking at our snow as a nuisance, perhaps we could see it as a gift from God, providing for our physical needs,  filling our winter lives with beauty and wonder and joy and just plain fun.

SIGNS OF HOPE

Annual Congregation Meeting voted to increase allocation to Presbyterians Sharing.