Cherish

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

Congratulations to Margaret and Bill-- for 70 years of marriage and for the shout out from "Celebrations" on CHEK TV. 

70th wedding anniversaries are a rarity, but we celebrated another one at SPPC when Doris and Royce MacKinnon hit the same milestone, and in 2012 when Grace and Viv Dodds celebrated 70 years together. Maybe we should promote our congregation as an avenue to long life and happy families. 

Grace and Viv Dodds 70 years

Considering anniversaries got me thinking about weddings and wedding vows. The modern trend is for couples to write their own vows, e.g. I vow to never make you read books. I vow to attend any doctor's appointment if it will make you feel better.

I love you because you make me proud. Because you are adventurous, not as adventurous as me but pretty close! 

Maybe these kinds of personal vows are meaningful to the couple involved, but I prefer the old fashioned kind that include "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, to laugh with you in joy, to weep with you in sorrow." But nothing beats, "love, honour, and cherish, so long as we both shall live."

The word "cherish" resonates with me. We use the word "love" so flippantly -- I love meatballs, I love Friday nights -- that it can lose significance. The word "cherish," on the other hand, is mostly reserved for deep and meaningful relationships. To cherish to to act, to decide, to care for and to support. Love, as an emotion, is fickle, fleeting and unreliable. Cherish is steadfast.

The pop group, Associations, had a song titled, Cherish. The opening lines are Cherish is the word I use to describe All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside.

The next lines are banal and don't really work to illustrate my point in this post. 😒

But there is an old song that I think describes "cherish," even though the word is not used.

 I’ll Walk Beside You

I’ll walk beside you through the world today
While dreams and songs and flowers bless your way
I’ll look into your eyes and hold your hand
I’ll walk beside you through the golden land

I’ll walk beside you through the world tonight
Beneath the starry skies ablaze with light
Within your soul love’s tender words I’ll hide
I’ll walk beside you through the eventide

I’ll walk beside you through the passing years
Through days of cloud and sunshine, joys and tears
And when the great call comes, the sunset gleams
I’ll walk beside you to the land of dreams.

— Edward Lockton and Alan Murray, Sung by John McCormack

Congratulations, Bill and Margaret. May you continue to walk side by side.

Welcome

Valentine's Day fell on Sunday this year and SPPC celebrated  -- not young love, although there was a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary -- but agape.  Since our preferred expression of love is to break bread together, we held a newcomers pot luck lunch after service.  

A newcomers event used to be an annual happening at SPPC but somewhere in the past few years it got lost.  

That made Sunday's event lots of fun as we weren't sure who should be categorized as "new."  Some of our "new" members have attended for a couple of years or more, some for only a few Sundays.  No matter, all were invited to fill up at the food table, and some, who were definitely new got a rose corsage.

In addition to the time of fellowship, there were some useful pamphlets distributed.  "Who's who? at SPPC" is a handy reference for newcomer and old-timer alike.  Some ministry's in the church are obvious -- Larry is our organist and choir director, Irwin is our preacher and Josh hangs out on the PA system most Sundays.  But what about Mission and Outreach?  Nurture? Finance and Property?  Members of those committees change from time to time so it's nice to have a list -- with phone numbers! I'm sure there are activities not covered by the brochure, Camp Imodene for example, but it's nice to have a quick guide to the common activities at SPPC.

There was also a leaflet on weekday groups in the congregation.  Bible Study, Prayer Group, Saanich Peninsula Hospital Services, Friendship Coffee, Choirs, Compassionate Resource Warehouse, Grief and Recovery Group, Genealogy Group and The Sunshine Lunch, to list some, but not all the opportunities for service and friendship at SPPC.  The number of activities made me catch my breath.  We are a very active congregation!

Thanks to the fellowship committee, especially Janet Smith,  for organizing the lunch.  Thanks to those who brought food and thanks to those who ate it.  Special welcome to those who came for the first time and to those faithful members who come Sunday after Sunday, year after year.  

As the anthem says, "Many gifts, One Spirit."  May we all, new and established, seeker and settler, share our gifts and give thanks to the Spirit who blesses our fellowship with His love.