Church picnic 2012

  One of the staples of the church year is the annual church picnic.  Some are held in a woodland, some in a farmer's field and some in the parking lot.  Ours was held at Island View Beach.  Despite predictions of rain, we had blue skies and sunshine, if a little windy.

   There were four legged visitors:

    Lots of games and races:

   

    Some worked to keep warm:

   Others enjoyed the food:

   Someone lost a tooth.

    And one little one slept peacefully through it all.

      Sunday School is out.  Happy Summer, everyone.

Nepal Night

with notes and slides from Linda Cliff

   Friday evening was Nepal night at SPPC.  Regular readers of this blog know that Linda Cliff spent several weeks in that country last Fall, helping to train hospice nurses.  On Friday, she shared her stories and her pictures with the congregation.

  Of course, we started with food, and wonderful food it was.  
    Then Linda talked about her experiences in a country that is an odd mixture of third world and first world.

Nepal has a population of 29 million people

Average age 20.  Most people  live on less than $2.00 US.

Life expectancy is 62 years.

 Quite by accident Linda and her companions met the "Living Goddess,"  a young girl who is treated as sacred and who seemed quite frightened of these odd Westerners.  

 Then she left a hidden and sacred place to take her chances in the "modern" traffic of Nepal. Buses, cars, cows, goats, dogs and pedestrians all traverse the same narrow path.  Linda believes it was prayer that kept them from some horrific accident on the roads.

This is a picture of a woman being admitted to the hospice in Baratpur where Linda worked.  Her husband will stay with her to care for her during her treatment.  The hospice will supply medical services but the family must look after daily care.  The next picture shows the mat under the bed where the family member will sleep.  The family provides food and does laundry for the patient.  Interestingly, in a country where only 0.5% of the population is Christian, the church is recognized as special.  If there is no one else to care for a patient, the hospice calls the Christian church and they will provide for the necessities of life, even for those considered "untouchable" by others.

  When not working at the hospice Linda explored the country.  Here is a group of school children, note the uniforms.  Education is given a very high priority among the Nepalese.
    She also attended church services and enjoyed the children of the Sunday school.  Sunday school happens after the service is over and is attended by hordes of children, from outside the congregation as well as those within.

   At the other end of the age spectrum is this woman, tired out from long hours of thrashing rice, she has lain down in the straw for a rest. 
    Her time in Nepal fulfilled a life-long dream for Linda, a dream of serving in the mission field.  It also taxed her health and her 
tolerance for dirt!


 Thank you, Linda, for your service and for sharing your experiences with us. 

    

A Happenin' Place

 SPPC  has been a busy place this past few weeks.   It started with a kitchen clean up.  It seems to me the workers had far too much fun! 

Then we had a concert by Hector's Friends, a men's ensemble who sing mostly unaccompanied music, led by our own Michael Denton.

As is the custom at SPPC, the concert was followed by a reception featuring lots of homemade goodies.

Then, on Saturday months of preparation and planning culminated in a giant garage sale.   Members of the congregation brought mountains of stuff to sell then bought mountains of stuff to take back home.

   

And what's a garage sale without

face painting and a bake sale?

Thanks to all to brought and all who bought, to all who sorted and priced and to all who cleaned up afterward.  Your efforts have enriched the church coffers by over $1000.00.

  

If you missed these parties, there is still hope.  On Friday, June 15, we are having a pot luck supper followed by a presentation from Linda Cliff, featuring slides of her recent trip to Nepal.  Then, on Sunday, June 24, pack your hamper for the church picnic, to be held at Island View Beach, following worship.

Such are the joys of living in a church community.

Ed. Note:  For larger view, click on pictures.

Living Water

by E. Saanich Musings

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

John 4: 13-14

Water! In Canada we completely take water for granted. My children swim in it, bathe in it, let it run in the garden while they play in it. We leave the hose running

while we wash the car. We pay no heed to the faucet that drips occasionally.
   When we're thirsty we drink
tumblers of it; when we have aches we either heat it and put it in a hot water bottle and apply it to our injury or freeze it, apply it and then throw it away when we're done.

Well my new tomatoes don't take it for granted! They do not have the ability to fetch it for themselves and without it they suffer severe consequences. I forgot to water them in the busy-ness of last week and when I finally paused to look at them, they looked very sad indeed!
     Filled with wishful thinking I gently watered them and went to bed. Much to my joy, when I came down in the morning, they had perked right up!! Now I just need to get them planted out and settled in a place rich in nourishment and regularly watered.

I can't help but look at those resilient plants and think of
ourselves. We as people go merrily along growing families, developing ourselves, reaching out but so often we forget that we need water. Not just any water, but the Water of Life that only Jesus can give us. We exhaust our resources and neglect to replenish them. Sometimes it is not until we are lank and worn out that we are aware of someone bringing us water. A gentle word of encouragement, the balm of a friend's voice or the reminder that God cares for each of us; draws us back to the source of The Water of Life that replenishes more than just our weary body. It renews our spirit and strengthens us so that once more we can grow and give and live for Christ.     
     Routine is the soil of nourishment. Our regular involvement in our Christian community brings us to a place where we find feeding, where we do not wilt or lack but where we can grow and thrive; bearing the fruits of His garden.
      And God's watering hole? Well that would be His very Word. Scripture itself is our ultimate source of water. Read it regularly, read it with a friend, study it in a group, learn its message from the
preacher on Sunday. Find ways to bump into it in your life and you
will be amazed at how often God reaches out and speaks to YOU!


Ed. note:  Diane Cunningham spends a lot of time on E. Saanich Rd. driving children to dance class, soccer practice, music lessons, Sunday School. . .   She spends some of her road time musing on God's ways.

The Fig Tree

                                                                                 

by Alice Valdal



     There's a fig tree on the grounds of SPPC.   
     I grew up in a colder climate than Victoria's so I find the presence of a fig tree amazing all by itself, but as a reminder of Christian life, it is even more wonderful.    As a farm girl, I get the agrarian metaphors in the Bible,-- seed cast on good soil or poor, sheep and shepherds, the lily of the field, the mustard seed -- all of these conjure up real, physical images for me, but the fig tree has always been a mystery, an exotic from a foreign land.  But here it is, growing happily just off the parking lot of my church.

        So, I looked it up. 
        Fig trees require well-drained and fertile soil. 
 Now that sounds like a parable all by itself. 
       They need to be protected from cold winter winds. 
 Don't we all experience seasons of faith when we need a little protection from the cold and wind of unbelief? 
        Fig trees need adequate room to grow and respond well to a little fertilizer.  
 The church provides that space for believers to grow, to deepen their faith and to develop their skills.  We all benefit from the enriching experience of fellowship.
         Fig trees don't require much care, but some judicious pruning will improve the crop.  
Ouch.  Who wants to be pruned?  Yet it is necessary in our Christian journey that we examine our lives and discard the elements that draw us away from God.
        Well treated, a fig tree produces an abundance of fruit.  
Now that's more like it.  Nurtured in the soil of the church, we can all yield a rich harvest for Christ.
       No wonder the Bible is rife with references to the fig tree, its very nature cries out for parable and metaphor.   In the Old Testament, verse after verse uses the image of "everyone sitting under his own fig tree" to denote a time of plenty and peace. By contrast, times of strife and war and famine are described as the fig tree dried up and withered, or cut down or shattered.

       The Gospels of Matthew and Mark both recount the tale of Jesus cursing a fig tree because it bore no fruit. Again, in the Gospel of Luke Jesus tells a parable of a fig tree, to show the Master's disappointment when his tree is barren. 
          From Deuteronomy where the Lord promises His people "a land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees," to John's vision in Revelations  where "the stars in the sky fell to earth,as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind," the fig tree is used to preach and to prophecy, to teach and to discipline.  
          How appropriate that our church has a fig tree.
   

Summer Reading

 
by Alice Valdal

 The 24th of May is the Queen's Birthday/ If you don't give us a holiday/ we'll all run away.  So went the schoolyard jingle when I was growing up.  The Queen in question was Victoria, and no, I am not that old! 
     Nowadays we celebrate her birthday on the Monday before the 24th of May so the rhyme doesn't work as well, but the holiday is still a favourite.  The first long weekend of the summer.  Time to open up the cottage, camp in a park, or put in the garden or . . . my personal favourite, read.  On the holiday weekend, I love to find a warm spot in the sun, curl up and open a good book.
    We have some of those good books in the church library.  One of my favourites is the Mitford series of novels by Jan Karon.  The unlikely hero of these books is an aging, balding Episcopalian priest with diabetes and a very large dog.   Over the course of the books he also acquires a wife, a lost boy, and the boy's lost siblings.  The books take place in the south-eastern U.S. but there are echos of the British cozy in the details of village and vicarage life.
      Karon's style is brisk and witty, peopling her novels with an amazing cast of characters -- some wise, some foolish, some eccentric, some endearing -- all part of Father Tim's flock, all loved by him and by Jesus Christ.
      As well as writing delightful books, the author  herself has an interesting story.  From the age of ten she knew she wanted to write a book, but she spent nearly twenty years earning her living in advertising.  Then, shortly after she became a Christian, she quit her job and set about to write the book she believed was her calling.  It didn't work. The manuscript was a mess.  She spent two years trying, but she couldn't make the novel come together.   Everything changed one night, when she awoke from a dream with the image of Father Tim in her mind.  She didn't know who he was, or where the story went, but she was sure it was the story she was meant to tell. 
        So, she started writing and the first of the Mitford books emerged.  Even then it wasn't clear sailing.   Publishers didn't know what to make of her work or how to market it.  In the end, gave the chapters to her local newspaper who published them in serial form. (Dickens anyone?)  In short order that small town newspaper doubled and tripled its circulation, adding readers from all over the country.   Jan Karon had found her audience.
   I'm glad she did.
   If you're looking for a funny, thoughtful story of faith, I highly recommend any of Jan Karon's Mitford books, available in the SPPC library. 
  

World Wide on the Web

by Alice Valdal

    One of the perks of maintaining this blog, is the chance to look behind the scenes.  I can discover how many times the blog has been viewed, what search engine was used to find it and where readers come from.  I've been amazed to find that we truly are world wide on the web.  News from SPPC has been read in Africa, Asia, Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, South America, the Caribbean, Europe and North America.  Just lately we've had a lot of visitors from Russia.  So, to all of you, welcome (Добро пожаловать, Recepción, Willkommen, Boa vinda, स्वागत-योग्य,  maligayang pagdating).

   I've recently had the privilege of singing, along with 120 other choristers, Beethoven's great "Ode to Joy" where he proclaims that "all men shall be brothers."  In his day, Beethoven needed a grant from the electoral prince of Bonn in order to travel about 450 miles from Bonn to Vienna.  The journey took weeks.  It might have seemed that Beethoven's dream of universal brotherhood in such a world was reaching for the impossible.  In our amazing technological world where we can communicate across continents and oceans in a matter of seconds,   Beethoven's dream seems more attainable.   We can put faces and names to our brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world.
    So, for those far away from North Saanich, British Columbia,  I'm sharing a few of the faces of Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church.   The photo above shows our sanctuary.
  There are no stained glass windows in our church, but if you look through the plain glass on a Sunday morning, you will see this beautiful forest.

 
 

           Inside, you may find us debating in small groups like  this. 






Or in larger groups like this.



  

Outside, in a quiet spot is our Garden of Remembrance.

You can find out more about our church at our,
website.

  Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a keen participant in the Bible Study group that meets on Wednesday mornings.  Now, thanks to more technology, you can listen in.
  Click on this link and download any of the lessons.  Be patient, it takes time for the download to complete and it is only audio.  You'll have to look at the still photo above and imagine us all in action.  The study book we are using is John Stott's, Acts  Seeing the Spirit at Work, published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, England.

    This has been a quick snapshot of SPPC this week.  Thanks for dropping by.  If you like, click the comment button below and say hello.