Thursday, November 19, 2009

1)  St. Andrew's Society Church Parade

This Sunday we will hold the bi-annual St. Andrew's Society Church Parade service.  We are pleased to welcome a colour party and a number of Society members to our worship service.  Graham Desson, First Vice President of the Society will be our guest Lay Reader. 

2)  Sunday Forum, November 22 - "St. Andrew's and the 48th Highlanders Regiment"

Did you know that the communion table at St. Andrew's Church was presented to our congregation by the 48th Highlanders' Regiment?

We are pleased to welcome Lieutenant Colonel George ("Geordie") W. Beal, Honourary Lieutenant Colonel of the 48th Highlanders of Canada, as our guest speaker at this month's Sunday Forum.  L Col Beal is the author of Family of Volunteers:  An Illustrated History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada.  The forum will be held in the sanctuary and will commence at 12 noon sharp.  Come and learn more about the endearing relationship between St. Andrew's Church and the 48th Highlanders of Canada.

A SPECIAL BONUS -- Following the forum, arrangements have been made for a visit to the 48th Highlanders' Museum, which is located under the sanctuary at St. Andrew's.  This is a wonderful opportunity to tour a beautifully presented history of the 48th Highlanders' Regiment.  

3)  Out of the Cold - weekly update

Joe Anne Roberts, who writes a weekly summary about each Monday night's dinner, said in this week's email that

Another busy night last night.  Robin and her crew of helpers, Sunday and Monday, cooked for 250 people.  When the first rush of guests were in by 6:10 pm we had 135 guests and by 6:30, 153.  We had started to panic thinking we were going to run out of food again.  By the end of the evening we had served 222 guests. 

 

The comments were generally good to great.  They LOVED the meat loaf, one guest stating that it was AWESOME.  Another guest said that he loved the salads we served "they are the best in Toronto" was actually how he put it.

 

One of the first to depart after having eaten stopped right in front of Mike Irwin and in a loud voice said, "Mike, I had 2 bowls of soup, a little meat loaf and a little potato, and it was good....but I left some for you!  (I think he made a conquest.)

 

Later in the evening a gentleman stopped and said "thanks for a good meal, I'm leaving here feeling good". 

 

And then there was Liz - "the meat loaf was so good I couldn't get to the quiche, and you know how I love the quiche.  However my server (Julie) was excellent and looked after me."  As she departed she threw over her shoulder "my chef was in the house".

 

And then Joe came up.....he said the meal was not as good as last week, but still 5 star.

 

So there you go.  All of you volunteers, from the people who set the tables to the invaluable people who come in later to help with the clean up please know that your efforts and dedication are appreciated by all.

 

Until next week....

 

Financial donations to support the program are always welcome, and can be sent to the church office.  Please make cheques payable to "St. Andrew's Church" and show "Out of the Cold" in the notation line.   St. Andrew’s covers all administration costs and all financial donations go directly toward the purchase of food and supplies for the program.  

For information about corporate participation please speak to the "Out of the Cold" Coordinator Lorraine Irvine.    Please feel free to share information about the "Out of the Cold" programme in your workplaces if there are requests for suggestions about corporate charity donations.

If you would like to donate new or used warm winter clothing, books (not romance novels, please) or magazines, please bring the items to the church or contact Judy Neal in the church office.

4) Wine, Cheeses & Jesus - Tonight!

The "Wine, Cheeses & Jesus" fellowship group will meet tonight in the Board Room at 7:00 p.m.  This month's speaker will be Irene Faiz.  Everyone is welcome to attend!

Irene will share artwork done by the students that she teaches in a multicultural community school in Scarborough.  The art will provide insight into the experience of new Canadian teens.  The group will also participate in a drawing activity in response to the art in our nativity stained glass window.   We will modernize the nativity story to tell it from our perspective as Christians living in a diverse community in the heart of Toronto.

5) Jazz Vespers - November 29th

As mentioned, above, the second "Jazz Vespers" service will be taking place at St. Andrew's Church on Sunday November 29th at 4:30 pm.  Please plan to join us for this wonderful 'entry' into the Advent season -- and bring your friends!

For more information, please visit www.standrewstoronto.org/jazz

6)  Advent Noon Meditations

The Rev. Dr. George Vais has arranged for three incredibly gifted speakers to join us for this year's Advent Noon Meditations, which focus on the theme of Peace on Earth.  The Noon Meditations will be held on three consecutive Wednesdays, starting on December 2nd.  If you're in the heart of the city at noon on these special Wednesdays, please plan to join us for an organ recital by our Director of Music Emeritus, Douglas Bodle, starting at 12 noon, meditations starting at 12:15, and sandwiches in the board room at 12:45.

This year's speakers, and their topics, are:

- December 2:  Peace is Desired, The Rev. A. Harvey Self, Moderator, the Presbyterian Church in Canada

- December 9:  Peace is Needed, The Rev. Dr. Anne Simmonds, Adjunct Faculty at Emmanuel College

- December 16:  Peace is Offered, The Rev. Dr. Malcolm Sinclair, Metropolitan United Church, Toronto.

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7) St. Andrew's Book Club - Thursday December 3, 2009 - "Through Black Spruce" by Joseph Boyden

The next meeting of the St. Andrew's Book Club will take place on Thursday December 3, 2009 at 7:00 pm.  The book for discussion will be Joseph Boyden's recent novel "Through Black Spruce", which won the 2008 Giller Prize.  The book is set in Northern Ontario, the streets of Toronto and the streets of Montreal. 

This will be the fifth meeting of the Book Club, which first met in the early part of 2009.  Since then, we have enjoyed a number of thoughtful, engaged and wonderful conversations.  All are welcome!

8)  SAGA Meeting - November 27

This is SAGA's last regular meeting in a year ending with a single digit.  It has been 10 years since the millennium bug scare.  What have you learned in the last 10 years?  Maybe we can share one or two events that happened in the last year that indicated that we are indeed older and wiser!  Everyone is welcome...we gather at 5:45 p.m. in the Great Hall, have a pot luck dinner at 6:30 and discussion begins at 7:30 p.m.

9) Congregational Photo Album - November 19 - 22, 2009

Sittings for individual and family photographs for our 180th Anniversary Congregational Photo Album are taking place this week.  

If you haven't already booked your appointment, please visit www.standrewstoronto.org/photo.htm in order to book your sitting.  

There is absolutely no cost for having your photo taken.  Copies of the photos -- if you choose -- can be purchased at that time and will be ready before Christmas. 

10)  Christmas Pageant

The St. Andrew's Christmas Pageant will take place during the worship service on Sunday, December 6th.  This is a very special event in the season, and a wonderful chance for our children to shine.  All children in the congregation are welcome to participate!  Rehearsals will take place on Sunday, November 29, following the service, and on Saturday, December 5th, beginning at 9 a.m.  If you have not already confirmed your child's participation or if you would like to volunteer to help out, please contact Elizabeth Forster at elizabeth.forster@cbc.ca.

11  Presbyterians Sharing.. in Halifax-Lunenburg

12)  St. Andrew's Church 175th Anniversary Bursary

The St. Andrew’s Church 175^th Anniversary Bursary is available in each year to a student or students enrolled in or embarking on a full-time or part-time course of post-secondary education at a recognized college, community college, university or trade school. The total amount of the bursary is $1,000 which may be allocated to one student or divided equally among two or more. The Bursary may my not be awarded in any year, at the discretion of the committee. Please refer to the Bursary Terms of Reference for a complete list of the criteria that will be considered and a description of the selection procedure.

If you would are interested in applying for the bursary, please contact Judy Neal in the church office for the application and terms of reference.  The deadline for applications is November 23, 2009.

13) Group Discount Rates for the ROM Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit

We are organizing a group to take a self-guided tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit on Sunday, December 12th.  The group will qualify for the group discount ticket prices.  If you are interested in attending, please contact Kristen Stout at kwmathewson@rogers.com.

This very special exhibit runs until January 3, 2010.  If you can't join our group but would like to go at a different time, you may obtain the discount price for 1-10 tickets by purchasing online with your credit card.     For details click here, please see the following:

1) Go to: http://www.rom.on.ca/visit/group/index.php

2) Click on the button for "Buy your tickets online"

3) In the "Corporate Clients" box, click "Buy Now"

4) Select "Dead Sea Scrolls + General Admission"

5) Choose your date and time

6) For the "promo code", enter STANDREWS and hit submit

7) At the next screen (which should display the discount prices), select your tickets

8) Submit your credit card information, and print your tickets

Enjoy the show!

14) Online Donations

We are pleased to announce that donations to the Church, and to ministries such as the 'Out of the Cold' programme, can be made online.  To learn more, please click on the button below!