Wednesday, February 24, 2010

1) Consecration Sunday - Sunday February 28, 2010

This coming Sunday will be our annual consecration Sunday, during which the members of the congregation will be offered an opportunity to indicate the ways that we will be involved in the support of the ministry of the church in the coming year.  Attached is a copy of the letter that was sent to the members of the congregation outlining details about our the commitment goals for 2010.

2) Sunday Forum - Sunday February 28th, 2010 - 12:00 pm

David Wishart, a long-time member of St. Andrew's, will be our guest speaker at the Sunday Forum after worship Sunday.  His topic will be "St. Andrew's--a church with a storied past and a promising future."

Come and learn more about the history of St. Andrew's as we prepare to celebrate our 180th Anniversary.  The forum will be held at noon in the Board Room.  Everyone is welcome.  This should be of special interest to our new members!

3)  2009 Annual Report / 2010 Budget - for pickup this Sunday

The Annual Report should be ready to pick up this Sunday.  Picking up your copy at church helps us to minimize mailing expense quite significantly.    The Annual Report not only offers a summary of many of the events and ministries of the past year, but contains the budget for 2010, which will be discussed at the Annual Congregational Meeting on March 14th.

4)  Link to National Post Article

A number of people have requested an online link to Rev. Ingram's article in the National Post this past Monday, on the topic of biblical literacy.  It can be found at: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2595527

Strangely, a previous online version changed his statement "I am a minister" to "I am a priest".  Fortunately, this mistake was corrected in the newspaper version and in the link above!

5)  Friendly Visitors Training Workshop - Wednesday March 3 @ 7 p.m.

Have you ever wanted to visit an elderly friend or relative in a retirement or nursing home, but have been hesitant out of a fear that you will do or say the wrong thing?

St. Andrew's will be establishing a "Friendly Visitors" programme in order to strengthen our connections as a congregation, particularly with those who cannot regularly join us because of a decline in health or mobility. 

On Wednesday March 3, 2010 at 7:00 pm, the Rev. Don Matheson, Chaplain at the Belmont House Senior's Home, will be joining for an evening workshop which will seek to address and help all of us to better visitors and caregivers for those in troubling times.  There is no cost for attendance at this interactive and informative workshop, and all are welcome.  If you will be attending this workshop, please contact Judy Neal in the church office so we can make provisions for refreshments.

6) St. Andrew's 180th Anniversary Dinner - Saturday March 6, 2010

We are looking forward to St. Andrew's 180th Anniversary Weekend which will take place in just over a week.  A special celebration will be held at the Delta Chelsea Hotel on the evening of Saturday March 6, 2010.  The reception starts at 6:00 p.m., and the dinner begins at 7:30, and tickets are $50 each. 

Our guest speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Cameron Brett, former Senior Minister at St. Andrew's. 

The tickets for the dinner will be available during Coffee Hour after worship until February 28th.  Sunday is also the deadline for indicating your entree of choice and for paying for previously ordered tickets.  Please see Nancy Mathewson at Coffee Hour.

7)  SAGA Meeting - Friday, February 26th

SAGA will hold its monthly pot luck dinner on Friday, February 26.   The dinner starts at 6:30 p.m., and the program starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Hall.  This month Peter Iveson will provide a travelogue presentation, entitled "The Three Burgs", with slides from his 2005 trip to Germany.    The Three Burgs are Coburg, home of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, consort of Queen Victoria; Bamburg, the Cathedral City, home of the famed Bamburg Rider; and Wurzburg, with its palaces and gardens of the Prince-Bishops.   You are invited to bring food that is associated with Germany--hamburgers don't count!  Everyone is welcome!

8) 2010 World Day of Prayer - March 5

This year's World Day of Prayer service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 5th at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 116 Bond Street, Toronto.  The highlighted country will be Cameroon. 

For more information, please contact Patricia Garnett-Smith at 416-485-4540 or pgarnettsmith@gmail.com.

9)  News from Out of the Cold

Our faithful Out of the Cold reporter, Joe-Anne Roberts, reports that:

218 guests enjoyed a meal of:  Roasted Tomato Soup, Green salad with Mandarin Oranges and Pears with poppy seed dressing, Beef Stew on rice and corn.  Vegetarian was Burritos with sour cream and salsa. Dessert - banana cake with brown sugar fudge icing and ice cream.

 

A huge “Thank You” to the Rosedale group for coming out in the storm last evening, great comments re the food, the servers were fantastic- all went well, as one of the servers said: a well oiled machine!!! 

 

The comments were many and varied - "excellent"  "that stew was exceptional" "I loved those Burritos" etc.  One guest stopping to say "thank you for a lovely evening and a lovely meal, and God willing I'll see you next week". Another guest jokingly asked if we had just taken the corn right off the cob, it tasted that good.

 

One gentleman said it was a struggle getting here last night, on his bicycle, but rather than stay home, alone and bored, he came.  He was able to talk to people, have a good meal and change that cycle of boredom, so it was worth it.  He could go home now and not feel so lonely.

 

News from the Boutique:  One of the Rosedale ladies, Anne, was helping in the boutique.  She decided modeling some of the clothes would help move them, so she provided our guests with an entertaining fashion show.

 

In conclusion, I would like to ask you all to remember Derek in your prayers.  Derek has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and is about to start chemotherapy and radiation treatments at Princess Margaret Hospital. For those of you who don't know Derek by name his is a very tall, soft spoken man, quite stocky, with a bald head.  He always comes in later in the evening usually between 7:30 and 8:00 pm.

 

Next week, March 1st, we hope to see all our "regulars" back and well rested after their week off.

 

Again, our thanks to all at Rosedale for another successful evening! 

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.

10)  Spring Supper Seminars

Mark your calendars to reserve Wednesdays April 14th, 21st and 28th for this Spring's Supper Seminars. 

Our guest speaker for this series will be the Rev. Dr. Emily Bisset (nee Rodgers) from Knox Presbyterian Church, Oshawa, who is no stranger to St. Andrew's.   Dr. Bissett's topic is "Sunday Morning Words, Monday Morning World" and will offer an opportunity to ponder the meaning, significance and relevance, to our daily lives, of many of the words that we use in church and spiritual settings.  As usual, sessions begin with supper starting at 5 p.m. and presentations run from 6:00 - 7:15 p.m.  Watch for brochures in the next two weeks.  To receive email brochures and notices, please subscribe by sending an email to us at education@standrewstoronto.org.  Please include your name in the body of your email in case it's not part of your email address.

11)  Presbyterians Sharing... - CANADA: Presbytery of Winnipeg

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing... support new ministries across Canada, including Trinity Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg. While the congregation waits for a permanent home, services are held at a local movie theatre. Seats are comfortable, there are cup-holders for morning coffee, and the large screen is perfect for anything that needs to be projected during the service!  The theatre is an excellent land mark, and is just down the street from the property that awaits a church building. Sheila, a member of Trinity, writes, “I feel God’s spirit here in fresh exciting ways. I’m looking forward to sharing the challenge and growing with this congregation.” Let us pray for Trinity Presbyterian Church as it moves towards having a church building of its own.

12)  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!