Wednesday, May 12, 2010

1) Special Ascension Eve Service - tonight

A special worship service on the evening before Ascension Day will be held on Wednesday, May 12th at 7:30 p.m. at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. 

Rev. Ingram will be the guest preacher.  Participants and choirs from churches in the Yonge and St. Clair area will be joining together for this ecumenical service.  Everyone is welcome!

2) Knox College Convocation - tonight

Everyone is also invited to attend the 166th Knox College Convocation ceremony, which will be taking place at Convocation Hall, University of Toronto, on Wednesday May 12 at 7:30 pm.  As well as honouring this year's graduating students, honourary doctorates will be awarded to Ms. Wilma Welsh and the Rev. Ian Wishart.  The convocation speaker will be Mr. Don Posterski.

3)   New Members' Information Meeting - May 13th (tomorrow)

Everyone who is interested in becoming a member of St. Andrew's Church is invited to attend an information meeting on Thursday, May 13th at 7 p.m. in the Board Room.  For more information, please contact Rev. Ingram or Judy Neal in the church office.  New members will be received into the congregation during the worship service on Sunday, May 30th.

4) 48th Highlanders Regimental Worship Service - Sunday, May 16th:

Please join us in welcoming the senior regimental officers, the colour party, the military band and a number of Old Comrades as we celebrate our annual regimental worship service.   During the "Act of Remembrance" portion of this moving service we will honour members of the regiment who died in service to their country.  The regiment's Padre, the Rev. Greg Bailey, will participate in the leadership of worship.

5)  The Word on the Street

From time to time, we have been including weekly reflections from John Singh, who sells newspapers on the corner of King and University.  This week's reflection is:

Many of us are poor listeners too.  Teenagers can be frustrated because their parents always have a quick answer, when actually they just want someone to listen to their struggles and accept them.  One teen said, "Sometimes I would just like to talk until I know what I want to say."

Deep relationships are built on acceptance, understanding, and being a good listener.

    When our friends encounter suffering,

    We can help them if we're near;

    Some may need a word of comfort,

    Others just a listening ear.

6)  Church School Teachers Needed + Teachers' Meeting Sunday, May 16th

Teaching church school is an incredibly rewarding experience.   At St. Andrew's we offer three classes:  Primary, Junior and Senior.  If you are interested in teaching our church school classes, please join us for a meeting on Sunday, May 16th at 9:30 a.m. in the Junior Classroom.  We will be reviewing this year’s successes and making plans for the new school year.  We will also set our summer schedule.  Come and join us to learn how you can serve in this important ministry.

7)  Summer Volunteers for Nursery

The church school will break for the summer in mid to late June.  However, to allow parents with young children to attend the morning worship service, the nursery will continue to operate during the summer months.  If you would like to help out in the nursery any Sunday from mid-June until September 5th, please contact either Barbara Sargent (bigsam2003@rogers.com) or, in Barbara's absence, Betsy Nieuwland (betsy@lawrye.ca).

8)  Wine, Cheeses and Jesus - Thursday, May 20th

The Wine, Cheeses and Jesus fellowship group will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 20th in the Board Room.  The facilitator will be Charles Diltz, who will speak about Fidel Castro, the man who made such statements as "socialism is the pathway to Christianity".  Everyone is welcome!

9)  Catalyst - New Electronic Version

The first issue of our new electronic Catalyst will be distributed by email to over 60 subscribers next week.  The regular printed version will be distributed on Sunday, May 23rd.  If you would like to receive future issues electronically in the interest of environmental stewardship and helping to keep our production and printing costs low, please send an email to catalyst@standrewstoronto.org.  Please include your name in the body of the email if your email address doesn't include your name.

10)  Volunteer Interest Survey

Be sure to look for the Volunteer Interest Survey form coming in the May issue of Catalyst.  You'll have an opportunity to tell us which skills, talents and activities you'd like to contribute to which volunteer programs at St. Andrew's.  The information in your completed survey will become part of a central inventory that organizers can tap when help is needed.  This newly created database will also enrich the experience of volunteering by better matching your preferences with meaningful activities and projects of interest to you.

11)  Volunteers needed for 2010 Doors Open - Saturday, May 29th

On Saturday, May 29th, St. Andrew's will participate for the third year in this annual City of Toronto cultural event.  In 2009 approximately 1,300 visitors enjoyed and photographed our beautiful sanctuary.  Some of them had the opportunity to listen to our accomplished Dan Bickle, Director of Music, playing our treasured Karl Wilhelm organ.

If you are available to volunteer for this event, please contact Sue Goodwin at susangoodwin@earthlink.net.  We will enclose with Sunday's worship service bulletin a flyer that contains a form on which you may indicate your availability. 

12)  Presbyterians Sharing:  UKRAINE

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support David Pándy-Szekeres as he works with the Reformed Church of Sub-Carpathian Ukraine (RCCU), a church of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. As Supervisor of External Missions, David helps to post RCCU missionaries to mission fields and supervises their work. As Director of Schools, David coordinates four Christian secondary schools that are renowned for their high academic standards and Christian teachings. Let us pray for David as he uses his gifts to help the RCCU continue its mission and ministry in Ukraine.

13)  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!