Wednesday, July 7, 2010            

Summer at St. Andrew's

Worship Services:  As always, we will hold weekly Sunday morning worship services at 10:30.  We welcome you to invite your friends and neighbours to join us for worship and for coffee hour following the service.   Our Thursday noon Chancel Communion services will be held every Thursday from 12:15 - 12:45 p.m.  Please consider joining us if you are downtown at noon on Thursdays.

Ministers:  Our Senior Minister, the Rev. Will Ingram, is on vacation and will return to the pulpit on Sunday, August 1st.  The Rev. Dr. George Vais, our Associate Minister, will preach on Sundays throughout July.  Dr. Vais will celebrate our weekly Thursday noon Chancel Communion on July 8th, and Rev. Rodger Hunter will celebrate it on the remaining Thursdays in July.

Pastoral Care in July:  If you have a pastoral emergency during July, please contact Dr. Vais at his home.  His home telephone number will be available on our voicemail system and from Judy Neal in the church office during office hours  (416-593-5600 ext. 220).  For non-urgent pastoral care please contact Judy, or leave a message for Dr. Vais at extension 229.

Music:  The St. Andrew's Choir vacations in July and August.  Over the summer we are blessed with solos by selected Choir members.  Our soloists this summer are Elizabeth Forster, Diane English, Allison Angelo, Mark Wilson and Xin Wang.  Our Director of Music Emeritus, Douglas Bodle, will be our organist on August 8, 15 and 22 while our Director of Music, Dan Bickle, is on vacation. 

Church School:  Children are welcome to attend St. Andrew's Church School classes during the summer weeks.  We will be offering a combined class for children between 3 - 12 years of age.  Children should proceed to the classroom after the Children's Time during the service.  Toddlers are welcome to play in the nursery during the entire service.  Our classes for youth will resume on Sunday, September 12th.

Wednesday Morning Bible Study Group:  The Wednesday morning Bible Study Group is reaching the end of its study of the Wisdom literature and will begin a new topic, the wonderful stories in the book of Genesis, intermingled with Paul's distinctive interpretation of Genesis, as found in the epistle to the Romans.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For further information, please contact Eric or Pat Reynolds at ejreynolds@sympatico.ca. 

Sunday Morning Bible Study Group:  Throughout July, Noel Ramsey will be leading a discussion promptly at 9:30 a.m. on "Insights into Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians."  Everyone is welcome!

The Sunday Bible Study group will not meet in August, and will resume their study of Isaiah on September 12th.

July Sermons:  During July, Dr. Vais will base his messages on Moses--His Birth, His Escape, His Call and His Excuses, as handed down to us in Exodus chapters 1-4.

The book of Exodus is dominated by the life and actions of Moses and arranged around two outstanding redemptive acts, the Exodus from Egypt and the establishment of the Covenant at Sinai.  In fact, Moses and these events are so fundamental to an understanding of God's plan for the redemption of humanity that it could be argued that much of the Bible is a dialogue which reacts to, explains, implements, elaborates, and completes the redemptive plan of God as it is revealed in this book.

--Lyman Coleman

Community Breakfasts:  Our dedicated group of early rising volunteers will continue to serve "the best breakfast in town" to our guests every Tuesday morning.  The first volunteers arrive at about 5:30 a.m. to begin making eggs and toast.  The rest of the volunteers arrive between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. to make pancakes and bacon, sausage or ham, and to put on the coffee and tea.  By 8:30 they have served breakfast to about 100 guests, and have done all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.  Even the G20 Summit didn't interrupt our community breakfast program!

1)  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 people are motivated to live for health, wealth, and ease, and they try to avoid pain at all costs.  But the abundant life that God intends for His people isn't trouble-free.  Growth and change are often unsettling, but the gain is worth the pain.

    We shrink from the purging and pruning,

        Forgetting the Gardener who knows:

            The deeper the cutting and paring

    The richer the cluster that grows.

2)  Presbyterians Sharing:   MALAWI

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Linda Inglis as she works with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian’s Blantyre Synod in Malawi. Linda helps the Synod host visitors from various church partnerships from around the world. She works with the Synod General Secretary and various committees to plan programs that will engage partners effectively in the mission work of the synod.  She writes, “Mission visits help people witness the wonderful faith and joy of Christians in the synod, and awaken people to the realities faced by everyday people in one of the world’s poorest countries.”  Let us pray for Linda as she continues this important work with our partner church in Malawi.  

3)  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!