Sunday, August 28

Acorns (Jamie McCaffrey, flickr)

It being summer, we have been travelling a lot, and outside even more.  Our vacation adventures - and most specifically the 50th anniversary of my husband's parents, which coincided with the birthday of one of our daughters - kept us from attending church at St. Andrew's this Sunday, but, as is my habit, I read through the bulletin online.  I was taken, in particular, by the listing of the hymn, "In the bulb there is a flower," when I read through the bulletin today. 

During the anniversary celebration earlier today, I had gone for a walk in the woods with my son and nephew, who were both too restless to sit still in a restaurant.  They got very excited about gathering acorns, which are of course, teensy containers for baby oak trees.  I had, this morning, been marvelling at how the entirety of a giant oak tree, all of its potential and all of its future, is contained in the smooth, small, leathery shell of an acorn. This led me to think about how even the minute electronic exchange of data facilitated by an online read-through of a bulletin can be a way of being connected to church, and of course about how our children are growing into their potential, with each passing day and each birthday.  How marvellous! How miraculous!  

Thinking of you all and hoping you have a wonderful last week of summer,
Rebecca B.

The Sower of Seeds

Mathew 13 1-9

The parable of the sower was at the heart of the service. As it is at the heart of what we do as Christians in bringing the word to others. Our joy, our honour and our duties is to bring the good word to the world. Many do this with great joy, many with great sincerity and many with great diligence. It is the single best duty we can have. The smiles it brings, the joy it begins and the hope that it brings make the sowing of the word the most rewarding privilege we have.

Yet in the parable is a warning and an instruction. For that seed that is sown along the hard path found no purchase and was eaten by crows. That which is sown on rocky grown grew but failed and burnt as the soil was too shallow to allow root and succour from the water that found no hold. That which is sown among weeds is choked and dies.

The lesson for many is to find only the good soil, to nurture the good and let it gown and multiply 30, 60 or 100 times. It is good and this bounty will fill the heart, body and soul. This sowing brings great joy to the sower and the seed and it is good.

Yet my Grandfather was a farmer and my father upon that farm grew. Their faith holds true the salt, the water and the grain. The necessities of life.  Now the soil where our family farm is good soil, but it was not always that way and it was not all so. I spent summers upon that farm and many lessons did I learn. For my Grandfather and Father were sowers of seeds.

Oft times a path would grow with use hardening the ground, the plow and the till softened and turned the soil until it was ready for the seed again. Persistence turned the unyielding ground back to fertile ground.

Some fields had many stones and rocks, the plowing was hard and the stones by hand needed to be picked and removed, this my father and grandfather did over many years clear resulting in stone edges and hills, yet that soil became a productive field. Patience had meted its reward and that once hard and rocky soil was now an abundant field

Other fields grew filled with weeds and wild oats the harvest being spoiled and the grade reduced. Yet with the fallowing of the ground and retilling, then application of the good fertilizer the weeds gave their nutrients back to the soil. Planning turned weed to wheat and the harvest became good.

The good soil is easy and productive. The bad soil is often the hard and unrewarding. Yet the as my Family Farm taught me, it is this ground unloved and unwanted that can provide the greatest yield if given the love and care. Maybe Jesus is teaching us it is not the joy of good ground only we should seek but that hard work and struggles to bring the bad soil to good.

Maybe the lesson is in preparing the soil as much as the sowing of the seed.

Noral R.

What do you do when you're away from St. Andrew’s travelling?

I find myself travelling for both work and pleasure. On those thankfully rare occasions that I find myself away from Ottawa on a Sunday I try to make an effort to find a service to attend. The search is not always successful to be honest. However, I have attended a few services at the Church of Scotland in Brussels where I often travel for work and even found an Evangelical Church recently in Ljubljana.

Last week we found ourselves in Boston visiting friends. A bit of internet research resulted in me driving over the Charles River to Cambridge, home of Harvard for a service at Christ The King Presbyterian Church. A relatively recent Church plant (1995), CTK Cambridge meets in a historic Congregational Church. The service was fairly traditional but the workshop band did sport some nice Bluegrass banjo. I reckon some 250 faithful attended the service.

To my great surprise and pleasure I, at a “youthful” 52 years old, was probably the oldest person there - and the only one wearing a suit and tie, although it was hot and humid.  The congregation were very welcoming and I spoke with students from around the world. As I dodged the rain on my way back to the car I counted another four Churches in two blocks. I was very happy to have found this little corner of God’s Kingdom on a wet Sunday morning. The sermon and bulletin can be found online at http://www.ctkcambridge.org/sermons/ under the 31st of July.

Bruce F.
 

Sunday July 31

I have to say, I've been finding the summer of '16 to be a bit unnerving. A series of scary and tragic current events punctuated by some of our neighbour's election year bombast has made me reluctant to even check the news these days. What is the world coming to?  Where can we see ourselves in such an atmosphere?

Sunday's service, in which we welcomed back Reverend Bill MacLellan, seemed to speak directly to my concerns.

The words of the hymns and psalm chosen - to be guided by courage and wisdom and to avoid placing all our faith in human leaders - set the tone.  We were reminded through a reading of the Parable of the Rich Fool that the Christian ideal is to view abundance as an opportunity for increased service and not to line coffers. And in her time with the kids Christine echoed this idea as they reflected on that absorbing question - how much candy is enough?

In his sermon, entitled "Again, What Makes the Church Great?", Reverend Bill pointed out that contemporary values are not necessarily God's values, that they may, in fact, be complete opposites. By referring to current events such as campaign trails and Mohammed Ali's funeral, he reminded us of the Christian touchstones of service and generosity and the importance, especially these days, of opening our hearts and truly living our faith.

Joan R.

A very important funeral

This morning we welcomed Reverend Bob Hill back to pulpit.  It is always a pleasure to listen to his sermons, as he delivers a clear message infused with humour.  The title of the sermon, “A very important funeral”, was aptly named as he challenged us to “bury” the notion of living in the past and being focused on“what might have been”.  He suggested that we go forward in faith, be open to new ideas, and take risks both individually and as a congregation.  Otherwise, we fail to grow in our relationship with God.   In my own life, taking risks is not something that comes naturally to me, but I have been shown that I need to take these risks in order to respond to God’s call.  As we go forward as a congregation, I pray that his message may be an inspiration to us all.

Reverend Hill has urged us to “bury ‘no’ and resurrect ‘yes’” .  He even offered to conduct the “funeral” free of charge, and as good Presbyterians, that is an offer too good to refuse!

Heather F.

The promise of laughter

We were welcomed with the beautiful picture of Sarah’s laughter on the bulletin which at first glance, could be seen as depicting Sarah’s sorrow: Sarah and Abraham have been desiring for a child as promised by God. They both waited a long time and Sarah was having doubts.

Karen reminded us that God kept on indicating to Abraham, that Sarah will have a son, even after they had one with Sarah's maid.

It would take a long time for the promise to come to pass: twenty years.

What happens when God make us a promise?  Its fulfillment is not always immediate. Just like Abraham and Sarah, we all have experienced the wait upon God’s promise.

I learned from the sermon that his promises never fade.

I also learned that I should always have faith in him. We may feel that God is not listening our prayers, but He will never dismiss us.

Just like Sarah I had my doubts few times and have even tought in my heart of giving up on some of my dreams. I am comforted when He says: Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Gen. 18:14)

At the end of the sermon, I took a second look at the picture on the bulletin, and I saw Sarah’s incredulity: the Lord has kept his word and did for her exactly what He had promised.

There is Good News with God, and by taking an extra step in faith, we too can say, like Sarah: God has brought me laughter.

Stay Blessed,
Taji E.
 

The view from the ditch

We welcomed back the Rev. Dr. Sandy Scott to the pulpit and he helped us see things ‘from the ditch’.  Somehow he managed to balance Brexit, terror attacks and violence across the world with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Laws can tell us what to do and where our responsibilities lie as the lawyer discovered in Luke 10: 25-37:  ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.  But where do these responsibilities end?   

We learn that anyone who is suffering is our neighbour.  They may not look like us, sound like us or worship as we do but our love of God is reflected in how we treat them.  We can have rules and laws but if there is no compassion or mercy then we turn on ourselves. 

Compassion can come from unexpected places.  Have you felt that compassion or mercy lately?  Have you offered the same?

Jeanie H.