Sunday Lunch - July 20

As is the way of summer, I rushed, rushed, rushed to come and find a peaceful space. I was thankful for the few moments before the service to catch my breath and make myself ready for worship. Summer feels like that a lot – intense spurts of rushing to calm.

This morning we read about the thieves on the cross. The one thief wanted to be removed from the cross, the other accepted the consequences of his actions and asked only that Jesus remember him.

The peace of Christ meets us where we are, despite our circumstances. Our rushing, our relaxing, our paying the consequences of choices made, even our paying the consequences of the choices of others… Christ is there.

Maureen R.

Details, details, details...

Today, we welcomed back to St Andrews Rev. Fred Demaray, and the topic of his sermon was "Found in the details". We could not have sang a better song to bring home the message. "Open our eyes, illumine me - Sprit divine". Indeed we are all beckoned to open our hearts, our minds, our eyes, our ears and our beings, to see God all around, and celebrate him not just in the spectacular moments of our lives, but in those tiny details where he stacks things up to line with the bigger picture he's set out for us. 

As I listened, I was reminded of a saying that I am fond of: details, details, details. That's my go to sentence for curtailing a long winded and convoluted story ( or maybe I am just inherently impatient). In my mind, who said what to whom and what ensured is not really crucial. Its all about the outcome. I was reminded today though that details do matter. Consider this,  there's a reason you go through a home inspection or hire an architect when building or buying a home. For if we overlook the details such as the design, the materials, the number of rooms and bathrooms, etc surely we might wind up with  a design that doesn't make sense or doesn't work for you and your family. Similarly as Christians, our end goal is to see Christ someday, and to live with him - but if we don't pay attention to the details of our life and feed our souls the spiritual food we need to grow,how are we preparing for this meeting?

Reverend Demaray reminded me today, that details, details, details are important. Our God (like every good parent) is interested in the details of our life. It's a balancing act you see. You don't want to get so tied up in the details that you miss the big picture or focus too much on the broad picture that you overlook key details. This sermon left me reflecting on the details of my faith and walk with Christ. It was a reminder to look for and celebrate God in the details  while enjoying the journey of life which He has afforded me.

Silently now I wait for thee, Ready my God - thy will to see, Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit Divine"

-Clara H. Scott

Koko A.

Wednesday BBQs

The Wednesday BBQs are starting off with great success! We had to move inside due to a bit of rain, but everyone had a great time “on Safari!”

All are welcome each Wednesday evening in July at 6:00pm. Meet us in the courtyard!

Sunday Lunch Blog - June 29

We welcomed back The Rev. Bob Hill today, June 29. His sermon was ‘What makes a nation great?’ As I was spending some time with the Church School before the sermon I thought I had the answer – our children and youth! We have an exceptional group at St. Andrew’s and I feel confident in the future.

Rev. Hill reminded us that a great nation must be moral and compassionate. A great nation must be a moral nation – respect for people. How we treat others is how we treat God. Humorously, he spoke about how morality would reduce our country’s debt! Debt costs us so imagine what life would be without crime and the associated costs!

Morality is character being exercised. We end up with a sense of value of ourself. Character is what you do when no one is looking….Worth thinking about.

We must ‘walk the walk’ and experience the reality. If we move away from God we will turn to other means in our lives. It was fascinating to learn that one of the earliest signs of civilization was a healed broken limb – it showed someone cared. Evidence of compassion is a first sign of civilization.

God wants us to be great and to endure…not to be disposable like a paper cup.
Jeanie H.

Sunday Lunch Blog - June 22

This week’s service was, for me, encapsulated by two thematically linked ideas: gardening and faithfulness – about how God is like a gardener, how we are agents of God when we do garden, and, with the lovely singing and spoken word presentation by the choir, the young voice of our psalm reader today, and the Grade Four Bible presentations, how God’s people too are the fruits and blossoms of the earth. Last year, I was watching online news sources intently for updates about the flood in my home city of Calgary and news of my evacuated relatives: I greet today with delight and gratitude the knowledge that it was those same relatives who were in turn intently watching this morning’s video simulcast of the children’s choir and our daughters reading. With the wonderfully silly and traditional picnic games: the tug of war, the three legged race and the egg and spoon, I am again heartened that these games have been played for hundreds of years. Continuity and spring are beautiful marks of God’s faithfulness to us.

Rebecca B.

Summer Worship

It’s that time of year again! Starting this Sunday (June 22nd) and continuing until September 7th, we’ll worship on Sundays with one combined service at 10:00 a.m. See you Sunday!

PS – Stay after the service for a delicious picnic lunch! All are welcome.

Sunday Lunch Blog: Open Doors, Open Hearts

This Sunday I was ushering at the North door, and I opted to sit out in the narthex. On occasion, I really love doing that. Especially in the summer. I love sitting there, looking in on the service while all the doors around me are open – the doors leading from the street into the church, and the doors leading into the sanctuary. I love what it says about our community. That one small gesture of opening our doors suddenly makes our service and our community permeable.

Tourists enter, glance in at the sanctuary and see our community gathered to practice our faith. Perhaps they take an order of service and join us, perhaps they continue on. Either way, it is so important that they see us there, much more than the beautiful architecture of our building.

And even if they don’t come inside, they hear us! Our prayers and hymns float out onto the sidewalk, mingling with the noise of traffic on Wellington. And the outside comes in to us – we hear that traffic, and feel the cool breeze as it comes through our doors.

All this noise – traffic, prayers, hymns – resonated for me in the words of our reading today: speaking in tongues, cymbals clashing. We were reminded, in one of the most beautiful passages of the Bible, that love is the basis of Christian life.

And what a beautiful reading to hear, if you happened to be wandering through our doors today. So often read at weddings, it is easy to forget that the type of love that St. Paul was writing about was not romantic love, but the everyday love that we should practice towards everyone – patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness, honesty, and hope.

And what lovely words for us to send out through our open doors, into the din of traffic, hopefully to find the ear of someone who will hear it, and be better for it.

We gather at church today and every Sunday to learn how to live those words, to be reminded how important it is that they become more than mere poetry for us, but a way of living and being with each other. It is easy to open our doors, much harder to open our hearts. But we strive, with Christ, to do that and send his word out into the world.

Jessica C.