Calendar Inside Front Cover Rebekah’s Writin’ 1–2 News from the Pews 3–4 Announcements 5 Witness: here, there and everywhere 6 Day Away at Crieff 7 GRACE Groups Update 8 Time Talent Treasure 9 The Young Congregation! 10 ‘Inside’ Memories 11 WMS Report 12 Prayer Circle 13 network: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts 13 Birthdays 14 Passages/Emma Duncan’s Convocation 15 Financial Report 16 Senior Ladies’ Luncheon 17 Vacation Bible School Back Cover The Rev. Geoff Ross says grace before the senior ladies’ luncheon on May 4 …page 17 The Rev. Dr. Paul McLean gives some translation lessons during his visit on May 26 …page 6 The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. Acts 2:4, 6 Day away at Crieff Hills: worship, study and fellowship …page 8
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Calendar Inside Front Cover
Rebekah’s Writin’ 1–2
News from the Pews 3–4
Announcements 5
Witness: here, there and everywhere 6
Day Away at Crieff 7
GRACE Groups Update 8
Time Talent Treasure 9
The Young Congregation! 10
‘Inside’ Memories 11
WMS Report 12
Prayer Circle 13
network: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts 13
Birthdays 14
Passages/Emma Duncan’s Convocation 15
Financial Report 16
Senior Ladies’ Luncheon 17
Vacation Bible School Back Cover
The Rev. Geoff Ross says grace before the senior
ladies’ luncheon on May 4 …page 17
The Rev. Dr. Paul McLean gives some translation
lessons during his visit on May 26 …page 6
The Holy Spirit took control of everyone,
and they began speaking whatever
languages the Spirit let them speak. And when they heard this noise, a crowd
Voice mail boxes are password protected to ensure confidentiality and we check them several times
daily, especially when the office is closed. We consider every call important and will respond as quickly as possible. Our ministers invite you to call
their cell phone numbers at any time.
Relax – but don’t forget!
I love summer. I love the warm
temperatures, the slower pace, the
long evenings, the blockbuster
movies, the chance to drink iced
coffee, the barbecues and get-togethers with friends.
And I love vacation. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again: the pace at St. Andrew’s is fast. The weeks pass
so quickly for me and the others who make up the
ministry and leadership teams here. We are a busy
church. A break from the “busy-ness as usual” is a
good thing.
I was reminded today that Jesus regularly withdrew
from the crowds to rest and recharge so that He was
able to go about the work which God had given Him.
It is a good thing to have a break – if it works for
Jesus, it works for me!
So I encourage you to take a little time during the
warmer months. Take a deep breath. Smell (or plant,
or pick) a few flowers along the way. Enjoy a long
lingering meal. Go grab a coffee with a friend and sit
outside as you share coffee and conversation. Go to
the movies and lose yourself in an epic story where
lots of things go boom and the good guys win. Read a
good book…not rushing for the end, but enjoying
each chapter, each character, each plot point. Take a
long walk and listen for the birds which are singing,
hear the sigh of the summer breezes, enjoy the
laughter of children playing outdoors.
Drink in all the good things which life has to offer –
they are all gifts from a God who loves us, after all.
But - and there is a little “but” to add in here – in the midst of all
this relaxing and renewing and life-drinking – don’t forget St.
Andrew’s. In fact, in the midst of smelling a flower or sharing a
coffee, remember the blessings which God has brought you
through your church family. Ask God for opportunities to build up
the community of faith we have here. Think and pray about what
the coming year will bring and how God might be calling you to
serve others and to explore your faith in our midst.
A break – whether that means a time during which you are
physically absent or simply a time when you do a little less – is a
good thing. It gets you out of the routine and gives you a chance
to assess where you have been and where you might be going.
So do relax during the next couple of
months. But don’t forget. Be always
prayerful, always asking for God’s
guidance, always open to His voice, and
you will find yourself blessed.
INSIDE ST. ANDREW’S
PUBLISHED MONTHLY (except August) to inform our church community about activities within this congregation and the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and to provide inspiration to our readers.
Submissions can be made by email to [email protected], left in the newsletter slot either on the office door or in the Great Hall or may be given to any newsletter committee member listed below.
Newsletter Committee:
Felicity Alexander, Elizabeth Giesbrecht, Bill Robinson, June Young
Additional Contributors This Month: Kathi DesChenes, Gerry Doran, Anna Eitner, Bea Embling,
Ian Jess, Sue Haw, Mae MacDonald-Kerr, Stan Loree,
May Maltby, Rebekah Mitchell, Colleen Peyer, Jessica Rhind
string together, creating a short film to be shown in
church as well as posted on our website. If you
would like to participate, please speak to Stan Loree
or Peter Shepherd.
Strawberry Social & Talent Show
Wednesday, June 19
Strawberry shortcake will be served at 6:30 pm
followed by the talent show at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are $5.00
Tickets are available after worship in the Great Hall.
If you would like to share your talent please sign up
on the sheet posted under the clock in the Great Hall
or contact the office at 905-451-1723 ext. 0.
Sunday, June 9 at Eldorado Park
immediately after service
Sun! Fun! Food! Games!
Good Friends and New Friends!
This year’s congregational picnic will take place in
Eldorado Park (Creditview Road south of Queen St)
on site #3. We will get out of church early so
everyone can make their way to the park where we
will meet up with members from Christ Church
Anglican and Grace United, who will be
worshipping there and waiting for us. We have
agreed to share the site, our food, and the games in
the hopes of building up our ecumenical
relationships – and to have some friendly rivalry.
Come dressed in your picnic clothes and bring your
lunch and ‘something to share’, lawn chairs, hats,
and sunscreen! We hope to see everyone there.
NB: In the event of bad weather, we will be
picnicking in the Great Hall.
Interested in Becoming a Member
of St. Andrew’s?
If you are interested in becoming a member of St.
Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Brampton, please
speak to either the Rev. Geoff Ross or the Rev.
Rebekah Mitchell after the service. There are plans
to receive new members in the coming weeks.
I would like to thank everyone for your visits
and all my cards while I was in the hospital and
Extendicare recovering from a broken leg.
Shirley Hancock
6
Witness: here, there and everywhere
To kick off the current preaching series on
witnessing, St. Andrew’s welcomed back the Rev.
Dr. Paul McLean, son of Mary McLean, who was
baptized into this congregation and grew up in our
Sunday School and youth group. During the opening
to his sermon, Paul named many St. Andrew’s
people who had influenced him with their
witnessing. Both in the service, and then in more
detail following lunch, he told the story of his
grandfather, an orphan
from Scotland, who
came to Canada,
eventually settling
in Brampton and
becoming an active
member of St.
Andrew’s, as an elder
and Sunday School
superintendant, who
painted the picture of
Jesus the Good
Shepherd hanging in
the Great Hall.
Paul’s sermon was based on Acts 1:8 But the Holy
Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then
you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all
Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.” He
noted that Presbyterians are generally shy about
proclaiming their faith, but God calls us to boldly
witness in Jesus’ name. He also spoke on the
importance of witnessing using the Bible, which
teaches us what God wants us to do. Paul challenged
the congregation to take the time to write down
answers to the question, “Why am I a Christian?” so
that we can articulate this when the opportunity
comes up to speak to someone about our faith.
Following the service, the Mission Committee and
WMS put on a lunch, which had some traditional
Hakka dishes as well as ‘Presbyterian’ sandwiches.
Approximately sixty people stayed to enjoy the
meal and see Paul’s PowerPoint presentation on
Taiwan and his twenty-six year project of
translating the Bible into the Hakka language.
Paul, his wife Mary Beth, and their sons lived in
Taiwan for twelve years from 1983-1995 as Paul
and a team of twenty pastors and translators worked
on translating the New Testament, Psalms and
Proverbs. Hakka has two written forms, Chinese
characters and a romanized script, which can help
clarify pronunciation of the characters. It is also a
tonal language, meaning that the type of stress,
rising or falling, given to a word can change its
meaning. Paul and Mary Beth had to learn the
Hakka language when they moved to Taiwan. Their
sons had the advantage of growing up speaking it.
Paul had the attendees attempt to read along with
some of his slides, learning the word for “God” in
several languages. He also gave an example of the
difficulty when languages don’t have corresponding
words using the phrase “take up your cross” –
should he use the Hakka word for “shoulder” or
“raise up”? The imagery of the two is very different.
The translators focus on the message first, then the
form and finally the style.
From 2004-2011, the team worked on translating
the Old Testament, during which time Paul travelled
to Taiwan several times a year, and last year the
complete Hakka Bible was published. Paul’s son,
Peter, rode his bike across Canada and raised
$25,000 to help with the printing costs.
Paul has also taken part in taping an audio version
of the Hakka New Testament to go online and has
preached in Hakka at the Markham Chinese
Presbyterian Church. He is currently working as an
advisor to several indigenous groups in Taiwan as
they work on Old Testament translations in the
Drekey, Paiwan, Bunun and Amis languages.
Paul’s slide shows Greek (top left), English,
phonetic Hakka (top right) and Hakka characters
7
Day Away at Crieff
On a chilly May morning, thirty-two people
attended the day-long retreat at Crieff Hills. While
the weather outside was cold, the atmosphere inside
was warm and encouraging.
The Rev. Rosemary Doran began the session with a
welcome and an outline of what the day would
encompass. She then led opening worship with
prayer and a reflection about taking time alone to
commune with God and recharge her batteries after
times of stress. The group joined in reading a
paraphrase of Psalm 104, by United Church writer
Jim Taylor, and in singing two hymns.
The day was wonderful as the Rev. Rebekah
Mitchell led a study on Joshua 2 – the story about
the prostitute Rahab living in Jericho and how she
protected the two Israelite spies. Four different
translations of the bible story were used. Rebekah
spoke about her time at Knox studying Hebrew.
After this introduction, we broke into four groups
and came up with some thought-provoking answers
in regards to how God related to Rahab, the
Israelites, the King and the people of Jericho and
what message this story has for us today.
After lunch, we spent some time strolling amongst
the beautiful natural landscape. Others spent some
quiet time reading, praying or visiting with others
inside.
In the afternoon, the Rev. Geoff Ross talked about
the ‘roll call’ in the Bible, meaning the list of names
in the Old Testament which describe the ancestry of
Jesus. While some of these names are difficult to
pronounce, they became alive and full of meaning
as we listened to a CD of the Rev. Fred Craddock as
he described some of these people according to
what was stated about them in the Bible. Geoff
spoke about the blocks of names of people who had
died in the Vietnam war posted on a wall in the U.S.
and had some examples of ‘roll calls’ in the form of
the St. Andrew’s directory, some old church group
photos and the Ross family tree. Finally, Geoff
concluded by saying we should all make up our
‘roll call’ of people who have helped us on our
spiritual journey.
The day ended with a communion service and the
Irish Blessing and a renewed sense of duty and
thankfulness as Christians. We pray that the fruits
of our spiritual journey are worthy of following!
8
GRACE Groups Update
If you cast your memory back to the beginning of the
year, you might remember Geoff and Rebekah
preaching a series entitled G.R.A.C.E., in which a
vision was cast for a small group network at St.
Andrew’s. Several interested people signed up to be
part of the “Next Step” groups. Currently, we have
three Next Step groups running. Each group is
unique, meeting at different times and different days,
and doing some different things: one group has been
sharing the personal faith stories of each member,
many group participants have been attending the
‘network’ course, learning about their spiritual gifts,
two of the groups have used the Rob Bell NOOMA
series of videos for study and discussion. Each group
is building relationships within.
It is a great thing that
the groups are
different, as we
expect each GRACE
Group to be unique:
shaped by the
different individuals
who participate in the
group. This is not a
set program where
everything is done
according to one set
of rules. Instead, there is room for different
expressions and different interests as the groups
tackle the five points of G.R.A.C.E., as outlined in
the box on left. All the individuals who are
currently participating in Next Step groups are
excited and interested in helping the GRACE
Groups ministry succeed at St. Andrew’s. In all,
there are nineteen individuals taking part in the
Next Step groups.
Our hope is to do some intensive training initiatives
in the early fall, have a sermon series to promote
GRACE Groups throughout September and then
have a launch Sunday on September 29. On that
Sunday, everyone will be put into a geographically
defined group, and will have a chance to meet the
coordinators for their area.
As we continue to journey toward this launch,
please support this ministry in your prayers! If you
would like more information, please speak to
Rebekah or Geoff.
Many members,
one body.
Just a reminder: GRACE Groups will be:
geographically based
open
8-12 people
ministry focused
multigenerational
putting our faith into practice
G.R.A.C.E. stands for:
G. – Glorify God
R. – Relationships
A. – Acts of Service
C. – Caring Community
E. – Education
9
Hopefully, you have all received the pamphlet,
“PAR” Explained, delivered with your communion
card for the May 19 communion. If you haven’t
received one, they are available at all the doors
leading into the sanctuary.
Summer is a good time to consider going on PAR as
weekends spent at the cottage or taking most of the
summer ‘off’ means church attendance is down and
fewer cash and cheques find their way to the
offering plates. Being on PAR allows your
donations to the church to be regular, even if your
attendance isn’t.
If you still are a little confused as to how PAR
works or would just like a bit more information
contact May Maltby or Bea Embling.
Giving is a response to God Stewardship is a person’s response to God in Christ.
God has given generously to us. We, then, give to
others. Presbyterians practice whole-life
stewardship, using time, ability and money for the
advance God’s kingdom. We are stewards of God’s
mysteries and stewards of creation. how we spend
our money and time are strong statements about us.
As Presbyterians, we aim to let our works and
actions “shine before others that they may see these
good works and give glory to God” (Matthew 5:16).
Presbyterian congregations stress the mission of the
church and recognize our need to give and the
pleasure we receive by giving.
Principles of Christian Giving Our giving is an act of worship that
symbolizes the giving of our whole self.
We give out of gratitude for all that God has
given us.
We give as a response to God’s grace, not to
earn God’s grace.
We give intentionally and regularly, of our
own free will.
We give proportionately, according to how
God has prospered us.
Our giving is a priority. Our gifts come ‘off
the top’. They do not come from what is left over.
We give joyfully and find that, in so doing, we
are blessed.
***************
Macgregor sales raised a total of $1253 for the
General Fund. The Stewardship Committee thanks
all of you who participated by placing orders to make
the event successful. Have a good BBQ season.
***************
Sums Up Our Spring
A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment. As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into Heaven. Others though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning pit. But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss a soul off to one side into a small pile.
After watching Satan do this several times, the fellow’s curiosity got the best of him. He strolled over and asked Satan what he was doing.
“Excuse me, Prince of Darkness,” he said. “I’m waiting in line for judgment, but I couldn’t help wondering, why are you tossing those people aside instead of flinging them into the Fires of Hell with the others?”
“Oh those",” Satan groaned, “They’re all from Ontario. It’s only half-way through spring and they’re still too cold and too wet to burn.”
10
If you are interested in finding out more about any of our classes please feel free to visit us any Sunday morning. We welcome your participation!
For further information please contact: Colleen Peyer H: 905-459-3555 C: 905-601-4868 E: [email protected]
The Young Congregation!
Children and Youth of Our Church
Youth Group Our junior youth group is growing by leaps and bounds and taking on a life of its own!
We are very excited to announce that we are joining forces with our sister church Grace United
to develop a larger support staff and work towards growing a senior youth group.
What’s going with youth
on Sunday mornings!
The Ice Bucket Lesson
“How do I stop doing things I know I shouldn’t
do?” The kids were presented with a bucket of cold
water filled with large chunks of ice (made them in
margarine containers). They were ‘challenged’
(goaded) but not forced to put their hand in the icy
water and hold it there for thirty seconds. Of
course, once the first daredevil did it, all the rest
followed, which was exactly what was intended.
We then morphed into a discussion regarding peer
pressure and other temptations which cause us to
depart from the narrow path.
Our second visual on that day was a “hit or miss”
game, where the kids built a marbleworks “Life”
game, which included dividing paths (decisions)
and a jump where our marble sometimes landed,
and sometimes failed (we had marbles flying
everywhere!), because the marbles were not all the
same size and weight. This was contrasted to the
battle with sin in our lives – sometimes we
overcome and sometimes we do not. Ultimately,
though, God is shaping us as a work in progress
throughout our entire lives as long as we trust in
Him and strive to be Disciples of Christ.
Stan Loree
Report on last youth event
In short, it was a smash. On buckets! Mark
Nichols co-hosted with Jessica Rhind and he was
amazing; his talent really came forth.
We fired everyone up with some sugar to get them
going (mmm, cupcakes) and we picked our
instruments of choice. Mark had buckets with
drum sticks for practice, and in the end we all
loved banging on them. We talked about music,
styles we liked, what we didn’t like, and very
quickly after some fooling around the kids said
that they would love to practice (for realsies) to get
better and make this a regular monthly thing
separate from junior youth night. This is a ministry
they can really sink their teeth into. This
generation has a soundtrack for EVERYTHING;
they listen to music all day long and don’t like
silence. Giving them power to tap into what they
love and to make it their own is great.
We also need more drums. Maybe snares, a
bodhran if possible and some bongos, maybe a
huge skin drum as well (for the really deep
THOOM noise).
Please contact Colleen Peyer if you any to donate.
Enthusiastically yours,
Jessica
One Room School House (ORSH) The One Room Schoolhouse begins on June 16 for children aged 8 and under. The classes will be held
every Sunday during the summer months in the preschool room on the main floor of the education wing.