The In-Between Times February 2016 Living Water

Transcription

1 The In-Between Times February 2016 Living Water Last February, I left the frozen snow of Toronto to travel to Israel, on a pilgrimage to visit places where Jesus walked. Much of Israel is desert but in the north there is ample water. It flows from the mountains on the border with Lebanon and Syria and supplies most of Israel, including Jerusalem. I remember standing beside a mountain river, amazed at the crystal-clear, cold living water rushing down to the Sea of Galilee. Water as the source of all life had a deep resonance for Israel. Without water, there is death. Without God, there is death. Turning away from God, the prophets tell the people again and again, is like denying yourself clean, fresh water. At the time of the exile in Babylon (today s Iraq), Israel had begun to worship the gods and idols of neighbouring peoples. God says, through Jeremiah, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13) Continued on next page

2 Living Water continued from previous page Centuries later, Jesus stops at a Samarian well on a hot, dusty day and chooses this rich and powerful symbol to tell the woman there who he is: Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. (John 4:13 14) In February, Canadians have a unique understanding of the need for living water. The ground is frozen hard as iron; water is like a stone (usually!). It seems like a long, long wait for the earth to warm and life to return. In this month we enter the season of Lent, to spend time fasting and preparing our often stoney hearts for the greatest feast of the Christian year. Then the season turns and the waters begin to flow. Life returns to the northern forest and we look forward to the summer. It is no accident that the popular symbols of Easter are rabbits and eggs, flowers and food symbols of life and rebirth. But that is Easter. For now we walk in our frozen landscape waiting for the living water to return, in certain hope of the springtime to come. Save the Date: February 20, 2016 Christians Against Poverty Tim Christians Against Poverty ( is an award-winning charity that is working with churches like St. John s across Canada. The organization equips local churches to reach out to their communities with simple, effective and Biblical financial education as well as professional debt counselling. All services are offered to the participants free of charge. Interested volunteers can get the tools at a Biblical Financial Education Training session coming up on Saturday, February 20th from 9:30am to 3:30pm at the Peoples Church, 374 Sheppard Ave East. Please call Jolene at with any questions or to register. Scott McDougall ( )

3 ... in a small group at SJYM NOTE: More groups are being planned. Group Topic When Host Walking The Way Starting your SJYM Mondays 7 9 p.m. with soup Drew+ & Max Parenting Teenagers Thoughtful parenting Mondays 7 9:30 p.m. with soup Tim Taylor Men s Supper Club Book Study, Christian Life 2nd Tuesday of each month Drew+ & Max Good & Beautiful God Who God is (weekly) Tuesdays 3 5 p.m. Tim Taylor Starts March 8 Good and Beautiful Life Living with God (weekly) Wednesdays 7 9 p.m. Tim Taylor Good and Beautiful Life Living with God (biweekly) Thursdays 10 a.m. noon Anne+ Compass Group Matthew (weekly) Monday 1 3 p.m. Catherine Keating & Elizabeth White Compass Group Prophet (weekly) Tuesdays a.m. Joan Patterson Compass Group Lectionary (bi-weekly) 2nd & 4th Weds. 7:30 9 p.m. Cliffe & Mary Nelles

4 Senior Youth Present WHEN: Sunday, February 7 starting at 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Garnsworthy and foyer WHAT: Second Annual SOUPerBowl Sunday Fundraising Lunch and Soup Cook-off! WHO: The Senior Youth and YOU Bring a pot of your favourite soup and go head-to-head with the Senior Youth! Serving begins after The Open Door; make a donation and sample them all. After The Forum Drew+ will taste each one and declare the winner! Proceeds will be used to finance Senior Youth events. Mardi Gras The Feast before the Fast! Everyone is welcome to a pancake dinner with a Mardi Gras flair. Enjoy a relaxing meal and have some fun and fellowship. Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Time: Location: 5:30 7:30 p.m. (continuous serving) Auditorium Donations will support the Outreach Program. For more info, contact the church office by phone at or by at welcome@sjym.ca Hosted by the Men s Supper Club

5 World Day of Prayer The World Day of Prayer in our area joins seven neighbouring churches of different faith traditions in worship with Christian churches around the world. Initiated by women, this service welcomes men as well. The service this year has been prepared by churches in Cuba around the theme of Receive Children, Receive Me. As was the case with 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, it is very often the plight of children that stirs the world into action. In our area, the host church is Trinity Presbyterian Church and the service will be held on Friday, March 4, The time has yet to be determined. At a time when Christians are suffering persecution in many areas, it seems particularly meaningful to express solidarity with Christians around the world. We hope St. John s will be well represented. For further information, please contact Olivia Lee. Refugee Sponsorship Training at St John's York Mills Saturday, February 13 at 1:30 p.m. It is important that refugee sponsors have the right tools and most up-to-date information for successful refugee sponsorship. AURA provides these in regular training sessions, giving refugee sponsors the ability to develop a successful refugee settlement plan. SJYM will be hosting one of these sessions soon. It is open to the public but it is especially recommended for parishioners who plan to help with our refugee sponsorship efforts. The session is free of charge. You must go onto the AURA website to register. aura-workshops

6 2016 Our Milestone Year How often do you get to celebrate a 200th birthday? On September 17, 1816, the first members of St. John s York Mills laid the cornerstone of their first church building. That makes September 17, 2016 our two hundredth birthday! Such a milestone deserves more than one day of celebration. So, the Anniversary Committee is working to engage and stage a variety of speakers and events to commemorate this accomplishment throughout the year: Feb. 16 Book launch Reprint of Audrey Graham s 1966 publication, 150 Years at St. John s April 1 Book launch The Decades Book, highlighting Canadian and world events by decade, illustrated with photographs and images from the life of St. John s April 17 Speaker Andy Bannister (TBC) Director of RZIM Canada (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) Author of The Athiest Who Didn t Exist April 21 Speaker Mike Filey, noted Toronto historian and neighbour May Doors Open Toronto We welcome several hundred visitors to our church building and churchyard June 12 Strawberry Social We welcome our neighbours Sept. 18 Celebration Service With Archbishop Colin Johnson; reception following Oct. 2 Speaker Abdu Murray (to be confirmed) North American Director and Senior Itinerant Speaker, RZIM

7 ...Milestone Year continued Nov. 10 Speakers Evening On the topic of SJYM s many contributions at Vimy Ridge November Book Launches The St. John s York Mills Face Book (photo directory) A new book on the last 50 years at St. John s Those are the dates we ve fixed so far; please mark them in your calendars. We look forward to celebrating with you at these events and more. We ll keep you posted! The SJYM 200th Anniversary Committee 150 Years at St. John s York Mills by M. Audrey Graham Reprint available soon St. John s York Mills turns 200 years old this year and we are kicking off an entire year of celebration. Meanwhile, many of our current members may know very little about the long and storied career of our church, which has been central not only to the history of this area but to the history of Toronto. In 1966, on the occasion of our 150th anniversary, a parishioner named M. Audrey Graham published a book about our history. We are reprinting a soft-cover edition of that book for members of St. John s, featuring the original layout and illustrations. The book will cost $25 and order forms will be available in the foyer this month. You may also order through the office. For more information, me at sbmc@bell.net or speak to Catherine Bryant in the office. Sylvia McConnell

8 The Hospitality Team! Imagine a place where people find refreshment for body and soul. The prices are low. Like, really low. The coffee is real coffee-shop coffee and there s always a plate with goodies nearby. The space is buzzing with conversation and laughter. You re not alone if you don t want to be; strangers come up and shake your hand. If you re feeling frail there s someone on hand to pray with you or give you a hug. What is this place? Why, it s SJYM on Sunday morning, thanks to the efforts of the hospitality team! These wonderful people are organized and purposeful, adapting to changing locations (remember the basement?) schedules (Nine til Noon!) and requirements with cheerful flexibility. Their ministry requires God-given gifts which they are choosing to share. Their efforts enriching our experience at St John s York Mills. Thank you, Hospitality Team! Speaking of changing requirements, the kitchen has a new and simple coffee system, supplied by Canada Coffee. Each of the two machines brews directly into a portable, insulated dispenser, making 10 cups in two minutes. There s no water-pouring and little waiting the machines have an automatic water supply and with eight dispensers you can keep that coffee coming! Our supplier, Canada Coffee, provides the fresh grounds in pre-measured packets, so there s no guesswork and the quality is consistently great. With less stress in the details it s easy to get involved in this ministry. It only requires one set-up by two people arriving at 8:30 a.m., to be ready for 9:45 a.m. This includes setting out donated goodies and coffee condiments and, during Intermission, making sure things are running smoothly. We also need two people on hand for the time between The Open Door and The Forum and do the final clean-up. More volunteers are needed to help carry on our Sunday morning fellowship time. There s a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board between the kitchen and the office. The more people sign-up, the easier it gets! For more information, contact Karen Barnett at kabarnett99@hotmail.com or

9 Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity What is Stewardship? It s a word you hear more often these days, usually in green contexts. It suggests that, while human beings have the ability to command Earth s resources and dominate other species, we equally have a special responsibility to act wisely. Why? Because Earth belongs not just to us but to all species and to the future. That sense of the word comes from the function of stewards in medieval times. A steward could be a king s representative in a foreign country or the land manager on a lord s estate. A steward didn t own his privilege. He didn t act on his own behalf but worked for the good of another. Believers have known this all along. It s in our creation story: God created all Earth and put us in charge only to till it and keep it. (Gen.2:15). We acknowledge this reality after making our Sunday offering when we say, in the words of 1 Chron. 29:14, For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. We give to show God s wonderful abundance. What does stewardship mean to you? Drop us a line: cbryant@sjym.ca or lpeetoom@sjym.ca. Save the Date! Musicfest 2016: 200 Years of Musical Memories Wow! St. John s York Mills will be 200 years old on Sept 17, 2016; it s a time to celebrate. That s our theme for this year s Musicfest, taking place on Sunday, May 1, at 3:00 p.m.

10 Spirit Cinema Is Back! Roaming from Northern Ireland to Beirut to Ground Zero, this film collects wisdom on the challenges of forgiveness and how it can transform your life. Featuring such speakers as Elie Wiesel, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Moore, Marianne Williamson and James Forbes. Thursday, February 11 6:00: Soup supper 7:00: Film St John s York Mills, 19 Don Ridge Drive Gently-used books on spiritual topics will be offered for sale before and after the film. Bring and/or buy! All proceeds go to Contemplative Fire; suggested donation for the event is $20. All are welcome! For more info contact Anne+ at acrosthwait@sjym.ca. Our Christmas Barnabas was a great success, with a record number of guests attending: 60! Thanks to the generosity of our congregation and the Lawrence Park Village BIA (which once again provided the bags) we were able to give each one a warm hat, gloves, scarf, treats and toiletries and the usual TTC tokens, food vouchers and hearty breakfast. In return, we received thoughtful prayers, cards and expressions of deep gratitude for the kind donations of our church family and the work of our volunteers. I am so grateful to the members of St John s for giving me a place to go. God bless you all said one guest; another said, Thank you for opening your church to us and for the great breakfasts and volunteers. I hope this help can continue. This vital ministry will indeed continue, thanks to ongoing support from all of you. If you are interested in becoming a Barnabas volunteer on the last Wednesday morning of the month or would like to make a donation, please contact the church office or speak with co-coordinators Bev McLeod or Bev Salmon. This outreach exemplifies how we love our neighbours as ourselves.

11 March Madness? March Mindfulness! Coming soon to your Friday afternoon: A time to experience mindfulness. On March 4, 11 and 18, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. we ll explore and experience ways to live more fully in the present moment, through videos, discussion and practice. You are invited to give a freewill donation to Contemplative Fire in appreciation. Gatherings Contemplative Fire continues to meet for a creative, contemplative communion service on the last Sunday of each month at St Leonard s Anglican Church, 25 Wanless Avenue starting at 4:00 p.m. With stillness and spaciousness we explore themes to help us know God more deeply. All are welcome to our Gatherings. For more details, go to Mystic in Motion This is the journal of my story of learning how to be contemplative within a busy city, busy life and with an active temperament. Follow my weekly installments and reflections. Comments welcome! Anne+ Also Coming Soon St John s has acquired an Automatic External Defibrillator or AED. This device assists in CPR has been proven to dramatically increase positive outcomes in cases of heart attack or stroke. Please let the office know if you are trained in the use of an AED or if you would like to be trained, as the kit comes with four hours of instruction for 12 people.

12 Family Night at St. John s Mondays, 7:00 9:00 p.m. is off to a good start with The class is full and we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge, experience and questions. In the future, we may run a similar course on the subject of marriage. If you are interested, please send a note to Tim at ttaylor@sjym.ca Sunday Morning Nine til Noon 9:00 The Sacred Table Food for the faithful. 10:00 Intermission Share refreshments and news with your fellow sojourners. 10:30 The Open Door Gathering for prayer, teaching and song, with a faith education program for children. 11:30 The Forum Bring your coffee. Bring your questions. Let s discuss! Many Rooms Jan L. Richardson 19 Don Ridge Drive, Toronto, ON M2P 1H3 Phone: (416) Fax: (416) welcome@sjym.ca Website: