NEWSLETTER Week Commencing April 22, 2018 Fourth Sunday of Easter
From the Rector This coming Sunday is often known as Good Shepherd Sunday because many of the Bible readings focus on sheep or shepherds. One of my favourite images, driving along country roads, here or abroad, is to see sheep grazing in a green field appearing calm, serene, settled in life. I have seen this in many parts of the world and it is one I find calming and comforting. There is something about the contrast of green field and the wool of the sheep that seems to point to higher purposes and meaning to life. This coming Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter and Jesus reminds us, that he is the Good Shepherd, that he is our Shepherd who leads us, feeds us, encourages us and enlightens us. It points out to us that all we have, all that we see, all that we touch, all that we taste has been given to us as a gift to us. We are God s own. When we pray the words of Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd they are a recognition of God s presence and God s grace in our lives and our world. They point to God s gentle and loving presence and guide in our lives. Philip Keller, a shepherd, wrote a book called, A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd. This is a small portion of that book: Every faculty I possess in my body, mind, emotions, will, disposition, and spirit has been entrusted to me as a gift, bestowed by the bounty of a generous, gracious, self-giving, self-sharing God in Christ. There is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. To assert this is colossal conceit of the first magnitude. It is an affront to the living Lord who alone has a rightful claim on me. Even the total earth environment, the biota, of which I am a part, and which sustains me during my brief earth sojourn is God s doing. Only at God s pleasure is it maintained in perfect balance and poise. April 22 is Earth Day. A celebration of the beauty of our world, the magnificence that surrounds us at each moment. A celebration and a reminder that we need to care for this planet and protect it from our own destruction and degradation. A reminder that the beauty we enjoy is not to be taken for granted by our generation but must be cared for for the
generations to come. But also wrapped up in this is giving thanks to God for this planet and its place in the cosmos: offering our thanks to the One who first set this universe into motion and this planet to be spinning on its axis. Part of Earth Day is thanking the Good Shepherd for all that we have and enjoy in this world. O God, our shepherd, guide and source of all life, we give you thanks for this planet. We give you thanks for the gift of life. We give you thanks for the gift of love. We give you thanks for your care and compassion. As we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, bless us as we awaken to the new life that is known to us in him and in this world and the next. In the name of the resurrected One we pray. Amen. Reaffirmation On Saturday April 21 at 10:30am there is a Service of Confirmation and Reaffirmation for our Diocese. It will be held at our Cathedral (at Burrard and Georgia downtown). Bishop Melissa will be reaffirming the faith of Pauline Holleran of our congregation and you are encouraged to attend and/or keep her in your prayers. We will have a reception for Pauline after the 10:00 Mass this coming Sunday. Congratulations Pauline! Pentecost May 20 is Pentecost Sunday, the last Sunday of the season of Easter and marks the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the first church. Please wear red on that day to mark the occasion! Returnable Bottles and Cans for the Organ Fund We are collecting rinsed-out returnable bottles and cans to help us raise money for the Organ Fund! But we are hoping that you will make it easier for us and place the returnables in the labeled container off the back lane of the church. Or better yet, if you bring back bottles and cans and give the money to the Organ Fund, we would be delighted! Thanks for your support! EnChor Choir Concert at SJS Friday April 20 7:30pm The EnChor Choir is back! $25 at the door, free for under 18.
Word of Light the Gospel of John in performance Apr 29 at 2pm The Rev. Dr Angus Stuart is coming to St. John s Shaughnessy to perform the entire Gospel of John in his one-person presentation. It is a beautiful performance. However, we need to ensure that we have a large enough audience for the performance. We need to have 40 people signed up to attend on April 29 or we will need to postpone the show. Please sign-up on the sheet in the Trendell Lounge or by emailing the Church Office or Father John. Please let us know by this Sunday. A couple more volunteers are needed for the reception. If you are able to help with set-up, or can bring food, or can help with clean-up, please contact the office. Thank you! Baptism of Pearl May 27 On Sunday, May 27 at the 10:00 Mass, Pearl Thompson-Fayer will be baptised. Please keep her and her parents, David and Fern, in your prayers. The beautiful quilt in the picture was made for Pearl by Isabelle Jenkins. Archdeaconry Evensong June 3 On June3 we will have our annual Archdeaconry Service of Evensong. This is for all the churches of the Archdeaconry of Vancouver (essentially the west-side of Vancouver). It will be held at St. Helen's Point Grey (4405 West 8th Ave) at 4:00pm on Sunday June 3. Please plan on attending! Legacy Gifts to St John s Shaughnessy If you are interested in having more information about how to leave a legacy gift to St. John s (in your will, a bequest, life insurance, etc) please speak to the Wardens, Robin Preston or Father John. There is a lot of information available if you would like to consider this.
Organ Revitalization Church Committee voted unanimously at their meeting on March 13, to support the recommendation of the Organ Committee to proceed with the work on our Organ which was outlined at our Annual Vestry Meeting: the refurbishment of the organ console, rewiring, switching from analog to digital connection, tonal finishing, etc. The Organ Committee looked at several quotes but suggested that Stephen Wittman be hired to do the work, and Church Committee agreed. Vestry set the maximum amount for this work to be $200 000. The Trustees will proceed with entering into a contract for the work to be done and to have final financial figures set. As of April 12 we have about $92 555 in our Organ Fund. We are seeking to raise another $107 445. Please consider making a donation to the Organ Fund. Music is a central part of our worship and our church. If you would like to make a donation, please make cheques payable to St. John s Shaughnessy but indicate on the memo line that it is for the Organ Fund. Memorial Service for Rebecca Fraser May 6 There will be a Memorial Service for Rebecca Fraser, long-time parishioner of St. John s Shaughnessy, on Sunday May 6 at 2:30pm. If you knew Rebecca, please plan to attend. Upcoming SJS Events Apr 23 Knitting Group 10:00am (call office for details) 25 Wednesday Bible Study 10:10am Scrabble Group 2pm (call office for details) 29 Word of Light: the Gospel of John in performance 2pm (please sign up by this Sunday so we can make sure we have enough people)
Westside Neighbourhood Ministry - Annual Meeting: 23 May 7pm All are welcome! Learn more about our 2017 activities and help plan for the future. Feel free to bring a small dessert to share. St. Anselm s Anglican Church, 5210 University Blvd. 7 pm to 8:30 pm. Please note that the WNM at St John s is not collecting clothing at this time. Reports from the WNM Mobile Care Units Report from the MCU team at Kits Showers 31 March 2018: Joan, Charlotte, Dana and Lynne had opportunities to interact with several of the breakfast / shower program attendees. The Kits volunteers cooked a ham to celebrate Easter and the breakfast room looked very festive with pastel coloured tablecloths and Easter themed paper napkins. The Easter Bunny delivered bags of chocolates and beautiful greeting cards handmade by a young volunteer, a local high school student. Two people we know from the street ministry attended the program believing that the medical team would be present. They seemed quite satisfied with our request for them to return to see Dr. Janet on April 14th, our next site visit. Both seemed to enjoy the hearty breakfast. Charlotte completed a series of applications (rapid response, supportive, general registry with supplement) for a long-time friend of Penny Rogers. C has been housed for many years but due to a change in house rules from a smoking to a non-smoking environment he was forced to move back to the street after nine years indoors. Ideally C wants to return to independent housing however will be very happy with modular housing accommodation or other supportive housing in the interim. Joan met with a couple to deliver a copy of their completed income tax returns and they reported receiving their refunds. Great work Joan! Joan also met with a young man who, at Joan s request, delivered sheets of poetry. They discussed ways to publish his work. As a follow-up to our site visit on Saturday Dana and I delivered hot cross buns to the tenants at Reiderman Residence early Sunday afternoon. Everyone we knew by name was out and about which makes me hopeful that they are becoming more at ease within their new neighbourhood.
Community Builders staff on duty on Sunday reported the second building is almost full of tenants. Imagine... March 31st and nearly 78 homeless people are now housed! Thanks be to God! Lynne, on behalf of the Kits MCU team Report from the MCU team at St. Mary s 10 April 2018: There were fewer folks than usual at the St. Mary s Tuesday lunch, but our team was kept busy. Dr. Janet and Dr. Erica saw three clients: one with shoulder pain and a rash, one who needed a blood pressure test and one with ongoing kidney problems. The social services team (Paris, Gary and Karen) saw four clients. The first fellow wanted to ensure that his taxes were filed by Joan (yes she did that!). He also would like to find a free couch and chair to furnish his apartment. We suggested that he ask the staff at his apartment to help him access Craigslist. The second fellow stopped by to finish his application for PWD status: this was completed. A third client wanted information about her brother s rejected application for Temporary Modular Housing. We would need his consent to follow up. Our fourth client needed picture ID to open a bank account. She will be able to obtain this once her BC Services card is processed. Report from the MCU team at St. Augustine s 12 April 2018: Vicki, Hugh and Dr. Brian attended at St. Augustine's on April 12. It was nice to have the sun shining in on this lively community meal. Everyone asked where Lindsey and the social work students were - you are all missed. I will do my best to fill your big shoes as the team lead over the next several months. Both the social services and medical sides saw 3-4 clients, one of them jointly. -Together, we talked with a lady about some special cream she needs for her skin condition, and steps she and her doctor and pharmacist could take to try to get the cost covered through pharmacare. We were also able to talk to her about podiatry services, given the new information provided by Kat about MSP coverage for this. -Vicki talked with a woman about getting consent to get information about a friend's CPP and OAS payments. -Vicki completed a Rapid Response form for a man, whose sister had enquired about this with our MCU team at St. Mary's earlier this week. It was
great that we had communicated between teams about this. Karen and Gary - I will follow up with you directly about what happened. I also confirmed with this man that he had valid ID. He showed me everything he had, and with a little digging at the ICBC website, we determined he could go into ICBC and get a free BC Services Card. He was given written instructions how to do this. -Hugh brought a "regular" to the table to talk about housing. This man has, over the last year, been couch surfing, but, largely through his own initiative with some encouragement from the MCU team, has gotten his CPP and OAS rolling, and also filed taxes. We talked about modular housing, and he took the application home to think about it. -Brian had several clients initially, then some slow time during dinner, then a last minute client with a wound that needed bandaging. Hugh did a wonderful job moving through the tables and joining in the community, as always. It is great to be back! Respectfully Submitted, Vicki Report from the MCU team at Kits Showers 14 April 2018: On Saturday April 14, Lynne, Dana, Paris and Joan attended Kits Showers on the social services side and Dr. Brian attended on the medical side with a student doctor. This was Paris last session with us, as her practicum with the MCU comes to an end. She will be missed for her wonderful manner with the clients, along with the energy and enthusiasm she brought to the site s early-morning schedule. Social Services: B, one of our regulars, asked for help in finding new housing as his current place is infested with mice and he is concerned about pesticides. Rapid Response Housing and Supportive Housing applications were completed on his behalf. We are checking on whether his current accommodation falls under MPA or not.
We saw a new client, M, who has just moved to BC from Ontario. He collected Income Assistance in Ontario and will be applying for this service in BC. He was provided with 2 bus passes and information on the nearest Government Services location. He said once he is enrolled, he will be back for assistance on completing a housing application. A former resident of Dunbar, C, asked for help with his 2017 Income Tax form. He did not have his T5007 with him and has promised to bring it to the St. Augustine s MCU site on Thursday for Joan to collect and file his tax form. He did not file in 2016 and needs help with this, too. J, the client who first visited the site in March, asked for help in getting ID. A Birth Certificate application was filed and the MCU processed a payment of $27 for the online application. The Birth Certificate will be mailed to the Neighbourhood Ministry s PO Box address. J is also being helped with the process of publishing several of his poems in booklet form. He continues to express deep gratitude for having connected with the MCU and its volunteers. Medical Services: Dr. Brian and his assistance provided service and information to several clients. It was a busy morning and it appears that Kits Showers attendees truly consider the Neighbourhood Ministry s MCU to be a trusted service provider they can access. Respectfully submitted by Joan St Mary's Kerrisdale Giant Rummage Sale Apr 27th & 28th Apr 27 th 5-8pm, & April 28 th 9:30am-noon. Treasures, jewelry, clothing, books, housewares, art & picture frames, linens, vinyl records, small appliances, toys and puzzles, sporting goods. 2490 W 37th Ave at Larch Knox United Church Garden and Thrift Sale Apr 27th & 28th Apr 27 th 5-8pm, & April 28 th 9:00am-noon BBQ,, bedding plants, homemade clothing and preserves, bake sale, treasures, books, hardware, toys, and more. 5600 Balaclava at 41 st.
St. Helen's Annual Plant Sale April 28 11am to 1pm Plants, books, baking, baskets & more! 4405 West 8th Ave. at Sasamat. St Philip s Huge Rummage Sale April 28 th 9am to noon Lots and lots of great stuff. Don t miss it! 3737 West 27th Ave. Elektra Women s Choir FREE Concert at SJS Friday May 4 7:30pm Elektra Women s Choir is pleased to host the Tapestry International Celebration of Women s Choirs, with choirs from Japan, Iceland and Los Angeles. All three choirs, as well as Elektra, will be performing a FREE concert at St John s Shaughnessy on the evening of Friday, May 4th at 7:30 pm. No RSVP necessary - just show up at the door! For more information, please see elektra.ca/concerts-events regarding this performance. ACW Fellowship Day you are invited! May 5 Saturday May 5 th, at St Mark s Ocean Park. 12953 20 th Ave., Surrey. Registration $5, pre-order lunch $10. Registration by April 24 th. Please see Roberta Rudolf or call the office for more information.
St John s Shaughnessy Anglican Church 1490 Nanton Ave. Vancouver, B.C. V6H 2E2 Telephone (604) 731-4966 (ex 11 for office) email: church@sjs.net web: www.sjs.net Office Hours: Monday to Thursday 8:00am to 3:00pm CCLI License # 143069. Copyright 2004 by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. All rights reserved. Reproduced under license from ABC Publishing, Anglican Book Centre, a ministry of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, from Anglican Liturgical Library. Rector The Venerable John Stephens john.stephens@sjs.net Curate The Reverend Liz Hamel liz.hamel@sjs.net Deacon The Reverend Dr. Pitman Potter pbpotter@live.ca Pastoral Care Team Coordinator Helen Kline Rector s Warden Judith Downes People s Warden Maggie Sanders Treasurer Donald Wood Property Trustee Peter Kidd Vestry Clerk The Reverend Karin Fulcher Music Director Michael Dirk organist@sjs.net Choir Director Ann Chen Children s Ministry The Reverend Kathryn Ransdell Parish Administrator Janet Hamilton PWRDF Rep Doug Symons Sacristan and MC Paul Bunnell Verger/caretaker Amy Thorogood Sunday services 8:00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10:00am Sung Eucharist Wednesday service 9:30am Holy Communion Please contact the office if you would like to have the newsletter emailed to you each week. Cover: Artwork coloured by Ethan.