Hello from Dewi Sant Welsh United Church!

Hello from Dewi Sant Welsh United Church! February 1, 2018 E-blast A Note from Rev. Don The time for my holidays has arrived. I will be away from February 6 to March 8.The Session of the church has arranged to cover the four Sundays I will be away, with two visiting Ministers and with two services conducted by our own members and friends. But I will be back to share some of Lent with you and to be present at these significant occasions: Palm/Passion Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. Meanwhile, the work of the church goes on, with planning and work being done to prepare for the Annual Congregational Meeting on Sunday, March 11. Both the Session and the Official Board have several agendas they are working on for the future, which you may hear about in their reports. The Stewards will be presenting financial reports for 2017 and a budget for 2018. And, hopefully, you may find out how matters are faring with the Pastoral Relations Committee. number of doors. A few weeks ago I spoke in my homily about the fact that life is always a matter of doors confronting us, leaving us to decide which doors to open, and which doors to keep shut, using our best wisdom, And I concluded by stating that the church of today is also confronted with a I believe there are five doors facing any church today. Some doors we face are there because God is still active and working to lead us forward. Other doors lead to fruitless dead-ends, for the rooms behind those doors have lost the fresh air of the Spirit. For example, two doors open onto the past. The one door opens to a past that really is a thing of the past, full of old and stale customs. Some people cling on to the door of the past 1

even though they have absented themselves from the church of the present. The second door opens on to a past and allows that past to come into the present and inspire it, for it is a past that speaks of ordinary people living ordinary lives, yet people who lived `by the promises of God and made their own creative contribution to the contemporary world in which they lived. They hand down to us a Christian tradition that inspires us freely and creatively to express our faith in a way that can witness to our twentyfirst century world. Two doors open to the future. Open the one door and you will see the way forward bordered with signs predicting the doom of the church in the future. The second door opens on to a future and allows that future to come into the present and challenge it, and so invites us to find new ways to live for God s kingdom community of peace and justice, mercy and love. And the fifth door is the door that you and I see today a door into the present. How we move through that door here in Dewi Sant Welsh United Church depends on which door to the past and which door to the future we open and what influences we allow to come into our present from the past and future. Rev. Don is away on holiday from February 6 March 8 He will return on March 11. Rev. John Perigoe and Rev. Wenh-In Ng will conduct the services in Rev. Don s absence. If you need pastoral care please contact Clarice Terry (905-460-9526) or leave a message in the office for Fiona. 2

This Sunday... Sunday, February 4 Epiphany 5 11 am Sacrament of Communion Rev. Dr. Don Bell presiding Sermon: The Gospel of Laughter The place of laughter in a Christian`s life. BIBLE READINGS February 4 Genesis 18: 1 5, 9-15; Psalm 33; Luke 6: 12-31. Stay warm... 3

Next Sunday... Sunday, February 11 Transfiguration Sunday 11 am Worship Rev. John Perigoe presiding. Looking Ahead... Come One! Come All! to our Third Annual Family Day Service celebrating our Dewi Sant Family All members and friends urged to join us. February 18, 2018 11 am service 4

Minute for Mission A Passion for Learning Our gifts for Mission & Service support girls, human rights, and learning. On a Kenyan mountain surrounded by farms is the Jerusalem Secondary School for Girls. The school is supported by Mission & Service global partner the Organization of African Instituted Churches. It is a safe place for young women who are escaping child marriage and the threat of female genital mutilation, or female circumcision. The students share with pride their commitment to completing their education students like Philomena. Philomena was able to complete primary school before her father sold her into marriage when she was 16. While her husband never forced her to undergo female genital mutilation, his family pressured her to do so. When her husband died, she was told by his family that she would now need to undergo the procedure or they would throw her out and keep her four children. In fear, Philomena and her children ran away. She returned to her home village, where her mother welcomed her and the children into her home. Philomena s mother heard about the school a short walk away and encouraged her daughter to go to it. Philomena was able to get a scholarship, and while she spends her day in class, her mother takes care of her children. Philomena is beginning her final year of secondary school and looking forward to going to university, where she will study education. Her dream is to become a teacher because she believes that education is very important. The Organization of African Instituted Churches supports the school by providing scholarships and contributing to the salaries of three teachers. If Mission & Service giving is already a regular part of your life, thank you so much! If you have not given, please join me in making Mission & Service giving a regular part of your life of faith. Loving our neighbour is at the heart of our Mission & Service. 5

HEADS UP! ANNUAL REPORT TIME HAS ARRIVED At its last meeting, the Official Board set the date for the Annual General Meeting for March 11, 2018. If you have not already done so, please submit your report NOW. Outreach during Lent The Dewi Sant community was very generous with their support for the food bank and gifts for teens during Advent, and the need for food-bank support is ongoing, of course. As Lent approaches, (February 13 is Shrove Tuesday) perhaps we may consider giving up a luxury during this time and use that money to donate to an outreach initiative to an abused women s shelter in North York? For many years, the Lunch Bunch regulars donated items to the shelter, but for the past few years, since our programme finished, we have not donated anything to the shelter. One of their basic needs was for new socks for women and children. I am suggesting that during the weeks leading up to Easter, we hold a Sock Drive. Should you wish to participate, I will place a basket in the Narthex to collect your donations. I hope that many of you will like this idea and I look forward to being able to deliver a basket of socks to this worthy cause. Gaynor McConnell 6

Report from the 110th Committee I am delighted to tell you that the 110th Committee of Dewi Sant has just been informed that we raised $8,850 from our Anniversary donations! This has included Risti Jensen s idea of $110 for our 110th and a generous donation from the Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir. Our Home Coming Weekend concert cleared $1,549 - so Dewi Sant is now better off by $10,399! What a marvellous achievement by all of us who have helped to celebrate our Welsh heritage and history. Our Souvenir Sales of mugs, notelets, pins, and stamps, all with our specially designed 110th logo, is unfortunately $384.97 in the red. Please would you consider ordering any of these items from me (lynettej@scaw.org or 416 281 8758) to help us put our sales in the black? My grateful thanks go to all the Committee members, families and friends of Dewi Sant who have ensured that we can still proudly fly our red dragon over the church in 2018. Lynette Jenkins 7

No fuss, no muss One of the ladies in Merched Dewi has come up with a brilliant idea. She now has a box in a cupboard so that if she wears a piece of jewelry and then thinks, No, I don t think I ll wear this again - then it goes in the box, ready to donate to the jewelry sale at our bazaar. No fuss, no muss - and she is well ahead of the game! Last year at the jewelry sale as well as ladies items, for the first time, we had a lot of donations of mens jewelry - tie pins, tie tacks, cuff links and watches. We also had donations of good jewelry that I took to my jeweller to evaluate so we could ask a fair price in the sale. So, if you have ANY jewelry you think would be enjoyed more in someone else s home - please consider Audrey s idea... Many thanks, Lynette Jenkins 8

THIS WEEKEND The St. David s Society presents: Concert with Welsh Tenor Gwyndaf Jones and friends at Dewi Sant Church Feb 3rd 2018 2pm Tickets $20 Tea and welsh cakes served in church hall Tickets sold at church or contact Pam Munjal 416 890 3361 pmj433@hotmail.com or Julie Wenz 416 500 8970 SAVE THE DATE ANNUAL ST. DAVID'S DAY LUNCH SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2018 AT THE OLD MILL More details to follow. 9

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Dear Dr Bell and Friends, I live in Harrow Ontario but I was born to Welsh parents in 1936. My name was Jane Davies then. Like so many of my family, I went on to be a teacher and, when I retired here, I started to write in earnest. After writing for children about the part of S.W. Ontario where we have lived now for 50 years, I felt moved to write about the Welsh flag for youngsters last year. It turned out to be a bright picture chapter book and I thought I would like to let Welsh people in Canada know about it. I go 'home' every other year and recently I was back in November in Cardiff and before that in May 2016.My reading of old myths and my love of Wales led me to write about the Welsh dragon on our flag. It was fun to do and my illustrator has done a great job with Grandpa's story for Megan and Gareth, the children's names, I use in the book. Myrddin comes into it too but, I had to call him Merlin. I would love to send you a copy of my book to see what you think of Red Dragon Rises. I enclose some pictures of the cover and the inside. Would you accept this from me? It usually sells for $17.50.* I also read your newsletter. Thank you for making it available.there was a reference to the Toronto Male Voice Choir. I believe my cousin, Michael Stevens (of Port Hope) still sings with them. Our whole family enjoyed singing. At one time in WWII, I lived in a house in Treorchy where the Royal Welsh Male Choir rehearsed! I was very young but I was thrilled. I hope you will not mind my boldness in writing to you. I got most of the myth from the Mabinogion and an old book of Welsh tales. Yours sincerely, Jane (Stevens Davies) Buttery http://janebuttery.com *Rev. Don has two copies of the book which the author has allowed him to sell for $15. Please see him if you are interested. 12

Welsh Poetry Competition 2018 The 12th International Welsh Poetry Competition 2018 is now open and accepting entries! Judge - Sally Spedding 1st prize - 500 2nd Prize - 250 3rd Prize - 100 plus 17 runners up published on website and future anthology 5 per poem ( 6 PayPal) / 50 lines maximum Entry forms, rules, past winners, anthologies available from our website Closing date - 27th May 2018 www.welshpoetry.co.uk 13

FEBRUARY 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 4 11 am Communion 1:30 5 pm 11 11 am Worship Rev. John Perigoe presiding 1:30 5 pm 18 11 am Family Day Service 1:30 5 pm 5 6 12 13 19 20 7 7 pm TWMVC Rev. Don away 14 7 pm TWMVC Rev. Don away 21 7 pm TWMVC Rev. Don away 1 ; 7 9 pm 8 ; 7 9 pm 15 ; 7 9 pm 22 ; 7 9 pm 2 7 pm 9 pm Beginner Welsh Classes 9 7 pm 9 pm Beginner Welsh Classes 16 7 pm 9 pm Beginner Welsh lasses 23 7 pm 9 pm Beginner Welsh Classes 3 6:30 8:30 am 9 am 12 pm Intermediate Welsh Classes 10 6:30 8:30 am 9 am 12 pm Intermediate Welsh Classes 17 6:30 8:30 am 9 am 12 pm Intermediate Welsh Classes 24 6:30 8:30 am 9 am 12 pm Intermediate Welsh Classes 25 11 am Worship Rev. Wenh-In Ng presiding Session meets 1:30 5 pm 26 27 28 7 pm TWMVC Rev. Don away