december st. andrew’s united church, georgetown, on news ... · and a resume to...
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15
Reader:
Mattie Spencer
Greeters:
June Longstreet
Fran Trowbridge
Ushers:
Bill and Linda King
Counter:
Ross Yahiro
AV operators:
Heather Curtin
Rob Ogger
Announcements:
Ministry & Personnel
NEXT WEEK, DEC 22
Reader:
Bruce Clendening
Greeters:
Ann Cillis
Heather Curtin
Ushers:
Bruce and Barb Munro
Counter:
Joe Oatman
AV operators:
Andrew Piper Sr
Sarah Piper
Announcements:
Ministry and Personnel
DECEMBER 12, 2013
gift to human kind for all of us to behold. This is real joy and the real meaning of Christmas. In the service we will also hear the resound-ing joy from our choir as they sing a few numbers from the Cantata planned for Sunday night. This year will be the biggest choir ever.
This week’s readings are:
Isaiah 35: 1-10 Matthew 11: 2-11
Sermon: Resounding Joy!
This Sunday will be White Gift Sunday. Once again we will have the opportunity to contribute food and toys for families in need. At the entrance to the church there will be some wagons avail-able to place items in which will be brought up to the front of the church during children’s time. It is always a marvel to wit-ness the volume of white gifts that are brought for-ward through your gener-osity. This week is the third week of Advent and the candle theme is Joy. The theme of the sermon will be Resounding Joy. De-cember is the season of joy and blessings. People
are cheerful and gener-ous in their giving to oth-ers. Imagine the joy that will be felt when the chil-dren receive the toys given out of our generos-ity and care for others. In the Old Testament reading from the Prophet Isaiah, he proclaims that the wilderness and dry land will be glad, the des-sert shall bloom and re-joice. The majesty of God will be upon us. The good news that is pro-claimed in Isaiah is an indicator of what comes at Christmas. The birth of Christ is the good news that is foreshadowed through Isaiah. God gave to the world the baby Je-sus, God incarnate as a
News and inspiration from St. Andrew’s United Church, Georgetown, ON
News from the Pews WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND
December 15, 2013, 10:00 am. Advent 3, Joy
White Gift Sunday
News from the Pews is the electronic news-letter of St. Andrew's United Church, Georgetown, Ontario, produced every Thurs-day. If you would like to publicize an event, please send it in the body of an e-mail (not as an attachment) to: [email protected] by Wednesday night. For further information, contact our secre-tary, Heather Curtin, or our Minister, Rev. Grant Williams, at 905-877-4482.
Contact us: Website: www.standrewsuc.ca
Church Secretary/Office:
[email protected] Secretary Hours:
Tuesdays and Wednesdays: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Thursdays: 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Minister Hours: Monday - Thursday
Grant Williams: [email protected]
NEWS FROM THE PEWS PAGE 2
CHRISTMAS CANTATA Please join us for an evening of beautiful music, as
the choir and friends from St. Andrew's United
Church presents:
“THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS”
A CANATA BY PEPPER
CHOPLIN
DECEMBER 15TH, 2013,
at 7:00 pm
(photo used by permission www.pepperchoplin.com)
WHITE GIFT SUNDAY This Sunday is White Gift Sunday. We are encouraging people to come to church bringing items of food or toys for the Georgetown Toy Drive. Food can be nonperishable and will be donated to the Georgetown Bread Basket. Toys will be sent to the Salvation Army to be distributed to families in need in our area. The donated items do not need to be wrapped. Please bring your items in and place them in the wagons provided.
COFFEE SERVERS STILL
NEEDED! Some of our longtime coffee servers are unable to
continue in this role on Sunday mornings so we
need new volunteers to step up. We have had a
good response to this call, but the more people
who sign up, the less frequently you will be called
upon. If you are on the list and no longer able to
do it please contact Colleen Armstrong. If you
have requested to be on the list and no one has
contacted you please contact Colleen. As we look
to prepare a new list for 2014 please consider as-
sisting with this and leave your name with us at
coffee time this Sunday am.
GOODIES FOR COFFEE TIME
Rather than asking people to sign up to bring
goodies on particular dates, the membership team
is asking everyone to bring in baking or store
bought cookies & we will freeze them. When the
stash runs out we will put out a call again. We
have been using leftovers from the craft show, as
there was such a excellent response, and this has
kept us going for more than a month. You can
bring them in on any Sunday starting immediately.
REMINDER - Nut Free!
To my St. Andrew’s family... Mere words cannot begin to describe how touched I
was by the outpouring of prayers, support and love
that I received from my St. Andrew’s family here, fol-
lowing my recent surgery. I am now looking at several
months of recovery over the Christmas season and
beyond, but am not complaining. After all I just re-
ceived the greatest Christmas present ever - my life!
Thank-you all.
Graeme Thompson
PAGE 3 DECEMBER 12, 2013
ANNUAL REPORTS To all Ministries:
Please submit reports for the 2013 Annual
Report to the office by Sunday,
January 5th, 2014.
Reports can be emailed to
Thank you!
Upcoming Advent and Christmas Services
Sunday, December 15, Advent 3 White Gift Sunday at 10:00 am
Craft Sunday with the Sunday School.
Sunday, December 15 Choir Christmas Cantata at 7:00 pm
Thursday, December 19 Blue Christmas Worship Service at 7:00 pm
A time of worship, reflection and prayer for those who have encountered loss and pain
during the year.
Sunday, December 22, Advent 4 Christmas Sunday at 10:00 am
Tuesday, December 24, at 7:00 pm
Christmas Eve Service for Families A fun and interactive service especially for
those with families.
Tuesday, December 24, at 9:00 pm
Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service A contemplative service with Senior choir and a
message to celebrate the Christmas miracle.
Sunday, December 29, at 10:00 am
Nine Lessons and Carols Service
ST. ANDREW'S RESIDENCE The Seniors’ Residence has received applications for new board members but we need more from within St. An-drew's Church. The Board requires a majority of United Church members. We are a close knit unit and would prefer that board members come from St. Andrew's, however, if no more applications are received from our congregation, we will be advertising in the other United Churches in the community. All of these applicants must be members of the United Church of Canada. We are looking for a variety of different people with a variety of different skills. Please contact Gord Robinson.
CALLING ALL YOUNG ADULTS! People know that at its core, Christianity has something wonderful to offer humanity. But at the same time, many of us have a sense that we are alone in being a "seeking" or "thinking" Christian. What is needed is a safe environ-ment where people have permission to ask the questions they have always wanted to ask but have been afraid to voice for fear of being thought a heretic. "Invitation to Journey" is a program in 7 sessions of 1 - 2 hours (Disk 1 of 3 from Living the Questions) designed for both seekers and "church alumni". Each session contains a 20-minute video segment, which includes conversations with leading voices of faith, acclaimed scholars, theologians and other experts. This program gives the partici-pants a deeper understanding of our Christian history and heritage and is an open-minded alternative to studies that attempt to give all the answers and instead strives to create an environment where participants can interact with one another, raising the questions with which they struggle, while exploring what is next for Christianity in these troubled times. If you would be interested in this program, that would be offered in an evening every couple of weeks or so starting in January, please con-tact Greg Howard to let me know how fre-quently you would be available and which eve-nings would be best for you.
NEWS FROM THE PEWS PAGE 4
Our Christmas Stars!
NEWS FROM THE PEWS PAGE 5
Photos by
Nancy Stringer
PAGE 6 DECEMBER 12, 2013
Once more we were treated to
the talents of the children in Soul
Patrol. What a great show! I am
already looking forward to next
year.
This Sunday coming, December 15th, our choir is presenting
“The Heart of Christmas”, a can-
tata by Pepper Choplin at 7:00
p.m. Let’s fill the sanctuary. The
choir has been working hard to
prepare and are ready to sing
forth to a “full house”.
This Sunday also is “White Gift”
Sunday. We are asked to bring a
gift for a child or food for the
Food Bank. They are particularly
in need of gifts for teens. It is not
necessary to wrap the gift.
This year I expanded my gifts to
include two sheep or, as the girl I
was ordering from called them, sheeps. These will go to a village
in Cambodia. They were pur-
chased in the name of some chil-
dren I normally buy gifts for and
who truthfully have every elec-
tronic device known to man. I
hope they understand.
Do you know someone who has
no place to go for Christmas din-
ner? Once more St. Alban’s An-
FLORENCE’S FORUM
glican Church in the Glen is serving
Christmas dinner on Christmas
Day. They will even provide trans-
portation. The number to call to
register is 905 877 8323. No rea-
son to be at home alone.
Well the Good Lord willin’, I’ll see
you on Sunday.
Remember to share the warmth of
love.
Florence
NOW HIRING! Exciting News! St. Andrew’s is now hiring a Youth Leader. St. Andrew’s United Church is looking for an energetic spirit led Youth Group leader and Sunday morning Senior Youth class Teacher. This new paid staff position will… 1) Prepare, lead and deliver Sunday School program for High School-aged youth on Sunday mornings 2) In partnership with volunteer youth leaders, the Youth Leader will plan, organize and run bi-weekly Youth Group events and activities that provide opportunities for the Youth:
to have fun together and enrich their relationships with each other to reach out to the community beyond the church doors to allow for a safe space to ask their spiritual questions and to encourage their faith journey.
3) Solicit feedback from youth as to their satisfaction with youth programs and report results to Christian Education Committee. This will be a paid position of 5-8 hours per week. Interested individuals can submit a letter of application and a resume to [email protected], Attention: Bill Elgie, Chair of Ministry and Personnel Committee.
EXTRA CUSTODIAL HELP WANTED St. Andrew's is looking for an on-call substitute custodian, to fill in on occasions when our current custodian is away. This would be an hourly paid position. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please contact Bill Elgie , M&P Chair at [email protected] or speak to Bill at coffee time.
performing in her first ever figure skating competition in the ‘Skates Alive’ show at the Acton Arena. Ka-tie was skating in a duet with an-other girl and really enjoyed it. Her face was just beaming. And the best part was that Katie received her first medal ever! That was one excited girl and I am one proud dad of both my girls! It was a great weekend all around. I feel truly blessed. Now this coming Sunday is the Senior Choir’s turn to shine. Once again our annual Cantata will be performed under the leadership of Susan Whaley. It is always a treat to see all the spirited energy per-formed in the Cantata. I hope that you can all attend this Sunday at 7:00 pm. It is hard to believe that Christ-mas Eve is less than two weeks away. This busy time of hope and joy is upon us. In the next two weeks we have many opportunities to worship. The first special service is our Blue Christmas service on the 19th at 7:00 pm. This is a quiet and reflective service for those who
This has been a week of bless-ings and de-light. Last Sun-day we saw a wonderful dis-play of talent with the per-
formance of our annual Children’s Christmas Musical. It is always so nice to see the kids and all the hard work and effort they put into the play. Many thanks to Stephanie and Bryan Scott and all of their helpers who made this event a roaring success. This year’s play was special for me more than ever as my youngest daughter, Sarah, was in the play for the first time. She committed to the practices each weekend for the past couple of months and she really enjoyed it. After the play she said “I really like that Daddy, I can’t wait ‘til next year”. Following the service on Sun-day our family had to make a quick exit because my oldest daughter, Katie, had to get ready for her turn to shine. Katie was
may have had a difficult year be-cause of loss, pain or heartache. We hope people will come and support one another in this ser-vice of prayers, music, candles and reflections. Christmas Eve will be a busy one with two services happening here. The family service at 7:00 pm will be a fun, lively and inter-active service specially geared for families with kids. Our youth will be singing in it and there will be loads of carols and ways people can be involved. The later 9:00 pm service will be a calmer re-flective traditional service with candlelight and communion. For all of our Christmas ser-vices we will need some assis-tance with greeters, readers, ush-ers and refreshments. If this is a way that you feel called to serve please let me know. There will also be a signup sheet for the places we need help. Blessings to you and see you this weekend. Grant
Wednesday, December 18 2 - 6 pm Good Food Box pick up 7:00 pm Board meeting
Thursday, December 19 7:00 pm Blue Christmas Service
Sunday, December 22 10:00 am Worship, Advent 4
OUR CHURCH VISIONOUR CHURCH VISION
With God’s Help we will:With God’s Help we will:
develop Spiritual and personal growth through Christian faith and fellowshipdevelop Spiritual and personal growth through Christian faith and fellowship
welcome and encourage new ideaswelcome and encourage new ideas
encourage outreach programsencourage outreach programs
offer programs for all ages and stages in lifeoffer programs for all ages and stages in life
foster personal growth and friendship through Small Groups ministriesfoster personal growth and friendship through Small Groups ministries
be more visible in our communitybe more visible in our community
Week at a Glance…
Thursday, December 12 7:00 pm Choir practice
Saturday, December 14 8:00 am Men’s Breakfast
Sunday, December 15 White Gift Sunday 10:00 am Worship 7:00 pm Cantata: “The Heart of Christmas”
PAGE 7
GRANT’S WORLD