November 3, 2022
Hello everyone,
As I take time to write this email, I am in the midst of planning for Advent and Christmas. It is hard to believe that Advent is only just 3 short weeks away. So, I thought we might have some fun. I am going to give you a few riddles you can try to solve, and I will provide the answers next week together with a few more.
Here we go – you must guess the Christmas Carol using these clues:
Decorate the entryways
This lad is a diminutive percussionist
Sir Lancelot with laryngitis
ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Wanted in December: top forward incisors.
Just to help you out, I will give you the answer to number 1. It is ‘Deck the Halls’. Can you guess the other four?
Again it has been a busy week here in the church office. First, though we celebrate. On Sunday the congregation decided to hire an architect to do a ‘site analysis’ of the church property to ascertain both the needs of the present church and the potential needs for programming and housing for adults with special needs. This could become a legendary mission for St. Andrew’s. A legendary mission is a ministry known far and wide by the entire community. When people ask what St. Andrew’s is about, they may say – that’s the church that works with adults with special needs - both offering programming and housing. Hiring an architect to do the site analysis is the first step. It will take about six months. The basic question is whether or not it is possible to do this kind of ministry on our property here at 54 Queen Street North in Kitchener. Hopefully, at the end of this site analysis the answer will be ‘yes, it is possible’.
But we know already that we could not do this ourselves. We would need many partners to make it possible. One in particular is KW Extend a Family. There will be an information night about this partner on Tuesday, December 6 at 7pm at the church, with a Zoom option. We will hear about their work with and among adults with special needs and how we at St. Andrew’s can already begin that work now. It promises to be an exciting evening and all of you are encouraged to take part.
Also, at the church we had a mishap here in the boiler room. A young couple were warming themselves in the breezeway sitting on the grate that expels hot air from the boiler room. They were resting as many have in that location over the years. Suddenly they jumped up and ran away. The police who reviewed the video footage concluded that one of them was smoking and must have dropped the cigarette butt into the grate. In caught fire on the paper and refuse that tends to build up in that area. The alarm sounded, the fire truck came and the fire was put out within the hour. Damage by the fire appears minimal, but the glass door was shattered by the firefighters to gain access and the small window in the wooden doors at the same entrance was also shattered. An insurance claim will pay for the cost of the repairs and the cleaning necessary. The smoke smell will continue in the entranceway until all the necessary cleaning is completed. Unfortunately, all of that does not happen overnight. Air scrubbers are installed to keep the smoke smell at bay. The church has a deductible of $5000 that will have to be paid. The cost of repairs to the doors, the deep cleaning necessary in the boiler room and the possible replacement of some of the insulation around the pipes in the boiler room will all add up to significantly more than $5000. We are thankful to Kitchener Firefighters for their prompt action. The process for all the repairs has already begun.
Finally, Cathy Stewart from Creedence and Co will now give a report to the congregation in terms of the work done on evaluating how decisions are made here at St. Andrew’s (governance) on Sunday December 4 at 11:15 following our worship service. Please plan to attend as you are able.
As I mentioned, planning for Advent and Christmas has begun. Here is a rough outline
November 27 – First Sunday in Advent
December 4 – Communion, Advent 2 – this will be a CTV Sunday available at 11 am on CTV2 London
December 11 – Advent 3
December 18 – Church school pageant - Advent 4 and a CTV Sunday
December 18 at 3pm – taping of the CTV service for Christmas Sunday morning – we invite everyone to come to this service at 3pm
December 24 at 4 pm – Family Christmas Eve Service
December 24 at 8 pm – Candlelight Christmas Eve Service
December 25 at 10:00 – a Christmas Sunday service of stories, poems and songs
That’s enough for now. Hope you are all well and please take care. Take time to be kind to each other and all whom you meet
Marty