Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Hello everyone

The rain is falling and for a moment it just feels right.  April showers give way to May’s flowers – that’s what we have all heard from the time we are children.  It seems as though things have settled down weather wise – maybe only for a short time, but the rain is needed so much.  The winter was strange and unpredictable without the snow fall that helps to protect the topsoil and keep the ground moist.  The rain will help – long gentle sustained rainfall is best.  So today I invite you to just give thanks for the rain, indeed to celebrate the rain.

Things are all abuzz here in the church this morning – all in preparation for the celebrations this weekend.  One hundred and seventy years as a congregation.  That is remarkable!  May Yan and Andrew Hight are to be commended for all their hard work in pulling all of this together.  There will be an anniversary dinner on Saturday, starting with a reception at 5 p.m. (tickets are all sold out), an anniversary worship service at 10 a.m. on Sunday with the Rev. Vern Tozer preaching and an anniversary concert at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening.  I look forward to them all.

Anniversaries give opportunity to look back, to celebrate the past and to look to the future.  I have been part of the celebrations of anniversaries for churches for over 40 years.  They are wonderful times and at this time I want to take the opportunity to celebrate the people of St. Andrew’s.  This summer I will have been with you for three years.  I know it is only a very short time but, in some ways, I have known this congregation for well over 30 years.  Rev. Grant MacDonald was a mentor of mine and I met with Grant and 4 other ministers including Rev. John Henderson in the Heather Room on countless occasions. I held Grant in very high esteem and through him got to know about St. Andrew’s.  Somewhere around 1990 Grant invited me to preach at St. Andrew’s.  I still remember what I preached about.  It was an incredible experience seeing first hand the connection between Grant and Doug and the connection between Doug and the choir.  The sanctuary was full and the energy from the congregation was strong.  It was for me a profound and beautiful experience.  It was church – church at its finest I remember thinking.

You know, it’s the people who make church.  Yes, we remember the leaders, but it is the people who create church.  Indeed, without the people who have been part of this congregation for 170 years there would be no church.  Leaders are important, but people are far more important.  Sometime this week, take time to celebrate the people of St Andrew’s both past and present – including yourselves and those in your families who went before you.  Take time to pat yourself on the back, to remember the witness of others, to give thanks to God for this beautiful place we call St. Andrew’s.

P.S.  A family who has just arrived from Nigeria is looking for an apartment.  Their budget is $2,000 max.  If anyone knows of anything available, please let me know.

Take care everyone and God bless

Marty (he, him)

Minister, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church