June 29, 2022
Hello everyone – what a wonderful day to start the day today – the rain was so welcome! After a long dry period the rain simply smells great. It actually cleans the air, and we can inhale it fully and deeply. Today I hope that you can inhale the spirit of God’s love fully and deeply in all that you do.
Things are happening around the church this week – there is a flurry of activity and a sense of getting back to normal. This is due in part to the reduced numbers of COVID cases, people feel freer to come to the church, and it’s also the end of the time for The Emergency Warming Centre. The church is slowly but surely being restored to the way it was before our guests arrived. They are now safely housed at a new emergency warming centre in the former Edith MacIntosh childcare building at Stirling and Charles Street and reports are that things are settling in there well. So I am happy about that. You may have also seen on the news that a new permanent housing project will be soon underway on the site of the St. John’s Kitchen on Victoria street. The new facility will permanently house 40 people. So good news there as well.
Back here at the church, the Camp K staff continue their training – they used the church today due to the rain. They are increasingly excited about the beginning of camp next week. We are thrilled that there was a donation by Marianne Sanders that virtually covered the cost of the new waterpark for the camp. Marianne jokingly suggested she might be interested in being the first person to use the water slide. Thank you Marianne. A further donation was made by Nancy Young that helps to cover the costs of a garden cart used to transport the waterpark from the shed out to the field. Thank you, Nancy.
Here are some things being planned
July 9 @ 10:00 – a clean up of the grounds and surrounding community – ‘Be clean, be green, lets be a trash pick up machine.’ Not only will this help to make our grounds look better but also is a way of honouring our neighbours by cleaning bordering properties where some of the garbage by our overnight guests have migrated. This is an opportunity to be a good neighbour and to be good stewards of creation. So please come out – the more, the merrier
July 10 @ 10:00 – our worship service will be a special memorial service for all those who died during COVID and for whom it was difficult or impossible to have a normal funeral or celebration of life. The theme for the service will be The Sacred Act of Memory. Please call in to the church if you want to have your loved one named. As well, please send in some pictures that we can include in a slide presentation. If you want to share a story, you are most welcome – just let us know. Following the service there will be a reception in Iona Hall hosted by members of The Session and organized by Heather Ingram Smith. Thank you, Heather.
The session also approved the refugee sponsorship of Feridah and Matais’ son, daughter in law and grandchildren presently living in Turkey. They are UNHCR refugees from Iran but are being threatened with deportation, so there is urgency to prevent this. We are hoping to sponsor the Saleh family through the Group of Five sponsorship model. We require five individuals or families that are willing to sign this agreement. Three out of the five individuals/families will be required to provide financial support, while all members of the Group of Five will be required to provide support in other aspects (non financial) In effect the Group of Five are saying that they will be responsible to support the family in the first year they are here in Canada. We will need to raise $35,000 from contributions donated by our own congregation as well as in the community at large, for the sponsorship to be approved. Yolanda Grant is taking the lead on this. At this point almost one third of the full amount has already been raised. I give thanks to God for this and feel confident that the remaining two thirds will be raised in short order as well. If you are able to offer financial support please refer to it as the Group of Five Sponsorship (G5)
And finally, Karen Orr who has served the church so well as a youth leader and then as our Intergenerational Coordinator has tendered her resignation. We will be recognizing her contribution to the church this coming Sunday, July 3. She is leaving the church on very good terms. We are delighted with the work she has done but recognize that church engagement is low right now and our focus needs to be on basic re-engagement of people into the life and the work of the church. Karen and I have had a number of conversations about this. She recognizes that churches across the board are struggling with low engagement due to COVID fatigue. Hopefully within a couple of years we will be ready to reintroduce targeted intergenerational activities once again. Please join us on Sunday to give thanks to Karen
I think that’s enough for now.
Take good care, be of good cheer, enjoy this beautiful day and remember that God is good all the time. All the time, God is good
Rev. Marty Molengraaf (he, him)