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St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kitchener, Ontario
Vol. 15 No. 3
Friday, February 23, 2007
In this Issue:
 Ryan Shapiro (centre) and Bert Sinclair talk to a woman about the Potato Blitz last Saturday. The pair were at Sobey's on Highland Road encouraging shoppers to give a bag of potatoes or make a cash donation |
 Sharing a table at the Potato Soup lunch held February 4th which launched our annual potato blitz were Dave Mitchell, Wilf Hahn, Janet Hahn, Terry Sturtevant, Sarah Sturtevant and Marisa Duncan. St. Andrew's staff made the meal and did the serving. |
 Discriminating shoppers look over the items for sale at one of the knitting tables at the fall bazaar. |
 Michael Blair replenishes the coffee for Lois Kayler who was pouring at the bazaar tea room. St. Andrew's young people worked hard at the event. |
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Sanctuary Choir will present Mozart's Coronation Mass on Good Friday
On Good Friday, April 6th, the Sanctuary Choir, along with the Waterloo Chamber Players will present Mozart's Mass in C Major, his best known and most popular sacred work.
In 1779 Mozart returned from his disastrous trip to Paris and, partly out of material necessity and also to please his father, he took up a position in the Archbishop's service in Salzburg. He was to "unbegrudgingly and with great diligence discharge his duties both in the cathedral and at court and in the chapel house, and as occasion presents, to provide the court and church with new compositions of his own creation." At the first opportunity Mozart fulfilled this demand, composing the mass for the Easter day service on 4th April 1779.
Although written much earlier, the work became generally known as the Coronation Mass, since it was performed during the coronation festivities for Francis I in Prague in 1792, and probably in 1791 for Leopold II as well.
The mass requires a larger orchestra, so the Waterloo Chamber Players will be augmented with additional horns, flutes and oboes. Soloists from the sanctuary Choir will take part along with tenor soloist Mark Rowsom, who is no stranger to St. Andrew's.
The service, which begins at 11:00 a.m., will be televised and will include a brief meditation by the Rev. Mark Lewis also.
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Church school raising funds for "Enough for All"
This year the church school is working to raise funds to support the Presbyterian World Service and Development project "Living Water -Enough for All" in various places in the world.
For the month of February, the children have been assembling jars of soup mix, each one signed by a child in our church school. All you have to do is add water, a can of tomatoes, and meat if you wish, and viola! soup's on. (After you have cooked it, of course.) Suggested donation for each jar is $5.00 and sales have been brisk.
In March the children will again "Read With a Mission" Each child taking part secures pledges from family and friends and then reads books selected from our church library. Monies pledged go towards the PWS&D project.
As an alternative this year, a water awareness fund raiser is offered. A number of parents have reported that their children are involved in book reading projects at school and hoped that another way of being part of the initiative could be found.
Water is something we pretty much take for granted. We use more in a day than families in some parts of the world use in a week. To help the children recognize how blessed we are, those taking part in this project will take home a schedule assessing a cost for the water they use, beginning with a 10 cent charge for each tap in their homes. A glass of water? There's a charge. A bath? There's a charge.
And for March and April eight PWS&D envelopes will go home with the children. If they use those envelopes for their collection the money will go to support the "Enough for All" project.
The goal is to raise $2000 to help support the work of PWS&D.
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Garden of St. Andrew
Work on the Garden of St. Andrew will begin again once the warmer weather arrives, with the installation of the walkways and eventually some plantings.
One section of one wall is almost completely sold. It is the second section from the end and includes the bow of the boat. People have been creative in their designs, and Pam Meirowski of our church office staff who is looking after orders, has forwarded instructions for the tiles already spoken for to the artist. The tiles should be ready in April.
Lenten words reflect their Pagan and Latin origins
Dear Friends:
February 25th is the first Sunday in Lent this year. Lent is the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. It is a time to consider Jesus' journey to the cross. Some will note that Lent is actually 47 days long, but you have to subtract the seven Sundays. Sunday is always a celebration of the resurrection, and therefore Sundays do not belong to Lent. I would like to share the origins of some Lenten terminology with you.
The word "Lent" is borrowed from our Pagan ancestors and refers to the festival of the "lengthening" of days. In Pagan worship it is a celebration of the new life which comes with the spring. In Christian worship it is the celebration of the new life which comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. The word "Easter" is also Pagan in origin, derived from "Eastre" the Pagan goddess of the coming of springtime.
The day last before Lent is "Shrove Tuesday". "Shrove" is derived from the Latin "shrive", meaning "to lift away". We use the term to mean "lift away sins" or "make confession". It is the day when we cleanse our souls in preparation for a time of repentance. In some cultures Shrove Tuesday is called "Mardi gras" or "Fat Tuesday" because it marks the end of "Carnival", from the Latin "carne-levare", "festival of the flesh".
The Presbyterian celebration of Mardi gras tends to be more subtle than the celebrations in Rio de Janeiro or New Orleans. We limit ourselves to a Pancake Supper on Shrove Tuesday, but the intent is the same. The pancakes allow us to "go wild" by using up all of our butter and eggs before the Lenten period of fasting and repentance. We do not put much emphasis on fasting or sacrifice in Lent but it can still be a time of repentance.
Thursday in Holy Week is called "Maundy Thursday" and is marked by the remembrance of Jesus washing the disciple's feet in John 13. The term "Maundy" comes from the Latin "manda-tum", meaning "commandment", and refers to the new commandment to love one another. The Friday of Holy Week is called "Good Friday" to celebrate Christ's goodness in going to the cross, and the good we receive as a result of Christ's sacrifice.
God bless you and your family in the season of Lent.
Your co-worker in Christ, Mark Lewis
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Four new bells extend lower range
These large new bells, pictured here with three of the smallest ones, are a welcome addition for the bell choir.
St. Andrew's Bell Choir has expanded its range into the lower octaves with the addition of four new bells. The bells were the gift of a generous anonymous donor who has fulfilled a dream of Bell Choir Conductor Joyce Laur. Joyce has hoped for some time to be able to have a deeper resonance and wider range of notes.
The new bells were ordered last summer from Malmark Bellcraftsmen in Pennsylvania, who supplied our original set. Although the company makes bells that have an even deeper voice, these four are a handsome and practical addition and provide a rich, full sound.
Joyce continues to lead the Bell Choir, expecting the best from the committed ringers who practice weekly. Daniel Gammage is the Associate Conductor of the Bell Choir, having been part of the choir from its inception.
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Search proceeding
Drivers needed
The Search Committee, under the guidance of the Rev. John McCallum,
continues to meet on a regular basis. A second church profile has been completed and will be posted on our church website as well as being forwarded to the Presbyterian Church in Canada website.
A listing in the "Vacancies" in the Presbyterian Record will appear in the March issue.
National church offices will forward to St. Andrew's a list of possible candidates. The goal is to find a suitable full time minister who will focus primarily on pastoral care but who will likely have some crossover in the area of Christian education.
The committee is working on a job description now, as well as the criteria for the interviewees.
It seems unlikely that there will be anyone in place before September.
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Annual blitz a winner for local agency
The annual Potato Blitz for the House of Friendship kicked off at St. Andrew's on February 4th with a wonderful potato soup lunch prepared by the church staff. The mouth watering aroma of the soup encouraged lots of 9:30 a.m. worshippers to stay for an early lunch that morning and the compliments were many for the cooks.
St. Andrew's can be proud of the fact that we helped in the launch of the annual potato drive in 1996 and have supported it faithfully year after year. Since then the cause has been taken up by Presbyterian churches throughout the twin cities. Even the Kitchener Rangers have a potato night at the Auditorium each February.
Several St. Andrew's members volunteered for the supermarket blitz held last Saturday, collecting donations at Zehr's at Glenridge Plaza, Central Fresh Market on King St. and Sobey's on Highland Road. They included Harold Ball, Victor Morton, Jeff Lehmann, Kathy Hoffman, Anna Gerrard, Chuck Packham, Ryan Shapiro, Bert Sinclair, Jan Blackburn, Frank Winsor, Elizabeth Simpson, Richard Rooke, Ron Shane, Garry and Yola Grant, Bruce Hymmen and the project coordinators.
The House of Friendship is able to purchase potatoes year round at 10 cents a pound from Marhaven Farms in St. Jacobs.
The blitz wraps up today with a Potato Lunch put on by the House of Friendship and held at St. Andrew's.
If you haven't already made a donation to this worthy cause, it's not too late to support the drive. Bring your donation of potatoes or cash to the church office. You can make a difference in someone's life!
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There are a number of seniors, other members and adherents who would like to attend services at St. Andrew's, but, for a variety of reasons are not able to do so. To respond to this need the Local Outreach Committee plans to coordinate transportation to and from Sunday morning church services. Drivers are required to implement this initiative. If you could help, please call Bob Courtney at 519-741-1963.
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Our Milestones
Deaths
We mourn
Waltz, Alice, Waterloo, November 18, 2006
Whitfield, Marion, Kitchener, December 4,2006
Brown, Robert, Kitchener, December 5, 2006
Kraft, Donald, Kitchener, December 22,2006
Willis, J. Samuel, Kitchener, December 28,2006
Riddell, Andrew, Waterloo, December 29.2006
Hodgson, Catherine, London, January 26.2007
Seguin, Lorraine, Kitchener, January 28, 2007
McMurchy, Dr. Norman Ray, Kitchener, February 5, 2007
Mitchell, Theda, Kitchener, February 12, 2007
Comments or suggestions are most welcome.