Happy ? B-Day ! Ft. Rev. Karen Bach

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With the Rev. Dr. Johnston away to witness a beautiful union that is marriage, we gladly welcome the Rev. Karen Bach! This Sunday’s service will focus on lift! Lift up your heads, o gates! And be lifted up,  ancient doors!

As always, we warmly welcome you to join us this Sunday. During the service a nursery is offered for infants and preschoolers. There is free parking in the city surface lot off Queen Street behind the church, and along the streets (please note that the time-of-day restrictions north of Queen are not in effect on Sundays).

Have a look at the Order of Service below, and consider each announcement a personal invitation to join us in Christian faith, community and service.

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The Days of Summer

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The family cedar strip canoe on Little Whitefish Lake

Come by canoe (with portage) or car, walking or cycling – if you are in the area, we invite you to join us these Sundays of summer.

Have a look at the list of services, studies and outreach opportunities, and participate as you are able and interested. It would be great to welcome you!

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The Dominion of … – Sunday July 1, 10:30 a.m.

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With Canada Day this year falling on a Sunday, we have a great opportunity to gather before God with thanksgiving for our nation, and for direction.

Sorting through my aunt’s house this past year, we found many treasures of family and community. From one book slipped an old paper bill, with a portrait of King George V, dated July 2, 1923, with the banner over all declaring ‘The Dominion of Canada’.

Caption over one of the windows of the Peace Tower of the Parliament Buildings Ottawa

A ‘dominion’ never stands alone, is never entirely independent. A dominion is always related to another to whom it is accountable. Whose dominion is Canada?

We will explore the history behind this foundational appellation of our land, and in particular the biblical dimensions and applications.

We warmly welcome you to join us this Sunday. During the service a nursery is offered for infants and preschoolers. There is free parking in the city surface lot off Queen Street behind the church, and along the streets (please note that the time-of-day restrictions north of Queen are not in effect on Sundays).

Have a look at the Order of Service below, and consider each announcement a personal invitation to join us in Christian faith, community and service.

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Worship on the Lawn – Sunday June 24, 10:30 a.m.

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With our feet on the good soil of God’s creation, and the leaves of the trees overhead providing shade, we will gather on the other side of the limestone walls of St. Andrew’s, on the lawn at the corner of Princess and Clergy. (Or if we receive some much needed rain, on the customary side of those walls, within the sanctuary!)

The theme that ties the scripture readings together is … ‘summer’!

Have a look at the Order of Service, and join us for worship, and for a congregational BBQ afterwards – whatever the weather. You might wish to linger even longer and take in the Skeleton Park Arts Festival just down the street.

There is parking on the surface city lot just behind the church off Queen Street and on neighbouring streets.

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Turtle Island – Sunday June 17, 10:30 a.m.

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Each Sunday morning we acknowledge that we gather on traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. This Sunday, in anticipation of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, we will hear the story of Turtle Island and consider our own understandings of creation … and its care.

During the prayers of thanksgiving and intercession, I will include the words of Art Solomon, an Anishinaabe elder (1914-1997):

O Sacred One, look at our brokenness.
We know that in all creation, only the human family
has strayed from the Sacred Way.
We know that we are the ones who are divided
and we are the ones who must come back together
to walk the Sacred Way.
O Sacred One, teach us love, compassion, and honour
that we may heal the earth and heal each other.

And after the service, to conclude our 200th anniversary year, some of us will walk two blocks over to McBurney (Skeleton) Park and stand for a moment before the only gravestone remaining in the former cemetery, that of the first minister of St. Andrew’s Kingston, the Rev. John Barclay, who arrived from Scotland Christmas Day 1821 and died of fever 30 years of age September 26, 1826.

If you are in the area, please join us. During the service there is offered a nursery for infants and a programme for young children. There is free parking in the city surface lot behind the church off Queen Street, and on neighbouring streets (the time of day restrictions north of Queen are not applicable on Sundays).

And have a look at our Order of Service, and the announcements – please consider each a personal invitation to grow in Christian faith, study and service.

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The Entry of the Bible – Sunday June 10, 10:30 a.m.

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One might presume that our corporate worship of God begins with the Call To Worship, but I would suggest that it begins prior, as we rise together and stand in silence … not for the choir, not for the Minister, but as the Order of Service notes, for The Entry of the Bible.

This has been a distinctive of the Presbyterian tradition since the Reformation. One of the hallmarks of the Reformed tradition is the extremely high view accorded to the Bible.

It is also a particular view of the Bible.

We do not worship the Bible … but God (Father Son and Holy Spirit) who always stands beyond the Bible, who has given us the Bible as a sure means by which approach God and God’s will for humanity.

We understand the Bible to be the Word of God … as the Holy Spirit takes the words on the page and speaks to us through them of the Living Christ and Great Creator

We take the Bible seriously … understanding that it contains God’s word to God’s people over many different contexts and generations, and we rely upon the Holy Spirit to assist us in understanding what is of a certain time, and what are the overarching themes of enduring relevance and imperative for us today.

We are not literalists, taking a phrase and demanding unthinking acceptance, but pour over the whole Bible, and allow historians, scientists and theologians to assist us in understanding original contexts for appropriate contemporary application.

This dynamic demands a great deal of personal responsibility and makes for a great deal of discussion and even debate, but we keep the Bible at the centre of our life together, praying that we remain open to God speaking to us through it.

This morning the sermon will celebrate one of the great overarching themes of the Bible, the theme of ‘covenant’, God’s promise to not just create but also to care and commit, and God’s call for us to be a covenant people.

If you are in the area, please join us. Have a look at the Order of Service to have an idea what to expect. There is nursery for infants and a programme for children during the service. There is free parking in the city surface lot off Queen Street just behind the church, and on neighbouring streets (time-of-day restrictions north of Queen are not applicable on Sunday).

Have a look at the announcements on subsequent pages and consider each one a personal invitation to grow in Christian worship, study and fellowship. You would be welcome!

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The Holy Community – Sunday May 27, 10:30 a.m.

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This morning we ponder the great mystery of the Trinity.

The Scottish Reformed theologian, Thomas F. Torrance, has written that ‘The doctrine of the Trinity is the central dogma of Christian theology, the fundamental grammar of our knowledge of God’ (Trinitarian Perspectives). But what does the Trinity say about God?

I have been reflecting upon the great fifteenth century icon of Andrei Rublev, entitled ‘The Trinity’, the most famous Russian icon of all time. On the surface it depicts the three angels who met with Abraham by the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 8:1-18), but was clearly intended by the artist as a way for us to enter into contemplation of God’s own character.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the three ‘persons’ of God are shown forming a circle of communication, a community of relationship. Jurgen Moltmann, the German Reformed theologian has claimed that if scripture states that ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:16), God is also known to be a community of love, comprised of the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love that they share. It is a relationship of life, it is a life-giving relationship. It is out of this Holy Community that there came creation and humanity. It is from this that there comes salvation and inspiration.

This morning we will, with joy, be formally welcoming new members into our congregation. What a blessing that it is also Trinity Sunday. We are reminded that in the church we are given the opportunity to not only ponder but also participate in and even practise Holy Community!

If you are in the area and can join us, please join us. There is a nursery for infants and a programme for young children during the service, if so desired. There is ample free parking in the city surface lot on Queen Street just behind the church and on the streets around. (The time of day restrictions on the streets north of Queen are not enforced on Sundays.) There is even a monthly congregational pot luck lunch after the service this Sunday.

Have a look at the Order of Service, and the announcements … we would warmly welcome you!

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