Category Archives: Uncategorized

Join a great chorus of praise this Reformation Sunday afternoon! With participation from congregations that include First Christian Reformed, St. Mark’s Lutheran, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, Sand Hill/St. John’s Presbyterian, Strathcona Park Presbyterian, Sydenham Street United and Westside Christian Reformed … we will be celebrating eight of the great hymns of the Reformation, and of the Lutheran and Reformed traditions, accompanied by the 3,000 pipes of the St. Andrew’s organ, interspersed with reflections on the five ‘solas’. A warm welcome to all.

Free parking on the streets around the church (at the corner of Princess and Clergy Streets) and in the surface lots along Queen Street (one just behind the church, and another between Sydenham and Montreal Streets).

A might fortress (Luther); I greet thee who my sure Redeemer art (Calvin); All people that on earth do dwell (Kethe, d. 1594, Genevan Psalter 1551); How brightly beams the morning star (Philipp Nicolai 1556-1608); We praise you O God (anon, Netherlands 1626); Now thank we all our God (Martin Rinckart (1586-1649); Jesus shall reign (Isaac Watts 1674-1748); Will you come and follow me (Iona Community).

What a surprise. Our tour of the sanctuary this Reformation Sunday leads us this morning to … the pulpit!

The Word of God, not only read in Holy Scriptures but particularly as communicated by the Holy Spirit, as heard in the sermon preached from the pulpit, has been a foundational element of Reformed worship to this time and place.

In his Geneva Catechism of 1565, Jean Calvin would write God has left us his holy word; for spiritual doctrine is a kind of door by which we enter his heavenly kingdom (Q300). When the question is raised Where are we to seek for this word?, the answer is not only In the Holy Scriptures, in which it is contained (Q301), but also Every one ought to exercise himself in the daily reading of it, and all should be especially careful to attend the sermons when the doctrine of salvation is expounded in the assembly of the faithful (Q304). The Reformed understanding insists upon allowing the work of the Holy Spirit through informed interpretation and application, and the discernment of the corporate experience …

This dynamic of the Word of God gathering, shaping and sending a people is seen in the prominence of the pulpit in a sanctuary of St. Andrew’s.

Have a look at the order of service, and join us in the worship of God. There is a nursery for infants during the service, and a programme for children also. If you are new to the area, there is ample free parking on the streets around, and in the surface public parking lot off Queen Street just behind the church. A warm welcome awaits you, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Living Word.

Download (PDF, 500KB)

‘Arise!’

What great scenes this word conjures up in the Bible (in the KJV) … The Lord declaring to Abram ‘Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee’ (Genesis 13:17) … The Lord telling David to behold the least likely of the sons of Jesse, ‘Arise, anoint him: for this is he’ (I Samuel 16:12) … The Lord exhorting the people of God who have found their land and lives in ruins, ‘Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee’ (Isaiah 60:1) … Jesus saying to the one paralyzed, ‘I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house’ (Mark 2:11)

‘Arise’ is also the name of a ministry supported by the Presbyterian Church, one that focuses upon caring for individuals who find themselves in Toronto and involved in the sex trade. Chaplaincy and spiritual care is provided through accompaniment, advocacy, hospital and jail visits. Case management and classes are also offered. The name ‘Arise’ is always accompanied by the phrase ‘Hope lives here’, articulating the Christian gospel that is at the heart of this ministry.

This Sunday we welcome the Rev. Deb Rapport to share with us something of her calling and this ministry. As a congregation we are supporting Arise with a special financial gift this year, in addition to our full Presbyterians Sharing allocation. Read more about Arise and Deb at http://www.presbyterianrecord.ca/2016/11/01/unbreakable And read the brochure that is available below, right beneath the Sunday bulletin.

During the service there is a nursery for infants and a programme for children. After the service there is a congregational potluck lunch, and there is always enough food for everyone – your presence is the best contribution! Have a look at the order of service and join us – you would be very welcome.

Download (PDF, 397KB)

Download (PDF, 206KB)

St. Andrew’s Church has a special relationship with Queen’s.

It was in the sanctuary of St. Andrew’s that it was agreed to begin a second institution of higher learning in Upper Canada (after King’s College in York that was limited to individuals who would subscribe to the Anglican articles of faith). When the Royal Charter was granted, it stipulated that Queen’s College be located no further than three miles from St. Andrew’s Church Kingston. The Canadian Presbyterian Church as a whole provided financial support to keep the college (then university), handing governance over to its graduates in 1912.

To mark this relationship, we will welcome the Rev. Dr. William Morrow to the pulpit this morning of Homecoming Weekend. Dr. Morrow (Ph.D. University of Toronto) is Professor of Hebrew and Hebrew Scriptures in the School of Religion, Queen’s University. Educated for the ministry in Knox College (M.Div., 1978), he is currently an Anglican priest.

And how fitting that the lectionary reading for this Sunday, for the sermon text, is the scene of Moses before the burning bush (Exodus 3), from which comes the motto of the Presbyterian tradition ‘burning, but not consumed’. I love this image of the church alive by a power beyond itself, but also of the church as a modest bush rather than a mighty palm tree or oak. I look forward to Dr. Morrow’s insights.

Please join us in the worship of God! You will find below the Order of Worship, but also several announcements of forthcoming opportunities to grow in Christian faith, community and service.

During the service there is a nursery for infants and a programme for children. There is ample free parking on the streets around and in a public surface lot off Queen Street behind the church. We look forward to welcoming you.

Download (PDF, 538KB)

You who have given so much to me,
Give me one thing more,
a grateful heart, for Christ’s sake. (George Herbert 1593-1633)

Thanksgiving in Canada is a Christian holiday. It was the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada that petitioned the government of the Dominion of Canada to establish a national holiday for Thanksgiving, a petition granted in 1879, when the Governor General announced ‘And whereas it is our duty to acknowledge publicly to Almighty God our thankfulness for the bountiful harvest with which he has blessed us during the present year … we have thought fit … to appoint this day … as a day of Public Thanksgiving to Almighty God’.

On this holy-day, you are invited to join us and give thanks to God. Not one of us chose to be born, and yet we have breath and blood. We live in a land of beauty and bounty, of diversity and security. We live in a city we did not build, with hospitals and schools and so many at work for the common good. When we were so far from good and God that we could not find our way back again, the Holy One came among us in Jesus to offer a new beginning to us. We know that so much of life is grace, so much of life is gift. And we know that a gift is never truly a gift until the giver is thanked … and so we will gather to lift up our thanksgivings to God.

The sermon continues a series that explores how the architecture of the sanctuary is meant to support our Christian faith. The focus this morning is upon the pews, the history of pews in general but particularly the shape of these pews that remind us we are gathered to be a community, a community of thanksgiving to God!

Have a look at the order of service – wonderful hymns of thanksgiving! – and the announcements and invitations to grow in Christian faith, community and service. There is ample free parking along the streets and in the public surface lot just behind the church off Queen Street. During the service there is a nursery offered for infants and a programme for children.

A joyous thanksgiving!

Download (PDF, 477KB)

Looking at the way it is lifted off the ground, it is clear that we are to think of this as a table, not an altar. This is not a place for sacrifice but it is a place of presence. At this table we gather, and as we eat and drink, we are gathered into the very real presence of the Holy One. How is this accomplished? Many have pondered and debated, but I appreciate most the humility of Jean Calvin before the mystery – ‘Now if anyone should ask me how this takes place, I shall not be ashamed to confess that it is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare. And, to speak more plainly, I rather experience it than understand it.’

The table stands at the centre of our sanctuary to remind us of the central promise of the Risen Lord to be with his people, through life and even death, into life.

I remember vividly a service I attended in St. Andrew’s Church Chennai (Madras) India – now part of the Church of South India http://www.thekirk.in . I was visiting India as part of a monitoring team for Presbyterian World Service and Development. Guy Smagghe and I arrived just in time for a communion service. The Holy Table was decked in white linen. But the amazing thing was that each row of seats had linen over their backs also. It was as if waves of white went forth from the table at the centre, a symbolic way of extending the table to every seat of the large sanctuary, the presence and promises of the Living Lord to each member. (I later learned that this is a custom of the Scottish Presbyterian tradition, whose members first erected the church in 1821, and the Indian congregation maintains it to this day.)

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are invited to join us this Sunday for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper … at the Lord’s Table. Have a look at the order of service. There is a nursery for infants, and a programme for children, during the service. And there are many opportunities to grow in Christian faith, community and service.

Download (PDF, 404KB)