The Fundamental Grammar of God – Sunday June 11, 10:30 a.m.

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The Scottish theologian Thomas F. Torrance has called the Trinity ‘the fundamental grammar of God’. The phrase reminds me that the Trinity is not just the way we talk about God. The Trinity is the way God is.

The one God is a community, composed of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the classic words of the Scriptures and creeds. The one God is a community of love – the Lover, the Beloved and the Love itself that they share (as described by Jurgen Moltmann). And the love that this divine community is within itself … is a love that overflows from itself, known by human beings like us in divine acts of creation, salvation and inspiration.

Last Sunday we explored how the first act of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the creation of the Church, the drawing of women and men into community by which they could grow into the divine community that is God. This Sunday we will explore how the love that binds Christians together is by definition a love that also overflows, from the church into the lives of neighbours and nations.  The scriptural text for the sermon will be a passage that invokes all three ‘persons’ of the Trinity and describes the commission to mission – the Risen Lord saying to his friends ‘As the Father sent me, so I send you’, then breathing upon them the Holy Spirit (John 20:19-23).

We will be singing great hymns like ‘Thou whose almighty word’, ‘O Spirit of the living God’ and ‘Glory be to God the Father/Son/Spirit’, and the choir anthem will be Tchaikovsky’s ‘Cherubic Hymn’ with the well-known words ‘Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity’.

If you are in the area this Sunday, please join us. We would warmly welcome you. There is a nursery for infants and a programme for children during the service. There is ample free parking in the public surface lot just behind the church off Queen Street and on neighbouring streets (time of day restrictions are not enforced on Sundays).

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Pentecost! – Sunday June 4, 10:30 a.m.

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Pentecost Sunday

If you are in the area, we warmly welcome you to join us as we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing together the Church as the Living Body of the Living Lord … fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus … and today! There is a nursery for infants and a programme for young children offered during the service. Free parking is found along nearby streets and in a public surface lot just behind the church off Queen Street.

Have a look at the order of service. And consider each of the announcements of the following pages a personal invitation to join us in Christian worship, community and service!

Of particular note is the opening of the 143rd General Assembly this evening, 7 p.m. For further details, see the link in the Special Events section to the right.

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Where is up? The Ascension of Jesus – May 28, 10:30 a.m.

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The Ascension of Christ by Salvador Dali, 1958

Some might still imagine the universe as a three storied structure, with heaven above, earth in the middle and hell below. Even so, I doubt I could find anyone who would say that space travel could ever bring us to heaven.

It is true that the Ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:1-11) definitely uses the language of ‘up’. Yet it strikes me as less a description of leaving and more a matter of completion. In the most profound way, I hear the ascension of Jesus as completing his incarnation. Jesus came amongst us and took our our human life to restore us to relationship with our God, here and now. Our God resides not apart from us but amongst us, which is the whole point of Pentecost. Home is not ‘up’ but here. With God. Thank God.

If you are in the area, you are warmly invited to join us in worship this Sunday. During the service a nursery is offered for infants and there is a programme for children. There is ample free parking available on the streets around (even where it states no parking during certain day time hours), and in the public surface lot behind the church on Queen Street west of Clergy. Have a look at the Order of Service, and the announcements, and join us!

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The Rock and the Sword – Sunday May 21, 10:30 a.m.

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When you hear the phrase ‘the rock and the sword’, what comes to mind? If you are like me, the image is probably that of Merlin bringing the unknown young man Arthur to a great stone at Westminster, and Arthur pulling the sword and being crowned King of England. That is what would come to my mind, if I were not the Minister of St. Andrew’s Church Kingston, that is!

In fact if you plug ‘the rock and the sword’ into any internet search engine, the first listing is for a volume of this congregation’s history! This Sunday morning, author Brian S. Osborne will present St. Andrew’s with a revised and expanded version of its history, in preparation for the 200th anniversary celebrations of the congregation commencing September 16-17 later this year.

The title of this book is taken from a quote of Robertson Davies, who spent formative years in St. Andrew’s and wrote ‘I have found the Shorter Catechism a rock at my back and a sword in my hand’. The sermon this Sunday will take up the phrase ‘the rock and the sword’ but will delve beyond the volume of history, beyond Robertson Davies, beyond even the Shorter Catechism, and focus upon some scripture texts that might prove a strength to us in our day (and in particular I Samuel 2:1-8, Psalm 62 and Ephesians 6:10-17).

If you are in the area, please join us. There is ample free parking along the surrounding streets, and during the service there is a nursery available for infants and a programme for children. After the service there is a congregational lunch to which all are welcome. Have a look at the order of service, and announcements within. It would be a pleasure to welcome you!

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Christian Family Sunday – May 14, 10:30 a.m.

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Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937), Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures, ca. 1909. Oil on canvas, 48.8 × 40 in. Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas.

I was introduced to this painting recently by Victoria Emily Jones through a blog at ‘Art and Theology’. I must admit that at first I thought Mary was teaching her son to knit … which brought a great smile to my face … but my heart was warmed when I realized that they were pouring over a scroll of the scriptures.

On this Sunday in our worship, we think of our families. We will read a passage from our contemporary Canadian statement of faith (‘Living Faith – Foi Vivante’) that ‘God’s purpose for us can be realized in both single and married life.’ We are not defined by the presence or absence of a partner, by the giving birth or adopting of children, by having siblings or an extended family. We are defined by how we allow the love of God known in Christ to flow into, and through, us whatever the particular constellation of our lives.

The fact that not one of us chooses to be born, that each one of us is brought into this world by a mother, is a humbling place to start our spiritual journey. So I appreciate the opportunity this morning to thank God for all I have learned, even via negativa, by those who have been family to me.

Who knows if back in the day a modest carpenter’s family could have afforded a scroll of scripture? In this painting I am reminded that for many of us, Christian faith and life is something that has become real for us in the witness of some within our families, whether grandparent, parent, sibling or even child.

Join us if you are in the area to give God thanks. There is ample free parking on the streets around the church, and in the public surface lot just behind the church off Queen Street. During our worship there is a nursery offered for infants and a programme for children. Have a look at the Order of Service and the announcements within. You will be welcome!

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May’s Tulips and God’s Providence – Sunday May 7, 10:30 a.m.

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Canada 150 Tulip

As I walk about town (when the rain lets up!), it is a joy to see the tulips appear in the various gardens I pass after their long winter slumber. Béatrice and I planted some of the Canada 150 bulbs, and we are waiting impatiently for them to open.

These tulips have reminded me of some of the great Reformed emphases upon celebrating the providence of God. This world is not a product of chance nor coincidence but is a creation of the Sovereign God, intentionally good: ‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease’ (Genesis 8 :22). God is not just Creator but Sustainer, maintaining the changing seasons with such regularity as an gracious opportunity for humanity to grow in maturity of soul and society: ‘God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good alike and sends his rain on the just and the unjust’ (Matthew 5:45).

It is an opportunity that we often squander, even misuse, of course. In Tulipmania, Mike Dash tells the story how the marvellous flower that came to be known as the tulip was gradually carried from its native mountains in Central Asia to Persia and Turkey then to Europe, where in the years 1633-37, they became an obsession in the Netherlands and an investment. In 1637, one bulb alone was sold for the equilivant of $1.5 million. But then the speculative market collapsed, and many families were left destitute, and the national economy entered a depression. A gift and thing of beauty is commodified and exploited, to the ultimate harm of many – a story repeated over and over again in human history.

God’s greatest act of providence, I believe, is the provision of our healing and hope in Jesus Christ. If you are in the area this Sunday, join us in an hour of classic Christian worship. Have a look at the order of service – inside you will find the scripture texts for reflection and preparation. There is ample parking on the streets around the church, and in the public lot behind the church off Queen Street. During the service there is a nursery for infants and a programme for young children. You would be welcome!

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Glorious Mess – Sunday April 30, 10:30 a.m.

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I read a column by George Monbiot recently in The Guardian Weekly, commenting on the way digital technology and contemporary urban culture are moving us further and further from actual tangible experience … with significant consequences. ‘It is no longer rare to meet adults who have never swum except in a swimming pool, never slept except in a building, never run a mile or climbed a mountain, never been stung by a bee or a wasp, never broken a bone or needed stitches. Without a visceral knowledge of what it is to be hurt and healed, exhausted and resolute, freezing and ecstatic, we lose our reference points. Climate change, distant wars, the erosion of democracy, resurgent fascism – in our temperature-controlled enclosures, all can be reduced to abstractions’. These insights caused me to pause and reflect deeply.

They also caused me to be all the more grateful. The reason is called ‘The Mess’, and it has a home at St. Andrew’s. Three days a week individuals break out of virtual reality and social isolation to seek human community and enjoy the experience of tangible creativity. It is a wonderfully healing and hope-filled place/people. This Sunday Sandi Dodds shares with us some of the biblical imperatives and personal joys of ‘The Mess’.

Join us if you are in the area. There is parking along the streets and in a public surface lot just behind the church off Queen Street. A nursery for infants and a programme for children is offered during the service. Have an advance peak at the Order of Service, and please consider each of the announcements that follow a personal invitation to join in Christian faith, community and service.

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