October 15, 2021 Newsletter
Rev. Linda Park
During times of unrest such as we are experiencing with the pandemic, there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. I hope with this Q&A format, I’ll be able to provide some clarity.
Q: What is the status of the choir?
A: Like many other ministries in the church, the choir has been unable to meet and sing together due to restrictions imposed by the provincial government and the local Health Unit. Fortunately, a small group of volunteers has come forward, and they have been practising and preparing for the in-house services. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Margo Collins who has been organizing this for the last few months.
Q: What is the current status of the music directors, Sally Rogers and Joye Daniels?
A: All personnel, except the ministers and the custodian, were laid off when the pandemic hit. When we first began the virtual services, fortunately Sally and Joye volunteered and were a part of the Virtual Worship Team helping with music selection and recording. During the past 18 months, Sally and Joye took breaks from the team and participated when they could. Currently, Sally has said that she wants to step back from leadership, and Joye has offered to play once a month starting after Thanksgiving. In order to fill this gap we will need to find other musicians to help.
Q: For what purpose did we hire Nicholas Higgs?
A: The virtual services were prepared by Laura van Nieuwkerk. With her expertise, we were able to build a “brand” of worship that drew many people to our online services. We hired Nicholas Higgs to help with the digital music recording. We felt that with his musical background and experience in digital media, he could enhance our services. Since coming on board, he has also helped with Saturday practices.
Q: Where is the church heading with respect to music and worship?
A: This is the “million dollar” question! As I reflect on the history of music at St. Andrew’s, I believe that we have been blessed by gifted and generous music personnel. However, in the last five years or so, the Session has been looking at the future for worship at St. Andrew’s and in particular the music component. When Joye’s position became available in 2016, we wondered where God was leading us, what vision God had for us?
We hired an individual to fill that position on a temporary basis until plans could be underway to do a church wide visioning and planning. At the same time New Beginnings entered our radar. We had hoped that this program/process would help us clarify our mission and vision. But then the pandemic hit and overnight suddenly the ministries had to make dramatic changes in the way things were done. That may sound dramatic, but the reality is that our “normal” has changed. The changes did not happen intentionally, but as a result of our mission to serve our community, people gradually stepped up and offered their time and gifts to serve the church in different ways.
One of the great benefits of this period has been our growing online congregation. We’ve shared a few stories in our newsletter about those who are tuning in to our services from far and wide. We never knew that we could be sharing the gospel with people we may never meet in person. The music, the prayers, the messages, the beautiful videos were touching people and encouraging them to worship with us through the internet. We could never have imagined that God would use our services in this way.
Q: Why did we not continue with New Beginnings (NB)?
A: When the pandemic hit, our NB committee was in consultation with the NB team, and we were advised that they were not ready to continue. They informed us that we could not continue the process as outlined at the beginning of the program. Instead, they encouraged us to continue to adapt to the changing environment in which we found ourselves. The NB process began with our people attempting to answer the question “where are we now?” Members of the congregation came together to reflect with two guests who were trained in the NB process. They came and listened to our stories and asked us many questions. Prior to their coming in person, our NB committee did a lot of work collecting data about attendance, staffing, building usage, and many other statistics and demographics, which were sent to the NB team. After collecting all the necessary data and conducting interviews, they produced a report of over 65 pages that painted a clear picture of “who we are” at St. Andrew’s.
Then the COVID pandemic happened, and the report was no longer an accurate picture of who we are; the last 18 months have seen great changes. Nevertheless, the questions that were asked before still need to be answered: What is God calling us to do? What is God’s mission and vision for us now? The congregation will be invited to reflect together as we seek to determine where we see God leading us. Blessings, Rev. Linda
Ian McKechnie with Katerina Alexakis,
On September 25, Ian McKechnie held a book launch to promote ‘It’s All Relative, 170 Years of McQuarrie Memories’. Ian is pictured here with Katerina Alexakis, the Cannington-based graphic designer who brought the book to life through her outstanding design and layout work. A copy of the book will be available in the public library, and a very limited supply is available for purchase. Anyone interested in purchasing a copy may contact Ian directly at ianmckechnie@trentu.ca.
How to Help a Friend with Mental Illness
“I just don’t know how to help.” There are many ways that we can help a friend with mental illness. The following ideas are excerpts from a blog post by Amy Simpson that can be found at the link provided at the end of this article.
1. Care for Practical Needs: It is easy for us to forget that people who live with mental illness are fully human. We all have 90 percent of our needs and wants in common, such as food, shelter, safety, community, etc. Begin by meeting these needs as you can.
2. Listen: Like the rest of us humans, people with mental illness need to be heard. Talking to an attentive, caring audience can be tremendously healing. You don’t have to offer solutions or wonderful, wise advice (or any advice at all). Just listen.
3. Draw near, not away: When people are dealing with something we don’t understand, or we’re tired of hearing about, or which makes them not-so-fun to be around, our natural tendency is to draw away and to put space between us and them. You aren’t the solution, but you can be a powerful vehicle for God’s healing grace and the hope that comes with knowing you’re not alone.
There’s nothing on this list that lies outside the capabilities of the average human being. Let’s help each other. https://amysimpson.com/2018/08/how-to-help-a- friend-with-mental-illness/
Support Cards are available by ordering ahead by phone 705-324-4842 or email admin@standrewslindsay.com.
