Hello, dear St. A’s Church Family and Friends … welcome back to our present pandemic version of gathering for worship! Once again, I suggest you tap into this YouTube video, and after singing “There Shall be Showers ….” , pause the tape, and read this section, including the Scriptures (do you have a Bible handy?) before continuing on. God bless you all, and it is good to hear from you. Thank you!

Scripture Readings: John 17: 1-26; Ephesians 1: 15-23

Link to YouTube service …

Reflections: Hello Everyone,

Here’s something for your funny bone…. A man went to the doctor with a swollen foot. After a careful examination, the doctor gave the man a pill big enough to choke a horse. “I’ll be right back with some water”, the doctor told him.
The doctor had been gone a while and the man lost patience. He hobbled out to the drinking fountain, forced the pill down his throat and gobbled down water until the pill cleared his throat. He hobbled back into the examining room.
Just then the doctor came back with a bucket of warm water. “Ok, after the tablet dissolves” he said, “soak that foot for about 20 minutes.”

Oops! Hopefully we can laugh at that, but maybe we can relate a little to that man by our getting short on patience regarding this pandemic. We pray plaintively like the Biblical people of old, “How long, Lord, how long?” We want a return to normal. How long, Lord, how long do we have to wear these masks? How long, Lord, how long do we have to remain socially distanced in waiting to get into a store, or talking to people? How long, Lord, how long before I can visit loved ones? How long, Lord, how long before I feel less afraid?
We’re getting weary…energy is running low…we need a boost. The concept of running a marathon came to mind, as I thought of this, when the energies part ways through a race start to flag. Stories can be told of people coming from the sidelines and running with their loved ones to help keep their spirits up, – to help them cross the line. Sports games also need their fans to cheer them on. They need encouragement and a focus to win.

This week, many in the Christian community world- wide have been mourning the passing of Rev. Ravi Zacharias to cancer. (You can see him on You tube) He had a major impact on thousands, maybe millions, of Christian and non-Christian people in universities and government circles as he brought, like St. Paul of old, the relevance of the Christian message to them. Wally Walker, Craig, Angus, and myself have all had the pleasure of being in his company. On what I suspect was one of his last presentations (The Task in a time of Crisis) before a gathering of thousands, he encouraged the listeners to keep going, saying that we are here for a reason at this specific time. If we are Christ followers, we have a calling. No work is secular work even if the world regards it as secular. He encouraged his followers to keep going to cross the finish line.
Long, long ago , as Jesus was preparing to face His greatest challenge on His time on earth, -that of going to the cross, He prayed to His Father God for the strength to do it, …He prayed for His followers at that time, … and He prayed for us. Imagine that! Jesus prayed for us! He knew back then about us here now.

Astronaut James Irwin wrote: “I tell people that God has a plan for them. I say that if God controls the universe with such infinite precision, controlling all the motions of the planets and stars, this is the working of a perfect plan for outer space. I believe that God has the perfect plan for inner space, the spirit of man. This plan was manifest when He sent His Christ to die for us, to forgive our sins, and to show us He has a plan for our lives.” This was written by a man in what would be considered ‘secular work’. How might you see God using you now in 2020?
Jesus asked His Father that His followers would see His glory. (John 17: 24) Do we, His followers, have that as our focus, our aim? St. Paul, in writing to the Ephesian believers, desired that they might know the risen Lord better, the tremendous power He has to give us, and “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints”.
All of this to remember that even though we may not be able to see it just now, but even in this, God has not deserted us – His followers. He is continuing to go forward with His plans for His Kingdom of life and goodness and righteousness, and we are part of that plan. As someone has so wisely said, “The world at its worst needs the church at its best”. The Lord has need of us in the places where we are now.

Yesterday, (May 23rd) I officiated at the funeral service for Myrna Hall, one of God’s faithful followers. We also, to our shock, learned that Shirley Christie, another of God’s faithful followers, left for her eternal home on Friday. Both of these ladies were also here for a purpose, and they have crossed the finish line with their faith intact. We rejoice for them, although we are sad for ourselves. They will, as so many others who have also taken leave, be greatly missed by their families and us! But what an example of Christian witness they have left for us to emulate! They were here as God’s chosen witnesses at this time.
So much more could be said, but dear Sandra will be waiting to send this out! Today, let us take courage that our Lord is with us, for He has promised that He will be with us always even to the end of the world; that He will never leave us or forsake us. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Dear Lord, often we lose our focus on You because we get distracted so easily. And then we get discouraged. Please rekindle our trust in You that You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no other superior meaning to life than in knowing You and in following You. May we never forget this, and may we accept Your offer of forgiveness and strength to continue on with what You have called us to do by way of bringing in your Kingdom. We pray in Your name and thank You. Amen

With love, prayers and computer hugs, …Rev. Alice

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Announcements:

Prayer topics: Please continue to remember in prayer: our world leaders, missionaries, the local churches, Rose Nichols (Mark’s wife) and others working with the ill and grieving, those suffering from spiritual and physical hunger, loss, illness,… including John Wiwcharyk, Llew Hall, Troy Cornford, (all now seeking to grow in strength at their homes), a young man named Tanner (severe head injury), …

Media speakers: Just a reminder of the some Christian speakers you will benefit from hearing; Reverends Alistair Begg, David Jeremiah, R.C. Sproul, Ravi Zacharias, Church of the Rock, Max Lucado
rayer topics: Please continue to remember in prayer: our world leaders, missionaries, the local churches, Rose Nichols (Mark’s wife) and others working with the ill and grieving, those suffering from spiritual and physical hunger, loss, illness,… including John Wiwcharyk, Llew Hall, Troy Cornford, (all now seeking to grow in strength at their homes), a young man named Tanner (severe head injury), …

Our church family has been hard hit this month with Bruce Ryan passing away on May 3rd, Myrna Hall on May 10th, and now Shirley Christie on Friday evening, May 22nd. Their departure has left a huge hole at St.A’s, Our love and caring goes out to all these families. …
We are happy to report that Llew Hall has recovered from COVID and was able to come home on Friday May 22nd.
For those seeking to develop a daily Bible reflective time and do not know how to start, there are a number of “Upper Room” and “Our Daily Bread” devotionals at the church. Please either email or phone the church office or Rev. Alice and we will be happy to get you one or both.

Media speakers: Just a reminder of the some Christian speakers you will benefit from hearing; Reverends Alistair Begg, David Jeremiah, R.C. Sproul, Ravi Zacharias, Church of the Rock, Max Lucado

Hello Everyone,

Well, here we are with our Sunday # 7 get-together. Welcome!

The story is told by Rev. Nicky Gumbel of a shipwreck at Cornwall, off the coast of England 100 years ago. A 15-year-old on board made it to a rock and clung to it all night. When he was rescued the next day, someone said to him, “You must have been scared.” He answered “Yes, I trembled with fear and cold all night, but the rock never trembled once.”

This is the Sunday when we’d planned to have a spring hymn sing at St. A’s with Group Aeternal as our guests. (They send their love.) These weeks are regular reminders of plans gone awry, right?  Believe it or not, we’ve decided to go ahead with the hymn sing anyway! Thanks to Doreen and Craig, you can go to You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWojqts1J44 and find music and words with which to sing along.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken advantage of more at home time to listen to selected speakers on YouTube, (many of which I’ve mentioned to you) while working at a quilt I started around 20 years ago. Before COVID hit, I thought it might be a goal to try finishing the quilt this year. Now it looks like that goal might be achievable!

As well as taking in lectures, I’ve also benefitted greatly from music, mostly of a spiritual sort on You Tube. (I’ve mentioned some of them to you, too.) I’ve realized afresh that our western world has this glorious heritage of large and small groups singing of their faith in the living God, – Who gives us every reason to sing! People sing in great cathedrals accompanied by massive organs, all the way to those who are confined in prisons. (Acts 16:16-34)

If we look at the Scriptures we will find the Jews and the Christians were people of song, ( e.g. Psalm 96, Psalm 98) often mentioning that even God’s natural creation sings its Creator’s praises. Have you listened to the birds singing?
As well as singing the Psalms from the Scriptures, throughout the ages since then, people have sung about God and their hope in Him through thick and thin. They have found like that teenager clinging to the rock, that God has been their Rock. “Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” (Psalm 95:1)

Those singers have come from around the world. In the songs that Doreen has chosen for today, we have some examples. There is “Welcome Happy Morning” written ca. 582 AD by Venantius Fortunatus of Italy! He was healed from blindness caused by an eye infection from lamp oil. There is the splendid “Thine is the Glory”, by Edmond Louis Budry, a Swiss writer from 1884. The music is that of George Frideric Handel from 1747. In some countries, it is very popular at weddings and at funerals. What a powerful piece! “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, written in 1923, based on Lamentations 3: 22-26, came from American Thomas O. Chisholm, but made famous by our own Canadian George Beverly Shea, (born in nearby Winchester, Ontario) when he sang it at Billy Graham Crusades in England in 1954.

There are also more contemporary writers who’ve shared their messages of faith in song. Bill and Gloria Gaither, (do they really need any introduction?) from the USA wrote “Gentle Shepherd” and “Because He lives”. Both pieces were written as a result of trying times they’d been experiencing. The same goes for “Through it All” written by American Andrae Crouch (b. 1942) who’s been nominated for Academy Awards for the films The Lion King, The Colour Purple, and Free Willy. In the space of two years, both his parents and a brother had died. He later battled with four kinds of cancer and congestive heart failure. While struggling with losing his mom, he asked the Lord “Why?” He eventually sensed the Lord encouraging him to praise Him. After at first resisting God and then obeying, he felt “strength come like a gushing well. The joy of the Lord came in the room and filled my soul…. If depression comes for anything, learn to praise Him. I know I’ve written a whole bunch of songs about that, but I learned it myself. It’s incredible—the power of praise.”

Today we are finding ourselves in turbulent times, like so many of those song writers who survived because of their faith in God. Let us cling to the Rock. God our Rock is not trembling. He wants to hold us steady. I attached a little piece of paper to one of our doors that is similar in thought. It reads “God is bigger than Goliath.” Thanks be to God!

(Content gathered and adapted) from “A Prayer for Supernatural Protection” by Rebecca Barlow Jordan. crosswalk.com

 

Happy Birthday Heather Sheppard, Chris Ryan, (April 27th) Ib Nielsen, Zoey Blum (April 28th), Aria Goodfellow, (May 1st) . Think of how much more cake you get to eat because you don’t have to share with so many people!  I know, I know,- that thought was not very Christ-like. … You could freeze some and save it until you can share. …Or not. Decisions, decisions….!

 

 

Benediction: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. —2 Corinthians 13:14

With love, prayers, and computer hugs! Rev. Alice