SASS Weekly Newsletter

April 21 2020

 

April 19 2020 – Sunday Worship

On Sunday I offered some reflections on the current pandemic, “Life, Pandemic and Faith.” Rather than responding to this situation just like the world, can we respond to be salt and light, that the world needs in the midst of the tremendous amount of fear? So I suggested three responses :-

• Determination of Faith
• persevere in faith and trust no matter what
• Declaration of Faith
• let’s not be content to survive this but thrive instead, in word and action
• can we be good neighbours?
• can we offer enthusiasm and comfort to others? 
• can we invite others to login to our online worship?
• Deepening of Faith

• let’s take this opportunity to train, to develop spiritual disciplines

1.                                                i.     Prayer – give thanks for three different things every day this coming week
2.                                              ii.     Confession – Detox – what does Jesus want us to stop?
3.                                            iii.     Meditate on the Word – “Moments with the Master in May”

 

Moments with the Master in May

During May I want to challenge all of us to read and meditate on the Gospel of Luke. As such I have created a reading plan below, for our convenience.

Every day read the passage at least once, if you have two different translations of the Bible then I would encourage you to read it in both. Ask God to speak to you through His Word. After some silent reflection ask the following two questions:-

1. What leaps out at you about this passage?
2. If you could ask God one question about this passage what would you ask?

I would encourage all of us to start a reading journal to record our questions and answers. Let’s develop a wonderful habit as we mediate on these “Moments with the Master in May.”

 

 

Sunday, April 26^th

This coming Sunday Rev. Dr. David “Monty” Montgomery, will look at select verses from Genesis 32, 1 Kings 19 and Matthew 26, as he discusses being “Alone with God,”during this period of strange self-isolation.

 

SASS “online” ministries

All of the following will be online, using our usual ZOOM connection information.

• Wednesday Girls’ Group, 8pm
• Thursday Morning Bible Study through the Gospel of John, 10:00am
• Friday Night Youth Group, 7pm
• College & Careers Group on Sunday, April 26, 8pm

Prayer

Let’s continue to uphold Don Campbell, Muriel Dionne, Jean & Alan Bone, Margaret Williams, Kel Keyser, Penny McDonald, David Forrest, David Ballentine, Liz Lilley, Lorne Dennis, Joanne Graham, Jim Hall and Dean Scott. Let’s pray for the health care workers who are on the frontline fighting to defeat this unseen reality, especially those in our congregation, and those who have friends and/or family members who have tested positive for this virus. Let’s uphold the many many people who have had their lives turned upside down because of this virus. People have been laid off and are applying for EI. People are anxious about their financial situation. People are stressed about home-schooling their children for the foreseeable future. People are gripped by fear. People are worried about their loved ones who statistically are more vulnerable to this virus. 

 

RightNow Media

Are you looking for something else to watch on TV during these long days at home? Don’t forget you have FREEaccess to RightNow Media - a huge, streaming, online, access-on-any-device library of over 10,000 video Bible studies, leadership videos, kids shows and more. To register & access RightNow Media, go to our church website (sasspc.bc.ca) and click on the RightNow Media link, or email me if you have any connection problems.

Face Masks

Rosalind Knightis offering to make face masks for anyone who would like one. Donations will be accepted for Servants Anonymous. Each mask has elastics at the side, and a bendable wire to shape it around the nose. Call Rosalind if you have specific requests which she may or not be able to accommodate. 604-916-1637. Face masks can be picked up at Rosalind’s door, down the right side of house,1627 Ralph Street

 

Church Finances

Thank you for continuing to support the life and ministry at SASS. The following are ways to donate during this time.

 

Send a cheque to the church office, or you can drop your offering in to the secure letterbox attached to the Chesterfield Ave entrance door. This letterbox is checked and emptied every week day.

 

If you have a PAYPAL account - Go to our church homepage and scroll down and click on “DONATE NOW”, in order to donate directly via your PAYPAL account. You will be asked to complete a form with your name and contact details. Select “SASSPC – Online Donations” from the drop down list under CAMPAIGNS. Click on “NEXT STEPS”. You will be asked to fill out your billing address (which for most of us we can simply click the “same as mailing address”). You will then be redirected to your PAYPAL account to authorise your donation.

 

Sandi Romain can setup up for PAR (Pre-Authorised Remittance). This is a monthly direct debitfrom your bank account. Sandi is willing to set this up even for a short period for anyone interested. Go to sasspc.bc.ca for more details. You need to download & complete the PAR authorisation and mail it directly to Sandi with a VOID CHEQUE. Sandi’s contact details are as follows :-

SANDI ROMAIN, 2208 Sorrento Drive, Coquitlam, BC V3K 6H5

604-931-6695,romainsandi@hotmail.com

 

Worship Services

We continue to hold our Sunday worship services online, via ZOOM. From now on ZOOM requires a password to join any meeting. The link to SASS meetings and worship services will be as follows:-

Zoom link – https://zoom.us/j/7959307120

Password – “sass” (no quotes)

 

If you DO NOT have access to a computer / internet then you can phone in and listen to the service.

1. Dial 778 907 2071. 
2. When prompted enter the Meeting ID: 795 930 7120, followed by #.
3. You will be asked for a participant ID - just hit the # key.
4. When prompted enter the password: 676824

 

If you are unable to join the LIVE service on Sunday mornings, we have recordings :-

• VIDEO recordings of the online services are available on our SASS YOUTUBE channel, or search for “SASS Presbyterian” on YouTube.
• AUDIO recordings are available on our church website, under "sermons", (if you scroll down on the homepage you will see a list of the latest sermon recordings.) These are in MP3 format, and playable directly from the website or downloadable.

To begin each online service we are inviting everyone to place a candle(wax or battery operated)in the worship space where they are meeting. We will light them togetheras a sign of our community and our acknowledgement that we are all in God’s Presence.

 

Advance Notice - Communion on May 3

We will celebrate the sacrament of communion during our online service on May 3^rd. Before logging on please prepare bread and “fruit of the vine” for those with you in your worship space.

 

Final Thoughts – “life beyond death”

Some of you are aware that last Saturday, April 18, would have been our 22^ndwedding anniversary. On Saturday I pointed the girls to this picture that is hanging in our rec room. They both commented that it is a beautiful painting. But it isn’t a painting I said. So I showed them a photograph of Heather holding her wedding bouquet 22 years ago, and I told them we got her bouquet dried, flattened and mounted in this frame. They were stunned.

 

The flowers are dead but the bouquet still has life. Life beyond death. I took a walk to one of Heather’s favourite places and dropped a rose into the water. On my way back to the car I thought about the bouquet and the rose. In this life we are not roses. We are like the bouquet. We are beautiful, we have life, but not to the fullest. Life beyond death for us will involve the most incredible transformation. Because one day we will all become as beautiful as a flourishing red rose. Hallelujah, come Lord Jesus, come.

 

God bless,

Pastor Martin

 

pastormbaxter@gmail.com
St.  Andrew's & St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church
2641 Chesterfield Ave
North Vancouver, BC
V7N  3M3
Tel - 604 987 6800
www.sasspc.bc.ca

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