SASS Weekly Newsletter

April 27 2020

 

April 26 2020 – Sunday Worship

This past Sunday Rev. Dr. David (Monty) Montgomery offered some reflections on being “Alone with God.” He focused on two OT characters who had experiences of being alone with God; Jacob and Elijah. He also mentioned other Biblical characters who had similar experiences: people like Jonah, Job, David, Moses, Joseph, Peter, Paul, and John. Each of us I am sure are having experiences of loneliness due to the enforced isolation during this pandemic. Which Biblical character, or which of their stories, do you associate with most right now? Does it feel like a prison cell? Do you picture yourself in a cave desperate for God to show up in the way you think He should? Are you struggling with God in new ways and you just feel beat up? Can I encourage you to take some time this week and reflect on being alone with God? Where is God in your experience? Two Sundays ago I suggested we needed to consider how to declare our faith in new ways during this situation. Perhaps all of us could prepare to explain to someone where God is in the midst of our experiences.

Thank you to Jamie for sharing where you see God in the midst of this situation. Our next interview will be in two weeks and hopefully will involve a “little” voice of someone who’s daily routine has dramatically changed due to the schools being closed.

 

If you missed one or other of the past two services I would encourage you to go to our YouTube Channel. Simply go to YouTube.com and search for “SASS Presbyterian,” or click on the following - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXMp0WWuxQoTIdt_S7IygA

 

Moments with the Master in May

In last week’s newsletter I introduced the idea of spending some “Moments with the Master in May,” by reading through the Gospel of Luke. May 1^stis this Friday so here’s the first few days of the plan for your convenience.

 

 

Every day read the passage at least once, and 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?

Journal your thoughts and responses to help you develop a life-giving habit of mediating on these “Moments with the Master in May.”

 

Sunday worship, May 3^rd– 24^th

Theme VI in “The Story We Find Ourselves In” focuses on the New Testament people of God, in others words, the church, in other words, you and me. During Lent we jumped over this part of the Story, but during May we are going to focus on four NT words that describe the church. On May 3^rdRev. Dr. Ross Lockhart will be sharing his reflections on what it means for us to be a “fellowship.” It’s an interesting idea to begin this mini series, because being a fellowship is something we all too easily accept in terms of what it means to be church, but given the current situation perhaps its now one of the hardest things to be in real terms, or is it?

 

On May 3^rdwe are going to partake in the Sacrament of Communion. As such please prepare bread and “fruit of the vine” in your worship space prior to logging in to the online service.

 

 

Wednesdays, 7-8pm

 

Let’s Get Together, for some community time, conversation, and of course coffee.

Use the usual ZOOM link to logon each Wednesday night, starting this week, April 29^th, 7pm.

 

Prayer

On Sunday 26^thwe experimented with the “prayers of the people” by doing “popcorn prayers,”as we together raised up words, names or short phrases to God in a cacophony of voices. Did you participate? Sometimes we resign ourselves to believing that unless our prayers are beautifully crafted pieces of writing then they are not good enough. God absolutely loves such prayers, but I am convinced that He also loves to hear His children voice their hearts and minds in the most simple manner. Why not practice popcorn prayers around the dinner table? Perhaps all of us could put a popcorn prayer list on the door of our refrigerators and add those prayers as they come to mind each and every day.

 

This week keep praying for :-

1. those that have lost their lives due to COVID-19
2. families and friends of those that have died
3. frontline workers & essential services workers
4. those that have lost jobs
5. teachers and students in our education systems
6. those working to find a cure
7. those in leadership who are making difficult decisions to keep us all safe

 

 

Prayer Requests

 

During these strange times we want to pray for you. So we have created a new prayer email account. Send your prayer request to prayer@sasspc.bc.ca

 

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.

 

CanadaHelps.org– CanadaHelps is a registered charity dedicated to increasing charitable giving across Canada. They do that by serving both donors and charities. For donors, they offer a one-stop shop for discovering, donating, or fundraising online for any registered Canadian charity. They process donations made using their site, disburse the funds to the charities and provide instant or anytime access tax receipts directly to the donors. You can donate to SASS through CanadaHelps using a credit card, or paypal. Search for “St. Andrew’s & St. Stephen’s Presbyterian” or click on the following link to take you directly to ourdonation form.

 

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

 

PLEASE REMEMBER on Sundays to check that your MIC is muted and that your video is disabled / turned off, to limit bandwidth usage and potential on-screen distractions.

 

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.

 

Final Thoughts – “Your COVID-19 experience in pictures”

Someone shared an idea with me last week that I thought was brilliant. When was the last time you drew a picture? Kids draw pictures all the time. Pictures of themselves, their families, their school friends, the park, their favourite animals. 

I would love to receive your pictures of your current COVID-19 experiences. Perhaps one showing the difference from your before and present daily life experiences. Kids and adults, no matter your age, draw a picture and send it to me. I would love to be able to share your pictures with our church family. If you want it to remain anonymous just let me know. Get drawing everyone.

 

God of love, as in Jesus Christ you gave yourself to us,

so may we give ourselves to you, living according to your holy will.

Keep our feet firmly in the way where Christ leads us;

help our lips speak the truth that Christ teaches us;

fill our bodies with the life that is Christ within us.

In his holy name we pray. Amen.

 

God bless,

Pastor Martin

pastormbaxter@gmail.com

Direct Line in Church Office – 604 770 1025

 

www.sasspc.bc.ca