SASS Weekly Newsletter

May 18 2020

 

May 3-24 2020 – Sunday Worship

During May we are focusing on four NT words that describe the church: fellowship, service, proclamation and witness. On Sunday May 17^th we welcomed Rev. Dr. David “Monty” Montgomeryback to preach on what it means to be the “kerygma” – the church in proclamation of the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus is Lord and Saviour. He encouraged us to understand the Gospel, spread the Gospel, defend the Gospel, and most importantly live the Gospel.

 

If you missed the service then why not catch up by watching it on YouTube. Recordings of the online services are available on our SASS YOUTUBE channel, or search for “SASS Presbyterian” on YouTube.

A YouTube link on our church homepage will also get you to our channel.

 

SASS’ “King of Me”

 

Thank you to the eight families who participated and also mega thanks to Daniel for his iMovie skills. The full video is viewable on our YoutTube channel. I wonder if anyone can recognise the creatures of the deep?

 

Moments with the Master in May

Hopefully you are still reading through Luke’s Gospel this month, and spending 20 minutes each 

day; precious “moments with the Master in May.”

 

I have included the reading plan for this upcoming week, for your reference.

 

 

 

Thursday Morning Bible Study

 

Pastor Daniel is continuing to lead the weekly Thursday Morning Bible Study, using ZOOM, 10-11:30am.

 

 

 

 

SASS’ Missions and Evangelism Ministry Team

 

During this pandemic MEMT is continuing to support and connect with our Missions and Missionaries. We remain committed to financially supporting our missions during this challenging time as approved in our church budget. The Buss family, in Japan, are appreciating our on line services! Please continue to pray for the missions we support, we will endeavour to bring you regular updates!

 

 

“Thank You” from Rosalind Knight

 

“Seeing a need for face masks to be made and knowing of an organization that would benefit from some funds, my quilting was put aside for a few weeks, in order to make “some” masks, and distribute them to any interested party. No price was set, but people generously gave. 190 masks were made and Servants Anonymous has now benefited from a $1335.00 donation. Thank you to everyone that donated.  Blessings to everyone.”

 

 

Competition Time

 

I have extended the deadline for last week’s competition to name that plant. So if you need to remind yourself of the pictures, just go to the church homepage and download the PDF of last week’s newsletter. Submit your answers to me by email. The first email with ALL 12 correct answers will win a prize. pastormbaxter@gmail.com

 

 

Lighthouse Harbour Ministries 2020 Virtual Spring Banquet

 

Saturday May 23^rd

12-1pm

 

"My Father is always at His work to this very day, 

and I, too, am working.” (John 5:17 NIV)

 

Paul was isolated in prison when he wrote many of the New Testament letters. The Apostle John was stuck on an island when he wrote the book of Revelation. Even though church life and ministry is very different for each of us now, God is the same. He is still in control, working and calling people into a relationship with Him. Lighthouse Harbour Ministries continues ministering to seafarers in word and deed. Our centres may be temporarily closed and those going to ships are limited where they can go, but we are still reaching out to seafarers and encouraged that they are responding. One of the joys in ministry is, not only to share the vision and opportunities God provides, but to rejoice together in what God is doing among those who make their living on the sea. As God’s work continues at Lighthouse, we feel that it is important to come together in some way, see the opportunities God has provided and rejoice in what He is accomplishing. So, how do we come together during a time like the one we are currently experiencing? Virtually on YouTube! We invite you to make a lunch or perhaps, grab a take out at your favourite restaurant, gather around a screen and hear stories of what God is doing in the Port of Vancouver as well as other ports. There will be opportunity to respond in praise and also a short message of encouragement. Go to sealight.org to access the YouTube LIVE Stream link to the virtual banquet.

 

Church Finances

The following is a snippet from a recent email sent to me by a SASS congregant, inviting me to pass it on to everyone.

 

I would like to encourage you to make a simple change to help SASS weather the storm of the Covid crisis.

 

The pandemic crisis has impacted all of us as individuals, our families, the organizations we belong to and our church.  SASS relies to a great extent for funding upon what we put on the collection plate during services.  Obviously, at present we are not passing the collection plate and that must have an impact on the Church finances.

 

The congregant went on to speak about PAR (see below) but there are a number of ways to continue supporting SASS during this pandemic.

 

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 our donation form.

 

Sandi Romain can setup up for PAR (Pre-Authorised Remittance). This is a monthly direct debit from 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

 

Thank you for continuing to support the life and ministry at SASS.

 

 

Let’s PRAY TOGETHER

 

God has put something on my heart and I want to share it with you. Actually I need to share it with you.

 

I get the real sense that we have been praying generally recently (which is not wrong) but not specifically.

 

What I mean by that is I am certain that peoples’ lives have been affected in so many ways by this pandemic but I don’t think we really have shared the specifics of what is going on. We are not praying specifically. We think there may be someone who is having financial difficulties, or who has lost their job, or who is so lonely they break out crying everyday but we are not certain. I think it’s time to become certain. It’s time for all of us to share what’s going on.

 

I am not thinking we should name people so that they become embarrassed but I think we should share enough that we as a community can pray more specifically. Whatever you share with me I will ensure you are OK with what I can share more “publicly.”

 

So PLEASE don’t just say to yourself “I’ll be ok.” No! Share what’s going on and let your family pray for you. Send your prayer concerns, requests, stories by emailing prayer@sasspc.bc.ca

 

  Worship Service information

We continue to hold our Sunday worship services online, via ZOOM. The link to all SASS meetings and worship services is easily accessible. Just go to our homepage – sasspc.bc.ca and scroll down and click on the following graphic. The password to access our ZOOM meetings will be “sass” – lowercase, no quotes.

 

The ZOOM Meeting ID for our SASS worship services is – 795 930 7120

 

If you DO NOT have access to a computer / internet then you can phone in and listen to any SASS meeting / service using the above meeting ID.

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 dial in using your phone please MUTE your phone, if that option is available.

 

Please note, ALL participants will be required to run ZOOM v5

after May 30^th, so PLEASE ENSURE your ZOOM APP is updated.

 

 

Final Thoughts – “The Blessing”

Two months ago Elevation Worship sang a new song in their church, just prior to the escalating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then worship leaders have joined together all over the globe to record this song and sing it over their nations to bless them. The first video I watched was “The Blessing UK” which concludes with this “our buildings may be closed but the church is alive.” Go to YouTube and search for “The Blessing” and you’ll find numerous videos. Be Blessed.

 

Here’s one such link … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtll3mNj5U

 

Speaking about blessings since our building closed on March 16^th our phenomenal custodian has been working really hard to bless our community. For those of you who have made the journey down in to the rooms used by our Sunday School, and a number of outside rental groups, you might recall that the rooms have needed an uplift. Steve has done just that. On behalf of all of us who use these rooms “thank you Steve.” for taking the initiative and working so hard to add life to these rooms. Here are before and after shots (different rooms) to give you a sense of the tremendous transformation.

 

 

 

 

May the blessing of God,

the giver of every good and perfect gift;

and of Christ, who summons us to service;

and of the Holy Spirit, who inspires generosity and love,

be with us all.

Amen

 

God bless,

Pastor Martin

 

pastormbaxter@gmail.com

Direct Line in Church Office – 604 770 1025

 

www.sasspc.bc.ca