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SASS Weekly Newsletter - October 1 2020
by Pastor Martin

SASS Weekly Newsletter

October 1 2020

 

2020 Fall Sermon Series

 

This Fall we are spending six weeks singing … 

“songs of praises”

 

On Sept 13 we started our series looking at Hillsongs United’s song “Who You say I am” along with Ephesians 1:1-14.

 

On Sept 20 we built upon week one as we looked at Bethel Music’s beautiful song “The Goodness of God.”

 

Last Sunday, Daniel focused on what it means to know that Jesus calls us his friends, using the wonderful old hymn “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”

 

On Sunday Oct 4 we will be looking at a personal favourite of mine, “Cornerstone”, recorded by Hillsongs. Some folks might be upset that they have taken an old hymn, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”, and added a chorus to it. I think that is fair criticism of a number of praise chorus artists these days. But rather than focusing on that I am going to use this song to remind us of the amazing truth that Jesus is indeed the Cornerstone of our faith, our hope and our lives.

 

 

Sacrament of Communion

 

We will be partaking in the Sacrament of Communion on Sunday Oct 4, so please ensure you have prepared bread and wine.

 

 

Catch up on any of our Sunday Worship services you missed on our YouTube channel, which you can access by clicking on the YouTube icon on our church homepage, www.sasspc.bc.ca, or by simple searching for “SASS Presbyterian” on YouTube.

Sunday Morning “in-person” Worship

 

On September 27th we had 15 people present in the Sanctuary for worship. Would you like to come and join us one Sunday as we continue to livestream our services using ZOOM. The maximum number of people at his time will not exceed 15.

 

Would you like to come? If so, you need to contact Angela, in the church office, before NOON on the Thursday of each week. You can contact Angela by email or phone.

 

admin@sasspc.bc.ca

604 987 6800

 

Angela is going to coordinate those requesting to come on Sundays to ensure we do not exceed the number expected and to ensure those coming are aware of the following ...

  1. Access to the Sanctuary will be between 10:15am and 10:30am, through the main door on Chesterfield Ave.
  2. You must use the hand sanitizer provided before entering the building.
  3. An usher will check off your name for the purposes of a contact tracing log.
  4. You must wear a mask at all times. Please bring your own but we will have some disposable masks for those needing them. If music is played at any time during the service you may sing but please keep your mask on.
  5. Please sit so that you maintain an appropriate social distance from others.
  6. Please do not see this as an opportunity to fellowship because for the time being we want to keep everyone as safe as possible.

 

 

Breakout Rooms

 

Last Sunday Pastor Daniel mentioned how the youth reflected recently that what they miss the most about the consequences of this ongoing pandemic is meeting other people.

 

ZOOM includes a feature called “Breakout Rooms.” During an online meeting the host can break the large meeting into small breakout rooms. Basically if you have 100 participants on a ZOOM call it is near impossible to have any real interaction, but if you are in a “breakout room” with perhaps only 4 or 5 other participants then it is quite easy to “meet & greet” within that smaller context.

 

We are going to try this on Sunday Oct 18th. We will do our best to reduce the worship service to approximately 45 minutes. We will then break everyone into breakout rooms for 5-10 minutes, with the goal of you introducing yourselves to each other, and then sharing what hymn or song is your favourite, and why. Nothing formal just a chance to fellowship with a small number of people.

How does it work?

 

You will see an invite to “join breakout room” on your screen. Once you accept the invitation you will be redirected to your breakout room. After a short period of time the host, Owen Howell, will bring all the breakout groups back together, and I’ll close our worship with a final benediction.

 

The key thing is that at the time of the breakout rooms we will ask that everyone turns both their cameras and mics ON so that you can see and chat to each other.

 

I hope you will look forward to the opportunity to “meet and great” a few of your SASS family.

 

PLEASE NOTE – If you participate in the ZOOM service as a group – i.e. more than one person watching the service a single ipad / computer, then when you are moved into a breakout room your group is considered to be one participant.

 

 

Thursday Morning Bible Study

 

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

EVERYONE WELCOME!

 

 

 

The Olive Press

 

The Olive Press team are planning an “Advent / Christmas 2020” edition of The Olive Press.

 

The theme will be “Hope and Acceptance” and they are accepting submissions up to October 13th. They are looking for articles that are current and family friendly, personal stories of faith, a book or blog review or favourite recipe. It’s Christmas, after all, they would love to have your favourite family secret recipe. It is the season for sharing and giving so let’s give every effort to participate in this edition and make it the BEST OLIVE PRESS EVER!

 

Email your submissions to … olivepress@sasspc.bc.ca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Competition Time

 

 

Name that HYMN

 

Did you name the well known hymn that these lyrics come from, without GOOGLING them?

 

 

  1. 1.     I once was lost, but now am found – Amazing Grace
  2. 2.     Chanting bird and flowing fountain – Joyful, Joyful we adore Thee
  3. 3.     Thou hast brought me to this place – Come Thou Fount of every blessing
  4. 4.     Granted in what He ordaineth – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
  5. 5.     We are His flock, He doth us feed – All people that on earth do dwell
  6. 6.     He shines in all that’s fair – This is my Father’s World
  7. 7.     Never more thy temples leave – Love Divine
  8. 8.     Ye have seen His natal star – Angels from the realms of glory
  9. 9.     Where meek souls will receive Him – O Little Town
  10. 10.  To Pardon and sanctify me – the Old Rugged Cross
  11. 11.  And keep them by thy watchful care – Eternal Father Strong to Save
  12. 12.  All the world is God’s own field – Come Ye Thankful people come
  13. 13.  We are going to see the King – Soon and very soon
  14. 14.  Let us labor for the Master – When the Roll is called up Yonder
  15. 15.  Then at last, when on high He sees us – Footsteps of Jesus
  16. 16.  Do thy friends despise – What a Friend we have in Jesus
  17. 17.  Dressed in His righteousness alone – The Solid Rock
  18. 18.  What He says we will do – Trust and Obey
  19. 19.  And we’ll guard each one’s dignity – They’ll know we are Christians by our love
  20. 20.  Which wert and art and evermore shalt be – Holy, Holy, Holy

How many did you know?

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer

 

St. Andrew’s & St. Stephen’s is a “community of faith”, a fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s continue to uphold each other, and share our burdens during these days.

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

 

 

SASS 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LifeGroups & Bible Studies

 

Are you part of a LifeGroup, a small group who meets regularly for fellowship, prayer and study? Bless you. Do you meet regularly with a prayer partnerBless you

 

Are you not meeting with anyone outside of our Sunday ZOOM worship with the goal of growing your faith? PLEASE change that habit.

 

Being part of a “smaller-group-then-the-size-of-the-congregation-on-Sundays” permits active discussion, interaction, and learning that leads to growth, that leads to LIFE – hence the name “LifeGroups.”

 

If your LifeGroup normally meets in a home but because of CoVID that is proving difficult, contact the church office. Maybe you could meet here.

 

If you would like to be part of a LifeGroup let us know your availability and we’ll do our best to connect you. Maybe we could start a new group or two during this CoVID season.

 

Let’s SHARE

 

Are you meeting in a small group, cell group, Bible Study during this pandemic? PLEASE send me a photo that I can share with everyone to encourage each other that there are ways of being together.

 

Are you reading, or have you read something lately you would love to encourage others to read? PLEASE send me a short reflection that I can share with others about the book.

 

Have you watched something, or listened to a new piece of music that has just made you praise God? PLEASE send me your reason why I should watch it, or listen to it, that we can share with others.

 

Let’s share with each other. Let’s encourage each other. Let’s help one another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor Martin’s Musings

“Days of Elijah”

 

Given that we are in the middle of a short sermon series looking at various “songs of praise” I have been reminiscing about a song I, and many many others worldwide, love.

 

At the end of 1994 a songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland, was reminiscing on a year when over one million people had been slaughtered in Rwanda. Robin Mark was despairing about the state of the world and in prayer he heard himself asking God was He really in control. In Robin’s words, “how could He be when such terrible things happen? … Lord, what on earth sort of days are we living in?”

 

Robin continued praying, meditating, and arguing with God about the world that appeared to be with little if any hope.

 

Stop! Think about that for a moment. Robin was reflecting on the state of the world in 1994. Today, 26 years later, what has changed? Anything? What a year we are having. Over one million people have died this year worldwide due to this global pandemic. Countless others have died or been displaced because of natural disasters.

 

Lord, what on earth sort of days are we living in?

 

In 1994 Robin felt a strong sense that God’s Spirit was indeed replying to his groaning. God’s reply was that He was in control. That these days in which we find ourselves were actually special times when God would require Christians to be filled with integrity and to stand up for the Name of God. As Robin himself says, he felt God was saying his people were to be “men and women just like Elijah.”

 

Elijah was a prophet of God who lived in a time when it seemed the majority of people followed a pagan god called Baal. Elijah felt called to challenge the prophets of Baal and all they believed in. In that vain, in the midst of dark days, in the midst of desperate times, God’s people should stand, today, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the world, lost and deceived by strange beliefs and strange gods.

 

And so Robin wrote “Days of Elijah.”

 

These are the days of Elijah,
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses,
Righteousness being restored.
And though these are days of great trial,
Of famine and darkness and sword,
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
"Prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

 

Behold He comes riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call,
Lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee,
And out of Zion's hill salvation comes.

 

These are the days of Ezekiel,
The dry bones becoming as flesh,
And these are the days of Your servant David,
Rebuilding a temple of praise.
These are the days of the harvest,
The fields are as white in Your world,
And we are the labourers in Your vineyard,
Declaring the word of the Lord!

 

These are those days. These are days of harvest. In one week we will celebrate another year of harvest, we will give thanks to God for His provision. Brothers and sisters in Christ there is a huge harvest outside our four walls. There are hopeless people who need hope. They are searching for hope in many many different things but no real hope will be found in anything other than Jesus Christ.

 

These days need labourers willing to go in to the fields and harvest, to share that hope.

 

The bridge in the song has one simple line that repeats. The more we repeat that line, the more I want to keep repeating it. I want to sing it over and over and over again. I want the music to build because my heart is bursting. I want my drumming to get louder and louder because I want everyone to hear …

 

There’s no God like Jehovah

 

That’s the message! That’s the hope the world needs. That’s the confirmation that despite these days looking so messed up there is no God like Jehovah and He is in control of the world. He is and will redeem all things.

 

Robin Mark has received so much critique about this song. I am no poet and so I am the last person to offer any comment on the flow of the song. But this I do know. I have heard this song sung in so many places where I have felt God’s presence bursting forth. Why? Because I believe the song points to God. I believe the song focuses all of life on God. Because God, and only God, is the hope and salvation of the world.

 

So … let’s get singing, as loud as we can …

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Tpnytkxaw

 

Amen!

 

These days need men and women just like Elijah!

 

Amen!

 

Let’s get singing, and singing and singing …

 

There’s no God like Jehovah

 

 

Pastor Martin

 


pastormbaxter@gmail.com


Direct Line in Church Office – 604 770 1025

 

www.sasspc.bc.ca