A Note from Rob - June 2009

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This is my note to you for June to bring you up to date with things that have happened and what is happening here at St. George's.

“Coffee Hour” Expanded

For just over a month we have be experimenting with a change to our traditional church “coffee hour” that followed the 9:30 service on Sunday’s. In its place, we have set up an large insulated urn of Coffee from Tim Horton’s, timbits, and apple juice, which is available all morning for all three services. I am very happy with the increased opportunity for fellowship across the morning and the sense of hospitality it communicates when folks come in our door. It is more costly to provide, but our donations have been increasing each week. We will continue with this until the end of this month and plan on beginning it again in September.

11:15 Potluck/Picnic, June 21st

This year we are going to try something new (and weather proof) for our celebration of the completion of the Church School year and the coming of the summer. Instead, of an outdoor picnic we are planning special gathering in the Parish Hall. There will be crafts, some music and a short service with recognition for our “K'NeCT! Kids” and their teachers. Then this will be followed by a Potluck lunch at noon. Everyone, is of course, welcome to attend (and note our 8 and 9:30 service will be offered as usual that Sunday). I will be the guy in the tropical patterned shirt!

Speaking of Summer: Our Summer Service Times

In July and August, our Sunday service times will be 8 am and 9:30 am. Like last year, our 9:30 service will alternate in the summer between the more traditional 9:30 service (July 5, 19, and August 2, 16, and 30) and our Contemporary worship service (July 12, 26 and August 9 and 23).

Discovery Canyon: Vacation Bible School

St. George’s along with St. Alban’s, Glen Williams, St. Paul’s, Noval, and with help from St. John’s, Stewarttown and offering three weeks of Vacation Bible School. Each week can be attended separately and each week is held at a different church (July 20-24 @ St. Paul’s, Norval, July 27-31 @ St. George’s, Georgetown, and August 17-21 @ St. Alban’s, Glen Williams) Registration for the Discovery Canyon Vacation Bible School will take place Saturday June 13, 9-noon at any of the 3 churches. The cost, per child, is $20 for 1 week, $35 for 2 weeks ad $45 for all 3 weeks. We are also requesting to help offset some of the associated costs (i.e. snacks, crafts, advertising etc.). Visit the main Discovery Canyon website for more information about the program or contact our own Carol O’Leary.

ALS Walk

Wow! I am so impressed by the support the St. George’s community has shown for the Acton/Georgetown “Walk for ALS” and for Jeff and his family. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to walk or volunteer and those who have offered their financial support. Also, I would like to say a very special thank you to Sandra and Terry Whalen who have done such a great job coordinating our team effort. Even with a few days to go until the Walk, we have already surpassed our goal and raised $12,000 for the ALS Society of Ontario.

Enjoy!

With the warm weather arriving, I know lots of folks will be getting outdoors in their gardens or traveling to visit family and friends. I hope you enjoy all the summer blessings of God’s creation and travel safely.

Peace,
Rob

April 2009: Note from the Rector

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This is my note to you for April to bring you up to date with some of the "happenings" around here, at St. George's.

Easter Celebrations

Wow! Easter Day was amazing, thanks to the hard work of some many volunteers here. From the flowers to the music, everything was awesome on Easter. 210 folks celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord at St. George's over our three services. Also powerful were our services in Holy Week. Maundy Thursday's potluck/worship (held jointly with St. John's and St. Paul's) in our hall was a great success. Good Friday's service was solemn and prayerful, and the joint Easter Vigil held at St. John's was also a joy. I must say, though, I was truly beat by the end of it!

ALS Walk

On March 29th, Melanie Frank and Darlene Sutherland spoke to us about the planned June 6th "Walk for ALS." I encourage you to become a part of this effort and support our Church's team, the "Saint George's Saints". (Check out the photo's from the "Kick off" night on our church website.) Terry and Sandra Whalen are our team leaders and they can be contacted for more information about how you too can participate or you can click here to go to our team's web page to track our progress or make an online donation. Certainly since becoming aware of Jeff's diagnosis with ALS, many of us have prayed for a way to help him and his family, and supporting this Walk is one important way that we can do just that.

"Community Unity" Event

This is the second annual event held by a collection of almost every Christian church in our community. The purpose is to celebrate our shared faith in Christ with a chance to express our faith in action and to have fun together in fellowship. The main event is Community Unity Day on May 2nd. Expressing our faith in action this year includes the return of the Yard Clean Teams in the morning and then a free BBQ with fun, music, and fellowship at Cedarvale Park beginning at noon. This year we have added a "Free 4 All" on April the 25th. It's like a garage sale, but everything is free. We have worked together with some of the local helping agencies to ensure that people and families in our community that need this help the most will be primary recipients of all donations , but the event, held in the Georgetown District Christian School, will also open to the public. If you are interested in making a donation vist the Community Unity web site for more information or contact Jan Lehman, Karen Gibson or Joan Hyde.

STEAM

STEAM stands for "Serving Together – Enhancing and Expanding Anglican Ministries" and it is the name we have given to the work that the five local Anglican parishes are beginning to do together. It started with the warden's and clergy just getting together to talk about the common challenges we each face in our community and also how we might work together to better present the Anglican approach to the Christian faith here. We have already done some joint services and the "Why Church?" study in Lent, but we are looking forward to more opportunities. You will definitely be hearing more about "STEAM powered" events, in fact I am helping to coordinate a social event in late May that I hope will help bring us all together in a fun and relaxed way.

Separate, but dove-tailing with the locally-initiated conversation that has produced STEAM, is the new appointment by the Bishop of The Rev'd Canon Dr. Margaret Murray as rector of St. Shephen's, Hornby and "Missioner of Halton Hills and Milton with responsibilities that will include providing leadership in the development of a ministry plan for the entire area" (Bishop's Letter to St. George's, April 5, 2009). I am very excited by this announcement, and excited to work with Margaret in both her roles.

Your Support

Important to our continuing mission as a Christian Church and in our ministry to those in need financially, pastorally, and spiritually, is your support. Please keep St. George's in your prayers. Pray for the Rev'd Nancy Rowe and her work with the young families in our community who she prepares for baptism and nurtures through the "First Steps" program. Pray for Carol O'Leary, our church school teachers, and the children of our K’NeCT Kids program.

Thanks for your prayers and thank you to those that are able to support our ministry through your gifts and donations.

Peace,
Rob

Holy Week and Easter Services

Services at St. George's, Georgetown:

Maundy Thursday, April 9
6:00 pm Parish Potluck Supper and Worship

Good Friday, April 10
10:00 am Worship

Easter Sunday, April 12
8:00, 9:30 & 11:15 am

A Service together with other local Anglican Churches at St. John's, Stewarttown:

Easter Vigil, April 11
8:00 pm Worship

The "Saint George's Saints"

This evening, St. George's team of volunteers for the Acton/Georgetown ALS Walk headed over to the Superstore Community Room to join the Kick-off event. One of our first orders of business as a team was to pick a team name and we decided on the "Saint George's Saints."

My thanks to our team leaders Terry and Sandra, who have now set up our team's website to help us take donations. Check out our Walk Web Site and sign up to be on our team or to support us!