This week at St. Andrew's (June 26)

Week after week, we always have important and meaningful things going on at St. Andrews. Even though Summer has now officially begun that is still true for June 26. This Sunday:

• We will welcome three more members into our congregation. Three weeks ago we had seven new members, but there were three who were unable to be present because of important family reasons. We rejoice to welcome them this week!
• Martin Bohl will be filling in at the organ this week and next. Martin is a very talented organist and we will certainly be blessed by his musical leadership
• We will honour the work of Amy and Laura with our youth and thank them for their contribution to the life of Christ's church.
• The minister will begin a new summer series of sermons focusing on ancient commandments and asking what it would look like if we applied them to life today. The first commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

Save the date!

The Jeff-a-thon

In memory of Rev. Jeff Veenstra

Sunday, October 16th, 2016 at Crieff Hills Conference Centre.  Registration will begin at 1:30 pm, the walk/run to start at 2:00 pm.  Fun & Food afterwards!

To donate online you can go to:

 https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/st-andrews-hespeler-presbyterian-church/

If you like, you can choose a specific person to sponsor. The church who raises the most money (in the Presbytery of Waterloo-Wellington) will win a lunch, so please help us!

The Hespeler Reunion

Please join us on Sunday, July 10, 2016 for a very special service.

Ancient Commandments; Modern Applications

Here is a short video to introduce the summer sermon series at St. Andrew's Hespeler:



Please join us this summer as we explore some important commandments and talk about how we might live them out today. Click HERE and then click "share" for options to share this video with your friends.

June 19 at St. Andrew's Hespeler.

As usual, there are lots of good reasons to be at St. Andrew's Hespeler on a Sunday morning. June 19 will be no exception. Here are some highlights:

• We will, of course, be celebrating Father's Day, praying for and seeking God's blessings on the fathers among us and who have shaped our lives.
• In response to the terrible hate crime perpetrated in Orlando last Sunday, we will pray and resolve to work for a better world and an end to the power of hatred for marginalized groups including LGBT people.
• Special musical guest: Robert Dwyer.
• Please note that, contrary to what was announced last Sunday, we will not be receiving new members this week. An important family matter for two of our candidates has meant that this will have to be postponed until June 26.
• Our sermon, "What Jesus an "atheist" because he taught that God is Abba," will look at the surprising things that Jesus taught about God when he called God "Abba. Turns out that abba doesn't mean what you may think!

A big thank you for some wonderful Hope Clothing volunteers

 Today at St. Andrew's we had a special lunch to celebrate our really wonderful group of volunteers who help out regularly at Hope Clothing. We couldn't help all of our local families as we do without their faithful assistance.

Want to know how dedicated these people are?

They are so dedicated that we almost had to drag them out of the room where they were busily and happily sorting and folding clothes so that they would come and eat the special meal we had prepared to thank them.

 Thanks to Jean, Carol, Joni and Karen for preparing the lunch and thank you (so much!) to Creme, Hespeler's wonderful corner café, for donating some really tasty pastries for dessert!

This Sunday at St. Andrews: Academy awards, celebrations of our kids and teachers and more!

St. Andrew's Hespeler will be celebrating in some pretty special ways this Sunday. I hope you can be with us as we rejoice together. Some of the highlights for this Sunday:

• We will be celebrating the wonderful dramatic abilities of our children who have been part of the St. Andrew's Stars this year as we hand out our "Academy Awards!"

• The Youth Band will be playing a couple of pieces of music that they have just been begging us to be able to play all year: "If I Could Fly" and also the "Doctor Who Theme" as a part of the Academy Awards ceremony.

• We will recognize our Sunday School Students and make some special presentations to them.

• We will recognize and thank our Sunday School teachers and also recognize a very special achievement by Joni Smith.

• A very special guest soloist will be performing Max Reger's "Aria" for us on the cello.

• The sermon, "Was Jesus an 'atheist' because he taught that God is insurgent," will continue to examine some of the radical things that Jesus taught us about God.

• 

Welcoming New Members

Worship this morning was a wonderful experience.

The Youth Band played for us; Jean M. sang a beautiful solo for the first time ever and we were blessed to have seven people make their Profession of Faith.

Welcome to our new members!

Some great things are happening this Sunday at St. Andrews.

• We will be joyfully welcoming seven people as they make their profession of faith and become full members in the church.
• The Youth Band will be performing "Talking to the Moon" by Bruno Mars, Ari Levine, Philip Lawrence, Jeff Bahsker, and Albert Wrinkler
• For the first time, Jean M. will be singing a solo for us: "No Greater Love" by Ralph Carmichael. Way to go, Jean!
• We will celebrate communion at the table that our Lord, Jesus, provides!
• Sermon title: "Was Jesus an 'atheist' because he taught that Jesus is within you?

Wouldn't this be a great opportunity for you to invite a friend to experience what we do at St. Andrew's Hespeler?