Contents
St. Matthew’s Calendar and Events
St. Matthew’s Book Club today
The next meeting is Tue. Jan. 16 at 2 pm at Linda Campbell’s apartment, #703—1470 Summer Street. The book for discussion is Small Wars by Sadie Jones. For more information about the book club, contact Elaine Murray, edamur50@gmail.com or Janet Copeland, j.copeland@ns.sympatico.ca or 902-445-5906.
Potluck Church Wednesday
Join others in the congregation for a Potluck Church Supper in the sanctuary. Bring something to share, either bought or home-made, and arrive at 5:30 pm for this informal meal and fellowship time. The guest speaker is Marjorie Lewis of the St. Matthew’s choir; Marjorie is a minister in the United Church of Jamaica and Cayman Islands.
Cooking on site this Thursday for Out of the Cold Shelter
St. Matthew’s is providing a hot meal for the Out of the Cold Shelter on Thursdays. We are alternating cooking on site (Thursday from 6-7 pm) and providing casseroles cooked at home from provided recipes. This week, Jan. 18 is cooking at the church.
Storm damage update
Flashing on both sides of the sanctuary roof remains insecure after the windstorm, leaving both lawns and side doors barred as hazardous. Repairs will happen as soon as roofers are able. Damage will be covered by insurance. In the meantime, all church groups and other groups that use the building must depend on monitored use of the main sanctuary doors to enter the building. Security has been hired for overnight so that the Shelter can operate as usual.
Thanks to custodian Wayne Lynch and members of the Board of Stewards who have been working to resolve this property issue as soon as possible.
Fun With Remits Jan. 21
After church on Sunday all members are invited to stay to discuss a proposal to make a significant change to ordered ministry in the United Church. This will be the final chapter of Fun With Remits, St. Matthew’s contribution to the process through which the United Church makes changes to its policy. This one has to do with combining all forms of paid, accountable ministry in the United Church into “One Order of Ministry”. Our congregation will vote on this Remit in mid-February, so this is a chance to get the background, ask questions, and become informed.
Calendars, Offering envelopes
Donate Loblaw grocery cards to St. Matt’s
You will have heard on the news that Loblaws (Atlantic Superstore) is making $25 grocery cards available as reparation for alleged complicity in price-fixing of certain common brands of bread.
Canadians who purchased the listed brands of bread between 2002–2015 can register online to receive a $25 grocery card. This does not preclude participation in a class-action lawsuit, though any award would be decreased by $25. It does require providing an accurate name, address, date-of-birth, and email address, but Loblaws asserts that these will not be reused or resold.
Registration opened last week. Some of us registered immediately, and it was a very quick and straightforward process. Our gift cards will be mailed in 6-12 weeks.
If you are planning to apply for this gift card, you are invited to donate the card to St. Matthew’s. These cards will buy food for Out of the Cold Emergency Shelter and our Sunday Breakfast, and can also be given directly to those who come to the church in urgent need of food. This will make a HUGE difference in the number of people that we’re able to help, particularly during this winter season. All our food purchases for emergency and benevolent programs happens via our established relationship with the Barrington Street Superstore. If we can anticipate receiving these donated cards, we can also better meet the needs.
So if you purchased one of these common brands of bread noted, please consider applying for a card. Here is the link: https://www.loblawcard.ca/
When it arrives, bring it to church, bring it to the church office any weekday morning. Tell your friends. Challenge your co-workers. Help us to accumulate as many grocery cards as we can to feed our neighbors most in need.
Minute for St. Matthew’s Mission: Fellowship and ushering
Have you ever wondered how the ushers and Fellowship time hosts are arranged for each week?
For quite a while these duties have mostly rotated around the members of various committees. But before that, they were actually committees themselves. The Ushers, who rotated that duty, greeted at the door on Sunday mornings. And The United Church Women, who looked after Fellowship time each week, presided over the Church Kitchen with firmness of purpose and unwavering gentility.
But times have changed. Many of us get to church as often as we can, and for many that’s not week-after-week-after-week. When we’re here, what we really want is just to be here—to be able to focus on the service, taking this one sacred hour in the midst of a busy week.
Those on whom ushering and Fellowship hosting falls (quite regularly, at present) are also yearning for that chance to just focus on the service now and then—and not always to have an extra duty.
This past fall we began the process of involving anyone who is physically able in the duties of ushering and hosting Fellowship time. With a rotation that includes everyone, none of us would have to do these things very often. It would just be a few times a year. And that would make quite a bit of difference for everyone.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be talking more about this: about shifting to an everyone-rotation for these two weekly duties. It’s a good way to share the very basic tasks that make a service happen—“doing our bit”, as it were.
In the Community
Bereavement Support – Bereavement counselling is offered every Saturday from 10–11:30 a.m. at the temporary offices of Halifax Hospice, 1471 Carlton St, near the Just Us! Coffee location on Spring Garden Road. Anyone is welcome on a drop-in basis; there is no need to sign up. Sessions are peer-led, with counsellors present to help guide discussion as the participants desire. If you are interested in a bereavement support group but cannot attend on Saturday mornings, call the Hospice Society of Greater Halifax at 902-446-0929.
St. Matthew’s Activities
REGULAR WEEKLY EVENTS
MEETING SCHEDULE
All meetings are held after the Sunday service. Bring a lunch! Clerk of Session Dr. Dora Stinson encourages everyone involved in these quarterly meetings to note the dates in their calendars.
Kirk Session/Stewards/Official Board Mar. 18, June 3
Executive of Official Board Jan. 21, Feb. 18, Apr. 22, May 20
Worship and Music Committee TBA
Congregational Meeting (budget) June 10
Administrative Stuff
Church office: stmatts@ns.sympatico.ca or (902) 423-9209
Pastoral care: Rev. Betsy Hogan, (902) 423-9209, stmatts.betsy@ns.sympatico.ca
Sunday Worship: 10:30 am
Minister of Music: Wayne Rogers, (902) 429-1680, humber@ns.sympatico.ca
On the web: www.stmatts.ns.ca
Enjoy St. Matthew’s United Church weekly bulletin. Contact the office to add your email or to unsubscribe: stmatts@ns.sympatico.ca or (902) 423-9209