The Five Wise Ones. Cornelis Monsma

This painting by Cornelis Monsma of New Zealand jumped off the computer screen into my imagination when I first saw it. It refers to Jesus’ parable, and the five bridesmaids who were prepared to welcome the groom when he finally arrived and able to accompany him into the hall for the banquet to begin (Matthew 25:1-13). The five look like candles, shining bright even as they ‘wait’. 

The second Sunday of Advent. Another candle lit around the Advent wreath. Another exploration of this season of ‘waiting’ … for Christmas … and the coming of Christ. The sermon will be followed by the classic Advent hymn, ‘Sleepers, wake’ (‘Wachet auf’ by Philipp Nicolai).

Being the first Sunday of the month, we will also celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. To this are invited all who ‘love the Lord a little, and yearn to love him more’. Prepare some bread and a cup, and join us to know this time of Holy Communion.

We invite you to join us in Christian worship either in the sanctuary (following COVID protocols of safe distancing, mask wearing and refraining from singing) or by live-stream at https://youtu.be/l7QFK4v7JH8. Organ preludes will begin around 10:25 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Previous services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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This year’s congregational celebration is available at https://youtu.be/SGlw9emTjc8
With thanks to all who contributed … in order of appearance Andrew, Audrey, the Rob Roy Highland Dancers, Christina, Lori-Kim, John and Walt, and special thanks to Christopher as video editor.


 

 

 

This Sunday we begin a new church year. The first of the seasons is ‘Advent’, derived from the Latin, ‘the coming’. We look forward to Christmas, and our celebrations of how the Holy One came among us at Bethlehem. But the Christ who came promises that he will come again, to complete all that he began. Advent is the time when we look far beyond the horizon of four weeks and into the glorious promises of ‘the kingdom of God’.

We will hear the gospel dimensions of Christian hope not only read from scripture but also sung in classic hymns of the Church … beginning this Sunday with Charles Wesley’s ‘Lo, Christ comes with clouds descending … God appears on earth to reign’. 

We invite you to join us in Christian worship either in the sanctuary (following COVID protocols of safe distancing, mask wearing and refraining from singing) or by live-stream at https://youtu.be/TKOcmsnpNFI Sunday morning. Organ preludes will begin around 10:25 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Previous services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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Elisha and the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:8-10) by Jim MacDonald, 2021.

At the beginning of a new week of grace, we focus upon the exhortation ‘Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received’ (I Peter 4: 10). And we welcome Jim MacDonald of Stewardship Ministries of the Presbyterian Church in Canada to offer the sermon.

The service will include a variety of hymns, from a classic like ’Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee’ to more contemporary selections like ‘Jesus’ hands were kind hands’ and ‘Called as partners in Christ’s service, called to ministries of grace’.

After the Benediction, Jim will offer a presentation about legacy giving (which, like the service, will be live-streamed).

We invite you to join us in Christian worship either in the sanctuary (following COVID protocols of safe distancing, mask wearing and refraining from singing) or by live-stream at https://youtu.be/OYhd_12cu3g Sunday morning. Organ preludes will begin around 10:25 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Previous services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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Soli Deo Gloria

The signature is that of Johann Sebastian Bach. But do you notice the ‘SDG’ above the signature? 

This Sunday our Director of Music has prepared an hour that offers to support our worship with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750. His compositions are just one wavelength within the great spectrum of music, but one that has moved many into the presence and promises of God. 

The service will include special contributions by guest cantors Holly and Gordon Gwynne-Timothy and violinist Andrew Dicker – Wachet Auf from Bach’s Advent Cantata, and Et Exultavit from his Magnificat in D, and two preludes by John Hall at the organ. Our hymns will be sung to tunes of the Bach repertoire, including ‘O sacred head, sore wounded’. And the sermon will focus on those three letters added by Bach to his compositions – SDG, Soli Deo Gloria, ‘Glory to God Alone’!

We invite you to join us in Christian worship either in the sanctuary (following COVID protocols of safe distancing, mask wearing and refraining from singing) or by live-stream at https://youtu.be/WhGowxkc-JY Sunday morning. Organ preludes will begin around 10:25 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Previous services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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The Cenotaph, London: July 1919

This is a solemn Sunday. We pause to remember. With a Lament played on the bagpipes and silence and Reveille on the trumpet, we remember the loss and suffering of war.

Many of my formative years were lived in Hamilton Ontario. I did not realize then that the cenotaph at the centre of that city was practically an exact replica of one raised in London England almost immediately after WWI (as are those found at the centre of Montréal, Toronto and many other communities across our nation). This year it spoke to me anew, as a I considered the words with which the apostle Paul concludes the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans … ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’. I look forward to sharing my gleanings … of the cenotaph (from the Greek kenotaphion, ’empty tomb’) and the gospel!

We invite you to join us in Christian worship either in the sanctuary (following COVID protocols of safe distancing, mask wearing and refraining from singing) or by live-stream at https://youtu.be/I3drIeVt56U Sunday morning. We will be celebrating the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, so you are invited to prepare with some bread and a cup. Organ preludes will begin around 10:25 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Previous services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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Peace, Be Still. He Qi. 1998

He Qi is one of the most admired and respected Christian artists of our time. He was raised in the wake of the Cultural Revolution in China, and his first major work as an artist was of Chairman Mao. Over time he dedicated and developed his artistic skill to communicate the Christian gospel for the Chinese context, blending Chinese folk customs and traditional Chinese painting with European art forms past and present. This canvas communicates the scene found in Luke 8:22-25, and illustrates the sermon themes of ‘The Storm of Life’ and Jesus as the Lord of all life, even the storms!

This morning we will be welcoming to the pulpit Wilson Eyong, a student at Presbyterian College Montréal. Wilson is originally from the Cameroon West Africa and fled the country in 2000 due to political instability. After years in Ireland, he and his family are now in Canada, and we thank him for making the long journey to be with us this morning to share something of his life and faith with us. 

We invite you to join us in Christian worship either in the sanctuary (following COVID protocols of safe distancing, mask wearing and refraining from singing) or by live-stream at https://youtu.be/_VZKAcVFGDk Sunday morning. Organ preludes will begin around 10:25 a.m. and the service will commence at 10:30 a.m. Previous services can be found on the St. Andrew’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/StAndrewsPresbyterianChurchKingston

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