Sunday Morning
Services
10:30 am
What's New at St. John's |
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 Heavenly Hamburgers! Chef Wendall Brown and his Grill Team cooked up delicious barbequed delights at our Stewardship Committee's fundraiser lunch on Sunday, July 20, 2008. Thank you for supporting this event!  Our Handbell Choir performed its magic during The Ringing Link 2008 - 'From C to shining C' Music Festival at The University of Western Ontario in London from July 2-5, 2008. To view more images from the festival, go to http://heather417.fotopic.net/c1509558.html  A New Tenor is Urgently Required for the Adult Choir! This is a paid position. Please consider offering your vocal talents to round out our wonderful choir. Do you love to sing? Contact our Music Director Ray Grant at raygrant@hfx.eastlink.ca.  St.
John's Chimes is a-pealing for your news! The
next newsletter will be distributed in early September, so news and
plans should be received before summer or as soon as possible. Committees
and families are encouraged to send submissions to ftjaydee@yahoo.ca
or to phone Judy Dudar at 422-5605 or to submit news to
the church office. And remember, this is the time of year when our
young people are graduating and moving and expanding their lives.
The congregation likes to keep connected with them and to hear of
their accomplishments, so please let us know what is happening.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper Delivers Canada’s Apology to Residential School Survivors and Their Families on June 11: National Chief Phil Fontaine's Response to Canada's Apology: 
The History of Indian Residential Schools
and the Church’s Apologies. The United Church
of Canada has apologized for its role in the suppression of First
Nations cultures. You can read more about the painful legacy of residential
schools here: http://www.united-church.ca/aboriginal/schools/faq/history Avery
Dakin Clarke's Pennies Against Poverty Project Hits The Goal! As of June, 2008, Avery has collected 1 million pennies. This humungous (and rather heavy!) coin collection will be donated to a community school building project in Africa. The $10,000 in pennies will finance the construction of a village school. Avery, you make us proud. Our Adult Choir performs on Sunday, June 8, 2008. Our Director of Music Ray Grant conducts the choir, accompanied by John DeWolfe /electric bass, Bob Gaudreau /conga and Chad Barkhouse /maracas. Congratulations to Dr. John Kirk who won The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching from Dalhousie University! The "Lost" Interviews. This video offers an insightful look at some of the attitudes about church held by people who don't usually attend. Featuring Jim Henderson and Brian McLaren, this is an Off the Map production (http://offthemap.com). From http://www.emergingspirit.ca/media/video  Prayers
of the People is part of our regular order
of service, following the singing of "Send your holy spirit." These
prayers offer the concerns and thanksgivings of our congregation.
Prayers of the People are now being written and presented
by St. John's members and groups, rather than by the ministers. These prayers have met with such an enthusiastic response that we have decided to post them with permission of the authors. Here is a selection of recent POP's in pdf format:
There are two ways you can be part of this. First, send your prayer requests. Call in, bring, or send your prayer requests to Marilyn in the office. Second, you can write and present the Prayers of the People. Click here to go to 'Instructions for writing prayers'. If you have thanksgivings or concerns to be included in Prayers of the People, bring or email them to Marilyn at stjohnsunited@eastlink.ca. Remember that we must have the permission of anyone we mention by name in Prayers of the People.  Needed:
Volunteers to Host the After Church Coffee Hour. For
several years we've had a faithful group of volunteers doing this
job. We now need more folks to volunteer for this so that we can avoid
calling on these generous people too often. All supplies are available
for you, as well as a set of thorough instructions. If you also value
this fellowship time, please sign up for at least one Sunday before
the end of the year.  Our Christmas Eve Services
in December 2007 were well attended and very much enjoyed.
Are you on Facebook? Well, WE are! St John's United Church now is an official Facebook Group. It allows us to meet online, post photos and videos, have discussions, promote events and services, and most importantly, to celebrate our connection with each other. Please log in at www.facebook.com (and create your account if you don't have one). You can search for St John's United Church to find our group. There are several St John's churches listed, but you will recognize our church photo in our profile. Please join up and start interacting!  An Advent Baptism. Samantha Ella Irene Chiasson (daughter of Brenda and David Chiasson) and Maggie Jane Covert (daughter of Jeffrey Covert and Angela Weeks) were officially welcomed into our congregation on December 9th, 2007.  The Guatemalan Lunch and Learn
happened on Sunday, December 9 after the morning
service. We finally got to enjoy a presentation from some of the youth
and adults from St John's United who travelled to Guatemala last August!
From all accounts, it was an astonishing trip.
Javier de Leon, a mining resistance leader in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos, Guatemala was the guest speaker at our December 9th service. Speaking in his native Spanish (which was translated by Maria Jose Yax-Fraser), Javier described the devastating effect that the activities of the Canadian-owned Goldcorp mining company have wrought in his community. Currently, Canadian companies are the  force
behind approximately 80 percent of all mineral extraction in Guatemala,
and have been accused of human rights abuses, environmental degradation,
and undemocratic decision-making in impoverished areas. Underground blasting at the mining sites has caused widespread environmental damage for which no compensation as been offered. The water supply to many communities has been corrupted. Homes and public buildings are crumbling and uninhabitable in the wake of the blasting. Community members who publicly oppose the mining activities have been threatened, injured, even murdered. As part of his quest for justice and solidarity, Javier invites us to learn more about the exploitation occurring in his country. One way to do this is to watch Sipakapa No Se Vende (Sipakapa is Not For Sale). This film has been posted on www.youtube.com in 7 parts- the links have been posted here: (This film is in Spanish. We're trying to find the version that has English subtitles and when we do, the links will be posted! -Ed.) Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVo1gBGEfbk Part 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg0GmjO6gqk Part 4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ivrflPbhM Part 5- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=354mA5FwJg8 Part 6- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMX_L6laYxM Part 7- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKgR4pFZ3fE    The Blessing of The Animals. We brought our furry (and finned!) friends to church with us on Sunday October 4, 2007. Click here to see more photos from this very special service! Please continue to save your Sobey’s grocery tapes for the UCW. This is still a very worthwhile fundraiser. In past years we have been able to collect between $300 to $500 from grocery tapes! Let Your 'Anyway Purchases' Work for the Church. As Atlantic Canadians, we do not have a whole lot of choice in terms of where we shop for groceries and get gas. We call this "Anyway Money." That is, we all have to spend this money anyway, therefore why not let that money work for the church? So, if you regularly shop at the Superstore or Sobeys and get gas at PetroCanada or Canadian Tire, then we encourage you to purchase 'Shop and Support' cards. You use these cards like money when you make your purchases,and a small percentage of your purchase is donated to St. John's. 100% of these funds will go to our church's operating budget. You can purchase the cards in one of two ways: 1) See Karen Kelly after church during coffee time. She will regularly have some 
of these cards on hand, or 2) Go online to ShopandSupport at: https://secure.shopandsupport.ca/sascart/shopcart_content.aspx?gid=0100559304 and register. Note: If you want to avoid shipping charges you can indicate that you would like your cards sent to St. John's with our regular orders. Wondercafe: http://www.wondercafe.ca/ The United Church of Canada welcomes you to their online home of open-minded discussion and exploration of  spiritual topics, moral issues and life's big questions. You'll find lots to talk
about in the Discussion Lounge with topics like global warming, international adoption, parenting...
You can start your own blog, or send and receive 'wondermails' with others registered on the site. Check it out!Would you like to find out what is happening in our very active, vibrant church on a weekly basis? Please send your e-mail address to Marilyn Peacock at the church office- stjohnsunited@hfx.eastlink.ca ...We will add you to our mailout list and you'll never have to miss the news! | ||||||||
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St. John's United Church 6225 Willow Street Halifax Nova Scotia Canada B3L 1P1
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