The Grapevine
Fall 2011
Content:
From the Minister
From the Worship Committee
Shepherd Visitors
Roast Beef Dinner
Introducing New Friends
Vacation Bible School
Stewardship Committee
Finance Committee Report
Shared Space
Christmas House Tour
Gallery Players Concert -
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Upcoming Service Themes
Upcoming Events
I was very pleased to have received such a warm welcome upon my return
from sabbatical this summer.
Many people have been asking me how the sabbatical went and
whether I was able to do all that I had planned to do.
On September 11, my first Sunday back, I made a report to the
congregation about my sabbatical, and for those who missed it and would
like to hear more, there are extra copies of that sermon available on
the information centre in the Narthex or from the church secretary.
Ministers’ sabbaticals were instituted as “an occasion for
reflection, recreation and revitalization, unencumbered by usual and
customary responsibilities…” and my sabbatical served these purposes
well. I am coming back to
active ministry feeling refreshed and grateful for having been able to
take this time.
I want to thank Rev. Dr. Paul Owen for having served the congregation
during my absence. With Paul
in the pulpit and serving the pastoral care needs of the congregation, I
felt confident that everything and everyone would be looked after.
Coming out of retirement to serve the church represents a
significant act of service and I admire Paul for it.
Paul is currently on a mission trip in Australia working with the
aboriginal population, and we will look forward to hearing about that
upon his return in late October.
We have had some new people join us recently and I invited them to write
a paragraph to introduce themselves to us.
Ralph and Sheila Laundry have been worshipping with us for about
a year. Mary MacBean started
coming in the spring and we met Gordon at the spring dinner.
Don and Trudy Pickersgill came from Port Dover and moved into
Lookout Ridge this summer.
We’re very pleased to welcome them into our church family.
Last fall we circulated a petition to the Canadian Government to pass
Bill C-545: An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada.
Since then we have received a response from our MP Dean Allison
in which he says, “I too, share your concerns in this matter, and I
would be pleased to present this petition in the House of Commons during
the time given to me to do so.”
It’s good to know that our concerns are being heard and we hope
that our government will act on them in the next session.
This issue of the Grapevine has
lots of news about what the various groups and committees of the church
are up to and I hope you will read it and continue to support the work
they do. This is one of the
healthiest congregations in Niagara Presbytery and there are plenty of
opportunities to be involved in the life of your church.
If there is any way that we can better serve you, I hope you will
not hesitate to let us know.
Garry van Bruchem,
Minister
New Chair/Secretary:
As of September, Brenda and
Barbara Peszle have agreed to be appointed as the new
co-chairs/secretaries of the Committee. It is great to have them step up
to assume leadership. They
bring a lot of energy and some new ideas which will surely enrich our
worship services. Judith
Dowd, who served on the Worship Committee for 16 years, saw this as an
opportunity to step down and she has resigned from both the Worship
Committee and from Council.
Council accepted her resignation with regret and with thanks for the
many years of faithful service.
Judith states that she intends to continue being active in the
choir and in the life of the congregation.
Thank you Judith!
A New Piano:
Our new music director, Bill Outred surveyed the choir about whether
they would like to have a new grand piano and the choir gave an
enthusiastic show of support.
Council discussed this at length and also gave its support.
The cost of a new grand piano could reach as high as $30,000 but
it may be possible to purchase a used one in good condition for about
half that amount. There may
be an individual in the congregation who has a love for music and would
like to purchase this as a legacy gift or make this a memorial donation.
If so, the minister would be very glad to hear from you.
Otherwise we will be looking to the choir to do some fund raising
activities and adding to their efforts.
A new grand piano would raise the quality of music in worship and make
Fonthill United Church a more attractive venue for concerts and
recitals. We hope that this
will receive enthusiastic support.
Imagine how wonderful our Christmas music will sound when it is
accompanied on a grand piano!
Wine at Communion?
Welch’s Grape Juice has been a wine substitute in the church since
Prohibition was enacted in Ontario in 1916, now almost a hundred years
ago. Prohibition didn’t last
long but the practice of using grape juice instead of wine at communion
did, and it continues to this day.
Prior to prohibition, the use of wine at communion was standard
practice for the church, and in most churches throughout the world it
still is. The gospel story
tells us Jesus used wine to represent his blood, and church tradition
calls communion a thanksgiving celebration.
For most people in our culture, alcohol is associated with life’s
celebrations, but for some people alcohol represents bad memories or
even temptation.
The Worship Committee has been discussing this at its meetings and we are
wondering if the congregation would be ready to return to the authentic
practice, or if that would take away from the sanctity of Holy
Communion. The
intention would be to make both available in each communion tray: the
outer circles would be filled with wine and the inner circles with grape
juice. We invite your
response to any member of the Worship Committee.
Our next communion service is World Communion Sunday on October 2 and
there will be no change on that day.
All the glasses will be filled with grape juice.
As you probably are already aware, the Shepherd
Visitors of Fonthill United Church are a group of Christian men and
women who visit members of the church who are no longer able or have
trouble coming every week to church.
Many of these people have given their time, talents, and their
selves in service to the church and its ministry over the years.
We try to maintain the link between them and
the church by visiting a minimum of once a month, making phone calls,
sending birthday and get-well cards, and twice a year we have a
Communion Tea at Lookout Ridge.
We also do in-home communion.
All of these things help them to be aware that they are
remembered by our congregation.
Shepherd Visitors also make hospital visits when requested.
We are available to provide transportation to church and the
Communion Services at Lookout Ridge, however we are not able to drive to
personal appointments.
Another ministry this group offers is the
making and donating of Prayer Shawls.
If you know of someone who would benefit from a prayer shawl,
please contact the church office.
Approximately 40 members from our church
attended the Strawberry Social at Lookout Ridge in June.
Our end of the year potluck was held in June at the home of Hugh
and Beryl Smith. There were
16 of us in attendance.
Up-coming Events:
On December 13 at 1:30 we will be having our
Christmas Communion Tea at Lookout Ridge.
Anyone from the congregation is welcome to attend.
***Tim Hortons has given us the opportunity to
use their bus for a day trip in May 2012.
If you would be interested in going, would you kindly call the
church office or Peggy Palmer.
Before we commit ourselves to the bus we would like to see how
many would be interested.***
Anyone is more than welcome to become a member
of our “great team.” We are
all just like family.
May God Bless,
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.
Save this date and tell your friends to join us for our annual
fundraising Roast Beef dinner.
Please consider volunteering, attending, and helping in any
way you can, to make this a social and financial success. Tickets
are $12 or $8 for children 12 and under and can be reserved by
calling the church office (905) 892-6433 weekday mornings.
Don and Trudy Pickersgill bring greetings from the Port Dover Pastoral Charge. They recently moved into Lookout Ridge. Don is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and taught high school math for 35 years. One of his hobbies is Barbershop Singing. Trudy is a graduate of McMaster University. She is a retired Registered Nurse and Case Manager. Her passion is moving to music. Don and Trudy are snowbirds and spend their winters in Bonita Springs in Florida where they attend First Methodist United Church. They moved to Fonthill at their children’s request.
Ralph and Sheila Laundry are relative newcomers to Fonthill, having moved to Orchard Place in November. They had a farm in Beamsville and were active at Trinity United Church. They have found Fonthill United a very welcoming place.
Gordon and Mary MacBean - Gordon was born in Newport Vermont, raised until 12 years of age in Stanstead Quebec, when he moved with his parents to St. Catharines, where he attended the Collegiate. Gordon grew up at St. Paul Street United Church, attending Sunday School, and as a member of the Young Peoples Group and Senior Choir there until he moved to Regina to start his working career in Television broadcasting.
Gordon began technical work in television in 1952 in Regina and Saint John before he joined CBC television in Toronto March 1, 1955 and met Mary later that month, the night before a Young Peoples Dance at St. Paul Street Church. That was their first date. He continued to work there until July of 1990 when he took early retirement.
During these years in Toronto, Gordon attended various United Churches and participated in the choirs and men’s groups at each, as his work schedule would allow.
Gordon continued his love of music and has been a barbershopper for many years and sang with the Tri City Gospel Chorus. This chorus of over 80 men had a singspiration service in May of 2003 here at Fonthill United Church and it was standing room only for that service. Unfortunately due to his health, he is no longer able to sing with these groups but still loves to sing.
Mary was born in St. Catharines, and from the age of 3 weeks old attended Westminster United Church. She played the piano for the Sunday School, taught in the Sunday School, led the Junior Choir, and was invited at the age of 9 to join the Senior Choir, where she stayed until married there in 1958. She was also a very active member of the Young Peoples group.
Mary went into accounting after graduation from St. Catharines Collegiate and took a number of courses to develop her expertise in the collections field with national corporations and law firms. Mary studied singing at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto until she retired from business and moved back to St. Catharines in 2005. During her professional singing career in Toronto, in various churches, she also sang with choral groups, concerts, variety shows and weddings. She sang with the Orpheus Choir of Toronto and the Mendelssohn Choir. She is now a member of Chorus Niagara.
Mary and Gordon were married 53 years on September 13, 2011. They have 2 children and 6 grandchildren.
Mary is now a member of the Choir at Fonthill United Church has been made very welcome by all in this beautiful church since attending here from this past spring.
This year Vacation Bible School
was held at Fonthill United Church during the morning, from July 11 to
15.
About 25 to 30 kids, 4 to 12 years
of age, attended each day.
Our vacation bible school was themed “Shake it up Café” where kids
learned how to live out God’s recipe. On
a daily basis they learned bible stories that have to do with the
festivals that took place during biblical times. The kids also made
crafts, played games, ate snacks, and discovered more about cooking
through this theme.
The program was provided through the Niagara Presbytery Vacation Bible
School which has two teams of students to deliver the program throughout
Niagara during the summer.
Special thanks to Louise Stayzer and Courtney McIntee who acquired the
goods, prepared the snacks, and undertook other kitchen duties on behalf
of Fonthill United.
Rich Miller,
This year our Stewardship Program is focused on
how we live and share our Christian values which is our faithful
stewardship of life.
As we all know, Christian Values are not just evident in your support of
our church. There are many ways each of you share your values with
others. You live your values
through the love you share with your family and friends, the compassion
you show to people in need, in the caring service you provide in our
community and in your generous support of organizations throughout the
world. While there are
many different reasons for our service involvement and support of
various charities, our Christian Values are always at the root.
By living as responsible stewards, freely sharing our time,
talent and financial support, we are spreading hope to others that they
too may live more abundantly.
This year we will have some members of our
congregation speak about how they are sharing their values and how this
has impacted their lives.
Oftentimes we become involved in service to others or provide financial
support to a worthwhile cause and we just take it for granted, and don’t
think much about the difference we are making.
Let’s think about it in terms of planting seeds. When one seed is
planted, a beautiful flower grows.
With every new seed our garden grows. Our Stewardship Program
this year focuses on the beautiful garden we are growing by living our
Christian Values in the world.
Our stewardship program invites your participation. Please complete and
return the enclosed survey. The returned
surveys will be combined with others and we will use this information on
our final Stewardship Sunday.
There is no need to sign the survey or identify yourself, no one
will be tracking the individual feedback. The information will be used
to demonstrate how much more beautiful the world looks when we are
living our Christian Values.
I
Thessalonians 1: 2,3
(Revised Standard Version)
“We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in
our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith
and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Lyn Taylor,
It doesn’t seem that long ago we were preparing
the spring newsletter and now summer is over, kids are back in school
and everyone seems to be talking about plans they may have for the late
fall and winter. The Finance
Committee hopes everyone enjoyed the past summer and once again we feel
the joint services with Fenwick United were positive for both
congregations.
Operating fund revenue for the eight months
ending August 31st amounted to $134,208 which is
approximately $10,000 higher than last year and $8,000 over budget. This
positive increase is partially due to the fact that we received $10,000
from Presbytery to cover costs associated with Garry’s sabbatical. These
funds are designed to cover the cost of hiring a Minister during the
sabbatical. Revenue also includes two one-time gifts amounting to
$8,500.
Year-to-date expenses are $10,000 over last
year and $2,000 above budget for several reasons. We did experience high
snow removal costs in the winter and also the salary for Paul Owen.
These in turn are covered by the grant from Presbytery. The net result
is a deficit in the operating fund of $4,500 which is consistent with
2010 and roughly $5,000 below budget. The lower deficit is due to the
one-time special gifts.
So far this year $11,533 has been transferred
to Mission & Service and Outreach. $3,100 has been sent to Presbytery
and we are fully current with all our expenses. Clearly a positive
financial position considering reports we hear from other churches in
our area.
The solar panels were “turned on” in early
April and to September 12, we have generated 6558 KW of power for a
total revenue of $5259.
These funds are being used to repay the debt.
To date we are quite pleased with this endeavour and feel
strongly it is being well recognized in the community. Plans are
underway to hold a one-day open house to show the system to the
community and as well, to have schools visit the church to see how the
system works. If you have
internet access, you can see daily updates on the solar panels at
www.fonthilluc.solarvu.net.
We would also like to acknowledge a gift of 30
new folding chairs from Dora Drennan in recognition of all the work Doug
did with the Property Committee.
UCW worked with Dora in this gift and the continued support of
you both is sincerely appreciated.
During the summer, roof repairs valued at
$12,900 were completed. You
may recall we launched an appeal in May and if you have not already
contributed, we would sincerely appreciate your consideration towards
this expense.
With a declining membership we sometimes wonder
how we will meet ever increasing costs, not only for day to day
expenses, but also longer term capital costs for building upkeep. Then
from out of the blue we receive wonderful one-time gifts or a series of
gifts for special projects such as the roof. Your response to the
financial needs of Fonthill United is sincerely appreciated.
Jim Bradley,
We are fortunate to be able to share our
facilities with a large number of community groups, covering a wide
range of services and interests.
For children, there are Cubs, Beavers and Sparks, each meeting
once a week in the evening.
A dedicated group of ladies get together every Tuesday to make beautiful
quilts. Once a month, a chapter of the Model Aeronautics Association of
Canada meets to share their interest in flying model airplanes. And on
the third Wednesday of the month, a luncheon is served in the lower hall
for seniors by Community Support Services of Niagara.
As well, various organizations use our
facilities on a rental basis.
Badminton meets twice a week for fun and exercise.
Vicky Vlassis has turned the spare office into a lovely music
studio and offers voice lessons three times a week.
You can contact Vicky if you are interested in pursuing vocal
studies. A new tenant this
year is a Pedicure Salon offering specialized foot care for seniors,
operated by Tisha and Sarah.
They would be happy to receive your call to set up an appointment for a
treatment. Weight Watchers
meets every Tuesday at 4:00 pm in the lower hall and is always open to
new members.
For years, the Christian Women have held
monthly get-togethers at Fonthill United.
This attracts 60-70 women from the community for every meeting at
which they have had different speakers, fashion shows and teas.
Since January, we were pleased to share the
sanctuary with the Slavic Baptist Church of Welland, who held worship
services twice a week. They
have now moved to St. Catharines and will no longer be using our
building, but were gracious tenants during their time here.
Other groups periodically rent space for
specific needs. The Niagara
District Basketball Referees holds their training sessions in the fall,
the Pelham Library Bridge Club meets annually, and a number of
condominium corporations hold their annual meetings here.
It is very gratifying to see our building being
well used and appreciated by the local community.
Submitted on behalf of the Property Committee
The 8th annual “Homes for the Holidays” Christmas House Tour is set for November 19. Please mark this date on your calendars.
As mentioned in a previous Grapevine newsletter, which summed up last year’s house tour, the biggest challenge facing our committee is arranging for homes to be shown on the tour. The decorators willingly agree to participate in the tour year after year, but we need houses for them to decorate!!
Please: If you know of a suitable home that could be part of the house tour, will you kindly approach the home owner to see if there is any interest? The designers are all professionals who will decorate the homes to enhance that home’s character.
At this early stage of planning, there isn’t much that we can ask from the congregation and friends of Fonthill United, but when tickets are printed, any help you can offer in selling tickets would be appreciated. As well, we will require volunteers to act as hosts/hostesses in the homes as well as kitchen volunteers to prepare and serve the scones. In this regard, the sign up sheets, closer to the date, will be available after Church on a few Sundays. And finally, the Bake Sale was such a huge success and important part of the previous tours, that we want to do the same again this year. We would hope that we could count on your wonderful baking skills and assistance in mid-November!
If you know of a potential home and wish one of the committee members to approach the home owner, or follow up after you have made the initial contact, please speak to Virginia Haun, Carolyn van der Sluis, Margaret Kirkwood or Patrice Walker.
Thank you for any assistance you can provide!
Submitted by Carolyn van der Sluis and Virginia Haun
The Gallery Players of Niagara is a group of well-seasoned professional musicians who get together to present chamber music in the Niagara Region in traditional and non-traditional venues. They focus on informal presentations that are meant to invite their audiences in, remove barriers, demystify art and integrate the joy of small-scale music-making in people’s daily lives.
On December 17 at 7:30 pm at Fonthill United, three of the Gallery Players musicians will join with Shaw Festival Actor, Guy Bannerman, to offer a delightful evening of short stories from classic Christmas narratives intertwined with seasonal music for flute, violin and harp. Tickets are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, $11 for students/children, and $60 for a family with school-aged children. To order, call the church office at (905) 892-6433 weekday mornings or call the Gallery Players at (905) 468-1525. Tickets will be held at the door for pickup at the concert.
September
Focus on Season of Creation and on the relationship between people
and the rest of the natural world
October 2
World Communion Sunday
October 9
Harvest Thanksgiving
October 16, Focus
on Stewardship Values: Faith, Love and Hope / October 30 is “Ask”
Sunday
23, 30
November 6 Remembrance
observances
November 20 Focus on our
relationship to First Nations’ people in Canada. Barbara and
Brenda Peszle have been involved with First
Nations’ people and they will take leadership in familiarizing us
with this issue
November 27 Advent Communion
October 16
Moderator Mardi Tindal will join in a Town Hall conversation,
“Responding with Hope to Climate and Ocean Change,” held at the
Islamic Society, 6768 Lyons Creek Road, Niagara Falls at 2:00 pm.
No charge; pre-register by October 7.
October 22
Roast Beef Dinner
November 19 “Homes for the
Holidays” Christmas House Tour
November 30 Lessons, Carols and
Cookies
