Advent/Christmas 2013

5 years, Nicholas was con-fined to a small cell wherehe suffered from cold, hun-ger and thirst. Nicholasnever wavered in his trust inthe Lord Jesus. By 313,Emperor Constantine re-versed the persecution andNicholas was once againBishop in Myra. By hisdeath on December 6, 343AD he was already highlyregarded in the ChristianChurch. By 450 ADchurches in Asia Minor andGreece were named afterhim and by 800 AD he wasrecognized as a Saint by theEastern Catholic Church.St. Nicholas’ popularityspread throughout Europeand was brought to NorthAmerican by settlers. TheDutch “Sinter Klass” pro-nunciation soon turned “St.Nicholas” into “SantaClaus.” The old bishop’scloak with mitre, jewelledgloves and crozier weresoon replaced with his redsuit and clothing seen inmodern images. As wemove closer towards Christ-mas may we celebrate thetradition of St. Nicholas,disciple of Christ, ministerof the gospel and child ofGod. Wishing you and yourfamily a prayerful Adventand a Happy Christmas.

GOOD SAINT NICK By Rev. Dr. Ross LockhartI have a confession to make.Christmas is my favoritetime of year. Is it yours?There is just something spe-cial about this time of year.Before us a full and richseason of Advent awaits.The opportunity to antici-pate the celebration ofChrist’s birth mingled withprophecies of Christ’s returnand the hope that in theend...God’s love wins. Yes,this is very much my favor-ite time of the year. Aheartbeat after Remem-brance Day local stores hadalready transformed theirstorefronts with images ofSanta Claus. In song, storyand symbol Christmas isrepresented today as much(if not more) by Santa Clausthan it is by baby Jesus.Why is that I wonder? Infact, it is entirely possiblenow to celebrate in our con-temporary, secular Canadianculture a Christmas withoutany mention of Christ. Butas one who delights inGod’s revelation at Christ-mas I’m not ready to giveup on Santa Claus just yet.I think it’s still possible forus as Christians to illumi-

nate and celebrate the Chris-tian origins of Santa Claus.By the time you read this Iwill be hiking through Tur-key marking sites and build-ing material for our 3rdWVUC pilgrimage in 5years: “The Footsteps of St.Paul” scheduled for May2014. As I do so I will alsobe walking through the landof Santa Claus...well...SaintNicholas to be exact.St. Nicholas was born in280 AD, in Patara, a city ofLycia, in Asia Minor. Or-dained a Christian priest,Nicholas gained a reputationfor his kindness and wis-dom. He was consecratedthe Bishop of Myra andbecame famous for givingaway his considerable fami-ly wealth to those in need.St. Nicholas did not likebeing seen giving awaygifts, so the children of theday were told to go to sleepquickly or he would notcome! A famous story ofSt. Nicholas is told of a poorman who had no money togive his three daughters ontheir wedding days. St.Nicholas dropped bags ofgold in the stockings thatwere left to dry by the fire.The sisters found the goldand our Christmas Eve tra-dition of hanging our stock-ings for Santa began!Of course, not all the storiesabout St. Nicholas arecheerful. Nicholas wascaught up in a wave of per-secution under the reign ofEmperor Diocletian andimprisoned for his worshipof Jesus (instead of the dei-fied Roman Emperor). For

Inside this issue:

A call to enrich yourjourney to Bethlehem

A Blue Christmas ser-vice

Pg 2

Pg 2

God Sightings

Photo Directory Up-dates

Pg 3

Pg 3

Caring Ministry Update Pg 4

Lord Teach Us How toPray

Pg 4

A Night in New OrleansDinner

Pg 5

Prayer Triplets Pg 6

Oppenheimer Project

Calendar of Events

Pg 7

Pg 8

West Vancouver UnitedChurch

Advent Devotional Guide2013.

Daily devotionals, written by mem-bers of our church family, havebeen compiled into a meaningfultool for your daily use throughAdvent. Pick one up Dec 1st at thewelcome table. It is also availableon-line at www.wvuc.bc.ca

A Call to Enrich Your Journey to Bethlehem by Rev. Laura Lockhart

mas carols is “In the BleakMidwinter”, and I will com-mend this line to you, “…yetwhat I can I give him – givemy heart.”

Blessings in Jesus’ name,Rev. Laura LockhartMinister of Pastoral Care

letter. There are manyways you can prepare yourheart…every year. WVUCproduces an advent devo-tional guide written by layand clergy in our congrega-tion. Gerry van Wyck andthe Pacific Spirit Choir areworking very hard on pre-senting Handel’s Messiah inDecember. Caring Ministryhosts a Christmas Tea forseniors. Caring Ministryalso delivers poinsettias toisolated men and women inthe congregation – a greatopportunity to reach out dur-ing advent. Join a prayertriplet and be amazed at yourspiritual growth. Look forupcoming Christmas initia-tives from our Outreach andEndowment committee. Asyou can see, there are somany ways to enrich yourjourney towards Bethlehem.One of my favourite Christ-

Page 2Christmas 2013

it through baking, or makingChristmas presents? Is itthrough Christmas cards ordecorating your home? Is itthrough hosting a Christmasopen house or organizing aChristmas party? Or is itthrough donating your time,talents and treasures to a char-itable organization? I encour-age you as your pastor to lookfor meaningful ways to markthis special time in the Chris-tian year. It is very easy to getcaught up in the “surface”stuff of Christmas…and that’sok – I love Christmas baking!But I invite you to prepareyour heart for Jesus’ birth, notjust your yearly Christmas

Signs that autumn is over –Susan Senkler ordering ad-vent wreath candles, provid-ing a devotional for the ad-vent guide, ordering a stock-ing for Sadie’s first Christ-mas, and ultimately…thefestive meal deal is on atSwiss Chalet! You maylaugh, but as an “Easterner”,the festive meal deal markedthe end of autumn and theramp up to Christmas. It’stoo bad that White Spot has-n’t caught on to a similarmarketing campaign fornative British Columbians.All kidding aside, I am suremany of you are starting toprepare for Christ’s birth. Is

A Blue Christmas ServiceThursday December 19th, 7 pm

Sometimes it’s tough to be merry at Christmas.On December 19th at 7 pm there will be an intimateChristmas Service for those saddened by life’s chal-lenges. There will be thoughtful prayers, times forreflection and traditional Christmas music.

World Day ofPrayer

2014West Vancouver UnitedChurch Women arepleased to announce thatwe will be hosting theWorld Day of Prayer atWVUC on

Friday, March 7, 2014.

The Service has been pre-pared by the Women ofEgypt. Speaker to be an-nounced.

Lunch will be served,catered by RomyReimann.

Going intoHospital?Please Call.

If you, or a loved one,are expecting surgery orfind yourself in the hospi-tal please give Rev. Lauraa call or text directly onher cell phone at

604-349-5174.Hospitals are becom-

ing more picky on privacyissues and it helps ourpastoral care if you let usknow directly. We areyour church family, andwant to be with you inyour times of spiritual andcaring needs.

God Sightings ...some of the Holy events which have happened among us in the last months

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God is active and present in theordinary every day activity oflife, not always in some bigvision, big pictures or big struc-tures. If you have a God Sight-ing, let us report it!Below are reported real events:

***Sunday Club gives our childrena chance every week to sharewith the group ways they haveseen God at work this week.

***Our friend who lives in ourbuilding went to her regular

cancer check up. The re-sults were disappointing andinconclusive. She does notattend a church. We told herwe would pray for her andwe sent flowers to show wecare. A week later shecalled, “My knees are stillshaking, my eyes aren'tquite dry. The cancer hasnot returned! Thank you foryour prayers!”

***A faithful and low-incomemember of a church in Sur-rey shared that her computerof many years bit the dust.She was unable to affordrepairs or a new computer.A secret Santa dropped offan Apple mini iPad the nextday!

***

Her heart was broken and shesought forgiveness for theatrocities committed on theaboriginal peoples of Canada.In the rainy crowd of 70,000people in September, Wendywitnessed Jesus' love andGod's grace everywhere shelooked. She now lives in arenewed HOPE in knowingJesus is The Way.

***A gentleman showed up in myoffice needing to talk. Iprayed, “I am so not preparedfor this. Holy Spirit.. I needhelp.. Now.” As we chatted, Idiscovered what he needed tohear was just coming out ofmy mouth! The whole time Iwas thinking I can’t believewhat I’m saying. He left in amuch better state, and I prayed

a big thank you to God forhelping me in helping him.

***Marian took the day off workbecause it would be the firstanniversary of her husband'sdeath. Listening for ideas ofwhat to do, she heard an oppor-tunity to visit someone's Momin the hospital because herdaughter lived too far away fora visit.

***Lynda and Caroline have start-ed a Community Bible StudyInternational Canada Groupheld in our building. WVUC ishome to two Bible Classesnow!

***Report your God Sighting to usfor next time, so we can sharethe heavenly view to everyone!

Photo Directory UpdatesWe are family! And families want to be able to stay in touch,call each other on the phone, email each other to share andreceive news about our lives outside the church building. Aswith any directory, it is only as valuable as the quality of theinformation.

The office will be providing updates and edits to this direc-tory as often as needed.Please inform the office at any time regarding: Corrections to your contact information Additions to your contact information If you missed getting into this directory, and would like to

be included in the next one. If you would like to add

your own photographWe are very pleased to keepthis a living document, andmake sure our ability to stayin touch Monday throughSaturday is as easy as onSunday mornings.

Email: office@wvuc.bc.caPhone: 604-922-9171

If you have not picked upyour copy, they are availableon Sundays at the WelcomeTable, or in the Church of-fice during business hours.

Caring Ministry Update from Chair, Helen McDonald

***The next “Stay in Touch”will feature Dien East, amember of WVUC whopassed away several yearsago. She was a wonderfulbenefactor to not only ourchurch but also to the com-munity at large, and every-one will be interested to readof her life and her story.

Christmas tea on Saturday,December 14th from 2-4PM.This is always a joyous event,with Santa, entertainment,carols and games. Please planto attend.

***

The Caring Ministry also de-livers over 60 poinsettias tohomebound congregationmembers, with many volun-

teers willingly taking on thistask. In 2012 over 60 ponset-tias were delivered. Thispoinsettia program has beensuccessful over the past eightyears.

***

The Caring Ministry contin-ues to visit West Van carefacilities monthly with wor-ship services. These are verypopular with the residents.

Page 4Christmas 2013

The monthly Caring MinistryFellowship luncheon will beheld on Wednesday, Novem-ber 27th in the gym. All arewelcome, and the cost is$3.00. The speaker will beLenore Rogers, and her topicwill be “Women in Jordan”.

***

In December the Caring Min-istry will host the annual

Lord Teach us How to Pray by Liz Birnie

A Prayer Circle in the Gym?When it was announced thatthis would be the venue foran evening exploring the top-ic of Prayer, I imagined usrattling around in the vastspace, voices echoing in therafters. The sign-up didn’tlook any more promising,with only about ten names,that was just about equal tothe number those who hadbeen invited to “share” by theRev. Dr. Ross. But God hadanother plan!

The circle of chairs had tokeep expanding well after thestart time of 7.30, until therewere more than forty of us inthe candlelit space. One byone, personal prayer practices

were shared, each one havinga unique style, we would thentake time to try out a tech-nique such as writing downprayers, finding a calm cen-ter, imagining our petitionsusing the names of the Trini-ty, reviewing prayerfully thepast 24hrs, (the “Examen” ofSt. Ignatius Loyola, a 15th

century monk). Journalingwas a feature. There was a“prayer book” filled withtreasured mementos, each onetriggering a powerful encour-agement to continue to pray.

Rev. Dr. Ross had us all jour-ney on a Prayer Walk, …now I understood the need forthe large space of the Gym!While inspirational music

played gently, we slowlytravelled around the room.Displayed on the walls werequotations from the Bible onprayer, which took us on ameditative pilgrimage. Threecandlelit stations of the birth,life and death of Jesus intouching fabric pictures, pro-vided other “holy moments”.

The animated conversationthat broke out spontaneouslyafter this experience, demon-strated that we had not onlymade a “God” connection,but we had found kinshipwith others along the way.Long after we had closed inprayer, groups of participantslingered, in animated discus-sion, in “deep” listening and

huddled together in prayer.

Whether we were a practicedintercessor, or rookie pray-er,each of us found new perspec-tives on a topic which manyfind “scary”. We are betterequipped for the Advent Pray-er Triplets starting next month.

“Pray without ceasing”, urgedPaul. I’m not there yet, butfurther along the way, joinedby others who are “trying tofigure out what it means tofollow Jesus” at WVUC.

If you couldn’t join us lasttime, maybe you’ll be able tocome to the next one. TheLord truly is teaching us howto pray through each other.

Pacific Spirit Choir PerformsHandel’s Messiah

Please join the Pacific Spirit Choir and Orchestra for a great Christmas tradition: a per-formance of Handel's MESSIAH. It is our joy to present this masterpiece every two tothree years, and we've always been sold out. It might have something to do with theprofoundly spiritual message, the great solos and choruses (including the "Hallelujah"chorus), and the very lively, rhythmical, and Biblical text-based interpretation we loveto present. Tickets are available from the church office for both concerts: $30/25.

Friday December 13th, 7:30 pm at St. Catherines Anglican Church, Edgemont VillageSunday December 15th at 2:00 pm at West Vancouver United Church.

A Night in New Orleans Dinner

Page 5Christmas 2013

A Night in New Orleans dinner heldon Saturday October 26th was a hugesuccess. The hall was packed withpeople. The entertainment was great.The dinner was amazing.

Altogether $1,340 was raised forSpectrum Mother’s Support Group onthe North Shore.

My wife, Pat and I attended the New Orleans dinner held in October. It was our first church family dinner since we began attend-ing early in the year - and we were not quite sure what to expect .

Our first impressions occured when we joined a large number of volunteers setting up for a dinner for 170 people. That alone wasamazing for us. The setup took relatively little time due to the number of volunteers and the detailed planning that had obviouslybeen done over the previous months. It wasn't just getting the tables and chairs arranged and set, but the special little things thattransformed the hall into a true New Orleans venue. When we returned in the evening, we joined the friends who had encouragedus to attend the event. A table of 10 - cozy for sure, but arranged at our request. The Sunday before the Committee said - " it willbe a tight fit, but we will do our best" - and they did. Such a warm willingness to accommodate everyone. We felt a real sense ofoutreach permeating the whole evening.

The kitchen volunteers were totally amazing - cooking such a delicious dinner from scratch for so many people. Another groupof volunteers took over the serving of the dinner. The entertainment provided a pleasant background with guests singing alongwith the band soloists.

We had the sense that the Committee had carefully created an environment and given permission to people to have fun in achurch setting. The outreach component showed again in the selection of the community based charity to which profits would go.We know that the New Orleans dinner is just the latest in a long line of such church events. How could the Fellowship Committeeever top this one? Thanks to everyone involved. Will we attend the next one? Absolutely!!!

Bob Pearmain

Prayer TripletsLast spring, our lead minister, Ross, chal-lenged us into this idea of having regular pray-er friends. I was relatively new to the congre-gation, so couldn’t imagine who I would know“well enough” to ask what felt like such a per-sonal request. I already enjoyed the churchrelationships I had, and frankly was nervousabout changing the dynamic of those relation-ships because I didn’t want to lose the friendsI’d already started to make. Then the phonecall came from another relatively new memberof the church. She asked if I’d consider beingin a Triplet with her, but she didn’t know any-one else to ask. Someone came to my mindright away as someone who I wanted to get toknow better and felt comfortable that maybethis regular meeting time could help grow thatfriendship. Voila. We had three of us.

The format and guidelines providedby Ross (see info on the right) made the pro-cess less awkward, kept us on track learninghow to bring God into our relationshipsthrough prayer, and helped the three of us dis-cover something new about what prayer is likeamong friends. Each week we took turns be-ing the leader and the one to bring a newPsalm. Before we left, we made sure we hadthe next Triplet date set on our calendars. Wefound we were better able to do it a week at atime with work and family commitments con-stantly changing.

I get what Paul wrote: “I have thedesire to do what is good, but I cannot carry itout.” (Romans 7:18) Finding prayer friends tobe my encouragers to pray sure helps.

Gwen Carpenter

As we move closer to the seasons of Ad-vent and Christmas, the WVUC churchfamily is offering the opportunity to do-

used to beautify the church and worshipspace throughout the festive season. A listof donors and those to be rememberedwill be printed in all the Christmas Eveand Christmas Day bulletins. Please signup in the office—by donation.

Caring Ministry ChristmasTea

Saturday December 14th,2 - 4 pm

in the church hallA warm welcome is extended to all involvedin the Caring Ministry, care givers, receivers,

and Teas, to join in a Christmas party of mu-sic, games, entertainment, and a delicioustea. Please call the Caring Ministry office at604-922-a ride.

Caring Ministry

If you know of anyone whomay be isolated or lonely thisChristmas, please let the CaringMinistry know as we will be

-ins in mid December

Page 6Christmas 2013

The Oppenheimer Project by Simon LeSieurOnce your life is gripped bythe gospel, it’s no longerabout you - it’s about oth-ers. Jesus teaches aboutloving sincerely, givinggenerously, serving indis-criminately. We love, andgive, and serve so that thosewe encounter might knowGod’s lavish love for them.It’s the lost sheep beingfound by the caring shep-herd. It’s the wayward sonwelcomed home by theloving father. Indeed, Godis perpetually calling ushome, and that is exactlywhat Oppenheimer is about:inspiring a generation ofyoung people to extendtheir vision of life beyondselfish success, beyondfame, beyond richness, andto live lives worthy of thecalling they have received.

The thing is, Jesus didn’tsay “I was thirsty, so youclothed me. I was in prison,so you gave me somethingto drink.” That doesn’tmake sense. For Jesus, theresponse corresponded withthe predicament - “I wasthirsty, so you gave mesomething to drink. I was inprison, so you visited me.”

Page 7Christmas 2013

So we have to ask our-selves, in a community likethe Downtown Eastside(DTES) where mental ill-ness and addiction are prev-alent, why sandwiches?

First, I would suggest thatissues of mental illness andaddiction can lead to finan-cial distress. That’s part ofwhy unaffordable living issuch an issue. That’s alsowhy dozens of organiza-tions operate out of theDTES to provide food pro-grams. So then, why us? Wedon’t claim to have all the

answers, and we’ll be thefirst to admit that we arelearning as we go. But whyare we, as a community offaith in West Vancouver,called to serve there out ofthe abundance we’ve beengiven?

Well, for Julie Walsh whocoordinates the monthlyprogram, and for me as aYouth Pastor, the answerrevolves around the resi-dents we serve, but alsoaround the kids who arekeen to serve. During myfirst confirmation class, wetold the teens we would be

going to the DTES sinceDylon, Katie and I hadbeen involved in the neigh-bourhood for a number ofyears prior to coming toWest Van United. “Oh, wecan’t do that!” exclaimedone teen. “My teacher saidthat if we go there, we willbe kidnapped and sold intothe sex trade!”Heart breaking. There’s adehumanization that hap-pens when our only expo-sure to the DTES is behindthe tinted windows of ourspeeding vehicle, or worseyet, when it’s a neighbour-hood relegated to “the otherside of the bridge”. Anoutreach such as the Op-penheimer Project helpsyoung people go beyond

their erroneous stereotypes.It helps them catch thevision of why Jesus taught“if you have two coats,give one away. Do thesame with your food”. Andit helps all of us rememberthat, beneath the layers andlayers of our existence,God is calling all of ushome.

Calendar of EventsBaptismOnce a month on Sunday morning. Please contact the office a month ortwo in advance.

CommunionWe will be celebrating Communion on the 1st Sunday of Advent, Dec1st at the 10am service

Congregational Dates and EventsSun Dec 1 Clay Event for Children, during the 10 am service

Sun Dec 8 New Members Sunday, 10 am service

Mon Dec 9 Oikoumene Unit Christmas pot luck dinner

Tue Dec 10 Board meeting, 7 pm

Wed Dec 11 Naomi Unit Christmas Luncheon

Sat Dec 14 Oppenheimer Park Youth Project, 9:30 am

Sat Dec 14 Caring Ministry Christmas Tea, 2 to 4 pm

Sat Dec 14 Feast, Pray, Love, 5 pm

Sun Dec 15 Pageant Sunday, 10 am service

Wed Dec 18 Men’s Group, 10 am

Thurs Dec 19 Youth Christmas Dinner, 6 pm

Sat Jan 11 Feast, Pray, Love, 5 pm

Mon Jan 13 Oikoumene Unit Meeting, 7:30 pm

Tue Jan 14 Board meeting, 7 pm

Wed Jan 15 Naomi Unit Meeting, 10 am

Wed Jan 15 Men’s Group, 10 am

Sat Jan 18 Oppenheimer Park Youth Project, 9:30 am

Fri Jan 17 & Moving back into the neighbourhoodSat Jan 18

Wed Jan 29 Caring Ministry Friendship luncheon, 12 noon

Sat Feb 8 Feast, Pray, Love, 5 pm

Mon Feb 10 Oikoumene Unit Meeting, 7:30 pm

Tue Feb 11 Board Meeting, 7 pm

Christmas ServicesSun Dec 1st: Clay Event for children, 10 am serviceSun Dec 15th: Pageant Sunday, 10 am service

Thurs Dec 19th: Blue Christmas Service, 7 pmA service for those who have suffered loss

Tue Dec 24th: Christmas Eve ServicesChristmas for Kids (30 min service), 4:30 pmCarols and Candlelight, 7:30 pmCarols and Candlelight, 10 pm

Wed Dec 25th: Christmas Day ServiceCarols and Communion, 10 am

West Vancouver United Church2062 Esquimalt AvenueWest Vancouver, BC

V7V 1S4

Phone: 604-922-9171

Email: office@wvuc.bc.ca

If you would like to receive this newsletter by email orread it on-line, please contact the church office by

phone at 604-922-9171 ore-mail: office@wvuc.bc.ca

Office hours:Mon-Thurs 8.30-4pm, Fri 8.30-12

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Page 7

Christmas 2013

Church Website:

www.wvuc.bc.caUpdated weeklyHear Sermons

Follow Ross’s Blog “Irreverent Orthodoxy”See current and past “Stay In Touch”

Our VideosEvents, Concerts, Fellowship Opportunities

Children and Family LifeYouth Group

Caring MinistriesWorship and Music Updates WEEKLY

through “Gerry’s Music Blog”

NEW YOUTH GROUP WEBSITENEW YOUTH GROUP WEBSITENEW YOUTH GROUP WEBSITEwww.westvanyouth.com

This is a GREAT tool for you to share withyour friends and neighbours to let other

teens know about what we do! Maybe youknow a teen who is unsure about coming,

or has questions about what youth group islike. Share the website! Pass it around!