St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cambridge
810 King St. E. N3H 3P2 Cambridge, ON, Canada

UPDATE January 5, 2021 Prayer for Epiphany O God, on this day you revealed your Son to the nations by the leading of a star. Lead us now by faith to know your presence in our lives, and bring us at last to the full vision of your glory, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. ELW pg 21... Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ‘As With Gladness Men of Old’, by King's College Choir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH2SD23BT1E

UPDATE January 4, 2021 I Know How Far A Blessing for Women’s Christmas... I know how far you would walk to offer what is needed; the lengths you would go to to provide for those you hold dear. I know how every road you travel begins in the hollow of your chest, in the chambers of your heart; how you measure your steps by the rhythm of your pulse; how you find your way across terrains no map could ever show. No distance no barrier no expanse of time would keep you from propelling yourself toward the place where your heart has already arrived. But for a moment, for one small space of time, could you pause and in the quiet wait for the gifts that have been gathering around you, the treasures borne by those who have been traveling to welcome you since the moment you left home? Jan Richardson From: Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. Used with permission. Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ’Wandering Pilgrim’, by Twila Paris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn41aNnVwVY

From our Eastern Synod Bishop, Michael Pryse.

Merry Christmas! "In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them..., and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for seeI am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,[a] the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"(Luke 2:8-14)

UPDATE December 24, 2020 The full service for Christmas Eve Thursday December 24, 2020 has now been uploaded to our website, http://stpeterscambridge.com/ and emailed out to those who receive it in that format. It includes the lessons, prayers, and text and pre-recorded audio link for the sermon. The sermon will also be recorded live during our Zoom worship service, and that link will be made available on following the service. It will be emailed out to this list and will als...Continue reading

UPDATE November 25, 2020 For those who are following St Peter's Cambridge, please be advised that worship services will be suspended immediately, as decided by church council Tuesday night: a) Church will close when Regional Health puts us in a Red Zone or Lockdown status... b) With the current Advent and Christmas season upon us - we will remain closed until January 4, 2021. (longer if we are still in the Red Zone) We continue to be available by Zoom, on Facebook, website and by telephone. Links and dial-in phone numbers will be sent out toward the end of the week. Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ’I Got Saved’, by Selah https://www.youtube.com/watch

Please see notice of closure below as our Region is in Stage Red.

Today, October 16, we lift up World Food Day as a time to reflect on issues around food, including food security, poverty and the essential work contributed by ...farmers and producers. The event has been observed annually since 1981, as a way to increase awareness of world hunger and poverty and to inspire solutions for world change. The following resource from Canadian Foodgrains Bank has been provided from ELCIC partner Canadian Lutheran World Relief: https://foodgrainsbank.ca//world-food-day-your-kingdom-ba/

UPDATE November 24, 2020 An Advent Prayer for Courage Dear Heavenly Father,... Help me to hear your voice. Touch me once again. Give me the courage to be your beloved. Give me courage to choose joy. I need you now this Christmas. Be born in me again. Today. In Jesus' name, Amen. ~Bonnie Gray, from Why it Takes Courage to Choose Joy Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ’Part the Waters/I Need Thee Every Hour’, by Selah https://www.youtube.com/watch

We meditate together Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy..... Psalm 99:9 We reflect together Matthew 14:1-12 At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him. For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; because John had been telling him, It is not lawful for you to have her. Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter. The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus. We pray together Lord of the feast, you have prepared a table before all peoples. Call us again to your banquet where we may be transformed into a people of righteousness and peace. Amen. #LWFPentecost #SeasonOfCreation #SOC2020 #PrayingCommunion LWF Communion Prayer for Pentecost http://bit.ly/CommunionPrayerPentecost Enoc Valenzuela

We meditate together See how they conceive evil, and are pregnant with mischief, and bring forth lies.... They make a pit, digging it out, and fall into the hole that they have made. Their mischief returns upon their own heads, and on their own heads their violence descends I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High. Psalm 7: 14-17 We reflect together John 5:19-29 Jesus said to them, Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. [] For the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come outthose who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. We pray together God is my shield, who saves the upright in heart. Amen. LWF Communion Prayer for Pentecost #LWFPentecost #Reformation2020 #PrayingCommunion http://bit.ly/CommunionPrayerPentecost Clément Falize

UPDATE October 17, 2020 The full service for October 18th, 2020, the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost has now been uploaded to our website, http://stpeterscambridge.com/ . It includes the lessons, prayers, and text for the sermon. The audio link to the sermon will be made available on Sunday afternoon. It will be emailed out to those who receive it via email and will also be available on this website at that time. You will also find links to the music for you to either sin...Continue reading

On the 24th day of every month, the ELCIC joins people around the world in praying for peace in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. We ask you to consider joining us in prayer. More information can be found here: actpalestineforum.org/apf-ecumenical-prayer-vigil/

UPDATE October 16, 2020 We are now at the seven-month mark since we left our beloved sanctuary at St. Peter’s. This Sunday we will return to in-person worship for all those who want to attend and feel comfortable doing so. From Pastor Janaki:... We have, at your reading of this, arrived at long last at the congregational re-opening Sunday. As I am preparing this ahead of time, and as more and more things are being closed or shut down every few days, it is with a prayer that I write: May God’s will be done in our attempts to re-open for in-person worship. I also know that many of you will be accessing this service from home instead of coming out to church, and that is JUST FINE. We are each given a spirit of discernment with good reason, and I completely trust in your ability to discern what will work best for you. The (e-)mail and website service will be arriving to you before the in-person gathering. This week there is no audio link included for the sermon, but after we have had the in-person worship service, an email will be sent to you sharing the link of the in-person sermon. I struggled with how to do this, and I don’t want those of you who worship at home on Sunday morning to have to wait until mid-afternoon for your service, so after some discussion with Bonnie and Lorre, I decided it is best to make sure you have a Sunday morning service at home too. Next Sunday, you will have a Sunday morning service at home which includes an audio link of the sermon as it is written here. We will also make an audio recording of the in-person sermon from Sunday and that will be emailed out to you separately. I am doing this because preaching to a congregation is very different from preaching to a microphone and if you want to hear the congregational preaching, not being in attendance should not stop you from accessing the recording of same. The word of God is indeed the living word, and unpacking it within the gathering always leads to nudges of Spirit that will change the way something is said, sometimes change the way examples are given, and overall change the experience from something I prepare in advance, to something Spirit enlivens in the moment. The in-person worship services will have live music, possibly soloists, and possibly slightly different hymnody than the email service will; this allows us to ensure the best quality recordings in the online delivery. Eventually we hope to livestream the service, either on Youtube, Facebook or some other streaming service. But for now, we are working with the gifts and energy levels available. The service for this Sunday will be emailed out sometime Saturday afternoon, and will also be uploaded to the website at that time. ’I Draw Near to You’, by Darlene Zschech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NBKuNhpX2w

UPDATE October 15, 2020 Prayer For Strength and Wisdom Thank you, Lord, for being there for me and allowing me to cry out to you in my times of need. It is amazing to me that the Lord of the Universe would take time to listen to me and to care about what I say. God, there are things happening around me right now that I do not understand. Some of these things make me feel weak, helpless and afraid. Even in the midst of this, I know that you are the Lord. I know that the situat...ion is in Your hand, and I trust You. I beseech you for strength and for wisdom that I would be able to endure this situation and be able to handle it in a way that would bring glory to Your name. In Jesus name. Amen. Source: Gregorian Sacramentary Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ’Bless the Lord, My Soul’, by Oasis Chorale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvcDHgfdywc

We meditate together God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;... he has bent and strung his bow; he has prepared his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Psalm 7: 11-13 We reflect together Revelation 19:1-9 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God, for his judgments are true and just; he has judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they said, Hallelujah! The smoke goes up from her forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, Amen. Hallelujah! And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and all who fear him, small and great. We pray together O Lord my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me. Amen. LWF Communion Prayer for Pentecost #LWFPentecost #Reformation2020 #PrayingCommunion http://bit.ly/CommunionPrayerPentecost Daniel Bowman

Praying and advocating for a world without gender based violence. #ThursdaysInBlack

We meditate together Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name.... They cried to the Lord, and he answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Psalm 99: 6-8 We reflect together 1 Peter 5:1-5 Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it not for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away. In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We pray together Call us again to your banquet where we may receive your holy food, and be strengthened by what is honorable, just, and pure. Amen. #LWFPentecost #SeasonOfCreation #SOC2020 #PrayingCommunion LWF Communion Prayer for Pentecost http://bit.ly/CommunionPrayerPentecost Samantha Sophia

UPDATE October 14, 2020 Blessing in the Chaos To all that is chaotic... in you, let there come silence. Let there be a calming of the clamoring, a stilling of the voices that have laid their claim on you, that have made their home in you, that go with you even to the holy places but will not let you rest, will not let you hear your life with wholeness or feel the grace that fashioned you. Let what distracts you cease. Let what divides you cease. Let there come an end to what diminishes and demeans, and let depart all that keeps you in its cage. Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos, where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm. Jan Richardson https://paintedprayerbook.com/ Used with permission Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ‘I Stand in Awe of You’, by Parachute Band https://www.youtube.com/watch

We meditate together The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!... The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he! Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he! Psalm 99: 1-5 We reflect together 3 John:9-12 I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true. We pray together Lord of the feast, you have prepared a table before all peoples and poured out life with such abundance that death cannot claim the triumph over your universe. Amen. #LWFPentecost #SeasonOfCreation #SOC2020 #PrayingCommunion LWF Communion Prayer for Pentecost http://bit.ly/CommunionPrayerPentecost Skyler Gerald

We meditate together The Lord loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.... Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name! Psalm 97: 10-12 We reflect together John 6:25-35 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them, Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal. Then they said to him, What must we do to perform the works of God? Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to him, What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Then Jesus said to them, Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which[a] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. We pray together God of Aaron, Miriam, and Moses, you stayed the hand of your wrath when we fell into idolatry and discord; and when we forgot our deliverance, your love for us remained unchanging. Transform us and our world into a place of justice, love, and peace. Amen. #LWFPentecost #SeasonOfCreation #SOC2020 #PrayingCommunion LWF Communion Prayer for Pentecost http://bit.ly/CommunionPrayerPentecost Hannah Busing

UPDATE October 13, 2020 On October 4th, we had a soft re-opening in-person service which went smoothly, and we anticipate resuming in-person worship on Sunday, October 18th at 10:00 am (pandemic closures permitting). On October 18th and following weeks, worship emails (including the recorded Youtube link for the sermon) will be emailed to you in the afternoon, following the Sunday morning live worship. Likewise, those who received physical mail of the service will receive you...r mail a little later in the week following the service. This will allow us to resume a Sunday in-person worship practice that we can share, as best as possible, with those who are not yet comfortable or able to return to in-person worship. If you are planning to attend worship on Sunday, October 18th, please read through the first page of notes that accompany the emailed service (or that are contained within this week’s worship missal accessible on this website; Click on +Worship Services along the left side of this page, scroll down until you see a link for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost.) carefully so you know what to expect when you come to church." A lot of work went into preparing the protocols and plans that will enable us to return to in-person worship. Our goal is to not only make sure everyone who comes into our space ‘is’ safe, but that everyone who comes into our space ‘feels’ safe. We ask for your patience, your understanding, and always, your prayers, as we navigate these uncertain waters in which we find ourselves. COVID-19 has taken so much from us, but perhaps we have also taken the opportunity to draw closer to God in the midst of our isolation from our church family. Our service and our worship space will look and feel very different than they did before we left the building on March 15th, but that doesn’t mean we can’t grow and learn and worship in new ways. ‘Different’ doesn’t equal ‘bad’, so let’s see how things go over the next while. We also want to give a huge shout-out and thank you to those disciples who worked on our safety protocols, measured our six-foot distances, took things out of the worship space that are not easily cleaned and maintained week-to-week, and raised good issues and questions that all worked toward making a safe return to our worship space possible. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call the church office, 519-653-4721, for clarification. Remember you are loved and you are missed! Stay safe, and keep in touch. Blessings and peace to you all, The Leadership Team of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church ’Take Heart’, by Mission House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM56MmZHk-U