St. Andrew's United Church Sudbury
111 Larch Street P3E 4T5 Greater Sudbury, ON, Canada

Good day! Here is our worship service for Sunday, November 15. We're so glad you're here! Every Sunday at 7:00 pm, we have Virtual Fellowship Time. It's a lot of fun to connect with others! To get your Zoom link to this event, please email Diane at [email protected]. We hope to see you there!

HOW ARE WE GOING TO "DO CHRISTMAS" THIS YEAR? Have you caught yourself wondering when hope left the building lately? There is so much uncertainty right now. We have become a people whose words and thoughts have become an on-going sigh of lament. There is no doubt about it, but anxiety has become an unwelcome and constant companion. Most of us don’t even know how we are going to do Christmas this year. Now, more than ever, we are inviting you to dig deep, and allow God’s... dream of hope to creep into your living. Let it linger, quietly filling your sleep, catching hold in your mind all day long, and taking up good space in your heart. We invite you to join us, as we dare to be a witness to God’s radical love by choosing the path of hope this year. We invite you to do Advent instead! How, you ask? Here are some ideas to get you thinking Light a candle and put it in your window through all the Advent nights. Share the light of hope. Turn off the news and listen to a piece of music that takes your breath away. Hum a song for peace and goodwill to all people. Reach out to a neighbour, through a phone call or a just because email. Share your love with generous words. Play. Make and deliver a secret care package to someone’s door. It will certainly make someone smile. Bring your joy! Share your bounty. There are so many in need in Greater Sudbury this year. Pick an organization or individual and give what you can. The psalm reading for the first Sunday of Advent (November 29th) invites us to let our faces shine. In fact, the writer mentions that three times. Shine! May that be your clue on how to do Advent this year. We hold you in our prayers, thankful and blessed by your joy and your witness. Happy Advent! Dare to shine! Rev. Dave and Rev. Catherine

Good day! Here is our worship service for Sunday, November 22, the day we celebrate St. Andrew's Sunday. We're so glad you're here! Every Sunday at 7:00 pm, we have Virtual Fellowship Time. It's a lot of fun to connect with others! To get your Zoom link to this event, please email Diane at [email protected]. We hope to see you there!

Good afternoon, here is a list of items we are in need of this week: fruit cups, applesauce cups & pudding cups and brown sugar. Thank you and be safe.

INNER CITY HOME REQUEST FOR FOOD The Inner City Home has seen a 20% increase in clients in the last few months, mostly first time visitors to the food bank. Their shelves are quite low right now, and their Director, Jennifer Grooms, is asking for help with canned goods, especially protein (canned meat, canned fish, canned milk). They are located at 251 Elm Street. Your donations would be gratefully received.

MUFFIN OUTREACH One simple yet welcome way that St. Andrew's United Church reaches out to Greater Sudbury is though baking muffins. In fact, every Monday, muffin baking and delivery to the Off the Street Emergency Shelter on Larch is still going on, even with the pandemic. All of these amazing bakers have different reasons for helping out. Recently, our amazing bakers were ... asked why they participate. Team Wilson including Grace, Adriano, and Mom and Dad offered some heartfelt words of hope! Baking muffins with my family is more than just a weekly contribution. It's a dialogue starter, a reminder, and a motivator for my family to continually serve God and support our community. As a family we share the task of 'baking lead', as some weeks are busier than others (especially with university deadlines), but often this time becomes a shared moment as a family. Baking serves as a moment of pause and reflection on the current times we are living in and to be grateful for what God has given us and the ability to give back to others. It's both humbling and motivating. Mom and I will find ways to make recipes more interesting or add a little bit more of this or that; all in the hopes of making someone else's day to be just a little bit better. Even though it's ‘just baking muffins’ for me and my family, this service has been a wonderful gift. To find out how you can put your talents to work though the outreach of St. Andrew's United Church, call Rev. Catherine at 705-674-0721 ext. 104

VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS - UPDATE SYLVIA CARSCADDEN has stepped forward to assist with coordinating our Sunday morning volunteers thank you, Sylvia!. Leslie, Sylvia, and Ralph will share this role until the end of November. We are looking for one more volunteer to work with Sylvia. Our monthly sign-up system is working very well, and fairly easy to manage by email and telephone. Training will be provided to ensure a smooth leadership transition.... If you might be interested in sharing this role with Sylvia, please contact Leslie Cassidy at [email protected] or Sylvia Carscadden at [email protected]. Thank you for considering this opportunity to serve St. Andrew's United Church in this important volunteer role.

NEEDED: GRAVITY LAWN CHAIRS St. Andrew's United Church has learned that the Elgin Street Mission needs gravity chairs, the kind you can recline and relax in, for their drop-in centre. People who live on the streets spend much of their days moving from the Frood Road warming centre to the Mission’s drop-in space to the Samaritan ... Centre’s food station to the Off the Street overnight shelter. When they get to the drop-in centre, they head for these chairs and most people fall right to sleep simply because they are so tired. If you happen to have an extra chair in your shed that you really don’t need, please consider donating it. Please contact Rev. Catherine at St. Andrew's at 705-674-0721 ext. 104 and she will gladly stop by your place to pick it up.

LET’S TALK ABOUT The pandemic has made it difficult for us to get together as a congregation and many activities in our Church and our city have been put on hold. Let’s Talk About is a project which brings members of the congregation together to encourage conversations that matter.... Members of the congregation will have conversations about God, faith, and the church. The hope is to build relationships within our community at a time when many find maintaining relationships challenging. What to expect: If you sign up, you will be paired with one other participant. Together you will arrange a time to have a conversation by phone. A conversation guide will be provided with passages to read and questions to help inspire reflection and discussion about your faith and spiritual experience. If you are interested in participating, contact Rev. Catherine at [email protected] or by calling 705-674-0721 ext. 104. A member of the Reaching Out team will be in touch with you with further information and will help you get started.

2020 STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM This is week three of the St. Andrew's United Church 2020 Stewardship Program. This Sunday, St. Andrew's will be offering gratitude through food.... Members of the congregation have received a stewardship package, and we invite you to prayerfully consider giving your ttime, talents, prayers, and treasures. Please email or phone the Alison at the church office with your answer to this question: What does stewardship mean to you? You can also post your answer here on Facebook. Maybe we can get a conversation going here that we can invite others into! We would also appreciate having your Response Card returned in time for the worship service on November 22, St. Andrew’s Sunday and the final Sunday of the Stewardship Program. On that day, we will celebrate all your gifts. Having said that, you can, of course, still return your Response Card after November 22 if you need more time to consider your plan for the coming year. If you have any questions about Stewardship, please contact any member of the Stewardship Team their names and contact information are in your stewardship package or contact Alison in the church office Tuesday through Thursday.

Virtual Fellowship: TONIGHT at 7pm Want to join us for Fellowship at St Andrew's? All you need is a Zoom link - to get it, send an email to Diane at [email protected]. Let us stay connected!

SHARING A CUP OF TEA IN A PANDEMIC So what happens when you’re in the middle of a pandemic and it’s crossing paths with the annual church tea. You mobilize your force, literally, and have a proper, socially-distanced tea by way of delivery! St. Andrew’s United Church will be celebrating St. Andrew’s Day with an event called Tea Connections on Sunday November 29, with a high tea delivered to your door!... Probably the most unique aspect of the tea this year is that an actual teacup will be included with your delivery. The teacups come as a gift from Barb Ritchie’s family, as a way of continuing to spread the care that Barb so generously offered to the world. After you enjoy your tea, you can keep the cup to reuse it again and again. In the spirit of Barb Ritchie though, you can also pay it forward and create your own tea package for someone you know. St. Andrew’s that it might be an interesting social experiment to see how far the ties of friendship can extend, by sharing a simple and lovely act of kindness, all in a cup of tea. To place your order, please email Donna Mese at [email protected] or 705-566-9530. Donna will confirm your address. You may also decide to purchase an afternoon tea treat for a friend as well. Please let Donna know the name and address of the friend. When the driver comes to your door, please give her/him a cheque to made out to St. Andrew’s United Church or, if you’re using cash, please put the exact change in a plastic Ziploc-type bag and give it to the person making the delivery. The money collected will be used to purchase Socks for Souls warm socks for people who traditionally come to the Out of the Cold Dinners at St. Andrew’s. Because we are not able to host the dinners this year, the socks will be distributed through the Samaritan Centre, Réseau Access Network, and the Overnight Shelter. You are welcome, if you wish, to donate an extra pair of new socks on the day your tea is delivered. Warm men’s socks are most appreciated. The drivers will gladly receive your Socks for Souls donations! For the cost of $10.00, a package containing a teacup, scones, jam, tea and treats will be delivered to you on the afternoon of November 29 between 1 and 3 p.m.

Wet'suwet'en Witness: Webinars on making the justice connections with Northern Ontario on the following topics - Indigenous land rights (Oct. 14), Indigenous women (Oct. 21), and the environment (Oct. 28). Please see poster for more details on how to register.

On this #orangeshirtday2020, we remember all the children who were taken by Church and Canadian government and forced to live in residential schools.

Welcome to worship this Sunday, September 27. We're so glad you could join us. Next week we hope to gather in a distanced way (all measures directed by the health unit), and the video from the worship will be posted on our YouTube page on Monday. More information to come.

We will soon be posting the worship for September 27. In the meantime, if you want to join us for Virtual Fellowship Time (11:30am tomorrow, Sunday), email Rev Dave at [email protected] he will send you a Zoom link.

Amazing results of your generosity - https://mailchi.mp/7aa4005614e3/covid19-appeal-1043283

September worship service, Part 2.

Welcome to worship for Sunday, September 20 Part 1. We're so glad you could join us. If you'd like to join us on Zoom for Virtual Fellowship Time, please email Rev. Dave at [email protected] to get your link. God bless!

Here is the September 13 worship service for St Andrew's United Church. Today we share in Virtual Communion, which means that you are invited to find your elements - Bread (could be bread, or toast or muffin or a rice cake), and a Juice (your choice of juice, or coffee or tea) - your Communion elements are made holy because we participate together! Consider joining us for Zoom Fellowship Time at 11:30am tomorrow (Sunday). To get your Zoom link to participate, email Rev Dave, [email protected].

St. Andrew's United Church welcomes our new Director of Music! Jonathan Swift is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he studied piano and vocal performance. With over 20 years of experience in choral music, Jonathan is an accomplished accompanist, soloist, composer, and ensemble member who has had the opportunity to perform in some magnificent venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York City and St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. As a newcomer to Sudbury, he is very excited to share his love for God and his passion for music with the community.

Church Council, in consultation with our ministers, staff associates and other key leaders, and representatives of St. Andrew’s Place, is considering a possible return to Sunday worship in the sanctuary this fall. However, we realize that worship (whether virtual or gathered in the St. Andrew’s Sanctuary) will not be the same as we knew it. It will require of us a healthy willingness to be flexible, and an awareness that at all times our plans may change given the reality pre...sented by the pandemic. In preparation for making important decisions about a possible return date, an online survey has been developed to gather feedback from all congregation members that will assist Church Council, the Emergency Planning Committee and the Worship Planning Team in determining the feasibility of safely gathering for worship at St. Andrew's. We invite you to complete and submit this survey by Friday, September 4, 2020. Thank you for your feedback. Your honest and timely answers will be taken into account during the decision-making process. https://st-andrews.ca/church/programs/congregational-survey/

An exciting announcement for our entire United Church of Canada! Our new General Secretary (the most senior staff person for our national Denominational Body) - the Rev Michael Blair. We give thanks for his willingness to lead The United Church of Canada even as we also express our gratitude to outgoing General Secretary Nora Sanders for guiding the United Church through our most profound (and necessary) transformation in our denomination's history. Let us all hold Michael Blair in our prayers.

Due to COVID-19, extreme hunger is skyrocketing around the world. Make a gift and help those who are suffering most. http://ow.ly/rRsW50ANOhy [Photo: Cordillera Disaster Response Network] #FightHunger

Take note youth, Rendez-Vous is coming!

Welcome to our "Spirit of Pride" worship service for Sunday, July 19, marking the end of Pride Week in Sudbury. We're thrilled to have you worship with us, as well as St. Mark's and St. Peter's United Churches during our shared summer worship. God bless you!

Thank you for worshiping with us, as well as St. Peter's and St. Mark's United Churches, in our shared summer worship services this July 12, 2020. Please like and share! Warm blessings to you all.

Happy Canada Day! St. Andrew's own Deb and Ralph McIntosh were instrumental in creating this video of 100 singers from the Sudbury area singing our national anthem. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcvVhAdo0b4

This month we highlight the work of the Worship Planning team at St. Andrew’s United Church. Music at St Andrews is an important part of worship. It is yet another way to praise God and be thankful for the many gifts given. Our congregation and the wider community enjoy the sounds of our beautiful organ and grand piano. Under the leadership of Dr. Robert Hall, our choir sings praises and our congregation sings with joy. We have been privileged to have had Bob's leadership as ...our musical director for over 25 years. He has brought musicians into our worship space who have expanded even further our joy of music. Bob is retiring from St Andrews at the end of the summer. We will miss his many gifts: his ability to choose just the right anthem to match the liturgy, his immense playing skills, his spontaneity when music is needed to fill a gap, his kindness to members of the congregation, his wry sense of humour. We wish him well as he enters the next chapter of his life. Enjoy the attached gift of music! See more

Rainbow Camp is for 2SLGBTQ+ youth and allies ages 12-17. Located near Sault Ste. Marie and serving campers across Canada and the United States, Rainbow Camp is unable to hold their usual four weekly camps this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, they have developed the Rainbow Online Connection (ROC). ROC is a fun, safe, and secure online virtual camp and community open to 2SLGBTQ+ youth, allies, siblings and children of queer families. ROC will serve participants (ages... 12-17) and Leaders in Training (ages 17-18) with the opportunity to connect and interact with other like-minded youth and leaders through at-home activities and staff-led interactive programming. Rainbow Camp needs to fundraise to hold ROC. Any donations they receive during this campaign will be matched, up to $20,000 total, by a very generous anonymous sponsor. If enough funds are raised, that would mean an additional $20,000 in revenue for the Rainbow Online Connection! Please visit www.HelpRainbowCamp.ca to make your donation to this very worthy virtual camp experience, and to learn more about ROC and Rainbow Camp. See more

"Why an Indigenous Day of Prayer" in our United Church of Canada?

Here is our worship service for June 21, 2020. Thank you for worshiping with us. If you'd like to join in on Virtual Fellowship Time at 11:30 Sunday morning, please email Leslie at [email protected] https://youtu.be/6_-4954i5z0