The Friday Update
for
St. Mark's, Lynden
& Rock Chapel
United Churches
Dear Friends:

I'm back!  I had an amazing week in California.  Miriam and I visited our friends Sheryl and Kelly, colleagues of ours from Emmanuel College who are now PhD students at Berkeley.  The weather was half great and half lousy, but I ate pizza on a patio in January, so I'm not going to complain.  We attended three very different worship services, wandered Fisherman's Wharf, saw elephant seals AND sea lions, ate fresh lemons right off the tree, took a fascinating tour of Alcatraz (did you know there was an indigenous occupation there in 1969?  I didn't), and accidentally attended the San Francisco Women's March on Saturday (more on that on Sunday).  I also read three books, learned to make yogurt, and planned our Lenten study (stay tuned).  Other than that, there was so much laughter and catching up with good friends, and the (very nerdy) conversations that inevitably happen when four ministers spend a week together.

But it's good to be back.  Today, I'm leading worship at St. Joseph's Villa, with help from some volunteer porters from St. Mark's and St. James.  We still need a few volunteers to act as porters for worship next Friday, Feb 3rd - Rev. Jean Archbell is leading worship that day.  Please let me know if you can help. 

This Sunday, we continue in our movie series with Matthew's Beatitudes, and Disney's Zootopia.  If you haven't seen it yet, you can join the gang this morning at the Lynden Lions' Club, at 9:30am.  The film is also available on Netflix.  And if you've seen the St. Mark's sign and are wondering who the heck Gazelle is, check out her video  at this link.  

After church, we're trying to organize a group to go see the Oscar-nominated Hidden Figures, which is the next movie in our film series, the subject of next week's preaching.  There is a show at 1:20 time at Cineplex theatres in Ancaster.  If you're interested in coming along, we'll gather after church, and set up ticket and carpool info on the fly.  

If you can't make the movies, never fear.  There are many other opportunities to gather over the coming week.  On Wednesday February 1st, you can take your pick of Coffee with the Minister at 10:30 am (at St. Mark's) or Beer with God at 5:30 pm (at Shed Brewery).  On Thursday and Friday, you can also drop by St. Mark's to learn how to make delicious soup (see the announcement below.)

Have a great weekend!
Soup Making!  February 2nd and 3rd at St. Mark's

Thursday February 2 - 1:30 – 3:30 pm

Friday February 3 – 9:30 – 11:30 am

    A special welcome to the great cooks of Lynden and Rock Chapel!

    Have fun learning how a professional goes about it.  Take home a sample of your handiwork.  Help prepare soups for the  Loaf and Ladle Lunch.

    All of us are invited to enjoy the soups at a lunch after the 10:30 am worship on February 5th. 
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    Week of Guided Prayer: February 19-25
    Attend a prayer "retreat" while still maintaining your daily routine.  Participating in the Week of Guided Prayer involves 30 minutes of praying at home each day, followed by a daily meeting with a companion for 30 minutes of guided prayer.  Information and registration forms are available at the church - all churches welcome!  
    Your Joint Visioning Team

    Here are the email addresses for your Joint Visioning Team. You are welcome to write to them with any thoughts, ideas or questions you might have. This Visioning Team functions at a round table so it doesn’t matter with whom you communicate. 

    Lynden

    St Mark's
    Dorothy Bartalos

    Rock Chapel

    NEXT TEAM MEETING:Thur Feb 16th @ 7pm at Rock Chapel.  
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    Sunday School this Week

    This week we will continue to work on our project with periodic moments of running around. We will hopefully discover the various forms of prayer with hopes of opening broader lines of communication for the children with God...though I suspect they might not even be aware that this is happening. :)