News from the Clerk of Session and the Minister
June 16th, 2022 Covid-19 Update
Hello and greetings in the name of Christ.
After a long period of public health restrictions, the Kirk Session has decided to lift pandemic restrictions - masking, physical distancing, and proofs of vaccination - for all activities at St. Andrew's, effective immediately.
Further, restrictions concerning in-person group and committee meetings have been lifted. Groups and committees are reminded that it is imperative to book times and church spaces through the church office.
The Kirk Session continues to encourage masking.
Masks and hand sanitizers will remain in the building, available for those that wish to make use of them.
The Kirk Session's COVID Advisory Group will remain in place. Thus, in the event that the public health situation deteriorates, the Kirk Session will be in a position to act quickly and effectively.
Jide Afolabi
March 22nd 2022
Dear St. Andreans,
It is sometimes surreal to think that it has been more than two years that we have been living through a global pandemic, with various rounds of restrictions and many unknowns. It has been hard on all of us and called upon our faith in ways we may never have imagined we would have needed.
Today, while we are still living with COVID-19, we are experiencing, municipally and provincially, a shift towards removing many of the restrictions and mandates that we have been living with for the last two years. In many of the places we frequent in our daily lives the choice to adopt practices such as masking and maintaining personal distance has now become the personal choice of individuals as well as businesses. Each of us will have our own views and level of comfort when it comes to being close to others, being out in public and wearing a mask. At St. Andrew’s we believe we need to respect this and find ways forward that acknowledge, navigate and respect each others’ views, comforts and choices.
While the practices established for worship have not been changed they will be reviewed by the Kirk Session at its meeting on Tuesday April 5th. This means that the requirement to mask and maintain a physical distance of 6 feet between households is still in place for worship during March. We have dropped contact tracing simply because Ottawa Public Health does not do this anymore but we do ask that those attending worship be double vaccinated where possible.
A brief survey was sent out on March 22nd so that congregants could provide the COVID advisory committee of the Kirk Session some information with regards to how you are feeling with the changing restrictions and to take a current pulse of what St. Andreans are thinking at this moment in time when it comes to participating in in person worship. Responses will be kept confidential but will inform the KS and its committees in the decisions they make in the coming weeks.
The COVID advisor committee to the Kirk Session and its Commitees is made up of
Colleen Ferris
Heather Pilkey
Jeanie Hicks
Peter Lamont
Karen Dimock, Minister
Update from the Kirk Session March 6th
We are looking forward to the resumption of in-person services, beginning this Sunday, March 6th, which also happens to be Communion Sunday. The choir will be involved in the service and congregational singing is allowed. As previously, both choir members and congregants will keep their masks on while singing. Individual Communion kits will be handed out before the service, just as we did in December.
As Ontario moves into its next stage of re-opening, more Covid-19 restrictions are being lifted, including vaccination requirements and indoor capacity limits. This will bring relief to some, and anxiety to others.
Although the province is expanding its re-opening, the Kirk Session has decided to keep our existing protocols in place for the month of March. This means we still require vaccination to enter the building, and physical distancing in the sanctuary remains. This decision allows us to continue to care for each other in a meaningful way.
These protocols will be reviewed regularly by the Worship & Music Committee, and discussed at our next Kirk Session meeting, April 5th. We will communicate any changes again after that. In the meantime, committees continue to prepare for the time when we return to in-person activities, and there is much to look forward to.
As a congregation, we have met the challenges of the past two years with grace and compassion, so let us continue that way as we journey forward.
February 3rd 2022
Re: From the Minister and Administrative Clerk of Session
Dear St. Andreans,
We pray this finds you warm and well today! It is good to be moving into February. The days are noticeably longer now and each one has a little more light.
As the Province moves into a gradual reopening, the Kirk Session met Tuesday night this week and has agreed to resume public worship on Sunday March 6th. This will be the first Sunday of Lent and we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Our hour of worship will be moving to 10:30 on that day as well.
We have received some enquiries and know that many of you will be wondering about our church in the midst of the ongoing protest downtown. Staff do continue to go into the building for maintenance purposes and feel confident of their safety in doing so. Diesel fumes can be noticed in the building now and a scaled back team will be livestreaming the worship service this week.
We are encouraged by notes from congregations and leaders across the denomination, as well as local citizens who have reached out to ask how we are doing.
We are praying for a peaceful end to the protest and for our city and downtown neighbourhood. Many involved in the protest refuse to mask and protest vaccination requirements and have made it difficult for local businesses to remain open. The movement is associated with demonstrators carrying hateful signs and symbols that include Confederate Flags, Swastikas painted on Canadian flags and the wearing of yellow stars, comparing the vaccine mandates to the experience of the Jewish people in the Holocaust. This is extremely painful. Participants in the protest have treated the Mission of the Shepherds of Good Hope with a display of utter contempt and the ongoing actions and loudness of the protest continue to cause considerable stress and distress to our neighbours in the downtown, particularly vulnerable people and those who struggle with mental illness.
In the midst of all this, the good news to share this week in the imminent arrival of the Refugee family we have been involved in sponsoring for the last four years. The COVID pandemic has contributed to the delay in their process but we have now received notice that we can expect them here in just over two weeks. The Refugee Resettlement Committee will be keeping us all updated with regards to arrangements, thanks to everyone who has offered help. Let us continue to pray for their new home and for our country and city that we will be welcoming them to,
In Christ’s Service
Karen Dimock (Minister)
And
Heather Pilkey (Administrative Clerk of Session)
News from the Kirk Session
October 18th 2021
Dear Fellow St. Andreans,
Over the past few years, our congregation has been actively engaged in conversations regarding inclusiveness, and ways in which we can best embody the unity that is our calling in Christ. This included several discussions regarding Anti-Black Racism as well as full inclusion of people who identify as LGBTQ2Si+ in the life and work of Presbyterian Church in Canada.
One outcome of these conversations was the formation of a new Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Committee to be given the task of observing, listening, speaking, and ultimately making recommendations on the various ways we might be able to both live and demonstrate anti-discrimination and inclusiveness.
On the 4th of October, Kirk Session approved the formation of this committee along with its Terms of Reference.
It is intended that the new Anti-Discrimination and Inclusion Committee will help St. Andrew’s do a better job of living as Christ lived - by consciously and actively embracing all. It will act as the eyes of the congregation - looking at ways to ensure no one is excluded in our communion and in our outward service; as the ears of the congregation - encouraging diverse voices, and listening within and outside the church on matters that concern its work; and as the voice of the congregation - teaching, advocating, proposing, and equipping, with the objective of ensuring all are welcome to partake and be nourished at the table of Christ. It will also act as a body that congregants can approach with concerns or experiences that pertain to its work.
It is not intended that the new committee will design its own programs. Instead, it will work with the existing committees of the church, such as Worship and Music, Christian Communications, Christian Education, and Missions and Outreach, on ways current programs might be enhanced, and new programs might be designed.
The new committee will need curious, energetic, and committed members. The intention is that the members would meet once a month over the course of a typical church year, and that the committee would set its own agenda and priorities based on the collective discernment of its members.
If you are interested in being a member of the new committee, please feel free to contact Reverend Karen Dimock (kd@standrewsottwa.ca), or Heather Pilkey (hp@standrewsottawa.ca), or myself (afolabi.jide@gmail.com).
Blessings,
Jide Afolabi, Recording Clerk of Session
Good morning St. Andreans! As summer begins we pray you are well. We are reaching out this morning with several items that have arisen in the past month including the question of reopening of the church sanctuary for worship.
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With the improving pandemic situation in Ottawa, the Power to Issue Committee (PTI) met on June 29th and began discussion on the re-opening of the sanctuary for worship. We are now at the point where we have met the criteria for reopening approved by the Kirk Session in June, which means that in three weeks, consideration can begin on re-opening.
PTI will meet on July 21st to plan for the tentative resumption of worship services in the sanctuary commencing Sunday, August 8th, on the understanding that the community situation remains stable. Should numbers begin to rise again, we will have to re-consider the opening, but in the meantime we will hope and pray.
More information about re-opening and what that will look like will be communicated as we get nearer to the date.
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At the June 2021 meeting of General Assembly, two significant decisions were made pertaining to church doctrine: the question of same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQI ministers and elders. The Presbyterian Church in Canada now recognizes two definitions of marriage, either as a covenant relationship between a man and a woman or as a covenant relationship between two adult persons. It also recognizes that congregations and presbyteries may call LGBTQI ministers and elders. Both of these decisions allow for freedom of conscience.
St. Andrew's has been involved in this discussion since 2008, and we did ourselves petition for changes of the law of the church regarding same sex marriage in 2009. Over the last 13 years there has been active deliberation within the congregation through workshops, study sessions and discussion.
On the basis of the decisions made at General Assembly, a meeting of Kirk Session was called for June 21st, where we voted to recognize marriage as a covenant relationship between two consenting adults. What this means is that both same-sex and heterosexual marriages are welcome at St. Andrew's.
With regards to the General Assembly decision regarding the ordination of ministers and elders who identify as LGBTQI, freedom of conscience means that elders and minister who do not agree, do not have to participate in ordination services.
There is a very good article by Peter Lamont in the summer edition of St. Andrew's in Action, which provides further context .
In addition to the decisions regarding Marriage and Ordination the General Assembly also received and approved the Report of the Rainbow Communion. This was a special listening group that was formed in the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 2017 and empowered to invite LGBTQI people and others to tell stories of harm done to them within and by the church, and to share their stories of God’s grace experienced by them in Christian ministry. Their report and the accompanying resource Not all are welcome can be found here https://presbyterian.ca/listening/.
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Finally, as we let you know two weeks ago, Tom Annand has resigned his position of Music Director after 29 years of faithful service with our congregation. Planning is underway to say goodbye well to Tom and offer our thanksgiving for his 29 years of service, so please stay tuned. In the coming weeks we will be inviting your participation in that.
Arrangements are also well underway to appoint an interim director to play the organ and provide leadership to the choir. This will give us as a congregation time to engage in a prayerful discernment as we seek more permanent replacement for Tom. As plans are finalized we will let you know.
As always we, along with the elders of the Kirk Session, welcome your response to this letter.
Grace and Peace be with you.
In Christ’s service,
Heather Pilkey
Administrative Clerk of Session
Karen Dimock
Minister.