October 24, 2025 Newsletter

FROM THE MINISTER’S STUDY

Don’t just move towards the light.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light: in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1: 5-7

Light used as a metaphor for God is brilliant. No pun intended. If we understand what light is and what darkness is, we know this: darkness does not exist of itself, for it is simply the absence of light. Light, on the other hand, does exist. Though we cannot touch or hold it, we see how light operates and affects us. If light is a metaphor for God, then darkness must be a metaphor for evil, right? Oddly enough, darkness does not exist, so does that mean evil does not exist? Perhaps the metaphor fails us at this point, or perhaps we need to understand the nature of darkness. Evil, or darkness, is only felt or observed when the light is absent. An absence of God’s holiness, love, goodness, mercy, compassion and justice is essentially darkness and evil. When we talk of evil and darkness in the world, we are seeing places, deeds and actions where God is completely absent. If the light is present, the evil dissipates. God is in the light and no darkness can be observed, and so if we truly walk in the light, darkness cannot exist either. But what if there are shadows in our lives, and not necessarily full-blown darkness? Are we still connected to God and each other? I would think by the scripture in 1 John, light and darkness cannot co-exist, but I do think when we keep parts of our lives and hide places in our heart that are not allowing God to dwell completely, we are living in a kind of twilight. Allowing shadows to be part of your Christian living has consequences, and it affects fellowship with God and each other. Disunity and strife are often a result of lingering shadows. Light also reveals shadows, which are obstructions of the light. So if we truly want fellowship with God and each other, it is time to remove those obstacles, open the places in our hearts that are closed to God, and let the light dispel the darkness entirely.

Blessings, Rev. Glenn

The duties involve being part of a two person team that looks after Coffee Social approximately once every two months after the church service. Training will be provided, and you will not be on your own.

GIFT CARD UPDATE

We would like to thank everyone who continues to support our Gift Card program. Thanks to Janice Carr and Paul Davidson for initiating the return of a gift card sales desk at Coffee Social. Sales in 2024 were $89,000.00, which generated a profit of $4,450.00. In 2023, the sales totalled $96,200.00, generating a profit of $4810.00.

St. Andrew’s has the following cards for sale in the office and at Coffee Social: Loblaws, Food Basics, LaMantia’s, Home Hardware, Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drug Mart and Tim Horton’s.

Each $100.00 card you purchase earns at least 4% for our church - a great way to support the many programs provided by St. Andrew’s. The card denominations vary from $5 to $250, depending on what your needs are.

How does it work?

When you purchase a $100 Loblaws gift card, for example, it is worth $100 at Loblaws or Valumart. The church pays $96 for the $100 gift card, making $4 for the church. In other words, you give us $100, we give you a card worth $100 and you can buy $100 worth of groceries. It’s easy, and the church makes $4 from that $100.

Let’s break it down even more - If someone in the congregation isn’t using the cards, but now has decided to; the $100 card you purchase earns the church $4. If you do that every week, $4 x 52 weeks = $208. That isn’t a great amount, but if we had 5 people starting this, we would be generating over $1000.00 a year. Pretty easy money for the church.

Our goal is $100,000.00 in sales.

Just think, if we could increase sales to $100,000.00 per year, which is certainly attainable if we all support this program, the church would receive $4,000.00 which in turn can be used to assist in funding the many existing and new programs offered by our church.

It is attainable. Let’s make it happen!