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Crossroads

September 15, 2019

Holy Cross Sunday
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At the crossroads... 
we honour the Holy Cross of Jesus and the grace of God it holds for all creation.

 

 Sunday Worship with Holy Communion at 10:00 am
Everyone is welcome here!

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In this week's Crossroads, you will find information on:

This Week at Church of the Cross


Celebrate Holy Cross Sunday
Celebrating Ordinations
Time of Creation
Vision and Planning
Welcome Student Sunday
Stitch and Chat 
Praying Friends & Orange Shirt Sunday
Welcome Newcomers
Peace, Love & Protest

Jazz Vespers
Queer Board Games Night

 
Please visit our website for more information about us and our events.
A Red Sunday! This Sunday is Holy Cross Sunday, a day to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the dedication of the church’s beautiful addition.  We began with a mortgage of $1.1M which has now been reduced to $470,000.00. Current monthly payments, with an interest rate of 3.8%, are about $4,100.00 of which $2,600.00 is applied to the mortgage principal and $1,500.00 is applied to the interest.  At the current rate of payment, the church mortgage will be paid in full in January, 2032.  We can help shorten the amortization date by making a donation to reduce the church mortgage. Please mark on the envelope “Mortgage Reduction”.
Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support as you are able.
Stewardship Committee
This Sunday We Celebrate Anniversaries of Ordination

Alfred Maier – Ordained for 50 years
Five decades of Grace:  into “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10)
     Pastoring has been my way of life in the full embrace of wholeness in which the
integration of intellect, relationship, the physical and the spiritual are all essential.  I have felt blessed in the work of a Church firmly planted in the world where faith is indispensable in science, religion, carpentry or sailing, as it is in my marriage. 
     The shape of that integration has changed immensely for me.  Where it once was grounded in ‘grace’ defined by information and concepts, it has grown into a fullness of life in relationships and experience of life.  Instead of definition, grace is now an infinition. (R. Howe) E.g. The incarnation of God in Jesus for me now also sanctifies Luther’s celebration of “wine, woman and song” toward the delight of my image of God having grown into that of an artist - painting, pottering, and puttering a world and life, with me in it imaging my ‘gracious heavenly Father’ (Luther) being fully a part of creativity.  That growth blesses me daily.  I appreciate each of you for your uniqueness as gift of God for the people of God
(R. Caemmerer Jr.), as I do chopping wood (a compliment!) 
     In this 80th year of mine I still have the privilege of sharing that journey in a half dozen congregations, each of which is its own work of art. 
     Soli deo Gloria (J.S. Bach) Alfred F. Maier
 
Gerald Mitchinson – Ordained for 50 years
     Gerald Mitchinson’s life’s work as a Lutheran Minister began at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Saskatoon when he heard the call during a Lenten Service.  As a young man with endless opportunities ahead, life as a Lutheran Minister was considered daunting by some.  With the complete support of his dear wife Doreen, Gerry put behind him a career with the RCAF flying heavy aircraft, an M.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in Economics and Political Science, a Teachers Diploma and good job, to enter the Lutheran Seminary in Saskatoon in 1965. In 1968, Gerry and family moved to the Concordia Seminary in Springfield Illinois where he completed his studies and was ordained in 1969 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church – where all this began.
You might think Gerry’s career highlights would reflect the glamour of flying a bush plane to isolated posts but his eyes lit up recalling his parish work.  Gerry truly loved all his church families and parishes in Saskatoon, St. Catharines, Niagara and Yellowknife. For a time, he and Doreen shared “ministries” with his work with LAMP in Northern Alberta and Doreen’s call to provide medical services from High Level to northern communities desperate for a medial practitioner.   As husband and wife, Pastor and Doctor, their shared ministry flourished in northern Alberta. 
     Gerry has many wonderful stories and lessons to share about being a husband, father, Pastor, pilot or a good friend.  He said of one parish he worked that “It was made up of those people no one else would take in.”  What a great example and blessing you are Gerry.  Well done Reverend Gerald Mitchinson on 50 years of Ordination.
Grant Froyland, Mutual Ministry Committee.
 
Clark Wilkie – Ordained for 55 years
     I graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. in 1964, was ordained in Ohio in July 1964, and travelled to Atikokan (Ojibway for caribou bones) Ontario where I was installed in my first parish in a town of 6000.  I served that parish from July 1964 to December 1967. There were two churches, our Mo. Synod church and an LCA church in this small town, and both pastors thought this was wrong. 
We began conversations between the two congregations and made a pact that whichever of us got the first call, that person would go.  I got the first call and left.  I am happy to say that I served the merged congregation as vacancy pastor in the 1990s and had the honor of serving the community as a community development representative to the Province.
     I served as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Thunder Bay from Dec 1969 to the Spring of 1975, when I resigned from the parish and began serving as an alcohol and drug addiction counsellor for the Ministry of Community and Social Services in Thunder Bay.  There were two highlights in my ministry there.  The first was serving as local chair of Hope 72, an inter-Lutheran youth gathering at Lakehead University.  It was great forming relationships with people from all Lutheran groups across the country.  The other highlight was forming a folk group that is still going on.  With this folk group I was able to add a folk service on Sunday mornings, thereby increasing the attendance and service to the community.  And we did emphasize service.  Our youth built ramps for disabled people to enter their homes and we were able to start the process of a Community Day Care facility in the church.  In the years following I continued to serve as an addiction counsellor, while also serving as professor at the community college. During those years I preached at Lutheran churches of all Synods, including ELCIC. 
 
 Lyndon Sayers – Ordained for 10 years
     Often pastors get asked what led them to become a pastor. Another question worth asking: what is a pastor’s sense of calling today? As I celebrate ten years of ordination I think about my calling to serve the needs of a changing church. While the basics remain the same: answering Jesus’ call to follow both as disciple and also as pastor, the way in which I answer that call continues to change.
     Martin Luther discerned a need for local interpretation of the gospel, translating the Bible into the vernacular, revamping Christian education, discerning how the church responds to the tumultuous political events of the day. With Luther there was a spark of excitement being church. He encouraged both diligent pastoral care while also exercising a prophetic voice without apology. While there are troubling parts of Luther which we distance ourselves from, from the Lutheran tradition we have discovered a joy through the freedom Jesus offers to those who answer his call to follow him. 
     As I continue answering the call to serve as pastor today, I find myself at a similar crossroads, discerning the landscape of another reformation within the church. As pastor I am called to tend to the basics offering pastoral care, leading worship, taking time for Biblical interpretation, and offering Christian education, while also finding ways to proclaim the gospel for this time and place. This includes learning new skills on how to expand the church’s presence with digital media. Luther made full use of the printing press for teaching and evangelism, a new technology in his day, and today that kind of reach is increasingly happening on-line.
     I am excited to be serving a call as co-pastor at Lutheran Church of the Cross with a congregation that has vision and support both for covering the basics around faith and ministry, while also daring to do something new, taking risks experimenting with new forms of ministry. Serving the folks in our midst, reaching out into the neighbourhood, and entering into dialogue with the wider church and world, the Spirit is enlivening me to continue in my calling as pastor.
 
Lyndon Sayers was ordained January 29, 2009 at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Saskatoon. He served his first call at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lexington, Virginia, and is currently serving as co-pastor at Lutheran Church of the Cross.
 During this season of the Time of Creation, let us consider this:
 
The UN adopted the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons on July 7, 2017.  Nuclear Weapons states and NATO members, including
Canada, have not signed.  Yet.
 Read the full treaty here:

www.icanw.org/treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons.

The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and World Beyond War Victoria, working together with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (*ICAN) has organized a “Sign On” campaign, inviting Canadian citizens across our beautiful country to show their support for this treaty and the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
 
We will have the Sign On petition available at the entrance to our church on September 15 and 22.  If you are in agreement with to the treaty, we invite you to add your signature.  The Sign On sheets will be taken to Ottawa on September 26 to show our government that country wide, Canadians support this prohibition. 
Thank you for your support.
Barbara McDavid and the Social Justice Committee
 
*ICAN is a coalition of over 433 peace and disarmament groups and won the Nobel Peace Prize on October 6, 2017 for their work in bringing about the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons at the UN.
Vision and Priorities Planning Day – Saturday, September 28, 10am -12 noon
What is your vision for Church of the Cross for the future? What priorities would you
identify for the ministry together? All people connected to Church of the Cross are invited to a vision and priority process on Saturday, September 28, 10am – 12noon at the church. 2020 is the 60th anniversary of the congregation. As we look forward, we want to pray and work to identify clear priorities together. Your participation is invited and important. If you have questions, please contact Pastor Lyndon, Pastor Lyle, or Joanne Solomonson, Chair of the Congregation through the church office. Again, everyone is invited and encouraged to participate. 
Welcome Student Sunday, September 22 at 10 AM.
We will welcome new and returning post secondary
students next Sunday. We hope to again provide a small gift bag to each student. We have the reusable grocery bags and are looking for donations of $20 gift cards to Thrifty’s, Fairway Market, or Save-on-Foods, and home baked or store bought treats and fresh fruit. If you can assist with providing these items please sign up in the Hallway. Please bring these items to church on or before Sunday.
Thank you for your generosity and support of students.
Stitch and Chat Meetings - Stitch and Chat will not meet on September 24th as scheduled in the calendar. Our first meeting of the fall will be on October 1st in the rotunda at 1:00 pm. Bring your finished summer projects if you have any and things you are working on for the fall. For more information please contact Janice Nelson or the church office.
Praying Friends and Orange Shirt Sunday –
September 29 at 10 AM.

The Praying Friends program, having adults
volunteer to pray for the children and youth of the congregation, will begin again on Sunday, September 29. If a family has not been contacted and you would like a child or youth to be included and/or if you would like to be a praying volunteer, please contact Thiago Hinkel at thiagohinkel@uvic.ca or the church office. This is also Orange Shirt Sunday when everyone, and especially children, are invited to wear their orange shirts and clothing to remember all those affected by residential schools in Canada.  
Welcoming those who are new in October
Two or three times a year Church of the Cross
welcomes those who are new and others who have decided to become members of the congregation. Planning is underway for this to take place in October. This order for Affirmation of Baptism is an expression of mutual commitment to one another in Christian community together. If you are wondering, considering, interested in joining the congregation and participating in this day, please contact Pastor Lyle, Pastor Lyndon or the Church office. All are welcome!
 Knox Café – Wednesday, Sept. 25 @ 7:00 pm $10.00/person
“Peace, Love and Protest” – A portrayal of the
social unrest that was the 60’s through songs by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Donovan and others. With the Café Trio – Steve Sturgess - guitar and vocals, Brad Hawkes - percussion, and Ryan Tandy – bass.
A Fundraiser for the Shelbourne Community Kitchen
Featuring Valdy and the Bob Watts Trio
Jazz Vespers  Sunday October 6th 7:30 pm
St. Philip Anglican Church, 2928 Eastdowne Rd, Victoria. Suggested
Donation $20
Queer Board Games Night!  Thursday, September 19th at 7:00 pm
 This monthly gathering is for LGBTQ folks and allies.  Bring your favourite board game. All are welcome!
SAVE THE DATES
A reminder about the video lectures offered this Saturday, 9AM – 12 Noon at Church of the Cross as part of a series with Christ Church Cathedral (Sept. 7) and Holy Cross Roman Catholic parish (Sept. 21). The presentations on “A History of Christianity” are by Diarmaid MacCulloch, who will also be in Victoria for an in person presentation on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Cathedral - especially for those who watched the series, and on Thursday Oct. 3 and Tuesday Oct. 8 at UVic at 5 PM. Everyone is encouraged to consider attending one or all of the presentations. More information is in the Crossroads newsletter. 
The Women in Faith Book Group
will meet on Wednesday, Sept. 25th to
discuss
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. All are welcome.
For more information please contact Janice Nelson at
jbnel13@gmail.com or the church office.

Youth Group Meetings will be held at St. George’s Cadboro Bay.

 

Senior Youth Group (high school):
meets every other Sunday, 7:00-9:00 pm, beginning Sept. 22nd.

Church of the Cross Leaders: Amanda Buston and Maya Bridger
 
Junior Youth Group (middle school):
meets every Wednesday, 6:30 to 8:00 pm, starting Sept. 18th.
Church of the Cross Leader: Chris McDonald
STEAM is a new program offered this fall.
STEAM = Science Technology Engineering Arts Math.

STEAM After School
program will meet weekly on Tuesdays, beginning Sept. 17, 2019, 3:30 to 5:00 PM, at Lutheran Church of the Cross.
This will be for kids age: 10 to 17 primarily but we can make exceptions.
STEAM Evening program will be on Thursdays, 6:30 to 8:00 PM beginning Sept. 26, at Church of the Cross.
 If you have any questions please speak to T.J. Silver, Pastor Lyndon or Pastor Lyle.

Free Emergency Preparedness Presentations


When
disaster strikes, your chances of staying safe, healthy and comfortable are much better if you are prepared. This 60 minute presentation offers the information you need to prepare your self and your family to survive on your own for up to 7 days after any type of disaster, Each household participating in the presentation will receive a free workbook to help with emergency planning.
Wednesday, September 28th, 2019 at 6:30-8:00 pm
Saanich Commonwealth Place, 4636 Elk Lake Dr.
Register for course #24824 at 250-475-7600
Our Place needs: Fall is almost here in Victoria.  As the cold weather approaches us, our family members will be in need of winter coats, sleeping bags, blankets, tarps, warm clothes and shoes.    Fall is a great time to check your closets and see if you have any gently used items to donate that will make life a little warmer for our family members this winter.  Donations can be dropped off at 919 Pandora, Victoria -7 days a week.
Flower Chart for 2019
If you would like to bring flowers for worship for a special occasion or remembrance,
please sign up on the Flower Chart, posted on the bulletin board.
A reminder will be emailed to you as your date approaches.
If you have any questions, please call the church office. 
The Shelbourne Community Kitchen
As we go about our weekly shopping, let us consider our blessings. Add an extra item or two to our shopping carts, and donate them to the Shelbourne Community Kitchen.  
Items will be picked up from the Church of the Cross regularly. 
Thank you for your generousity but please know that we cannot accept items passed the date of expiration.
Thank you for helping our neighbours as you are able.
For more information on the Shelbourne Community Kitchen, please click here.
Please remember to check the Bulletin Board in the Hallway for  other news.
This Week in The Parish:


Please note that congregational programs are in bold font.


Key to notations: R = Rotunda, S = Sanctuary, UH = Upper Hall
Office Hours
Office hours for Lutheran Church of the Cross are:
September through June
Mondays to Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Closed Fridays
July and August
Tuesday to Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Closed Monday & Friday.
Please click on the button below to go to our Website for calendar information.
Lutheran Church of the Cross Calendar
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and NOT receive a printed copy in your mailbox at the Church,
please email or phone the church office at 250-477-6222.
3787 Cedar Hill Road, Victoria, BC V8P 3Z4
  
www.lutheranvictoria.ca
 Rev. Lyle McKenzie, Co-Pastor (O) 250-477-6222; pastorlyle@shaw.ca
Rev. Lyndon Sayers, Co-Pastor (O) 250-477-6222; pastorlyndon@shaw.ca 
Deborah Neal, Church Office (O) 250-477-6222; lutheranchurchofthecross@shaw.ca
Our emailing address is:
lutheranchurchofthecross@shaw.ca
 
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Lutheran Church of the Cross · 3787 Cedar Hill Road · Victoria, BC V8P 3Z4 · Canada

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