Newsletter: Living Water...

Living Water

I wonder if your Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are leading you to any spiritual insights. As I mentioned before, David & I decided to give up alcohol for Lent, though I will admit to having had one beer since Ash Wednesday. I must say, giving up alcohol hasn’t had a big impact on my day to day living. I was expecting to sleep better, but I’m not. I was expecting to lose a bit of weight, but I haven’t. (Yes, I know it hasn’t been that long!) I was expecting to feel like we had more money to spend, but I don’t. This all in some ways is kind of disappointing. But I think the spiritual insight that I’m wondering about is as follows: the expectation of doing something good or right doesn’t mean that I deserve or will receive some sort of reward. Not drinking is good for me - good for my health, good for my pocketbook - but I’m not going to reap any tangible benefit right away. The benefit may come much later in my life - like when I don’t die of a heart attack at 85 years old like my grandfather - so far removed from this decision moment that I may not even remember having made this decision.

I wonder if this lack of immediate reward is something that prevents many of us from making positive changes in our lives right now. Our culture is one that values instant gratification rather than long-term commitment. Perhaps that’s why we like things like cigarettes and wine and French fries so much: the delicious hit of dopamine is instant! Perhaps that’s why we like to drive our own cars rather than ride the bus, because we can get there faster. But my Lenten spiritual insight this year is that there is some value to making long-term commitments and taking things slowly rather than rushing for the instant gratification. I’m reminded of a quote: The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. I think I might make a goal for myself of planting 25 trees this year, at my home, at the church, and maybe some other places too, as spiritual practice to help me remember my spiritual insight.

Repairs @

St. Andrew’s

A free repair service,

by donation to St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Langley

  • Bring your broken household items to the church office, and we will attempt a repair.

  • Our repairs have no guarantee or warrantee: We really want to slow the amount of stuff that gets chucked into our garbage. The “overflow” waste from MetroVan is shipped to Cache Creek or south to Washington at a cost of $ 150 million a year.

  • Because of their extremely small parts, we don’t usually attempt watches or cell phones

  • Because of potential loss of data, we are cautious about fixing laptop and desktop computers.

  • We do not charge for our labour. If it gets fixed, make a donation to St. Andrews.

  • We will charge for parts, if parts are needed, but we will consult you before we purchase them.

  • New replacement parts are often unavailable and we may get creative or find used parts.

  • We will inform you when a repair is beyond our skill level and try to suggest an expert to help.

These are suggested candidates for repair:

Electrical: vacuums, mixers, fans, juicers, popcorn makers, grills, coffee makers, kettles, lamps, Christmas lights, heaters, air filters, drills, saws and other tools

Electronic: radios, stereos, cd players, computers, timers, bluetooth speakers, remotes

Mechanical: items where some part is broken and needs glue, solder, or other fix to make it useable.

hollinsrob@shaw.ca for Rob Hollins (778-773-3140)

barnes37@telus.net for Andrew Barnes

Family Eucharist & Yoga cancelled

The Family Eucharist Service scheduled for this Saturday, March 11th, has been cancelled. Most of our families have made some kind of Spring Break holiday plans and so we thought it would be best to wait until everyone is back home to host another service. Stay tuned for April’s Family Eucharist!

As for yoga, Kimberley is away on March 22nd and so there will be no yoga that day. She will restart again on March 29th.

Please let me know if you or someone you know would like a clergy person to reach out to them!

With love,

Andrew

the Rev Andrew Halladay, Vicar

 
 
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