Newsletter: Mid-Summer Check-in

I hope that you are all enjoying summer this year! We’re enjoying being up in the Shuswap. The weather has been hot and sunny, though we did have a welcome thunderstorm yesterday. Hard to complain about the rain when half the province is on fire!

I must apologize to anyone who tried to join last Sunday’s service online. There was a very peculiar electrical problem in the church and we couldn’t use most of the audio-visual equipment in the Sanctuary. In addition, the loss of power meant that the fire alarm kept going off. And so we worshipped outside. Stuart has been working hard to rectify the problem, and so online worship should be back up and running this Sunday.

An interesting bit of feedback we heard worshipping outside was that it was easier to hear me and the readers than it is in the church. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that everyone was sitting much closer to me than they do in the church. The second is that the speakers we have in the church may not be positioned in the best possible place. Rob Hollins & I are going to have a look at the sound system over the coming months and hopefully improve how the congregation experiences the service.

I also shared on Sunday that I have been appointed as the Archdeacon of Lougheed by the bishop. This new position doesn’t affect my time or status at St Andrew’s, but it does mean that I will be responsible for helping other parishes in our part of the diocese with clergy transitions and various other issues on behalf of the bishop. The job comes with a new title, so I will be the Venerable Andrew Halladay for the term of my appointment, and it also comes with new vestments. Helen Tervo from St Dunstan’s is leading a group to create a new cope for me. If you are interested in helping her sew, please let me know!

Summer Retreats with Lorie

Lorie is offering two summer retreats at her home on Cultus Lake.

The first is on July 29th and you can register by following the link here:

The second is on August 18th and you can follow the link here:

Fall Sale at the Church

We are planning to have a meeting about the Fall Sale on Wednesday, July 26th in the church office at about 10am. Please let me or Rosemary know if you are interested in attending.

Care Home Ministry

Ministry to the Care Homes will continue through the summer. In August, we’re looking at Harrison Pointe on the 3rd and Harrison Landing on the 9th. Everyone is welcome to come and join in leading these two services.

I’ve also been in contact with a couple of the other care homes that we used to visit. There are some complications in getting things started at those places again, so I will keep you posted as we work to make plans to visit again.

As always, please let me know if you or anyone you know would like a visit from the clergy!

Love from,

Andrew