13 Nov

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Congregation votes to look at new opportunities

St. Andrew’s congregation decided Sunday to journey in faith and close the doors on its building on the corner of Owen and Worsley streets and look for new possibilities.

Hit by arson on Feb. 19, 2023, St. Andrew’s Barrie’s Christian Education wing has had to be gutted, with walls torn back to the brick and interior studs. Clean-up after the $2.5-million fire also had to include asbestos removal work; confined and undisturbed, asbestos is safe, but once disturbed, it must be removed. Asbestos was in the 1920s addition, known as Memorial Hall and colloquially as the Christian Education wing, and in tiles in the basement kitchen, located under the sanctuary.

This is not the first site the faith community, which dates back to 1843, has had in the city core. Initially, the Presbyterians met in the Wesleyan Methodist chapel (now Collier Street United), then in a frame church located on the north side of Collier Street at Clapperton Street, just west of Trinity Anglican.

The current sanctuary officially opened in February 1883. It has been used not just for worship, but for community fundraisers and musical events. Its basement was where Barrie’s Out of the Cold program began and a soup kitchen served many meals to those struggling with food security. Its gathering hall and library were home to an array of support groups, including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, as well as Guiding and Scouting groups and an art guild.

“When one looks at the facts, we really can’t afford (to rebuild what we had),” said Gord Thompson, St. Andrew’s Board of Managers chairman. “We will have other costs. Because the building did not meet all the Building Code requirements before the fire, we will have those (costs) as well. Places that weren’t damaged by fire need to be fixed.”

Going forward, other Building Code improvements, conservatively estimated at just over $100,000, are also required to bring the 1883 sanctuary up to today’s occupancy standards.

Adding to the costs as well as to uncertainty regarding the buildings is nearby pile-driving that has occurred as high-rise buildings have been constructed nearby in Barrie’s downtown, where soils are sandy.

If the congregation opted to preserve the sanctuary and demolish the 1920s addition, helical piles would need to be put under the sanctuary’s foundation to stabilize it, particularly as construction in the city core continues, Thompson added.

St. Andrew’s minister, the Rev. Joanne Lee, moderated the meeting during which the congregation had to decide how to best deal with its long-time home.

“In the midst of these challenges, we know that God is with us. He has been faithful as we have worked alongside others, including our own Women’s Missionary Society and our neighbouring churches to help others and share God’s love,” said Rev. Lee.

Protective fencing will go up around the building to protect it from vandalism.

Two important ministries will not be affected by the fence, she added. The Women’s Missionary Society’s Little Winter Warmers Tree, which provides winter essentials to any passerby who needs it, as well as the church’s electronic sign, will continue to encourage passersby.

St. Andrew’s owns 0.8 acres, and its property includes several apartments, which are affordable housing, and a former convenience store.

“St. Andrew’s has a strong record of serving others in the community and we will explore what God calls us to do, and land and building options will be a part of that visioning,” Rev. Lee added.

New opportunities could include a land swap, a land sale and inclusion in a new development or purchase of a different site or building or a new partnership.

Perhaps, Fred Rogers, who was a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, said it best: Fred Rogers reminds us when we think we’re at the end of something, we’re at the start of something new.

Raw Carrot community engagement manager Elena Haskell and St. Andrew's Barrie's Penny Barker restock the sales table and talk about the seasonal flavours of the heart-warming soups.

02 Nov

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Soup venture nourishes staff and customers

by Laurie Watt in Community, St. Andrew's

The simplest things sometimes have the most impact. Listening offers connection. Making soup offers the satisfaction of earning an income.

So it is with The Raw Carrot, a Waterloo Region-based social enterprise that opens doors – church kitchen doors, actually – to adults who face barriers to employment.

“The name, The Raw Carrot, is something our staff picked. We may be raw and there’s more going on under the surface,” said Elena Haskell, The Raw Carrot’s community engagement manager.

Haskell, left, outlines what’s on sale, with the help of Penny Barker, a member of St. Andrew’s Women’s Missionary Society.

In Barrie this week as the featured speaker at St. Andrew’s Mission Awareness Sunday, Haskell brought a range of soups – from the classic carrot (which features the warmth of curry) to navy beans and kale to spicy-ish sausage and cabbage. The soups are made from hand-chopped, Ontario-sourced ingredients, and helps small farmers and other suppliers.

But even more importantly, Haskell outlined the impact the soup-making venture has for its 32 permanent part-time staff. She noted that staff members may have unseen disabilities – be they intellectual, social or struggles with mental health such as depression and anxiety.

Relying on ODSP, they can find it hard to make ends meet, not to mention face discouragement as they compete in the job market. The Raw Carrot not only gives them a job, but builds skills and builds connections.

“Folks cannot make ends meet on the government handout,” Haskell added, noting ODSP support tops out at approximately $1,300/month, which doesn’t go far with rising rent and grocery costs.

The social enterprise began in Paris Presbyterian Church, where the minister’s wife saw a need and a way to offer a hand up, and has expanded to three other sites.

“We are mission-focused and Jesus-centred. Staff don’t have to be Christian, but they have to accept (we practise) our faith,” Haskell added.

“It’s a great way to be mission-oriented. It is a sustainable solution. We are trying to make sustainable change.”

WIth increasing demand for their hand-crafted soups, staff have seen their wages and their hours grow over the past year.

They’ve seen their quality of life rise as well, as they develop skills and connections, as they chop vegetables and create hand-crafted soups.

This year’s sales projected to exceed $200,000, with stock being sold primarily at farmers’ markets. The Raw Carrot also offers a Soup Club, as well as some other specialty, seasonal products.

The Raw Carrot’s support system also includes 67 volunteers and a handful of paid staff who ensure compliance with food regulations, develop new products and varieties, and build partnerships with service clubs and like-minded community organizations. The headquarters staff also support marketing, purchasing supplies and equipment as needed, and apply for grants.

But what truly matters is the life-changing impact for its staff. One cook, Terry, was diagnosed with depression and was suicidal. He was finally diagnosed as being bi-polar. With the support and encouragement of the community he’s built, he has changed his thinking patterns. “He’s continued to thrive and build his confidence,” said Haskell.

Explore what The Raw Carrot has to offer at http://therawcarrot.com

04 Oct

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As the leaves dance and the days shorten days, He refuels me

by Laurie Watt in Worship

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning. Give me oil in my lamp, I pray. Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning. Keep me burning ’til the break of day.

That is a song that still rings through my soul as the days shorten. Each day, the sun rises later, the morning is darker. Each day, the sun sets earlier, with the reminder that it won’t be too long when we get up to go to work in the dark and daylight will be fading as we return home.

Yet there is some beauty in this time of year, although nothing compares to the beauty of spring, as each day grows longer and new signs of life emerge not just each day, but seemingly hour by hour.

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.

Yes, O Lord, give me oil in my lamp.

Indeed, for every thing, there is a season.

Some love fall for pumpkin spice and sweaters, although perhaps this isn’t what King Solomon was thinking when he wrote Ecclesiastes. The wise king reflected on his life – his youth, his young adulthood, his adventures, his misadventures. He reminds us that to discover and abide in God adds more colour, more texture, more meaning to our lives than anything man can make or offer.

And so we return to the leaves. It’s somewhat sad to see them fall, but some friends consider their change in colour as their new reveal, as chlorophyll – the chemical responsible for the green pigment – breaks down and allows other colours to emerge.

Then the leaves, in the wind, leave the tree and dance to the ground.

There is indeed a certain poetry to the dance of the leaves. As they fall from above, we can see each leaf’s beautiful uniqueness, and as they land on the ground, we can choose to bend down, observe and take it in.

We can remember with the changing seasons, our lives change too. Wrapping ourselves in a cozy sweater be comforting. Like the leaves, we can choose to let go of what doesn’t nourish us, and instead, slow down and focus on the breathtaking miraculous changes happening while we tend to rush by in our busy lives.

For everything there is indeed a season.

We are reminded the cool, autumn wind makes the dance a beautiful occasion. Indeed, the Wind makes every moment more beautiful, if only we would stop and sense It.

And so it is with the Spirit. Indigenous elder and Anglican bishop Steven Charleston describes it beautifully:

“I have a simple faith. It has taken me decades to make it simple. It started out a lot more complex and conditional. It has struggled with integrity and innovation, tradition and vision, hope and reality. In the end, my faith has come down to this: I believe in a compassionate and challenging source for all creation, the Sprit, who is forever calling me to draw closer and discover more, healing live with love all along the way.”

And when I focus on the Sprit and the unfailing lovingkindness, the skies seem clearer and more blue, without a ceiling and instead offering a connection to the incredible, boundless source of strength and love.

The Spirit has refilled my lamp. And together we can make it through the long, dark nights that will unfold over the next months.

08 Sep

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A year of adventure into the unexplored begins

by Laurie Watt in Community, St. Andrew's

The first week of September is always an adventure.

For kids just starting kindergarten, for parents who are waving at the schoolyard fence, for teachers.

For teens who are starting high school – a new school, a new way of learning, new teachers.

For young adults heading off to post-secondary for the first time or more.

It’s a week filled with anticipation and anxiety.

And for each of us, we recall those emotions as the week wraps up and the year of new activities begins to take shape. It’s still early, and more activities, like those run by volunteers are beginning – be they sports or adventures such as Scouting and Guiding.

At St. Andrew’s, our art guild is launching a new series, starting in October.

Drawing in Colour explores colour and what’s possible with coloured pencils. Unleash the kid in you – or take a child along, as this series is inter-generational – on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Space is limited, so email artfortheheart2@gmail.com to reserve a spot by Oct. 3. Discover what is possible with what many of us call pencil crayons, as artist Janet Grootveld shares proper techniques. Here’s an example of one of her creations.

Our Autumn bible study takes us back to the outskirts of Rome, c. 71 CE. There we will gather to examine a newly copied document, “The Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”. Led by Rev. Keith Boyer, the study takes place Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m.; mark Sept. 20 on your calendar as the journey begins, and continues through Oct. 11. It takes place at Collier United.

Our life-long learning team is also considering its fall series, which may be more of a small-group focus, rather than a lecture series.

If you’re hesitant or anxious or lack some confidence, remember, you’re not alone. We are companions on the journey.

Join in! Call the church office at 705-728-3991 for more information about getting involved in these programs.

31 Aug

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Walking through what remains and thankfully remembering

by Laurie Watt in fire, St. Andrew's

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. Thankfully.

As we take stock after our February fire, let’s have a look at what remains, as insurance company contractors examined, measured and prepare their estimates for Phase 2 work.

In the emergency clean-up phase, also known as Phase 1, the work included removing burnt and smoke-damaged walls and asbestos tiles. Walls were removed back to the studs, and studs treated with a protectant.

Let’s look at what the insurance company bidders saw.

Here’s a space many of us know so well. Going in the Worsley Street door, here is the staircase that goes up to the Christian Education wing. The wall on the left is the exterior wall of the original building.

You can see the door on the left that opens into the CE wing area. Straight behind that door is the access to the organ, and to the right, a sanctuary door.

Turning into the CE wing, there are no walls, only wide open spaces, punctuated by studs.

Here’s what was part of the minister’s office, the corner that faces Worsley Street and City Hall.

Here’s a photo of John Struve, as he points out an organ pipe. He’s located in what was the main church office. You can see the open space behind him. The organ cleaning is the final piece of the Phase 1 work and is the subject of another blog.

The choir room is wide open, with no closet and no music storage. The space filled with so many memories of making music feels so barren and silent.

Nearby, is the space that was the nursery and washroom area on the parking lot side.

Staying on that side of the building, here’s a sanctuary door, often used by half the choir. It is incredibly charred but intact.

Going downstairs to the area where the library and the kitchen were, we see these spaces and memories remind us of people, traditions and activities through the decades.

Going down the stairs, here’s the space that was the library.

It is filled with braces and supports to reinforce the floor above. Wood supporting the choir room floor was charred, as shown in this next photo.

Looking to the left, we see the skeleton of the area that was the Sunday School room.

On the other side of the wall is the hallway between the addition and the area that houses the bellows of the organ, the furnace, the kitchen and the gathering hall. This photo looks towards the door into the Sunday School room.

To the left is the kitchen, where volunteers made soup for Soup Sundays, main courses for Burn’s dinners, and prepared and served food for our overnight guests as we began Barrie Out of the Cold more than 25 years ago. This shot looks towards the opening through which coffee, tea and refreshments were served after worship.

Here’s a view of the kitchen wall and church foundation.

And the gathering hall, where we laughed and learned, shared and served others.

The women’s and men’s bathrooms on the Owen Street side, like the entrance area, are largely untouched. The sanctuary, too, is intact, although extension cords with lights can be seen. They provide extra light for specialists cleaning the organ.

Wrapping up our walkthrough, we go out the sanctuary door and see this view from the landing, looking down the staircase to the Worsley Street entrance. Notice the absence of the false ceiling, and see the height and a small stained-glass window.

16 Aug

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Everything in its season – and phase

by Laurie Watt in fire, St. Andrew's

Have you noticed the evenings are closing in earlier than a month ago, that the nights are cooler and the morning sun is rising a bit later? It’s phase 2 of summer, so to speak.

Fall doesn’t officially arrive until the third week of September, but with the changing patterns of day and night, the harvests and the cooler days, it’s starting to feel as if summer is entering its final phase.

And so too is the post-fire work at St. Andrew’s.

Phase 1, the emergency clean-up phase after our Feb. 19 fire, is wrapping up. The final piece in that phase is the organ cleaning and restoration.

Everywhere but the sanctuary, the walls have been removed and the studs have been treated with a special coating used after they were exposed to fire. It reduces odour and provides some type of protection.

Meanwhile, contractors are working on submitting quotes for Phase 2 work to the insurance company. Over the past several weeks, contractors have been measuring and taking in their various specialists and sub-contractors to understand what they’re working with in order to create a quote that would give us specifics about options and the associated costs.

The 1962 Casavant Freres organ has 19 registers, 19 stops, 27 ranks, three divisions and two manuals. What that means is that it can make incredible music. If you’re into the technical specs of the organ, you can find them in the Pipe Organ Database, which can be found at https://pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/53312

There’s a lot of work happening behind this rather quiet scene.

John Struve, of JG Struve and Co. has dismantled the organ’s 1,000 pipes and is cleaning each one. Whether it measures inches or 8 feet, an organ pipe is basically a whistle, he explained, and well, we want each and every pipe to be as clean as a whistle. Some pipes are made of zinc and others of tin.

“We’re taking all the pipes off, opening up the wind chest – that’s the big box that all the pipes sit on and which lets the air in when the organist pushes the keys,” he explained.

Struve’s colleague David Sandall has been cleaning the area in which the pipes are located.

Work also is having to be done to ensure the organ blower located in a closet underneath the Worsley Street side stairs is clean.

The console, in terms of needing to be cleaned, isn’t too bad, although some dust has settled on its protective hood.

25 Jun

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A time for everything, thanks be to God

by Laurie Watt in fire, St. Andrew's

School’s out this week, and it seems the rhythm of our childhoods still rings in our bones. The thought of summer vacation starting later this week is energizing.

It’s been a busy year, perhaps the first regular year of activities post-Covid – whether those activities be with Scouts or Guides, an art class, or youth sports such as minor hockey or soccer. Whatever it was, it created a routine since last fall and it was wonderful to feel the rhythm of practices, classes and camps.

In the middle of it all – literally, during Family Day weekend, the mid-winter weekend the Ontario government created as a break in the midst of the dreary stretch between Christmas and March Break – St. Andrew’s was hit by fire. We continue to work through our grief and look for God’s guidance. As we journeyed through Lent, we journeyed without access to our home and without our regular fellowship time. It felt very dark.

The promise in Isaiah 43 is ours for the claiming: “”Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

We were indeed spared. Our dross was consumed and our gold – our faith – refined. At times it isn’t easy to see God’s plan, but step by step, we go forward on our journey with each other and with our neighbours, and central to all this, our Lord in His unfailing love.

There is a time for everything, as Ecclesiastes 3 reads; let’s read it again.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

All these things, good and bad, are part and parcel of the human journey. We take them to God in prayer, as we honestly express our frustrations and our joys.

May your see God’s goodness and walk closer with the Divine on the lake’s shore, on your walk along the abandoned rail trail or on your back deck as you watch the sun set.

18 Jun

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On our own land – learning and sharing together

by Laurie Watt in Community, St. Andrew's

Early Saturday morning, I headed – with my car’s trunk full of boxes of books – to our yard sale. It felt somewhat exciting to be going home, albeit for a yard sale – a way to share what we no longer need and raise a few funds for our work in the community.

“It feels good to be going back to our own land,” I said prayerfully, anticipating spending the day with others.

And it was an incredible feeling, to go to someplace familiar and share memories, hopes and ideas of what the day would bring. It was good to catch up, share and encourage others.

Out of our long-time building since the fire in mid-February, the past few months have felt like we were journeying in a land we really didn’t know or understand. It is something God understands because other peoples have encountered such challenges; in Exodus 19, God reminded Moses of His faithfulness. “You have seen… how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”

Still it feels like we’re living out of a suitcase. In some ways, perhaps we are, as a cart with a few hymn books donated to us from another Presbyterian church, we unpack and pack each Sunday morning in the chapel at Steckley’s. Our piano, cleaned and restored after the fire, is at Steckley’s and as we sang our closing hymn, I took in the words “through life’s storm and tempest, our guide you have been.”

It is indeed interesting to reflect on these feelings, as Wednesday, June 21, is National Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

It is a day to learn how they lived on the land they called Turtle Island. Different nations hunted, fished and cared for the land. Some peoples were more nomadic, while others preferred to keep to a more defined area. Then the settlers came. Others had to be accommodated and understandings made.

The Indigenous peoples, however, remained faithful to their grandfathers’ teachings and doing the Creator’s work by caring for the land and one another.

For the first time, the Presbyterian Church in Canada has elected a Moderator who is Indigenous. The Rev. Mary Fontaine will certainly help us better understand her culture and background and help us on our healing and reconciliation journey. You can read more about her https://presbyterian.ca/gao/moderator/

We are spiritual beings on our human journey together. By sharing who we are — our stories and our songs, our hopes and our dreams — we make others richer, just as they enrich and encourage us.

Indigenous elder and retired Anglican bishop Steven Charleston sums it up well:

“In spiritual life, we learn to deal with the unknown, the uncertain, the unexplained.

“While some may say religion is about rules, we embrace the sacred as uncharted territory.

“We are explorers by trade, searchers for the footprints of a holy migration. We hear a voice in the wild places of life. We see a trail over the distant mountains.”

In faith, we journey, together.

08 Jun

0

Diversity and learning on our human journey

by Laurie Watt in Community, St. Andrew's

Boxes can be incredibly useful – when you’re planning a yard sale – but they can be quite restrictive when we allow them to limit our thinking.

So it is with God and so it is with us and others on our human journey.

June is full of yard sales, including St. Andrew’s one on June 17. Yard sales are diverse, as what’s offered reflects people and experiences. Similarly, Pride Month and Indigenous Peoples History Month encourage us to listen to others. They highlight culture and experience.

They’re a way to get people talking – whether over coffee, perhaps on their social media feed, or in their own mind and heart. They may reassure those struggling with feelings of not fitting – whether by culture, language or gender identity — in that they belong.

In this week’s sermon, Rev. Joanne Lee reflected on the Creator – the life-giving God, whom human language fails to describe accurately, because sometimes language and words can fail to accurately describe something, someone or particularly God. Take God out of the box, the construct that is often conveyed in western art. Instead, let’s begin with words like eternal, loving and inclusive.

As a human creation of this loving Creator, each one of us is unique, beautiful and valued. Our human journey is an adventure of exploration of discovering who we are and how each of us can make our community and our world more beautiful.

Like a garden, our community doesn’t only function better, but it’s more beautiful when it is diverse. Imagine a garden filled with only one colour of one particular flower. Then reflect on this one.

Many diverse plants grow together and flourish together. So it is with community. We all belong, and each one of us makes it more beautiful. We bring experiences and talents that enrich others we encounter – that’s the bloom of the incredible creative love out of which we were envisioned and created.

So be who you are. As you grow, encourage those around you to express who they are. Listen to the experiences, the songs, the stories of others.

Boxes are for things, not beings. Use your boxes to bring donations for our garage sale ( this week and next, weekdays, 10-3, at Collier United). Open your mind, eyes, ears and heart to the incredible diverse mix of people growing with us in Barrie. And know too the beauty is enhanced when we are all accepted, encouraged and nourished.

21 May

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Looking at the new (church) season through modern eyes

by Laurie Watt in St. Andrew's, Worship

The Easter season ended with Jesus ascending into heaven.

Ok. Sounds pretty basic but not the most practical – or encouraging – topic to contemplate.

But let’s look at this differently, from another perspective.

Consider this:

Now that’s not a foreign concept at all. In fact, working from home was a key discussion in a recent federal civil servants’ strike. There are some jobs that can be done remotely, and there are some that can’t.

With that in mind, let’s look at the tools and the ways we can stay connected and on Jesus’ team while we are here, in Barrie, in 2023.

Prayer is key. Prayer can happen anytime, anywhere, and thankfully the door is always open for a heart-to-heart conversation or a cry for help. Prayer is an incredible connection. It’s the first wireless connection.

Jesus may be working from home, but we are out in the fields — in the factory or in the store or restaurant. We are in places where we’re serving others and contributing to our community. Sometimes, the labour can be tiring or discouraging. Jesus is still on the other end of the prayer line; it’s a matter of us calling.

We can also use technology to stay connected with others – because we know our Manager is still on the job – and He is inspiring others and working through them.

We can tune into worship online. We can fill our Facebook feed with inspiring, uplifting messages from other Christians and we can laugh and share in our private Facebook group.

We can also gather physically, whether at worship, preparing bulletins for worship or enjoying a meal together and discussing summer music. These are the committee rooms, so to speak, where work takes place but where we know we are connected, because of Jesus’ promise that He is with those who gather in His name.

Take heart: God provides what we need. Just look through a different lens and be encouraged and inspired.

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