Dear Fellow Christians !
“Merry Christmas!” Some time ago, I saw this in big and bold
letters on a sign and could hardly believe my eyes. “Merry
Christmas!
We like to be the first with the news! The Toronto Star“.
It was mid October! And Christmas was still 2 months away!
That was doubtless a clever advertising stunt of our big
daily newspaper. But, unfortunately, this is also very
typical. A few years ago, the Evangelical Church in Germany
(EKD) conducted a campaign with the simple message: “Advent
is in December.” At first, I found this headline exceedingly
boring. But later on, I realized it is an urgent message. I
have the impression that we are, in the meantime, really
losing the feeling for when is the right time for which
celebration. To the point where people, indeed, no longer
understand that Advent is a time of preparation for
Christmas, and what meaning Christmas actually has.
“For everything there is a season“, it says in Ecclesiastes
3. “To everything there is a season. A time for every
purpose under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die; a
time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to
kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to
build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to
mourn and a time to dance.” And further on in the Book of
Ecclesiastes, there is a kind of summary: “He has made
everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity
in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work
that G
od
does from beginning to end.”
“For everything there is a season.” This assurance is in
danger of becoming lost to us in our so hectic times. Where
everyone hinges on being the first, to be there as early as
possible; “we like to be the first“, as it says on the
sign. And then there are Christmas items available in
September already and Easter items already in February.”
And yet, for everything there is a season! October is,
indeed, the month of Thanksgiving! A month that can be so
beautiful in the golden glow of autumn, the opportunity to
enjoy the fruits of the year, to reflect on which fruits my
life has borne this year, for which I can be thankful?
And also the month of November bears its marks. We may not
particularly like it, this dark, wet, cold month. But it is
certainly no coincidence that memorial days like All Saints’
Day and Remembrance Day are celebrated during this month. We
have the time during this dark month to reflect on our human
mortality, on the painful fare-wells from loved ones!
“God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has
put eternity in their hearts.” God is with us in all our
time, and each period of time receives its meaning and its
support through God’s presence and guidance. It can be of
help to discover how all of our time on earth is connected
to eternity. And that can help us to live each time period
with awareness and to mold it.
Let us take the time in automn to give thanks for all the
fruits of this year.
Let us face the dark November and
withstand the thoughts of pain and mourning, strengthened
through God’s guidance!
Let us prepare ourselves for the slowly advancing light
during Advent, and then celebrate Christmas joyfully and
with awareness. And Christmas does not have to end with
Boxing Day! It is a good old custom to enjoy the Christmas
decorations and Christmas lights at least until the 6th
of January, Epiphany.
“For everything there is a season.“ –Let us go with
awareness and open eyes through our time.
Kind regards, God's blessings for you!
Your Pastor Alexander Mielke
On
Sunday, November 8th, we celebrate a very special
Joint Service.
We will place the showcase as well as the thank-you plaques
for the donated church windows under God’s blessing. The new
showcase is an outstanding medium in front of the church to
inform the neighbours and those passing by of our events. With
the thank-you plaque we express our cordial thanks to the many
people who have made the installation of the beautiful church
windows possible through their generous donations. Furthermore,
the new confirmands will introduce themselves to the
congregation on this Sunday. You are very welcome to this
festive church service on November 8 at 11:00 a.m.
On
October 4th, 2009, Anne Voorhoeve was a guest of the
Martin Luther Church. She read from her Book “Lilly unter den
Linden" and presented the television movie of the same name,
produced by Arte. As Anne Voorhoeve was the author of the film
script as well as the book that followed, her explanations for
the entire development process were particularly interesting and
informative.
The novel “Lilly unter den Linden“, written for youth, is
exceptionally suitable to enable the young generation to
understand the dramatic situation of the time of the German
division as well as the new beginning which was made possible
through the fall of the wall in 1989. So it was particularly
fitting that we could welcome Anne Voorhoeve to this event on
the weekend of the Day of German Unity. At this occasion, she
was a guest of the Pastor’s family for a few days; following
this, her reading tour took her to Ottawa, Montreal and
Washington.
On her North American reading tour, she gave many presentations
in schools (in Toronto, for instance, in a German instruction
group of the U of T Schools). Then, at the end of October, began
a long reading tour in schools through various parts of Germany.
Her three books, that have been published in the meantime
("Liverpool Street", "July 21") are all available in our Martin
Luther Church German Library (open following the Sunday
Services).The film “Lilly unter den Linden“ is available here
too.
We will begin again with a
Literary Circle. We meet at regular intervals in order to
read and discuss interesting English books. It is an
outstanding opportunity to bring interesting books to each
others’ attention and to discover literature on a deeper level.
Whoever is interested may get in touch with Pastor Alexander
Mielke (Cell phone 416-567-2487).
As they did last year, the
congregations of the German Contact Circle of Toronto will take
part in the Christmas Market of the Danube-Swabian Club
from November 20 to 22. They have their own stand and will
inform of the Christmas Services and events and invite to their
congregations. We can use volunteers for this event. Our Martin
Luther Church will be present on Saturday, November 21, from
2:00 p.m. to about 6:30 p.m. If you are willing to help, please
get in touch with Pastor Alexander Mielke.
Advent-Concert on the 1st
Advent Sunday:
Please mark on your calendar that the Edelweiss Choir
under the direction of Richard Heinzle will present an Advent
Concert on Sunday, November 29, at 2:00 p.m. We are very glad
that Gunther Kunzelmann will read German meditative texts
on this occasion. A cordial welcome to this good beginning of
the Christmas and Advent Season!
Special
invitation to all our children and youth: WE NEED YOU!
You may not have
thought about it, but CHRISTMAS is coming soon!
This year we are
planning to prepare two great events together with our youth:
1.
Christmas Craft Sale on the 6.12.2009 (2.Advent), the
money will go to the childcare centre in Brazil!
2.
Christmas Play on the 13.12.2009 (3.Advent)
There is lot of
work ahead of us and we have some really great ideas for crafts
(beading, felting, silk painting......)!
That means, on all
upcoming Sundays, we will use our Sunday School time to work on
different craft projects for the sale.
But there are some
crafts which will need more time therefore we invite you to two
special Craft Evenings at our church:
Friday,
6.11.09, 6-9pm: SILK PAINTING (we will create
colourful silk shawls)
Friday,
13.11.09, 6-9pm: FELTING (we will create mittens and
other items with felted wool)
We are looking
forward to seeing many of you and have lots of fun together!
While the crafting
continues we will also start to practise our Christmas Play on
the following Sundays:
15th,
22nd, 29th of November Christmas Play
Practise (during Sunday School)
We are looking for
some energetic reporters, shepherds, kings, travellers, and of
course Maria and Joseph! We are looking for you!!!!!!!
Special
request to all Women
For our
felting craft we need
old wool
sweaters!
Do you have any
old sweaters which you don’t like anymore or which became victim
to moths?
Bring them to us (church
(on Sundays)
or Parsonage) as soon as possible!
Important: they must be more than 80% wool! You will
be amazed what we will create with them!
Thank you to all donors who can
help us here!
On the afternoon of December 6 , the Mimico
Tree Lighting will take place in the neighbourhood of our
church. Besides the Mimico Summer Festival, this is one of the
great events in the neighbourhood during the year. It would be
nice if congregational members could take the time for this
event, in order to get to know neighbours by meeting and talking
with them. The Sunday School Team will represent our
congregation with Christmas cookies and the singing of songs.
A warm welcome to stories and carols, cookies and candles on the
2nd Advent
Sunday after the service !
If you like to contribute cookies or cake to our Advent
gatherings, this would be very welcome and very much
appreciated!
Together with our neighbouring congregation, the Wesley Mimico
United Church, we are presently drawing up a flyer for
inviting people in Mimico to our Christmas events. We will
jointly conduct the following church service:
Christmas Candlelight Service of Hope and Remembrance
Wednesday, December 9, 7:30 p.m., Wesley Mimico United Church
...for those who are finding the Christmas season difficult and
are grieving the loss of a loved one
with Martin Luther Church, Mimico Baptist Church, M.Presbyterian
Ch. cooperating in the liturgy
For the performance of "The Fiddler on the Roof", Dec 12,
1:30 p.m., Canon Theatre, 244 Victoria St, there are still
tickets available. Please contact Dina Wancar, Gisela
Wilhelm or Heidi Jonuschies.
Candle Light Service for the Young
and the Young at Heart:
On the 4th Advent Sunday, December 20, we
celebrate a Candle Light Service at 5:00 p.m. for young
people and those still young at heart. Joyful and meditative, in
the glow of the light of the candles, we want to enter into the
days of Christmas.
Once again, we can look forward to a
Jazz-Service on New Year’s
Day,
which is arranged by the guitarist Magnus Hjerpe and his
friends. This joyous church service with jazz and swing
melodies begins on January the 1st, 2010, at 5:00
p.m.
Since October, Anna Lisa Wienecke has taken over the full
responsibilities of the Treasurer, in addition to the
responsibility she already has for our German library. Here, at
this point, may we express our heartfelt gratitude to
Hans-Joachim Arndt for his more than 16 years of conscientious
and dedicated service; may God bless and guide him personally,
as well as his family. We also wish Anna Lisa God’s blessing and
success in this service!
On October 17th, Tanya Zielke and
Dan Sommerfeld invited to a
Camp
Reunion.
Many came and had fun with the photo
show and pumpkin carving.
Many
thanks!
Please mark again in your calendar the last week of July in the
year 2010 for the summer camp!
Please remember that parking in the
Valumart Parking Lot located at the rear of 2399 Lake Shore Blvd
West is not allowed. Vehicles parked there will be tagged and
towed at the owners' expense!
