The Mirror
The Newsletter of
Murray Street Baptist Church, Peterborough
Www.murraystreetlive.ca
March, 2016
Interim Senior Minister: Dr. Charles Jackson
Director of Music: Nola Wilson
Minister to Seniors: Rev. Evelyn Moore
Church Administrator: Elizabeth Mead
From the Pastor
An Easter Meditation
Easter is the time when we once more think about the death and resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Usually more time is spent on the death, but have you considered that there
was no funeral for Jesus. In fact there are four biblical figures that never had a funeral and
it is significant for us to consider. There were no flowers sent, no newspaper notices to
read, and no donations made in memory of the loved one. There was no preparation of the
body, no casket, no visiting time, no long line of mourners and no graveside vigil. Why?
Because there was no body!
Enoch was the first biblical character that never had a funeral. The Bible simply says, “Enoch walked with God;
then he was no more, because God took him away.” (Genesis 5:21-24) He had the experience we call translation.
He was moved or translated from earth to heaven without dying. This happened because he pleased God.
(Hebrews 11:5) Someone has described it as a spiritual friendship so close that God said to Enoch after a long
walk one day, “We’re closer to my house than we are to yours. Why don’t you come home with me?” So he did!
Moses died after a long life of faithful service, but no funeral was held because they could find no body. God
buried him, “but to this day no one knows where his grave is.” (Deuteronomy 34:5-6) It was God’s final farewell
to his faithful servant and no human eyes were allowed to penetrate the sanctity of that moment. Even the devil
was not permitted access to his body. (Jude 9)
Elijah was a fiery prophet of God who never had a funeral because when his time to depart came, he was taken
alive in a chariot of fire to heaven. Even a search party of fifty could not find a body to bury. (2 Kings 2:11-18)
Jesus. Before Jesus went to the cross, he met with Moses and Elijah and was glorified or transfigured before
them. Here are two godly men who had disappeared from their own time and were talking to Jesus about his
departure or exit.
As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of
lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his
departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:29-31)
This experience means that Jesus knew what was going to happen to him at Jerusalem and what would follow. He
was not caught off guard, nor was anything a surprise to him. So when Jesus was crucified on Good Friday
afternoon, his enemies thought they had packed him away for good. He was dead for sure. No one survives a
cross. But when the women went to the tomb on Sunday morning to prepare the body for final burial, it was
missing. There was no funeral! The borrowed gravesite was returned to its owner. Jesus was resurrected, raised
from the dead and alive for evermore.
What does this mean for us this Easter? Because of Jesus’ resurrection and his promised return:
We still experience death and have funerals, but there is glorious hope for believers.
At death, our bodies wait for their restoration to life and reunion with our souls at Jesus’ return.
Those who die in the Lord will be resurrected before any others when Jesus returns.
Some will not die but be changed or translated like Enoch and Elijah when Jesus comes.
O joy, O delight, should we go without dying!
No sickness, no sadness, no dreading, no crying!
Caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory.
When Jesus receives his own.
H. L. Turner
Have a blessed and joyous Easter!
Charles Jackson
News from Mount of Olives Baptist Church in Holguin, Cuba
Last month Grant, a friend of Peggy and Steve McCracken went to
Santiago, Cuba. He arranged for Rene to pick him up and take him up
to Holguin to deliver some funds from Murray Street for the Mount of
Olives Baptist Church in Cuba. It was as 7 hour round trip. Grant has
met Rene and Olga a number of times before, and visited with them
previously in Holguin. He assessed their need for an updated water
system. Grant has experience with water systems and will soon report
to us. The whole of Cuba is suffering from a shortage of water at this
time because of 2 years of drought. Water reservoirs are at an all time
low.
Prue Watts
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Notes from the Music Room
As I write this, “the weather outside is frightful!” Subzero temperatures and high winds – winter took its time
coming, but it is here now for certain! “In the Bleak Midwinter” is a hymn that comes to mind!!
Our choir is preparing for Lent and Easter and in particular for the Good Friday service, when we will be joined
by members of Park Street Baptist and Edmison Heights Baptist Church choirs. It will be wonderful to once again
have a full choir loft for that special service!
We welcome into the choir our friend Casey Watson! Casey saw a need and filled it, and we are grateful for his gift
of time and talent.
All of our choir members are multi-taskers in our church, and I am thankful for each and every one of them for
their dedication and commitment to excellence.
Those of you who know music will know what I mean when I say that the choir has geared down from a four-part
to a three-part format. This is due to the decrease in our numbers. We have recently purchased some new music
that is written for smaller choirs, and we are enjoying going through it and learning it. One of the songs speaks of
the promise of newness of life. Spring is coming!!
In the Bulb There is a Flower
“In the bulb there is a flower,
In the seed an apple tree,
In cocoons a hidden promise,
Butterflies will soon be free,
In the cold and snow of winter,
There’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season,
Something God alone can see.”
Good Friday Music
The choir is delighted to announce that we will be joined by the Park Street and Edmison Heights
choirs for the Good Friday service on Friday, March 25th. We will be performing two beautiful
pieces of music chosen by Nola Wilson and Andrew Harbridge. Please join us for this meaningful
time of worship and fellowship.
Nola Wilson
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Scouting Report
Myrna Greer
Scout Week is Feb. 21 to Feb. 28, the week of Founder Lord Baden-Powell’s birthday (Feb. 22). We are not
having a banquet or Church parade this year. Instead we are having a “Family Birthday Party” to celebrate BadenPowell’s birthday and the 100th birthday of Cub Scouts. It’s the 77th year of Scouting at Murray Street!
2nd Peterborough (St. Luke’s) invited us to join them at their Church Parade on Feb. 21 because their 2 Cub
Scouts and 1 Leader have been linking with our Cub Scouts this year.
Bring a Friend: Beavers & Cubs were invited to bring a friend to the meeting on Feb. 9, in hopes they will then
join us.
“The Great Murray Street Kub Kar Rally & Beaver Buggy Races” happened in the “sun room” on Tuesday, Feb.
16. Kawartha Waterways Area Kub Kar and Beaver Buggy Rally will be at Crestwood on Saturday, March 5.
Beaver Scouts: Marshmallow night (with Cubs); painted Beaver Buggies; bowling; painted cars (boxes) to sit in at
a “drive-in movie night”; family birthday party. 4 White-Tail Beavers attended the winter “Star Wars” Cub camp
and 1 was one of two to receive a crest for “Best Camper.”
Cub Scouts: Marshmallow night; Kub Kar work night; “Star Wars” winter Cub camp at Ganaraska Woods
Conference Centre, enjoying skating, tobogganing, snowshoeing, hiking, craft, badge completion, indoor campfire,
outdoor “Cubs’ Own” worship, and fabulous food. Worked on Red Star (Health & Fitness) and Purple Star
(Canada & the World); completed International Trade badge, part of which was a visit to FreshCo to see where
our food comes from; indoor obstacle course.
Winter fun in the snow
Baloo working the saw.
Hiking through the woods
Sanding that piece to get it
just right.
I can go faster than you on my
snowshoes.
It’s never too far from “Star
Wars”.
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The Closet
The Closet has been busy since re-opening after the Christmas break. Our
customers are needing warm clothing, coats, boots, scarves, toques and
gloves/mittens. Our hope is that no one will be cold. It is with great pleasure that we serve the people that need our help. If we have it we give it.
Hopefully mid April we will be able to kick off the opening of our Closet Boutique, selling some clothing at a very
affordable prices. This has been long in the planning due to many circumstances that prevented it from opening
sooner. Please keep your eyes open for the details soon to be announced.
I wish to sent out a huge thank you to our dedicated team of volunteers, Sharron, Lydia, Fay, Dwayne, Diane and
when we need her, Mary. Each and every one of you are appreciated and valued for your worthwhile and valuable
contribution to the Closet.
Donations to The Closet are gratefully accepted.
One other thing, if anyone is interested we could always use another volunteer for occasional Thursdays from 9-11 am. Please contact me at 705-2954799.
Watch for news of
Carol Wagner Beadman
The Closet Boutique
“A couple of weeks ago when it was cold, a woman came in wearing a pair of wet men's shoes. A few days later.
The woman across the hall from me asked if I had any use for a pair of size 11 winter boots. I put them in my car
and happily the lady came in again last week. She was so thrilled to get the boots. Before she left she said, ‘I just
love you. If I hadn't been told that I wasn't to touch people, I would hug you.’
That was not coincidence. It is what makes the Closet work meaningful for me.”
Fay Allain
The Mirror Staff:
Shirley Burhoe, Editor
Barrie Burhoe, Layout.
Deadline for the next issue will be Thursday, April 21, 2016
Distribution will on May 1, 2016
Please submit articles in “Word attachment” form if possible to [email protected] .
This makes things much easier for the layout person.
The Mirror welcomes pictures of church life.
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Top 10 reasons for being an...ALTO
1. You get really good at singing E-flat.
2. You get to sing the same note for 12 consecutive measures.
3. You don't really need to warm up to sing 12 consecutive bars of E-Flat.
4. If the choir really stinks, it's unlikely the altos will be blamed.
5. You have lots of time to chat during soprano solos.
6. You get to pretend that you are better than the sopranos, because everybody knows that women only
sing soprano so they don't have to learn to read music.
7. You can sometimes find part-time work singing tenor.
8. Altos get all the great intervals.
When the sopranos are holding some outrageously high note at the end of a song, the altos always get
the last words.
10. When the altos miss a note, nobody gets hurt.
Submitted by a happy alto.
Hand Bell Update
The hand bell choir was happy to perform on Christmas Sunday and played the Huron Carol and The First
Noel as part of the service. After a well-deserved Christmas break, the bell choir resumed rehearsals in January
and started on an ambitious program of new music. However, a brief hiatus in February was called to accommodate winter holidays and on-going family health issues.
With Easter coming early this year, the bell choir will not have enough time to prepare any Easter music. However, the group expects to perform two pieces on April 10th and hopes to perform another two pieces in early
May.
Margo Tant
The hand bell choir rehearses Thursdays at 6:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. If you would like to try ringing and have basic music
skills, please contact Margo at [email protected]
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Our Bruce .. The Hockey Player
An article appeared in Peterborough This Week in December, 2015, which featured the Kawartha Komets special
needs hockey team. This program was introduced in 2009, and is important to many in the area who enjoy this
sport. Bruce Saltern, a regular attendee at Murray Street was featured in the article.
Bruce, Senior Komets defenceman, told the reporter, Jesse Thomas, that he lives for the chance to play hockey
and he said that he first learned about the Komets after a few Special Olympics teammates told him about the
team. The first he heard about the team was five or six years ago.
Bruce played hockey when he was younger but was forced to give it up. He is thrilled to be able to play again. His
greatest memory came while traveling with the Komets to Boston in 2011 to take part in the Special Hockey International tournament against teams from across North America and Europe.
They play modified hockey with very few rules, including no offsides or body contact. For these players, it’s just
like the Olympics with all the hoopla and pageantry.
“It’s just awesome,” said Bruce, who plays both defence and forward. “For me, it’s all about making new friends
and meeting the other players and coaches.”
The hockey rink is a safe place for the Komets as many of the players are dealing with different cognitive and other challenges.
Carol Fisher and her husband David founded the program. “The sport is a chance to break down the barriers and
give the players a chance to play the game they love and make personal connections. These players all have their
own special gifts they bring to the program. The social aspect is very important for these players.”
BAPTIST WOMEN
Days for Girls work meetings will be held on Thursdays March 10 and 24th, from 10 am—2 pm at Murray St.
Call Prue 705-745-2603 if you have questions about how you can help. Gilmour Baptist is making another 100
kits for distribution in Kenya (50) and Rwanda (50) this month with Short Term Mission Trips. It is hoped that
women there may be able to take them on as micro projects.
If you are not able to help with the sewing, you may want to contribute financially. Brenda Mann has bought $500
worth of material for the kits and has about $250 left in the bank at the moment. They hope to send another 100
kits to South Africa at the end of May with the teacher who is home on furlough. Brenda can supply receipts this
year. Cheques can be made out to Days for Girls.
Prue Watts
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A Little Bit of Humour
Lexophile" is a word used to describe those that have a love for words, such as "you can
tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish", or "to write with a broken pencil is pointless." A
competition to see who can come up with the best lexophiles is held every year in an undisclosed location.
... When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
... A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
... When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.
... The batteries were given out free of charge.
... A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
... A will is a dead giveaway.
... With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
... A boiled egg is hard to beat.
... When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
... Police were summoned to a daycare center where a three-year-old was resisting a
rest.
... Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off ? He's all right now.
... A bicycle can't stand alone; it's just two tired.
... The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
... He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
... When she saw her first strands of grey hair she thought she'd dye.
... Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
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Some Thoughts in this season of Lent
Our church library is an underused resource. A look at books on the shelves in the 230’s section will bring you
to many volumes about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We encourage you to browse there to perhaps find
something to read in this Lenten season. For instance, books by Max Lucado often have a study guide in the back
to help one dig deeper into the material.
A number of years ago, I read a book called Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. It
examined the spiritual disciplines of Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence
and solitude, journaling and learning. Just reading the list again makes me take a big breath. “God uses three
primary catalysts for changing us and conforming us to Christlikeness, but only one is largely under our control,”
says Whitney.
1.
People. Sometimes God uses our friends (or parents, children, spouse, co-workers, neightbours) to sharpen
us into more Christlike living. Sometimes he uses our enemies to file away our rough, ungodly edges.
2.
Circumstances. Financial pressures, physical conditions, even the weather are used in the hands of Divine
Providence to stimulate his elect toward holiness.
3.
Spiritual disciplines. When He uses these, He works from the inside out. When He changes us through
people and circumstances, the process works from the outside in.
Whitney goes on to say “Think of the spiritual disciplines as ways we can place ourselves in the path of God’s
grace and seek Him, much as Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus placed themselves in Jesus’ path. In the course of time
we will be transformed by Him from one level of Christlikeness to another (2 Cor. 3:18)
Consider these ways of Bible intake, says Whitney:
1.
Hearing God’s Word—regularly—through preaching, radio, TV, tapes. Not passive listening but obeying.
It’s a discipline to be cultivated.
2.
Reading God’s Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16) Find the time to read (or listen to) His Word. Have a plan. How
about reading Scripture in a different translation (e.g. the Easter story).
3.
Studying God’s Word. “Reading gives us breadth, but study gives us depth.” Jerry Bridges. Write down
observations about the text, record questions, look up cross-references, record insights, find a key word and
use a concordance to find other references, noting findings. There is value in indepth word studies, topical
studies, character studies, book studies.
4.
Memorizing God’s Word. This supplies spiritual power (available when we need it, e.g. in time of
temptation, or a difficult decision). It strengthens our faith. It can prepare us for the unexpected, such as
witnessing or counselling opportunities. It provides timely guidance. It stimulates meditation.
5.
Meditation. This has become identified more with non-Christian systems of thought, but we shouldn’t be
afraid to do this. It involves filling your mind with God and truth, requiring constructive mental activity. In
Joshua 1:8, the Lord told him to meditate on the Book of the law day and night. Think deeply on Scripture,
not just one time each day, but at moments in the day and night. Then we will do what God directs.
Meditation opens the soil of the soul. Meditation is absorption.
Take a Lenten journey, on your own or with others.
Shirley Burhoe
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Mission and Outreach
CBM Project and Partners-in-Mission Campaign
The month of April will feature our annual CBM and Partners-in-Mission Campaign. Last year our CBM Project
was She Matters, a project to help provide education and micro loans to young women in Third World Countries.
Our Partners-in-Mission are the Mount of Olives Baptist Church in Cuba, the Kwoks who are missionaries in
Thailand and own Murray Missions. Last year we raised over $15,000 due to the generosity of our congregation
and from the estate of Carly Cameron. Watch for details as they unfold during March and into April.
This campaign continues our plan of doing a project a month or as we have called it; “The 12th” .
January’s project was toiletries for Edmison House, February’s was underwear for The Closet. March we are not
sure of as yet but could be spices for The One Roof Community Diner. Please watch for details.
Our Hot Dog lunch seem to be a great success. Everyone enjoyed themselves; it is just bad the Blue Jays weren’t
playing. Passing the baskets raised $145.00 for Murray Missions.
By the time you read The Mirror, we should have a new Interim Outreach Worker.
Barrie Burhoe
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