St Cyprian's Retreat
St. Cyprian’s Retreat Celebrates a Season of Creation
Wayne Jones
One soon realises that we take so much for granted. We very seldom, if ever, comprehend the magnitude of our contribution to destroying our planet; God’s creation.
“It’s not something I’ll read up on, nor something I’ll study, but it has surely got me interested.” – A comment that epitomises the impact this series has had on us at St. Cyprian’s, Retreat.
For seven Sundays, as well as in our home cells, we journeyed through and with the Seasons of Creation material, superbly presented and simplified in the book issue.
The series centered around the following themes:
· Biodiversity – Celebrating God’s gift of creation
· Land – Celebrating the earth
· Climate Change – A celebration of death to new life
· Water – Celebrating the Gift of Life
· Water – Celebrating baptism
· Stewardship – From celebration to action
· Eco –Congregations – What are we doing about this
Each of the themes challenged one to the extent where you felt the guilt and seeking a way of how to remedy all of this. More importantly was our responsibility and the scriptural link that awoke us.
We were blessed to be addressed by individuals who are actively involved in the various topical issues as part of their profession, with guest speakers from Nature Conservation in the City of Cape Town, The Amy Biehl Foundation, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, The Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI)_and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), including our parishioners Prof. Alvin Lagardien, Lezaun Overmeyer and Shaun Cozett.
We were also blessed by the eager partnership of The South African Nurseries Association, SANBI and CAFDA, who provided us with the necessary theme décor and resources. Super Plants Tokai has also offered St. Cyprian’s Church 15% of the value of all purchases made by St. Cyprian’s congregants during the months of September and October, in the form of an indigenous garden to be planted in November, as a kickstart to our own endeavour to become an eco-congregation.
The enthusiasm and interest shown by the parishioners were phenomenal and it places us in good stead to follow through on our commitment to become an eco-congregation, as part of our centenary celebrations.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it; the world and those who dwell in it.” Psalm 124:1
St Andrew’s Church News
m o r n i n g m a r k e t
Ed i t i o n
Saturday 28 November 2009 - 8:30am
Join us at our morning market!
Please mark this day on your calendars and join us for a wonderful morning of shopping, enjoying tea in our tranquil gardens, a mid-morning snack – pancakes, bacon sandwiches, boerie rolls, cooldrinks, and lunch in the hall. Bring your youngsters to the Kildare Pre-Primary school grounds where they can enjoy themselves in safety. Our stalls include books, white elephant, plants and flowers, cards, cakes, deli, toys, gifts, needlework, second-hand linen, jewellery and accessories and a music stall. The Church will be decorated following the theme of caring for our environment.
What can you do to help?
Enjoy the feeling of well-being after you have sorted out your shelves, garages etc. We would welcome any contributions to our stalls – books, toys, unwanted gifts, plants, jewellery and accessories, household items, pictures, cd’s, dvd’s , linen,- these can be brought to the parish office (down the brick driveway between church and school) or we will collect – phone Pat on 021 674 3851 (mornings).
1
St Andrew’s annual Morning Market includes a Kiddie Carnival which promises to be bigger and better than ever before. Come along and let your child experience a morning of fun and excitement. There are lots of fantastic prizes to be won. Come, try your luck or put your skills to the test at stalls such as Treasure Hunt, Tombola, Bowl-a-ball; Kick-a-goal; Beat-the-buzzer; Fish-o-Magnet; Tower-of-Tins and much more. Old fashioned sweet treats including Toffee apples, popcorn and candy floss will be on sale.
The highlight of the morning willbe a show at 9:30 am presented by 'The Snake Man'!
)
)
)
