Community Friendship Garden

At a meeting of Church Council on June 18, 2020, council approved the action of applying for a grant from Renfrew County to establish a community garden on the church grounds. Our application was favourably reviewed by the County. We planned to donate most of the vegetables that are grown to the local food banks in Petawawa, Deep River and Pembroke. Throughout the summer the garden was built and seeds were planted and nourished. By early September we donated the 'first fruits’ of our new Friendship Gardens to the Petawawa Pantry Food Bank.

Our first Friendship Garden committee meeting took place in October 2020 to prepare for a full year of operation throughout 2021. With preparations made, seeds purchased and the arrival of spring, the 2021 year's growing season for our Community Friendship Garden began.  What a great day it was to get our hands in some dirt again and plant the seeds for our vegetable garden!

Our Friendship Garden continues to thrive. We have planted some of the seedlings outdoors, and over the past few days, we have also planted seeds in the garden boxes and potatoes in buckets (yes, we are planting our potatoes in buckets!). We have managed to do all the necessary work while observing COVID restrictions. What a blessing our garden is! New members who wish to assist with our garden are always most welcome!

Church Sunday School and Youth Activities

Our Church Sunday School is held every Sunday morning commencing in September and running until June. There are three classes: Primary (Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3), Junior (Grades 4 to 6), and Confirmation (Grades 7 to 8).  The Confirmation classes are currently conducted by Pastor Romkema on Sundays just after the service. In addition to the religious teachings and activities taught and conducted, students are involved in several other activities as well.  These include a Junior Choir, the annual Sunday School Pageant, a Pizza and Movie night and involvement with and support of the Petawawa Pantry Food Bank. Pictured below, for example, is the Confirmation Class preparing ashes for our first Lenten service in March.

Our Sunday School Staff is a dedicated group of experienced congregational members.  Lots going on for the youngsters!

Seniors and Friends

Our Seniors and Friends group usually meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 1:00 PM in Luther Hall. However, COVID-19 has forced us to cancel the metings for the time being. For your information, it’s an informal social get-together for our more experienced congregational members and their friends (no one at St. John’s is "old," but some are "more experienced"!).  Cards (usually Euchre), coffee and fellowship is the order of the day, with light refreshments on offer during the afternoon. Come and join us once we can meet again!

Annual Amazing Car Rally

In November of 2020, our youth hosted our first annual "St. John's Amazing COVID Car Rally." It was basically a scavenger hunt around the Petawawa area: all from our cars COVID-style. We had 16 teams compete for the winner's trophy! Rally sheets were tallied and the winning team was announced the next day. As it turned out, the winners of the first annual St. John's Amazing COVID Car Rally were Team Charlie's Angels! They accumulated an impressive 975 points of a total 1400 points - a very good score indeed. Second place went to team Neville's Young Guns while third place went to Team Driving Miss Avery.

Thank you to all those who were involved in the planning and preparations for this event. It was great to see that we could hold an event like this and still adhere to all COVID precautions. We look forward to the next St. John's Amazing COVID Car Rally in the fall of 2021. See you then!

The 2021 St. John's Annual Amazing Car Rally!

The 2021 St. John's Annual Amazing Car Rally is almost upon us! Teams are currently registering, lists are being made, clues are being drafted and the clock is ticking. The Rally will start at St. John's on Saturday, November 13th, and will run from 12 Noon to 1:30 PM. Best of luck to all entrants. Have Fun!

On Saturday, November 13 we held our second annual St. John’s Amazing Car Rally! The day lived up to its name – we all had an amazing time. We had 7 teams entered with each team having from 2 to 5 participants. There was tension in the air as we began but once Deni waved the green flag everyone bolted in different directions. The first clue had to do with finding a sweet and sour chicken ball (!) and it just got more fun from there.
Teams were sent all over Petawawa in search of items and landmarks. And they were sent to no fewer than 5 houses of members of St. John’s looking for different items and locations.
The winners are proving to be a very tough team to beat. With over 1400 points our now two-time winners were "Charlies Angels" (Paula Paquette, Yolanda Luesink - see photo); second place went to "Ferguson Frenzy" (Doug and Heidi Ferguson); and third place went to "Wagner’s Warriors" (Lisa and Kaitlyn Cliche-Wagner). All seven teams received prizes.
Best of all we raised over $450 for our St. John’s youth program.

Virtual Camino Walking Group

We had some wonderful news to announce in February of 2021. Members of our St. John's community and a few friends of our general community joined to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago - virtually. We all walk from our homes, at our own pace, and then we add our walked distance to a Camino website. Other activities may be used and then converted into walking distance (skating, skiing, snowshoeing, etc.). Our distance is then tracked as we follow a virtual map of the original Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route from southern France to western Spain. Initially there were 25 members walking as community and, remarkably, displaying an age range of participants of between  age 7 to age 87 years old! We have also built into our walk a day of prayerful walking per week. And, at every 20% interval of the walk, a tree is planted on behalf of the walker. The result? With the original 25 walkers completing the Camino pilgrimage they will have planted 125 trees.  "Well Done" to the initial members of the Virtual Camino Walking Group. New members wishing to join the group are always welcome!

On Sunday, September 19, 2021, we celebrated the completion of our community’s Virtual Camino Pilgrimage (see lower picture). Since January, twenty-eight of us have been walking the 774 km route to Santiago virtually, at our own pace, and from our own homes. Last week our final walker finished the pilgrimage and so this past Sunday we celebrated this accomplishment with our wider community at St. John’s during worship. We began the service by walking the last km of the pilgrimage together. Thank you to all who have joined us on this wonderful journey.

A Message from Pastor Albert: a 2022 Pilgrimage!

Won't you join us for a walk? We have created a virtual 'community' once again this year for a walk along the countryside of Italy. This one is not a 'Camino' pilgrimage as we did last year, but it is a pilgrimage by definition (a spiritual journey). This one is called the 'St. Francis Way' after St. Francis of Assisi.

It looks like a marvelous route that we will follow beginning in Florence, Italy, and then traveling through Assis to the Vatican. It is a 500km route this time which you can cover with many different activities, from walking, biking, and skating to chopping wood, and house cleaning (there are conversion charts available on the website)! You may take as long or as short as you like - there is completely no rush.

To join us go to: https://www.theconqueror.events/

and join the 'St. Francis Way'. The cost will be approximately $50 (Canadian). I have set aside funds for a couple of sponsorships if necessary.

Once signed up you will want to join our 'community' (please do not sign up for a 'team', this is different). Our community name is 'St Johns Lutheran Church'. This is our group and it allows us to comment on each others progress and to post pictures for our group members to see.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Hope to see you there. It should be a wonderful way to share a pilgrimage journey – spiritual journey - through the cold winter months.

The Quilt Group

Affectionately known as "St. John’s Happy Piece Makers", this group of ladies has been very busy since September, 2018.  To date (February 2020) the group has produced a total of 20 quilts, both tied and hand-quilted.  Some of our "regulars" took a few minutes out of their busy session on Thursday, January 31, 2019 to display some of their work.  (Left to Right:  Sheila Russell, Marion Goldt, Linda Ticknor, Barb Kramer, Donna Chaput, Rose Saar, Elizabeth Molson and Brenda Gillies.) The Group will commence their meetings nce the COVID-19 situation is resolved. Watch this space!

Again, a big "Thank you!" to those who have generously supported our quilting efforts with their prayers, donations of supplies and money.  This ministry would not be possible without your help! 😊

Annual Garage Sale

Our garage sale is held in the spring of each year, but 2020 was certainly different due to COVID-19. This years 2021 Garage Sale was cancelled but we hope that it will be conducted in May of 2022. It is a big, big sale, taking up the whole of Luther Hall and even extending up onto the stage. Appliances, sports items, utensils, books, clothing, decorations, toys, games, and a host of other items large and small. We also offer various items for sale. Some of the tastiest cookies, cakes and other gastronomic delicacies are available. A great way to downsize your holdings and pick up that item you’ve been looking for. We hope that you’ll plan to visit in April/May of 2022 if we can hold the sale then!

Community Connections

These are a few things that we have done in our local community.

"Coldest Night of the Year" Walk

In 2018, 2019 and 2020 St. John’s took part in this annual fundraising activity, the National "Coldest Night of the Year" initiative in support of Renfrew County and The Grind as they work to reduce or eliminate homelessness in the community. Teams and individual participants were challenged to walk routes of 2 Km, 5 Km and 10 Km. In 2018, St. John’s formed a team, the St John’s Petawawa Walkers, and set a goal to raise $500.00. Other individual church members took part both as donation givers, walkers and/or as support staff at the Pembroke Armories. In 2018, St. John’s raised $755.00 or 151% of their original pledge. In 2019, we had a wonderful turnout from St. John’s and we raised over $1,500 for The Grind and Renfrew County Safe Shelter for Youth. 2020 was equally successful. A big "Well Done!" to all who walked, donated, supported or assisted in this endeavour!

Community Friendship Meal

Petawawa Community Friendship Meal 2020After a series of successful Friendship Meals in 2019, St. John’s will be continuing with the initiative of providing Food and Friendship for the Petawawa community. Earlier this year, we committed to host 2 Friendship Meals in 2020. The anticipated dates of the meals are Thursday February 27 and Thursday March 26.
The Stewardship Committee would like to invite everyone who is interested to join the planning meeting on Thursday January 9, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. at the church.
Anyone who cannot join in the meeting but would be willing to help in cooking, setting up the hall, serving the meal, or cleaning up after the event are encouraged to contact any member of the Stewardship Committee.

New Members for St. John’s

Bright skies, warm temperatures, an historic service and an excellent cold buffet luncheon made Sunday at St. John’s on July 8th, 2018 an exciting and memorable morning. During the service, seventeen members of Faith Lutheran Deep River were received into membership at St. John’s. Following the service, everyone enjoyed a sumptuous cold buffet in Luther Hall. The volume and extent of the conversation during the luncheon certainly indicated that our new members were quickly adapting to and getting involved with all St. John’s members. After lunch, our photographer made an image of virtually everyone in the "new" congregation. When he checked his camera and announced "We’re good, everyone. Thanks!" a loud cheer and resounding hand-clapping reinforced the success of the morning.

We understand that sixteen additional Faith members will be joining St. John’s throughout the summer, and we look forward to welcoming them on their arrival.

Very best wishes to all current and future members of St. John’s as we commence a new chapter in our history and, equally, we commemorate the history of Faith Deep River. Have a wonderful and relaxing summer. God Bless!