Page 15 - Presbyterian Connection Fall 2025

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ConnectionP R E S B Y T E R I A N
Sam Robinson poses with a draft
cover of his cookbook.
By Teresa Steel, Knox Presbyterian
Church in Bayfield, Ont.
Sam Robinson, a member of
Knox Presbyterian Church in
Bayfield, Ont., earned a Support-
ing Local Youth Program grant
offered by the Huron County Eco-
nomic Department. The grant is
being used by Sam to create a
cookbook for clients of the Bay-
field Area Food Bank.
Bayfield Youth
Support Local
Food Bank
“I was volunteering at the lo-
cal food bank and had an idea to
make a cookbook for their clients
with tips and tricks on how to use
unusual items they find at the
food bank, how to save money at
the supermarket, create healthy
meals, stretch their food budget
and reduce food waste,” said
Sam. “In this book, you will find
over 70 amazing recipes provided
by the people of Huron County,
ranging from homemade pan-
cakes to how to make your own
soup broth from scratch, and
tons more.”
The Supporting Local Youth
Program grant is providing an op-
portunity to make this cookbook a
reality! “The Clever Cook’s Guide”
launched on Saturday, May 3, at
the Huron County Museum in
Goderich, as a fundraiser for the
Bayfield Area Food Bank. For eve-
ry cookbook purchased at $25,
an additional cookbook will be
donated to clients at food banks
across Huron County. It is Sam’s
goal to provide 200 cookbooks to
the area food banks.
Activities in
Pictou County
By Mary Chesnutt, Clerk of Session,
Middle River Presbyterian Church
in Rocklin, N.S.
For the past several years, the
congregations at Middle River
Presbyterian Church in Rock-
lin and St. Andrew’s Presbyte-
rian Church in Gairloch, Pictou
County, N.S., have done a “Re-
verse Advent” event in Novem-
ber. Instead of receiving gifts,
participants donate items for the
Pictou East Food Bank. All items
are delivered in the first week of
December to allow for some ex-
tra provisions for the holidays. In
2024, we collected 523 pounds
of food. This past December, we
had an old-fashioned Christmas
Concert with a request that any-
one attending please bring some-
thing for our Christmas hat/scarf
/mitten tree. We collected almost
100 items—97 to be exact! The
smaller items were donated to
Saltsprings Elementary School
and the remaining items were
donated to the Salvation Army
in New Glasgow. The concert,
which was held on Dec. 1, was
very well attended. Everyone en-
joyed hot cider and Christmas
cookies, along with group singing
of the old carols. It was a won-
derful way to start the Christmas
season.
As well, over the past few
years, the Rev. Bonnie Langille
has guided a handbell group of
10 ladies known as the Cheery
Chimes. The women come from
the Hopewell Pastoral Charge
(First Presbyterian Church in
Hopewell, Middle River Presby-
terian Church in Rocklin and St.
Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
in Gairloch). They practice on a
Collecting items for the food bank.
weekly basis and, with the help
of our social secretary Vicky Gra-
ham, have routinely performed at
various long-term care facilities
in the area. Each June, a congre-
gational concert is held at Middle
River Presbyterian Church. This
year, a time of fellowship was
held with cake and ice cream for
all who attended.
The Cheery Chimes. Front row (left to right): Grace Smith, Norma Tonks, the
Rev. Bonnie Langille, Vicky Graham, Theresa Dooley. Back row: Faye Fraser,
Lorna Shaw (hiding), Doreen Fraser, Judy Haslam, Anna Hirtle, Mary Ches-
nutt.
By Aaron Law, The Church of
St. Andrew and St. Paul in
Montreal, Que.
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The pilgrims of old sang these
words on their journey up to Jeru-
salem. At various times through-
out the year, people of faith in
antiquity went up to the Temple to
worship, and the songs they sang
along the way were recorded in
the Bible (Psalms 120 through
134), collectively known as the
Songs of Ascents
Songs of Ascents. The pilgrims’
ascent to the holy city was not
only physical, it was also spir-
itual. Theologian Eugene H. Pe-
terson calls it an act of “life lived
upward toward God.”
The young adults of The
Church of St. Andrew and St.
Paul in Montreal, Que., embarked
on our own pilgrimage up Mount
Royal the morning of April 19. We
each read a song and reflected on
the ways it spoke to our lives:
 The Lord will keep you from all
evil; he will keep your life.
 God is watching over us,
through the conflict and confu-
sion in the world around us.
 For the sake of the house of the
Lord our God, I will seek your
good.
I am not quite sure where I am
in life, but I will keep living by
gentleness and generosity in this
house of God.
 If it had not been the Lord, who
was on our side,
God is at the centre of all
prayers, of all communities; God
is the bond that holds us together.
 Happy is everyone who fears
the Lord, who walks in his
ways.
 You shall be happy, and it shall
go well with you.
I am in mourning, but my hope
is in the promise of God that joy is
still to come.
 Often have they attacked me
from my youth, yet they have
not prevailed against me.
I will lead a righteous life even
when I’m treated with contempt.
Christ has taught me so.
Let your priests be clothed with
righteousness, and let your faith-
ful shout for joy.
I hope to have treated others
well with kindness, bearing wit-
ness to Christ’s love.
 How very good and pleasant it
is when kindred live together in
unity!
God has brought us together,
there is no better worship of God
than to love one another.
We are all pilgrims who spend
our lives going someplace, going
to God, God who has shown us
the way, the truth and the life in
The participants of the journey up Mount Royal on April 19: Tolu, Rose, Sri,
Sam, Ross, Aaron, Tristan, Anna, Yiming, Emma, Susan.
Jesus Christ. On that mountain
we prayed, we sang, we listened,
and we looked to the Lord our
God, who has covered us with
God’s mercy.
O how sweet to walk in this pil-
grim way,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from
day to day,
leaning on the everlasting arms.