St. John's Anglican Cathedral

Anglican Church of Canada: Join The Community, our new social network

Kelli Stewart — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:40:30 +0000

by Ali Symons, General Synod Web Writer
February 23, 2012

We’re creating an open place for Anglicans to get together and talk about life in the church.

The Community is the Anglican Church of Canada’s dedicated social network, a place for people to discuss mission today. Today it launches with a hub for lectionary readings, forums, and topical blogs on children’s ministry, French language ministry, liturgy, and technology.

“It’s pretty simple,” said the Rev. Jesse Dymond, General Synod’s online community coordinator. “We’re creating an open place for Anglicans to get together and talk about life in the church.

“Parishes and dioceses from across the country have both need and experience; why not bring the two together? Most of us already connect with our family and social circles online. Now we can do the same with Canadian Anglicans.”

Features lectionary readings, blogs

For many Canadian Anglicans, the first draw of The Community will be the online lectionary readings, featuring the Anglican Church of Canada’s adaptation of the Revised Common Lectionary.

This is the first time that a standard set of these readings is available in one place. Readings are automatically updated online and are available for rss subscription.

Members can join the conversation in a number of ways: they can comment on the lectionary readings, start a new topic, or join in the core blogs, written weekly by leaders on the ground across the Anglican Church of Canada. More sections will be added but the current selection includes:

Children’s ministry with Fiona Brownlee, communications officer for the Council of the North and writer of the Virtual Church School curriculum

French language ministry with the Rev. Maïda Vandendorpe, priest, Anglican Parish of Mascouche, Mascouche, Que.
Liturgy with the Rev. Matthew Griffin, priest associate at St. John’s Anglican, Ancaster, Ont.
Ministry and technology with Brian Bukowski, General Synod web manager, and the Anglican Church of Canada web team

A place to see the broader church

For the section guides, The Community is an opportunity to share their expertise and invite others into the conversations they care about.

“I want us to ask different questions that might help us see what congregational development is about in a healthier way,” said Mr. Koyle, who has 22 years of parish ministry experience and has recently written a book on discipleship and the catechumenate.

He thinks The Community can be a good place for the church to bring together the old and the new.

“[The Community] becomes another forum where we can come to terms with understanding what it means to be church in the current day in a way that’s faithful to our past and the future God has in store for the world.”

Mr. Griffin, who has worked in a variety of liturgical settings, sees the benefit of linking people in the broader church. He remembers how a former parishioner was transformed after attending a national General Synod meeting. He thinks The Community could offer a similar perspective.

“I think this has tremendous potential, both to identify gifts and to bring out new ideas,” he said.

“For a lot of Canadian Anglicans, what they do in their parish church is normal and anything else isn’t. What we’re going to see [in The Community] are other parts of the church, other stories, and the forums are going to let us participate together.”

Linked to Vision 2019

The idea for The Community emerged from the church’s strategic plan, Vision 2019, which gathered input from Anglicans across Canada. Vision 2019 identified the need for “a national communication platform, integrated and accessible at the parish, diocesan, and national levels.”

Mr. Dymond notes that this dedicated space allows Canadian Anglicans to customize their social networking experience apart from the corporate interests of Facebook or Twitter, where privacy is often a concern.

As online community coordinator, Mr. Dymond’s role will be to work in and among The Community, encouraging participation, and connecting members. Some of his work will also involve in-person visits at synods or with others who are interested in how The Community might strengthen ministry in their areas.

“As I make connections with people across the country, it becomes quite easy to see this community as something like a parish, but different,” he said. “It’s definitely a fresh expression of what it means to be church.”

Visit The Community now

The National Worship Conference: June 29 – July 2, 2012

Kelli Stewart — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:24:42 +0000

What does it mean
to go Beyond the Fortress?

As Christians, we have established meaningful traditions in our worship. In doing so, we have built “fortresses” around ourselves, in order to keep these traditions alive. For some the fortress is their church, for some it is their faith. We carefully guard our fortresses (with open doors – not closed doors), but we all feel safe and secure in our personal Fortress.

What happens when we leave our security, and move out into the community and witness our faith?

But what happens when we go Beyond our fortress. What happens when we leave our security, and move out into the community and witness our faith? Do we hide or guard the fortress, to make sure that nothing will change and our traditions are kept strong. How can we make worship more interesting and inviting and draw more people in? This has always been a topic at the forefront of discussions in the Church. It’s now more urgent than ever.

Come join us at the Conference to discuss with fellow Worship Leaders how to be comfortable beyond the fortress, and explore what happens when we move out and profess our faith to all who will listen.

About The National Worship Conference

The National Worship Conference is a biennial conference sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada. The Conference welcomes participation by clergy and laity of these two churches as well as clergy and laity from other churches who seek to build up the life of the Christian community through our worship so that we might serve the world God loves.

Find out more about the The National Worship Conference or register.

Ministry Opportunities: Sides-People/Greeters, Thema Wynne Project

Kelli Stewart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:29:56 +0000

Sides-People/Greeters

Sunday, March 4
12:30 pm | Meeting of Sides-People/Greeters

We are always looking for men and women to join us in this service, so if you see this as something you may be interested in doing come to the meeting and find out what is involved. Those interested in joining this ministry may also contact Ron Craig. Please try to be present and if you are unable to attend please advise so we can get your input for the meeting.

Thelma Wynne Project

This is the month we collect baby items for the Thelma Wynne Project which operates out of St. Matthews Church. Volunteers create bundles from all the donated items the project receives and distribute’s these to needy moms. A basket will be set up in the Nave for the next three weeks. Your contributions will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks from the Friendship Circle.

Readings & Prayers: February 19, 2012

Kelli Stewart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:20:46 +0000

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Matthew 17.5

for today’s readings, next Sunday’s readings and this week’s prayers,
read more

Today’s Readings

The Transfiguration of Our Lord
February 19, 2012

2 Kings 2.1-12
Psalm 50.1-6
2 Corinthians 4.3-6
Mark 9.2-9

Next Sunday’s Readings

February 26, 2012
First Sunday in Lent

Genesis 9.8-17
Psalm 25.1-9
1 Peter 3.18-22
Mark 1.9-15

Want to know more? Join us for our Bible Study to discuss these passages.

In our prayers

In the Anglican Communion world-wide, we give thanks and pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Rowan Williams; Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, The Most Rev Armando Guerra Soria, Primate of IARCA & Bishop of Guatemala

In the Anglican Church of Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and the Diocese of Rupert’s Land we pray for:

all Bishops, diocesan leaders (lay & ordained), throughout Canada, especially:

Our Primate, Fred and General Synod Staff
Our National Indigenous Bishop, Mark
Our Metropolitan, David
Our Bishop, Donald and his wife Nancy
ELCIC Manitoba & North-Western Ontario Bishop, Elaine and her husband Rick
Bishop Jackson and his wife Perusi of our Companion Diocese of Central Buganda
Our Dean, Paul and his wife Melanie; Honorary Assistant Brian and his wife Mavis
ELCIC Dean, Council and Congregations of the London Conference of the Eastern Synod

our congregations and communities, especially for the Kanziira Parish in the Diocese of Central Buganda, under the care of Nswanjerrdin, Rev Mutagombwa Moses

Dates to Remember

Kelli Stewart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:12:16 +0000

Wednesday, February 22

7:00pm | Ash Wednesday Service
Eucharist & Imposition of Ashes

12:30pm | AGM
The annual meeting of the parishioners of the Parish of St. John’s Cathedral will be held in the John West Hall. All members are entitled to attend and to vote.

Ash Wednesday and the Beginning of Lent

deanrupertsland — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:44:32 +0000

Lent

Journey together with Christ to the cross where our sin is put to death, and to the empty tomb,
where we are given new life in the risen Christ.

Lent is from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “springtime” and so is to be understood as the holy springtime of the soul, a time for preparation, planting, and growth. Like the father of the prodigal son (this story is one of the Lenten gospel readings, next year), God the Father invites us to return home. Lent is a time for self-examination and repentance, but repentance always understood in its most graceful sense: a turning away from death, and death-dealing habits and lifestyles, and a turning toward life, the abundant life given in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lent is the holy springtime of the soul, a time for preparation, planting, and growth.

From a very early time in the history of the church of Christ, Lent was a time set aside for those people preparing for baptism (and originally they were almost all adults) to undergo instruction in the mysteries of the faith. They were then baptized at the Great Vigil of Easter, the first service of Easter, after sunset on Holy Saturday – in the Jewish worldview the new day begins at sunset, and so for the earliest Christians, all of them Jewish, Easter actually began on Saturday night.

The season of Lent is a period of time set aside to help all Christians prepare to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord. Lent prepares us for the great events of Easter, the centre of our faith. Lent is not so much a chunk of the calendar as it is an opportunity for pilgrimage, for all of us who are baptized into Christ to remember that baptism and examine closely its relationship to our lives, to journey together with Christ to the cross where our sin is put to death, and to the empty tomb, where we are given new life in the risen Christ.

Signposts on the journey include the disappearance of the Alleluia and the Gloria, to remind us of the solemnity of the season. Traditionally, flowers are not included in worship spaces for the same reason. The colour of the season is violet or purple, for repentance. The season is 40 days long (excluding Sundays), even as Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness preparing for his ministry, and the people of Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness, preparing to enter the Promised Land.

But Why Ashes?

Lent is a time for self-examination and repentance, but repentance always understood in its most graceful sense: a turning away from death and a turning toward the abundant life given in Jesus Christ our Lord.

As sign of repentance

In the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, ashes are used over and over again as a sign of humility and repentance. People know that they have sinned before God and so they mark themselves with ashes. Ashes, in a Jewish and Christian context, suggest judgement and God’s condemnation of sin.

As a reminder of mortality

When we hear the words from Genesis 3, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” we are reminded forcefully of our mortality and the words of the committal in the burial service, “…earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” One day those words will be said over us; that doesn’t need to be morbid, but it is a powerful reminder that we are not God, and so Lent is time to give up our idolatry, even, maybe especially, of ourselves.

As a symbol of cleansing and renewal

Clear away the clutter of the past and in doing so, enrich the ground for a new future.

Ashes were once used as a cleansing agent in the absence of soap, and so they remind us that we need to be cleansed of our sin, as indeed we are in baptism. A further example of death and renewal is the custom of burning fields so as to destroy the old and prepare the new, to clear away the clutter of the past and in doing so to enrich the ground for a new future.

As a visable sign of baptism,
a graceful reminder of who we are

The cross of ashes reminds us vividly that in baptism we were signed with the cross of Christ, forever. We belong to Christ.

Baptism is a primary emphasis of Lent and ashes have sometimes been understood as penitential substitute for water as a sign of baptism; as water both stifles and refreshes, drowns and makes alive, so the ashes also tell of both death and renewal. Perhaps more importantly, the cross of ashes reminds us vividly that in baptism we were signed with the cross of Christ, forever, and that we always bear that sign on our brows. We belong to Christ, and so there is joy for the journey, not just of Lent, but of life.

Holy Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes

Ash Wednesday Service
February 22
7:00 pm

Anglican & Lutheran Gathering of Prison-impacted People

Kelli Stewart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:17:05 +0000

You Visited Me…

Connecting with and supporting those in our churches who have someone on the ‘inside’ and encouraging those who visit people in remand or one of the correctional institutions.

Tuesday, March 20th
Registration 4:30pm, wrap up at 8:45pm.
Meal will be served.

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
600 Cambridge Street (Cambridge & Corydon)
Winnipeg, MB

If you or a loved one is, or has been in prison, if you do prison ministry, or have an interest in visiting those inside Bishops Elaine Sauer and Don Phillips welcome you to participate in this free event.

Please RSVP by March 13th to:
Tom Collings 204-772-2892 or tomjulie at mts dot net
or Ken Kuhn 204-885-2821 or kenkuhn at mts dot net

Celebration of a New Ministry Pictures

Kelli Stewart — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:33:35 +0000

Celebration of a New Ministry

Kelli Stewart — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:21:53 +0000

On Sunday, February 12, 2012 both Anglicans and Lutherans alike took part in the Celebration of a New Ministry of The Very Reverend Paul N. Johnson as Incumbent of St. John’s Cathedral and the Dean of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land. Leaders of both communities, including Bishop Don Phillips, Bishop Elaine Sauer, ELCIC, and Archbishop and Metropolitan David Ashdown, were there for this special day in our churches’ history.

Love

Kelli Stewart — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:43:48 +0000

Today, the day that we celebrate love, it is important for us to remember what Christian Love not only looks like, but to remember that love should drive all that we do.

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,^* but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogantor rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly,^*but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

NPDWC Valentines Day Dinner and Cake Auction

No plans for Valentine’s Day?
Mary, from the North Point Douglas Womens’ Centre has invited the people of St. John’s to join them for their Perogy Dinner and Cake Auction Fundraiser on February 14, 2012.