On Thursday, April 25, 2013, Dorothy Evelyn Doyle (née Finch) passed away peacefully, at the age of 98 years, at Misericordia Place. Evelyn is survived and lovingly remembered by her son Robert and her granddaughters Andrea and Patricia Doyle. Evelyn is also survived by her nieces Audrey Love (Neil) and Patricia Finch of Thunder Bay. Evelyn was predeceased by her husband James Bernard Doyle in 1967 and her daughter-in-law Raymonde Lucie Doyle in 2008. She was also predeceased by her father James Robert Finch, her mother Dorothy Maud Finch, her sister Lilian Finch and her brother Frederick Finch. Evelyn will be remembered for her determination, independence and devotion to her family. She thoroughly enjoyed sharing summers with family and friends at Winnipeg Beach and travelling by train through western Canada. Evelyn will also be remembered for her love of reading and music and for her generosity in knitting sweaters for those she loved and baking fruit cakes for family and friends at Christmas. In addition to her tireless efforts at home, Evelyn was employed initially by Manitoba Cartage and Storage Limited and later by Livingston Industries Limited. She enjoyed being a member of the Oriana Singers and a member of St. John’s Cathedral (Anglican), serving on the Chancel Guild for many years. The family wishes to thank the wonderful nurses, health care aides and spiritual care worker at Misericordia Place MP3 for their care and compassion. The family also wishes to express its appreciation for the pastoral care ministry of St. John’s Cathedral. Funeral Eucharist Service will be held at St. John’s Cathedral (Anglican), 135 Anderson Ave., on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. with The Very Rev. Paul N. Johnson officiating. Reception will follow in the John West Hall of St. John’s Cathedral. Interment in Old Kildonan Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, if friends so desire, donations may be made to Misericordia Health Centre Foundation, 99 Cornish Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3C 1A2 or St. John’s Cathedral, 135 Anderson Ave., Winnipeg, MB R2W 5M9. THOMSON FUNERAL HOME 669 Broadway, Winnipeg 783-7211 Send expressions of sympathy at http://www.thomsonfuneralchapel.com
As published in the Winnipeg Free Press on April 27, 2013

What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you.  For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.                                     Exodus 18:17b-18

On Tuesday this past week, April 23rd, the new Administrative Assistant to the Dean began work here at the Cathedral. Thanks be to God!
Thanks be also to Rene Jamieson and Roger Stagg, who have worked far above and beyond the call of duty as volunteers in the office for almost a year now. Roger, Rene, I personally want to thank you for all you have done this past year. What a gift to all of us! So thank you also on behalf of every person in this parish and on behalf of the Diocese, as you have helped keep our Cathedral connected with all of its people across Rupert’s Land.

Carol Hargreaves is now working full time in the Cathedral Office; her official title is Administrative Assistant to the Dean, but her job description is extensive and challenging. She is definitely up to it, and is already making a positive difference with her energy and gifts.
Carol comes originally from Ontario, but has now lived many years in Manitoba. In fact, she and her husband John live in the Cathedral neighbourhood, well within the original bounds of the Cathedral parish. Welcome to our staff, Carol! It is wonderful to have you here, and I look forward to working with you.

She graduated from Millbrook High School, Grade 13, as an Ontario Scholar, as valedictorian, and with various awards. She went on to do her Bachelor of Arts at Queen’s University in Kingston, with a major in Psychology. A few years ago, recognizing a changing work environment, and being a passionate and eager learner, Carol went back for further education at Red River College here in Winnipeg where she earned a Business Administration Diploma as a Gold Medal Recipient, with an Office Management major. She is an avid reader, enjoys crafts, art and design, along with movies and cooking and travel, and, of course, research and continuous learning.
As you come to visit the Cathedral office during the week, as you phone, please do welcome Carol to our staff, to her new position, whether you a member of the Cathedral parish, a cleric in the Diocese, or from the Synod Office. She will have questions, naturally, but she is a quick and eager study, and I am sure she will be very soon a potent and valuable contributor to our ministry as Cathedral and as Cathedral in partnership with the whole Diocese.

Finally, the Office is now open again with regular hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Carol has an hour off for lunch, and she is not available during that time unless you have made special arrangements with her.

Carol, the Cathedral welcomes you, the Diocese welcomes you, Wallace and Tom and I all welcome you to our staff team, and I’m pretty sure that Roger and Rene both welcome you wholeheartedly. Again, it’s great to have you along!

Thanks be to God!

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life for evermore.

(Psalm 133)

Last week (April 11-14) I enjoyed the great pleasure and privilege of attending the annual North American Deans’ Conference gathering, this year in Toronto, hosted by The Cathedral Church of St. James, its Dean, The Very Rev. Douglas Stoute, and also the Archbishop of Toronto and the Metropolitan of Ontario, The Most Rev. Colin Johnson.  Thank you, St. John’s, and Bishop Don, for encouraging me to go, and funding my attendance. Thank you also, Douglas, and ++Colin.

As always, the best part of the gathering is the networking and learning that happens when a group gathers who share a unique and challenging role in the church, while also sharing unique opportunities and joys.  This year’s gathering was larger than last year’s in Denver, with many brand new deans included.  In total there were 23 Canadian Deans present (A record?), including 6 retired Deans, among whom was our very own Bob Osborne.  What a happy surprise it was to see Bob!  And Jan!  Both of them remain dear friends to me, and I thank God for them.  There were 31 Episcopal Deans present, including two who are retired.  Also along were 39 spouses (including Jan), for a total of 94, with our guest, the Dean of Jerusalem, The Very Rev. Hosam Naoum.  It was truly a gift to have him present with us, to remind us of how critically important it is that we support the church in the Holy Lands, so that we don’t end up with only a dead museum of Christian history, but continue in a living relationship with the oldest part of the Body of Christ.  Shukran iqtir (Thank you very much), Hosam!

As always, the agenda was full and rich:

North American Deans Conference, April 11 – 14, 2013

St James Cathedral Centre, Toronto, Ontario

“Future Tense – Tools for Cathedral Ministry in the 21st Century”

We also had on offer all the regular Cathedral Liturgies:

After the program, after the good meals, after worship, and after meeting and getting to know Deans and spouses from the Arctic to the Bahamas, from Cornerbrook to Honolulu, plus Jerusalem – our earthly mother church, along with our heavenly mother, the new Jerusalem – I came away feeling refreshed, feeling like I had absorbed much good experience, like I had even learned a few things, and grown in many relationships, especially in my journey within the Anglican Communion, but more importantly within the whole Body of Christ in this world which God loves so much.

So, with the ancient Psalmist I too can say again,

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! 

Thanks be to God!

SHORE LUNCH WITH JESUS… 

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.                                                               John 21:9-13

In John’s Gospel there is no Last Supper as such, that is, there is no account of the first Eucharist.  Jesus and the disciples do gather for the Passover meal, but he doesn’t offer bread and wine, doesn’t say, “Take and eat, this is my body, do this in remembrance of me.”  What we have, apparently in its place is this wonderful account of a shore lunch with Jesus, after the Resurrection.

I remember a shore lunch that seemed quite close to paradise at the time.  In August of 1989 Melanie and I went canoeing with her folks (Cynthia and Fritz) way up north in Saskatchewan – we were living in Regina at the time – in Davin Lake.  We were out for about five days, if memory serves, and had a wonderful time, even if it was a little chilly at night.  On our last day, paddling out, Fritz caught a perfect Lake Trout, big enough so that there was plenty for the four of us.  We pulled over on an island where there had been fire a few summers before, so the wild blueberries were thick and beautiful, and ripe.  Fritz cleaned and cooked that trout over a fire, in an iron skillet, and did it to perfection, while the rest of us gathered berries.  Then we feasted.  We feasted on the glorious food, yes, and on the beautiful scenery all around, on the joy of being healthy enough to be out there, and on great company.  How I thank God for memories like that.

But that lunch shared with Jesus, shared by Peter and Thomas and Nathaniel and James and John and two others, really was a taste of paradise, because they dined with, in the presence of, the risen Lord Jesus.  He prepared the food, gift of God’s creation, and then he fed them.  Finally, reminding us of the Eucharist again, and its purpose, he reminded Peter, in the hearing of all, that we are fed, we are strengthened, we are blessed, by the presence of the risen Christ to serve, to love in his name.  We are fed by Christ to love for Christ’s sake.

The same is true for us every time we gather together and share the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist; we are fed/strengthened/blessed by our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, who gifts us abundantly of himself, more than we can ask or imagine (the breaking nets), so that we in turn may go out into the world in his name, to love and serve the Lord.

Thanks be to God! 

http://www.phyllistickle.com/

Sylvia Scott Wortley died age 72 on Saturday, April 6, 2013, after a lengthy illness. She will be affectionately remembered by all to whom she taught music (including the boys at S.J.R.,) by the many artists with whom she performed in the 21 years of The Musical Offering and by the faithful supporters of that project; by her fellow members of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, by her choirs and the congregations of the various churches she served, most recently (since 1993) of Broadway Disciples United Church. Her memory will be especially cherished by her husband, John Wortley, their children Elin, Jill, Anne-Marie, Joel and Adrian, their spouses and their children; also by her siblings, Ross, Linda and Lauris. A memorial service will be held at Broadway Disciples United Church, Kennedy and Broadway, at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, with reception to follow. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Filmer Hubble Scholarship at the same church.
As published in the Winnipeg Free Press on April 09, 2013

Christ is risen!

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”               Acts 5:27-29

“We must obey God rather than any human authority.”  That’s quite a courageous thing to say for Peter, don’t you think?  He certainly came by the idea honestly, from his crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, who had done exactly that, and paid the ultimate price.  Peter’s obedience led him along the same road, a journey which also ended with a cross.

The problem has come – frequently in the history of the church – when, in many and various ways, people decided that ‘obeying God’ was of greater value than the lives of other people, and led to horrific ends for others; the list of crimes is long and the sin of our history runs deep.  The blood of millions, directly and indirectly, runs through the centuries, shed by people who believed for the most part that they were doing God’s will, acting in the name of Christ, and torturing and murdering other human beings.

Peter and the apostles were not guilty, but it didn’t take very long before their descendants in the faith had bloody hands.  And Jesus wept, as Jesus weeps still, weeps the tears of the God who desires life, abundant life for all people and the whole of creation.  Thankfully, the love and the grace, the compassion and the mercy, of God run deeper still, swallowing all our dread dis-ease and bearing it all away.

The key, I believe, in reading and understanding the above testimony from Acts, is in reading and digesting the words (as with any passage from the Bible) through the prism of the Living Word, Jesus the Christ.  As Christians, we must always interpret scripture using scripture, and that scripture which is most important to us, as St. Paul first insists, and then the Gospel writers, the Evangelists, with him, is that part of the story which is the resurrection story, including the Cross, of course.

We cannot understand the Bible, including the Book of Acts, including Peter’s courageous witness, apart from the lens of Cross and Resurrection, by the grace of God listening most intently for the Living Word of God, Jesus who was crucified, but who is now risen from the dead.  If we approach the Bible as sacred scripture dropped somehow from heaven, we are in grave danger of bibliolatry.  We do not worship the Bible; we do not bear witness to new life made possible by the death and resurrection of the Bible.  Rather, we worship God in Christ, and proclaim the joyous Easter Gospel of Christ risen triumphant over sin, death, and the power of evil.  The Bible is a gift from God, a most holy and beautiful gift, but it is not the focus of our Christian faith; that is Jesus only.  Unless we are aware of this reality, we risk facing the same question which the angels asked of the women at the tomb:  Why do you seek the living among the dead?  (Lk. 24:5)

Remember this?  “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”  How do we interpret these brave and faithful words?  Did Jesus torture or murder anyone in his passion for obedience?  Did Jesus sit back and let socio-economic systems torture and murder for the sake of profit maximization, devour people and spit out their bones?  No, that’s a huge part of the reason he was executed, exactly because he spoke out loudly and clearly against such systems, systems in which we, in the global north particularly, participate.

We too are called to follow our Lord in obedience to God first, always, before any human authority which is contrary to the Gospel of life abundant for all people and for the whole of creation.  But we are not called, ever, to ‘glorify God’ or ‘defend’ God by lashing out in anger or violence, using torture and murder, even if it’s just  spiritual torture and homicide.

It’s too much to ask, though, really.  How can we possibly live such an obedience?  We can’t.  Not alone.  Thankfully, we don’t have to do so.  In the power of the Holy Spirit, in the sacred mystery of baptism, joined to Christ’s death and resurrection, empowered by the sacred mystery of Christ present in bread and wine, we can live as disciples, as a community which is together the body of Christ in the world.  That’s the only way.  Anything else is moral scorekeeping and subject to human authority, our own.

Bearing all this in mind, it’s clear to me why we need a week of weeks (forty-nine days until the Day of Pentecost) to celebrate fully the wonderful power of the resurrection life which is ours as we participate in the life of our risen Lord Jesus.  Easter is a season, not just a day, and it glows/pulsates/vibrates/shimmers/thrums with the light and life of the one in whom we live and move and have our being, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ is risen indeed!  Hallelujah!

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!              (I Cor. 15:57)

And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross. 

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name… 

Now it begins again, with Palm Sunday of the Passion of Our Lord, and beyond waits the rest of Holy Week, as we walk with Jesus through his final days, join him at the Last Supper, have him wash our feet, follow, perhaps at a distance, to the trial, see him humiliated, stripped naked and nailed to the tree, then, finally, taken down and laid in a dark tomb of stone.  Then we wait…

After sunset on Saturday, the beginning of the new day for Jews (And you will remember, no doubt, that Jesus and all his first disciples were Jews…), we come together in the darkness, especially that darkness within, afraid to hope, and yet, somehow, daring to look for light shining in the darkness.

We will not be disappointed.  But, that’s next week, the first day of the first week of Easter Season, the Eighth Day of Creation.  First, the pilgrimage which began for us on Ash Wednesday, must be completed.  Why miss out, sisters and brothers?  Come and join us for these highest Holy Days in our life of faith together as disciples of the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The Great Three Days (Triduum):  Three liturgies, one service of worship

Maundy Thursday:  The word “Maundy” is an English form of the Latin word for commandment, mandatum.  The over-arching theme of the day is Jesus’ new commandment to “love one another even as I have loved you,” a love sharply focused by the contrast of the betrayal which followed the meal that night before he died.  Jesus’ great love is demonstrated both in his example of the footwashing (service) and in his gift of himself in the first Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist (thanksgiving).  This is part one, or Act One, of the greatest worship drama in the life of the church, the three days (triduum), which begins Thursday evening and comes to dramatic conclusion at the Easter Vigil, THE Celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord.  The Liturgy continues on Friday morning, so there is no blessing or benediction to conclude the worship. Thursday, March 28, 7 p.m.

The Easter Vigil:  The climax of the sacred three days (Triduum in Latin) that began on Maundy Thursday is reached in this service which abounds in archetypal imagery that evokes responses from deep within the human psyche:  darkness and light, death and life, chaos and order, slavery and freedom.  In this service the fullness of salvation finds expression in creation and redemption, old covenant and new covenant, Baptism and Eucharist.  This most holy night is the solemn memorial and the joyous celebration of the central mystery of salvation in Christ’s saving death and mighty rising, made real for all of us in the waters of baptism.  Act Three.
Saturday, March 30, 8 p.m.

(Much of the material above is taken, with gratitude, from Manual on the Liturgy: Lutheran Book of Worship, Augsburg, 1979)

On Sunday, March 31^st, we will have one service only, Sung Eucharist on The Resurrection of Our Lord, at 10:30 a.m.  First, though, we welcome him into Jerusalem.  For there it begins, and ends, and there the New Jerusalem is born, even as we die with him, and are raised with him to new life.

Thanks be to God!

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”                                                                                                        Isaiah 43:18-19a

I am about to do a new thing, says the LORD:  Coming soon to a neighbourhood near you, God’s new thing.  In the Christian church we call that ‘new thing’ Easter, the Resurrection of Our Lord, the Eighth Day of Creation, the beginning of God’s vision for the healing of the entire cosmos.  But, we’re not yet there.  Our Lenten journey, our pilgrimage with Jesus to the Cross continues.  We have come far since our foreheads were smeared with an ashen cross, but we still have miles to go before we celebrate the great Feast of the Resurrection, which takes a whole week of weeks to do justice to the joy.  Remember too, that ashen cross, although partly a reminder of death, is also the Cross of Christ, always and ever a reminder not only of death, but also of new life in the risen Christ.

Soon ahead lie the highest and holiest days of the Christian year, the year which began with a time of hopeful contemplation on the mystery of the Incarnation, a time we call Advent, a time of wondering at the wonder of the Word become flesh and dwelling among us, anciently and presently and fully and forever at the end of time, whether the end of my personal kronos or at the end of cosmic kronos, the ultimate kairos, or perfect time/ing of God.

Months have passed already; the 24^th of March will be the Sunday of Palm and Passion, the beginning of Holy Week, completed with the Triduum, the single service which takes place in three parts over three days (triduum in Latin):  Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter on what we now call Saturday night, but which, for Jesus’ first disciples, and all observant Jews to this day, is the beginning – with sunset on Saturday – of the new day called Sunday.  Easter Sunday, that day called The Resurrection of Our Lord, continues the celebration, and gets us into the party groove for the next seven weeks, through the Day of Pentecost.

Here are markers for the final stage of our pilgrimage to the Cross, and then beyond…

It seems to me that Dmitri of Rostov (17^th century) put it well in a prayer that feels perfect for these final days of Lent:

Thanks be to God!                                                                                     PNJ