FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS – JANUARY 1, 2023
10:30 am Sung Eucharist with Carols
The Rev. Brian Ford presiding
The Rev. Deacon Matthew Bowman preaching
YouTube Link Here
High Feasts and Holy-Days: Christmas at the Cathedral
Category Archives: Special Services
Dates to Remember
Wednesday, October 17
Vestry meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 18
Opening Service of Diocesan Synod at 7:00 p.m.
Friday, November 9-Sunday, November 11
Trinity Conference webcast in the John West Hall.
Cathedral Chronicle
Dates to Remember
Tuesday, September 11
The S.M.A.R.T. exercise program for seniors
resumes at 10:00 a.m. in the John West Hall
Wednesday, September 12
Vestry, 6:00 p.m. potluck supper and table Eucharist;
meeting to begin at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 13
Friendship Circle, noon to 3:00 p.m.
Ordination of Michael Bruce, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 23
The Dean’s Forum: Dusting off the Bible gets underway at 9:15 a.m.,
and will be held every Sunday.
Saturday, October 13
Parish Visioning Day, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 18
Opening Service of Diocesan Synod.
Tuesday, November 13
the Neil Bardal Concert Series will present a special concert in memory of Bishop Patrick and Mary Lee with proceeds going to support the Kalagali/Fisher Branch School in Uganda.
Details
Dusting off the Bible…
Through conversation and by consensus at the early service, we will no longer say together The Great Litany before the Said Eucharist. Starting on Sunday, September 23, Said Eucharist will move from 8:30 to 8:00 a.m. At 9:15 a.m. on that Sunday we’ll begin The Dean’s Forum, which will conclude at 10:05 a.m. The Sung Eucharist, with choir, will begin as usual at 10:30 a.m. Some of the titles for our ‘dusting’ until Christmas: You want me to do what? (Abraham), God’s technicolour dream (Joseph), Journey to the Inner Limits (Ecclesiastes, Job… Struggling with the painful questions), A dragon slouching toward Bethlehem (Hope for the future)
Bible Study…
The Friday morning Bible study group resumes on Friday, September 14, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. The Thursday evening Bible study, which meets from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., will resume later in September. Watch this space for the date. And don’t forget The Dean’s Forum: Dusting off the Bible on Sunday mornings from 9:15 to 10:05, starting September 23.
From Dreaming to Planning…
At its June meeting Vestry set the date for the Parish Visioning Day and it will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 13. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend this important day in the life of the Cathedral. It is important to hear from as many members of the congregation as possible as we set the course for the Cathedral over the next few years.
Choir News…
In an effort to strengthen the choir in its ministry, I am taking the time this fall to interview and audition individual choristers. In the course of these discussions, I hope to solidify my understanding of members’ voices and their visions for the role of the choir, both for themselves and for our ministry to our faith community and in the Diocese. Also, from a very practical perspective we will seek to find a rehearsal schedule that fits members’ busy lives. Once these interviews have taken place, the choir will be formed.
Existing choir members will be contacted to set up their appointments. Anyone else who would like to explore the possibility of joining us should contact me by leaving a voice mail at 204-586-8385-ext 13, by calling me at home 204-942-9250, or by sending an e-mail to packham1@yahoo.com
Friendship Circle…
The Friendship Circle begins its weekly meetings this coming Thursday, with a brown-bag lunch at noon. It is a time for the women of the parish to come together to knit prayer shawls, pray together and be a sisterhood in Christ. Each meeting ends at 3:00 p.m. All are welcome. Please talk to Bunny McCormick for more information.
Exploring the Enneagram…
The ‘Growing Towards God’ series started by Nancy Phillips, continues with a five session course called ‘Inner Transformation Through the Enneagram’. Janelle Schneider will be the facilitator. The course is offered on the second Tuesday of each month, from September 11 to December 11, and each session runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. You may want to come at 6:00 p.m. to enjoy the optional brown bag supper with your classmates (bring your own brown bag!). For more information about the Enneagram, the course, and Jannelle Schneider, log on to the Cathedral web site at http://www.stjohnscathedral.ca
Trinity Institute Conference 2012…
After a two-year hiatus, the Trinity Institute Conference returns with a new format this November, and the Cathedral will be web casting the event once again. As yet, the Cathedral Corporation has not set the fee for attendance, so this notice is just a heads-up that the Conference will be back at the Cathedral (which was the first off-site centre to web cast the Trinity Conference in Canada!) The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Radical Christian Life: Equipping Ourselves for Social Change’. There will be only one speaker this year, but since that speaker is the gifted Sr. Joan Chittister OSB, ably assisted by a group of theologians, spiritual directors and Christian activists as workshop leaders, it will be, as always, a worthwhile event, Watch this space for more information in the coming weeks.
Many hands make light work…
Our sincere thanks to Ted Ash, Dennis Beaulieu,Tony Chen, Wallace Desmarais, Alan Firth and Brian Ford for their willing hands and gift of time to re-paint the John West Hall in time for today’s festive luncheon marking the Bicentenary of the arrival of the first group of Selkirk Settlers. Thanks, too, to Mavis Ford and Rene Jamieson for feeding the painting crew.
New ministry in the North End…
On Wednesday, September 19 at 7:00 p.m., Bishop Donald will celebrate the inauguration of the new Trinity Anglican Ministry, and will install the Rev. Liz Richens (née McKendry) and the Rev. Michael Bruce as co-incumbents of the Ministry’s component Parishes of St. Anne, St. Barnabas and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The service will be held at St. Barnabas, 730 McPhillips Street, at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome.
Vestry Meeting Reminder…
The September meeting of Vestry will be held on Wednesday, September 12, rather than on the third Wednesday of the month, and it will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a potluck supper and Table Eucharist.
Get out the sweats and the running shoes…
On Tuesday, September 11, the S.M.A.R.T. exercise classes will resume at 10:00 a.m. in the John West Hall. S.M.A.R.T. is a low-impact program designed by the Victorian Order of Nurses to help keep those of us with aging bones and creaking joints in good shape, and it is delivered by trained instructors (two of whom are our own Gerry and Peter Spence). If you can’t make it on Tuesday, the class is also available on Friday mornings at 10:00 a.m., in the John West Hall.
Lord Selkirk Association Church Service of Thanksgiving
Church Service of Thanksgiving
Sunday, September 9
St. John’s Cathedral
service will start at 10:00 a.m.
Aboriginal Smudging Ceremony beginning at 9:30 a.m.
The Lord Selkirk Association has organized a Church Service of Thanksgiving commemorating the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first group of Selkirk Settlers in 1812.
The service will be a combination of Anglican and Presbyterian worship similar to the worship style of the early settlers. The original St. John’s Cathedral was where the Selkirk Settlers worshipped while they awaited the arrival of a Gaelic-speaking minister from the Presbyterian Church. Descendants of some of the original settlers will be taking an active role in the service.
Lord Selkirk will be in attendance.
A free lunch will be provided after the service (sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, dainties, etc.).
Tours of the cemetery including many significant gravesites will be offered after the church service.
From the Dean’s Desk… 27 May 2012, The Feast of Pentecost
It’s the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ!
It’s Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Our Lord, the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ, the joyful anniversary of the giving of the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate with both Sacraments, our weekly meal of sustenance and strength for service as disciples, the Holy Eucharist, and also the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, the gift of God in the waters of death and life which brings us into the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, beginning our life as disciples of the Crucified and Risen One. Baptized today, a new sister and brother in Christ, are Andrew Micheal Sampson and Emily Anne Faethe Carroll.
I rejoice that I can celebrate all of this with you today, and give thanks that I am able to take the next two weeks off as holiday, spending at least part of that time in Minnesota with Melanie’s family.
Her mom, Cynthia, is in hospital recovering from a broken hip, hip replacement surgery, and pneumonia. I will be back here at work on Sunday, June 10th. In the interim the Venerable David Pate will be on call strictly for emergencies, essentially dying and death. God forbid that we should need him. David has also graciously agreed to preach and preside at both services, next Sunday, June 3rd. Thank you, David!
Holy Week & Easter
Join us for Holy Week & Easter
as we celebrate the life, death & resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ!
SUNDAY OF PALM AND PASSION
April 1 at 10:30 a.m.
includes Procession with Palms and Holy Communion
MAUNDY THURSDAY
April 5 at 7 p.m.
with Footwashing and Holy Communion
GOOD FRIDAY
April 6 at 10:30 a.m.
HOLY SATURDAY:
THE GREAT VIGIL OF EASTER
April 7 at 8 p.m.
EASTER SUNDAY:
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD
April 8 at 10:30 a.m.
Festival Service of Holy Communion
Special Service: Mothering Sunday
Join us at St. John’s on Sunday evening,
March 18 at 7:30 p.m. for Mothering Sunday.
We serve simnel cake with coffee and tea
at a reception following the service.
Mothering Sunday
March 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Reception to follow
Sunday evening, March 18, at 7:30 p.m., the Cathedral will be welcoming the Diocesan community for the annual “Mothering Sunday Service”.
This special Eucharist will also include the reaffirmation of baptismal promises and ordination vows, as well as the blessing of oils by the Bishop for distribution to Diocesan parishes.
The whole emphasis of the day was on the family, both the human family and the family of God, as children came home to visit their parents and worship together.
Mothering Sunday in the Anglican Communion takes its name from Galations 4:26, where Paul says “Jerusalem which is above is free; which is the mother of us all”. This heavenly Jerusalem is our spiritual home, on earth she is the church. In England, mid-Lent Sunday gradually became the universal day for the yearly pilgrimage to the Cathedral or mother church of the Diocese and received the popular nickname of “Mothering Sunday”. Thousands of pilgrims signing the “Ascent Psalms” (Psalms 120-134) would throng the Cathedrals until, after some centuries, the crowds created problems and the “Mothering” services were moved to the Parish churches; in modern times they have been moved back to the Cathedrals.
The whole emphasis of the day was on the family, both the human family and the family of God, as children came home to visit their parents and worship together. Mothers received gifts including Simnel Cake and flowers.
The traditional Simnel Cake probably takes its name from the Latin word “siminellus”, meaning fine wheat flour. The cakes were rich and varied, highly glazed and very hard. Some were star shaped or decorated with pictures of Christ and His Mother. The Shrewsbury Simnel is the cake most commonly used today; it is a rich fruit cake with a layer of almond paste baked into the center and decorated with twelve balls of almond representing the twelve apostles. It is traditional to have the parish children bring the cakes to the alter to be blessed.
– Adapted from the Anglican Church Ladies Cookbook “Best Recipes this side of Heaven”
Bake a Simnel Cake
Traditionally, simnel cake is served on this special occasion. Please assist us in hosting this evening by baking a simnel cake.
Recipes and a sign up list can also be found in the Narthex.
Ash Wednesday and the Beginning of Lent
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.
Celebration of New Ministry & installation of Dean
Celebration of New Ministry & installation of Dean The Very Rev. Paul N. Johnson, Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 4:00pm.
St. John’s Cathedral will welcome the Diocese, Lutheran Full Communion partners, and many guests, for this joyful Eucharistic service of thanksgiving and celebration. Please plan on being part of this event if you possibly can! Remember, it’s our ministry we’re celebrating. Thanks be to God.
Advent Candle Lighting: Fourth Sunday of Advent
On the first Sunday in Advent, we lit a candle for Hope.
On the second Sunday in Advent, we lit a candle for Peace.
Last Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent, we lit a candle for Joy.
Today we light a candle for Love.
As this flame begins to burn, O God,
let your love warm our hearts as Mary’s love welcomed the Christ child
into the world so long ago in Bethlehem.
Let your Spirit burn in our hearts;
let your Light shine in our world;
and as our Advent time of waiting for the baby Jesus’ birth comes to an end, let the Flame of Your Love warm the place where the Christ would be born today. Amen.
St. John's Anglican Cathedral 