Good day, everyone!

The Church Closet is open every Saturday, 10am – 2pm, until September 15th; 159 Church Street, Echo Bay

Information for the Lay Readers’ Conference in Thunder Bay is now available. As always, Lay Leaders (a broad category) 🙂 and Chalice Administrants are included in this invitation. Here is the poster:  LRC Thunder Bay Poster

If you’re interested, here is the link to the ACW Summer Newsletter: ACW Newletter Summer Edition

Important Upcoming Events that you need to store in the back of your mind:

In September, the Alzheimer Society of Sault Ste Marie and Algoma District will be holding their “Coffee Break” fundraiser. Other dementias fall under their umbrella as well and given the fact that 2800 local residents are being helped by this society – with numbers on the rise – I’d like to make this a deanery wide event. This would be a wonderful opportunity for us to “shrink the distance”, come together as the Church family that we are, and contribute to a worthwhile cause at the same time. Please stayed tuned for more details (If possible, I’d like us to dedicate a ‘coffee time’ after worship one Sunday to giving loose change to the Alzheimer Society). I know some parishes already take part in this and, like I said, I’d like to make it deanery-wide this time.

Really exciting news! The Anglican Church of Canada Youth Animator is coming to Sault Ste Marie the weekend of October 26, 27, & 28.  Lay Readers and Lay Leaders should plan to attend (it’s always good to know what’s going on). More details will come your way when the event gets closer.

For Your Devotions:

Today, Monday, July 16th, is the commemoration of St. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, who died in about 863.  He’s actually not on our BAS calendar but he is on the BCP calendar and is being celebrated today in the Church of England (plus, he’s really interesting so I wanted to tell you about him). He’s the Patron Saint of Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire and, actually, wasn’t so exciting in life as he was after his death. Many legends abound about this saint. For example, it is said that when an old woman who was jostled in a crowd dropped her basket of eggs, he took pity on her and made her eggs whole again. His tomb became a major destination for pilgrims who had heard of his healing powers. These pilgrims would crawl in a tunnel (called the “Holy Hole”) in order to get as close as possible to the healing effects of the saint’s bones. For more info:   St. Swithun

Sunday, July 22nd…If your church is named after St. Mary Magdalene, you’ll be celebrating her Holy Day. (The rest of you will have to wait until Monday, July 23rd).  She is one of Jesus’ most celebrated disciples. According to the Gospel of Luke, he cured her of seven demons.  All four Gospel writers tell of her unwavering devotion to Jesus in staying with him while he hung on the cross. Both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John say she was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. For more information:  St. Mary Magdalene