Good day,

Attached you will find a poster advertising the return of the children’s Good Friday observance at St. Luke’s Cathedral. Please check it out…

Also, right below is a notice from the folks at Christ Church:

We at Christ Church are having another Fundraising Dinner, also known as Deficit Dinner (our seventh), on Friday, March 17th @ 5:30 PM.  As with our other dinners, a reservation is required.  Cost of a reservation/ticket is $25.00 and can be purchased from me–Bonnie or Laura.  We can be reached by email lyons.bonnie@gmail.com or phone 705-779-2858 or lau_ave88@hotmail.com or phone 705-254-2477. 

Lenten Activities to Strengthen Your Relationship with God:

Bible Study each Monday evening through Lent, 7pm on Zoom, led by The Ven. Dr. Jay Koyle. (I led the study last time while Jay had other commitments but Jay will be back with us this week). Just email me if you’d like the Zoom invitation (susan.montague2@gmail.com). 

 Lenten Lunches Wednesdays, 12pm-1pm at Emmaus.  There will be soup and sandwiches, conversation time, and a reflection led by the host parish. 

Archbishop Anne is leading a book study via Zoom on two evenings during Lent and Easter. The first just past and the next evening is April 12. The book is Failure: What Jesus Said About Sin, Mistakes, and Messing Stuff Up by Bishop Emma Ineson. If you want to join in for this evening, please email Liz Hamel at the Synod Office to request the link. 

Lenten Quiet Afternoon: Saturday, March 25, noon – 4pm via Zoom, offered by the Thunder Bay North Shore Deanery, led by Sister Doreen of the Sisters of St. John the Divine. Register by emailing Carol Knox. carolknox3@gmailcom 

Online Course about Paul: This has been awesome so far. Don’t worry about it being “over your head” or maybe that you’ll have assignments (you won’t). If you’d like to join in for the remaining Wednesday evenings, please email Katherine Walker at St. Luke’s Cathedral for the link. 

Want a great group reading of the Passion Sunday Gospel for Year A? Check out Becoming the Story We Tell at this link:   https://www.angli.ca/bst/Becoming+the+Story+we+Tell+2023v2.pdf and go to page 390.  This document is full of fabulous resources – including outlines for parish quiet days for Lent and Easter; preaching guidelines, important information about Lent and Easter and our Christian liturgies; and so on and so on and so on….

A Liturgical Note For You: You’ll notice something “screwy” about the calendar observances below if your church is named after Joseph of Nazareth – or perhaps you just have a good memory for dates. The date set aside for the Holy Day of Joseph of Nazareth is March 19…not the 18th. So why are we celebrating Joseph on the 18th this year? Of course you already know the answer, right?  I’ve said this many times before: Each Sunday is the Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ and other people and events simply do not bump Jesus from Sundays. (I note some exceptions for you throughout our Christian year and explain why these people/events are marked on Sundays).  

Transferring Joseph’s Holy Day from the Sunday to the day before means that poor old Cyril of Jerusalem does not get observed at all this year (March 18th is normally Cyril’s day) but…that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Joseph’s Holy Day takes precedence over Cyril’s commemoration. 

What happens if your church is named after Joseph of Nazareth? You absolutely cannot celebrate the Holy Day on the Sunday even if he is your patron saint. During the seasons of Lent, Easter, and Advent, feasts for your patron saint or day of consecration are never celebrated on Sunday. You have a couple of options…You can celebrate the Holy Day on the Saturday as it is marked on our calendar this year. You could remember Joseph on the Sunday in a prayer of thanksgiving or in the Prayers of the People. 

Why is it so important for us to follow the guidelines for celebrating our Christian year?  In a world that believes partying on St. Patrick’s Day and drinking green beer is more important than observing “a holy Lent” and keeping this Friday as a “day of discipline and self-denial”, we must be different. Allowing our lives to be guided by the rhythms of our Christian calendar rather than by the rhythms of the secular calendar shows to the world that being part of Christ’s body and living in God’s kingdom is important to us. If we want the rest of the world to believe this is important and join in with us so that we are a healthy, vibrant Church together, then it begins with our behaviour that we show to the world. 

For Your Devotions:

Friday, March 17th is the memorial of Patrick, Missionary Bishop in Ireland, died 461. Patrick was born in Britain into a Romanized family. He was stolen from his family at the age of 16 to be sold into slavery in Ireland. Patrick eventually escaped but then later returned as a missionary. He is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland despite living in constant danger of martyrdom. Of course there are many legends surrounding this saint – the most popular being that he used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to an unbeliever. Patrick, himself, wrote that he raised people from the dead. If you’d like to read more…  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Patrick

Saturday, March 18th is the Holy Day of Saint Joseph of Nazareth. We know next to nothing about Joseph – the earthly father of Jesus – other than that he was a tradesperson (“carpenter”) and married Mary despite the fact that she was pregnant. We can imply some things about Joseph’s character through this acceptance of Mary (plus we’re told he was “just”) and by the fact that God worked through him to move towards the accomplishment of God’s plan for salvation. If you’d like to read a little more…  https://www.biography.com/people/st-joseph-9358199

In Christ,

Susan