Good day,

For those of you who participated in the New Ministry Conference and/or in the diocesan Synod last week, I hope you found it as exciting and inspiring as I did.  I heard many positive comments as we prepared to head home on the Saturday and I am sure the ripples of this are already being felt in many parishes across our diocese. 

Happenings:

The Christ Church fundraising dinner is this Friday. The following is their advertising blurb:

It is time for another Fundraising Dinner, also known as Deficit Dinner (our ninth) at Christ Church.  The date is Friday, May 19th @ 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.comor phone 705-779-2858 or lau_ave88@hotmail.com or phone 705-254-2477. 

The menu for this month’s dinner is:

Appetizer–Bacon crispy top Mac & Cheese

Salad–Tossed

Entree—Baked breaded pork chop with mushroom wine sauce served over rice pilaf and with roasted carrot potato medley

Homemade Buns

Dessert—Mississippi Mud Pie

Thy Kingdom Come begins this Thursday and runs until the Day of Pentecost.  This is a worldwide prayer initiative that covers the 10 days from Ascension through to Pentecost. It is the time when we give special devotion to prayer to bring others into the body of Christ through the good news we live and proclaim. To learn more and to find great resources, go here:  

https://www.thykingdomcome.global/stories/thy-kingdom-come-2023

A Liturgical Note for You:

Rogation Days: The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day have, for centuries, been designated as special days of prayer and supplication for the “seeds sown” (“rogare”).  In many northern areas of the Anglican Communion, springtime planting may not always have occurred by this time and so, locally, congregations could choose three later days on which to acknowledge the expectation of God’s generous bounty as the seeds are planted.  However, the agricultural theme of the Rogation Days has been expanded in recent years to include our concern for the environment as well. Therefore, keeping the designated days where they are in order to have continuity and avoid confusion would be our opportunity to express such concern together as the Church.  The liturgical colour for these three days could remain white for the Easter season or your church may change the colour to violet which is the traditional colour for supplication and penitence. 

Here is a prayer for Rogation Days: Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labour to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Ascension Day: This is one of the seven Principal Feasts of the Anglican Church (Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Epiphany, All Saints, and Christmas are the other six).  With Christmas the only general exception to the fact that most Anglicans do not seem to go to church on a day other than Sunday for a feast day, Ascension Day is, sadly, no longer widely observed.  The Anglican Church has not given the “okay” for this feast day to be transferred to the following Sunday as it has with All Saints’ Day. The provision with All Saints’ Day is that it may be transferred in order to be observed (by a greater number of people) “in addition to its observance on the fixed date” (BAS, 15). Well, you know what happened with that, don’t you? How many of us have had All Saints’ Day services available to us on the actual day of All Saints’ (other than when it fell on the Sunday or. lately, via Zoom)?  If these days of observance for our lives as followers of Christ are so important, why is it that we are, generally, so reluctant to make the effort to get together as the Church – the Body of Christ – in order to observe these feast days when they are not on Sunday?  Anyway, Christ’s ascension into heaven signals a new relationship between Jesus and God – Jesus took his place as ruler of all things at the right hand of God. It signals a new relationship between us and God as well since, with Jesus’ physical departure, the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to us enabling us to actually participate in the divine life as members of Christ’s body.  The wonderfulness of this continues to fill my heart to bursting with gratitude for God’s abundant love.  To read more about this pivotal day: Ascension | Description, Significance, Feast, & Art | Britannica

For Your Devotions:

Monday, May 15th is the Holy Day of St. Matthias the Apostle.  (Actually, the official day for this observance is May 14 but, since this was a Sunday this year, the observance got transferred. You can likely give the explanation for this in your sleep by now since I say it so often…every Sunday is a feast of our Lord Jesus Christ and very few people ever take precedence over this. Even then, the event of the person being observed must have a direct connection to the saving actions in the life of Jesus Christ).  According to the first chapter of Acts, it is Matthias who is chosen to replace Judas Iscariot. Matthias then receives the Holy Spirit along with the other disciples and, after that, the New Testament does not mention him. Early tradition credits Matthias with Christianizing Cappadocia and the region around the Caspian Sea. It is also believed that Matthias was crucified. To read more…  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Matthias

Thursday, May 18 is Ascension Day. This is the day when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of God the Father.  He did not leave us orphaned, though. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom we know the continued presence of Christ. (More above). 

Friday, May 19th is the commemoration of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. Dunstan was born into a noble family but began his religious career as a monk and a hermit. His life was often in peril but, surprisingly, he was not martyred (only outlawed now and then). Why do we acknowledge him? Dunstan lived during a time when monasteries had become quite corrupt and were often used as hideouts for criminals. He instituted a lot of monastic reforms that went a long way to eliminate these issues. Dunstan also worked to “eradicate heathenism and reform clergy and laity.” To read more:    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Dunstan-of-Canterbury

In the hope of the risen Lord,

Susan