Hello everyone,

Happening soon…

Lenten Scripture Study via Zoom: Mondays through Lent, 7pm. (We’ll begin on Monday, Feb.12 and we will not meet on Family Day – Feb.19).  I’ll send out the Zoom invitation closer to the time.

Free Breakfast and Speaker: Monday, Feb.5, 9:30am at St. George in Echo Bay. “Funeral? Memorial Service? Celebration of Life? Is there a difference and what purpose do they serve?” Join The Ven. Dr. Jay Koyle to find out.

Valentine Bake Sale and Soup & Sandwich Lunch: Feb.3, 11:30am – 1:30pm at Emmaus (1643 Wellington E., SSM). Lunch is $15.

Below is a copy and paste with information for a webinar introducing a Lenten Resource from PWRDF:

View as Webpage ‌  ‌  ‌Register for the Webinar Health and well-being – without one, the other simply isn’t possible. Likewise, the well-being of humans isn’t possible without a healthy planet; something we are discovering every day as we face a growing and global climate crisis. This theme is at the centre of PWRDF’s 2024 Lent Resource. Join us February 1st at 1 p.m. EST on Zoom, as we – along with resource-author and renowned biblical scholar, Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat – launch our 2024 Lent Resource! During the webinar, Dr. Keesmaat will introduce you to the resource, including the daily reflections and weekly bible studies. The PWRDF 2024 Lent Resource features a daily email, throughout the Lenten season, with a reflection written by Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat, on what health, well-being and good living require of us in our lives and our relationships with one another, with creation and with God.

If the link in the copy and paste doesn’t work, it’s also here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUuduiurD4jHN2aYwk7sqp9xazvmPLy5kpC?_x_zm_rtaid=NOZHkOHnS66Br_xtL7xeWg.1706124107494.aad292cb7c1ec8ec2e90a4a6d415fc17&_x_zm_rhtaid=455#/registration

And now…A Liturgical Note For You:

The Transformational Power of Our Liturgies – Connected with the Doxology

I’ve said many times that our worship transforms us. First, a quotation from Tobias Stanislas Haller: “While some fuzzy and even erroneous theology can emerge and has emerged from a careless or casual study of liturgy, the church has also produced some equally erring academic theology, and this often has happened in those traditions that strayed furthest from the historic shape of the liturgy, caught in a tangle of texts and exhortations and confessions – all of them “about” God, some of them even “preaching Christ,” but few of them making present the divine reality with the [quiet] eloquence of water, oil, bread, and wine” (Remembering God, p.10-11). Liturgy done without deep understanding can malform us, can lead to very wrong theology that is detrimental to the life of our Church. When people – with good intentions, I’m sure – mess with the liturgies, they are, unmistakeably, also messing with our theology: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi (the way we worship is what we believe). Although accidental, the damage is real.

With this in mind, I ask you: During our worship services, when you pray to God, do you look around and nod and smile at others praying around you? Of course not. 🙂 You are praying to God. The others around you are joined with you in prayer, one body, praying to God. After we have shared the feast at God’s table – the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we praise God with a special prayer called a doxology. A doxology is a hymn or psalm of praise to God. It comes from two Greek words: doxa meaning glory/praise and logos which basically means words. This may seem familiar to you because we also find doxa in another common word: orthodoxy (ortho means true/correct/proper and so, put with doxa it means right praise or right worship). The doxology in our worship service is a continuation of our worship of God and of our praise to God. It is not appropriate, therefore, to direct this worship and praise to the people around us. 

For Your Devotions:

Tuesday, January 30th is the commemoration of Charles Stuart, King of England and Scotland, beheaded in 1649. Charles believed in the divine right of kings and, from the start, butted heads with parliament (in fact, he dissolved parliament and made his own decisions quite regularly). We all know this could never end well (and having top advisors who persecuted Puritans certainly didn’t help)…The end result was civil war. Oliver Cromwell captured Charles and tried to force him to sign a law abolishing bishops. Charles refused and for this and other accusations of “high treason”, Charles was beheaded. Throughout it all, Charles remained a staunch supporter of the Church of England. To read more:  http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/92.html

Friday, February 2nd is the Holy Day of The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple.  This was the day when candles – to be used in the church throughout the upcoming year – were blessed at the beginning of the liturgy (sometimes given out to the people and processed into the church). This is where the name “Candlemas” comes from. Most importantly, this is the day when Mary and Joseph went to the Temple to present Jesus – their first-born son – to God, as well as for Mary to be ritually purified 40 days after giving birth. In the Eastern Orthodox Church this day is called “Hypapante” (meeting) because of the meeting with old Simeon. Simeon takes baby Jesus into his arms and sings praises to God for having met the promised Saviour. Simeon says he will now be able to die in peace. In a foreshadowing of the suffering to come, Simeon tells Mary that a sword will pierce her soul as well. To read more:   https://www.britannica.com/topic/Candlemas

Saturday, February 3^rd is the commemoration of Anskar, Missionary Bishop in Sweden, died 865. The Swedish church calls Anskar its apostle – he built hospitals and did many other charitable works. In fact, Anskar convinced the leaders in the north country to give up their profitable slave trade business, telling them it was contrary to Christianity. (Too bad that particular message hadn’t been more widespread!) When a “heathen king” burned Anskar’s church, monastery, library, and everything he owned, Anskar befriended him and, with Job as his example, he rebuilt without complaint. To read more:  http://satucket.com/lectionary/Anskar.htm

In Christ,

Susan