Good day,

Coming soon…Our diocesan Social Justice Committee has arranged for the acknowledgment of Homelessness Week beginning on Sunday, Apr.28. They are holding a Homelessness Panel online, moderated by Archbishop Anne. The panel is Thursday, May 2, 7-8:30pm and you must pre-register. Please follow this link for more information: https://www.dioceseofalgoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Homelessness-Week-Poster.pdf

A Liturgical Note For You:

The Fourth Sunday of Easter: The Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday (April 21) is the beginning of the Good Shepherd discourse (John 10:11-18).  What I find curious is that, rather than continue this discourse over consecutive Sundays so that we hear all of it in a row, this discourse is continued over consecutive years. On each of our Fourth Sundays of Easter in Years A, B, and C, we hear a chunk of this Good Shepherd discourse (the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and United Methodist congregations do this, too). 

Because of these Gospel readings, the Fourth Sunday of Easter has come to be known as Good Shepherd Sunday. This eventually led us to pray for the vocations of all the ordained and those who have dedicated their lives to the church by becoming Sisters and Brothers of various religious orders.  In fact, this Sunday is now the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It would be very appropriate then to acknowledge this in The Prayers of the People during worship. We should include, too, the ministries of all the baptized in our prayers this day. We all know that, without the dedicated members of Christ’s body who are not ordained, the church would be a pale shadow of what we are meant to be. 

For Your Devotions:

Tuesday, April 16 is the commemoration of Mollie Brant (Konwatsijayenni), Matron among the Mohawks, died 1796. Mollie was born into a family of chieftains, learned to speak fluent English at the Anglican Mission School she attended, and married Sir William Johnson in a Mohawk ceremony.  She convinced her people to remain loyal to Britain during the American Revolution and her home was destroyed by the rebels because of that. She and her people relocated to Kingston where she was given a generous pension and new house by the British government. She was a founding member of St. George’s Anglican Parish in Kingston. To read more and to pray her commemoration collect, you can go to page 144-45 here: For All the Saints (anglican.ca)

In the joy of the risen Christ,

Susan