Good day and Happy 6th Monday of Easter! Alleluia, Christ is risen…

There’s a lot going on so, here goes:

Saturday, May 11, 8:30am at the Trinity Centre in Sault Ste Marie, is the Guild of St. Joseph breakfast. Enjoy a hearty meal and wonderful fellowship.

Sunday, May 12, 4pm at St. James in Goulais River (on Anglican Church Road) there will be a barbecue to celebrate the ministry of The Very Rev. Dr. Jay Koyle. Come enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs and salads. (If you would like to bring some food to share, that’d be great but it’s not necessary). See you there…I’m looking forward to not having to cook for Mother’s Day. 

Tuesday, May 14, 7pm at Holy Trinity in the Soo is the Celebration of New Ministry of The Rev. Susan Montague Koyle, followed by fellowship (which means food of course). 

Wednesday, May 15, 6pm-7:30pm at Christ Church (585 Allen Side Road) is a Dessert Tea and Bake Sale. It’s just $10 and children under 10 pay just $5. 

With all of the above, you can see why I feel doomed to fight my extra 5 pounds over and over again…

Great opportunity to help our youth:

Dean Jay is joining the Anglican Foundation of Canada’s Say Yes! to Kids movement by captaining the Algoma Says Yes! to Camping Ministry fundraising team. Please consider making a generous donation:

Donate here to Say Yes! to Kids Camping along with Dean Jay

Great opportunity to learn how to further God’s purpose: 

Worship and Climate Care Since July 2023, several parishes have been working intentionally with The Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission (APLM), exploring how they can address climate change issues liturgically, within and outside the parish. In this webinar they will each present their best work and what they learned along the way. The parishes, from British Columbia, Washington, California, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, considered their local contexts and ecology when designing their liturgies. Join APLM on Thursday, May 9, 4:00PM Eastern to learn from the parishes engaged in this work.  APLM is a network of people and parishes in The Episcopal Church, The Anglican Church of Canada, and sister denominations who share a passion for liturgy that is well done, appropriate to the culture and context, and revelatory of God’s lively mission in the world. Founded in 1946 to promote liturgical renewal, APLM continues to connect people on the forefront of liturgical theology and practice as the church catholic realizes important shifts in thinking about and celebrating the sacraments.  Our diocesan connection: Dean Jay is a past president and current Council member of the organization. You can register for the webinar here

A Liturgical Note For You:
This is a special week since we have Rogation Days and The Ascension the Lord. First…the 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 our area, springtime planting may not always have occurred by this time and so, the agricultural theme of the Rogation Days has been expanded in recent years to include our concern for the environment as well. This is an 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.

And now for The Ascension of the Lord: 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). Christmas seems to be the only general exception to the fact that most Anglicans (and most Christians, actually) don’t go to church on a day other than Sunday for a feast day.  Ascension Day – although hugely important – 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)?  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 – and between us and God 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 an awesome video explanation of where Jesus went when he ascended and why this matters, have a look below on the entry for Thursday.

For Your Devotions:
Monday, May 6th is the Holy Day of John, Apostle and Evangelist. For some reason – maybe because the Orthodox Church celebrates John in May – John has two dates on our calendar from which to choose to acknowledge his importance to our lives as Christians. In Christian tradition, John is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, he is the son of Zebedee and brother to James, and generally credited as being the author of three letters and the Gospel of John.  Some also attribute the Book of Revelation to him as well. Of course, scholars debate whether or not he actually wrote those things but, regardless, he was an important leader in the early Church in Jerusalem.  John was also one of the three apostles (Peter, James, John) who formed Jesus’ intimate inner circle. John is said to be the only apostle who died a natural death from old age. According to legend, when over 100 years old, John took seven disciples outside of Ephesus and had them dig a grave in the shape of a cross. John then went into the grave, and the disciples buried him there, alive. Later on, when his grave was opened, John’s body was not there. On May 8 of each year (when the Orthodox church celebrates John), dust rises up from his grave, by which the sick are healed of various diseases. For more information – and other interesting legends:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-the-Apostle

Wednesday, May 8th is the commemoration of Julian of Norwich, Spiritual Teacher, died about 1417.  For starters, this isn’t her real name – we don’t know her real name. She was named after the church in Norwich where she was the anchoress for many years. We really don’t know much about her life either but we do know that many people visited her for spiritual counsel. Her famous writing, Revelations of Divine Love, tell us even more…While lying on her deathbed at the age of 30, Julian saw visions of the crucified Christ and received insight into his sufferings. Julian then lived for more than 40 years afterward! Her writing “reveals  an intelligent, sensitive and very down-to-earth woman who  maintains her trust in God’s goodness whilst addressing doubt, fear and deep theological questions.” To read more:  http://juliancentre.org/about/about-julian-of-norwich.html


Thursday, May 9th is The Ascension of the Lord: Jesus makes it clear to us that, after his resurrection, he has a physical body – he eats food and people are able to touch him. So, where did he go when he “ascended”? We now know from our human explorations of space, that “heaven” is not just out of sight “up there.” Find out more here:  Bishop N. T. Wright helps us understand the Ascension

In the joy of the risen Christ,
Susan