Good day,
A reminder of things previously posted…
The annual Lay Readers’ Conference is coming quickly. You don’t need to be a Lay Reader to join in. For more information, please check out the diocesan website. Just scroll down to their latest news stories… https://www.dioceseofalgoma.com/
Emmaus is having a wing night September 13, $30. You can get more information and tickets by calling their church: 705-759-2545. Please leave a message if you don’t get an answer.
Prayer Workshop!! Saturday, September 7, 9am – noon in the Trinity Centre. I’ll be doing some teaching plus leading us in a few different types of prayer. I’m sure you’ll find it an informative and inspiring morning. I’ll bring muffins and put on the coffee and tea (actually, Tom Bier will put on the coffee). 
Guild of St. Joseph Breakfast: Saturday, September 14, 8:30am in the Trinity Centre. Everyone is welcome!
A Liturgical Note For You:
More About Why the Holy Eucharist is Vital in Our Christian Lives:
As I mentioned last week, all of our Christian liturgies hold for us, and form in us, theology and spirituality. The worship service of The Holy Eucharist does even more for us. The Holy Eucharist is covenant renewal, transformation in Christ, and affirmation of our identity as the body of Christ together. Let’s expand a bit more on that…
With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his followers believed this “meant that the Scriptures had been fulfilled, that the kingdom of God had arrived, that the new age had broken in to the midst of the present age, had dawned upon a surprised and unready world” (p.142 of N.T. Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus). Because of this, those followers reordered their entire world – their symbols, their story telling, and their habitual practices to reflect this amazing new reality. This is from where our service of Holy Eucharist arises. They organized their life as the returned-from-exile people, the people of the new covenant.
Throughout his life, Jesus had summoned people to him to follow a new way of life…the kingdom life. Two very important symbols – Temple and Torah – were the focus of Jewish life, the union and fellowship between Israel and God as they awaited the great Day of the Lord when the perfection of God’s kingdom would come and God would dwell among them. Jesus replaced these with himself (which was why he angered the religious/political powers). He provided an alternative symbol – The Last Supper. This was the kingdom-feast, the new-exodus feast. “Those who shared the meal with him were the people of the renewed covenant, the people who received ‘the forgiveness of sins,’ that is, the end of exile” (p.85 of Challenge).
When Jesus was resurrected, this was the decisive inauguration of the new age of God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven. They were living – as we still live – in that in-between time when the kingdom has come but is not yet fully among us in all of its perfection. This is what they acknowledged and celebrated – and what we inherited and continue – on a Sunday (the day of resurrection, the beginning of the new age) when we gather together for the worship service of Holy Eucharist. This worship service is our time of rejoicing with God in God’s kingdom. We stand in solidarity with one another and in allegiance to God as we praise God and God’s accomplishment in Jesus, pray for the fullness of the kingdom to arrive (The Prayers of the People), and renew our promise to live the new life according to God’s ways (sharing the ‘kingdom-feast’).
For Your Devotions:
Tuesday, August 27th is the commemoration of Monnica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo. Monnica was born to Christian parents in North Africa and became increasingly devout as she aged. She was thrilled when Augustine converted to Christianity and was baptized in 387 at the age of 32. It was on her way home from this joyous occasion that Monnica fell ill and died. For more information: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/153.html
Wednesday, August 28th is the memorial of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher of the Faith. Augustine was born in 354 in North Africa. He took a very round-about way to Christianity but was extremely influential once he got there. Many of his writings and sermons have survived and offer up his sometimes controversial theological perspectives. He was the Bishop of Hippo from 396 until his death in 430. If you’d like to read more, check this out: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine
Thursday, August 29th is the Holy Day of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. If you’d like to refresh your memory on the details of this event and learn some interesting, non-scriptural legends, check out the website that follows. For example, after Herod had ordered John’s beheading, the prophet even in death was unrelenting in voicing his condemnation of Herod’s wrong-doing. Far from being whimsical or superstitious, these legends offer commentary on the vital roles of the people in this Gospel story. https://oca.org/saints/lives/2007/08/29/102419-the-beheading-of-the-holy-glorious-prophet-forerunner-and-baptis
Friday, August 30th is the commemoration of Robert McDonald, Priest in the Western Arctic. Robert was born in 1829, the second of 10 children, in a place which later became known as Winnipeg. For over 40 years, he worked as a missionary among the Gwich’in people in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alaska – baptizing, establishing schools, and translating the Bible, Book of Common Prayer and many hymns using the alphabet he had created for the Gwich’in language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McDonald_(missionary)
Saturday, August 31st is the commemoration of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne who died in 651. Aidan was born in Ireland but was a monk on the Island of Iona when he was chosen to become a bishop and evangelize northern England. His career was relatively brief but his legacy has been long-lasting. He founded churches and monasteries and trained other ministers to follow in his footsteps. For more information: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Aidan
In the joy of Christ,
Susan
Deanery of Algoma 