Good day,

Our Lenten Bible Studies via Zoom start tonight. Please email me if you don’t have the link but want to join in. (susan.montague2@gmail.com)

Lunchtime Meditations on the Psalms each Thursday from Mar.6 to April 10, 12-12:30pm. You can register here: https://forms.office.com/r/epJS4f5A6z

Lenten Book Study online with Bishop Michael Oulton: Wednesdays from 7-9pm, March 12 – April 9. Please register by emailing Carla at the Synod Office. carla.macewan@dioceseofalgoma.com

Lenten Lunches begin this week as well: every Wednesday, starting right at noon and going until 1pm, at Christ Church, SSM.

A Liturgical Note For You:

Our liturgical space and our liturgies are a bit different during the season of Lent. We see a lot of purple but we don’t see or hear Alleluias or the Glory to God praise hymn. Why? 

First…Why Purple? Purple is the color of royalty, which was most commonly used in the Byzantine religious icons. It is intended to show the glory of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God.  It is not surprising, then, that in our seasons of waiting for our King – and for our King to “open the kingdom of heaven to all believers” (Te Deum), the traditional colour we see is purple.  It has come to represent, therefore, waiting and preparation – especially with penitential self-reflection during these times.

Now…Why no Alleluias or Glory to God? The word “Alleluia” is rooted in a Hebrew expression that means “praise the Lord”. During Lent, we consciously think of ourselves as journeying in the wilderness – with Jesus but, actually, even more so, as the Israelites did after God rescued them from Egypt. This was the time when they were learning to be God’s children and discerning what that looked like in their daily lives. When the Israelites were conquered by the Babylonians and taken into slavery, they believed it was directly linked to their failure to live as God’s children. As they lamented their absence from life in God’s kingdom, they cried, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4). They felt unable to praise God (sing “Alleluia”) as they awaited salvation. Likewise, the Glory to God sings praise to God for the salvation accomplished for us. We eliminate the jubilant praise of accomplished salvation (a bit of a liturgical fast, you might say) as we journey toward the salvation given to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection when he “opened the kingdom of heaven for all believers” (Te Deum).  

This doesn’t mean that Lent is a mournful time, however. There is the sense of suppressed joy and anticipation throughout our Lenten journey of penitence and reflection as we eagerly await the Easter passover from death to life, from life in this world to life in God’s kingdom. 

For Your Devotions:

Monday, March 10th is the commemoration of Robert Machray, First Primate of Canada, died 1904.  Machray was born in Scotland into a Presbyterian family but chose to become a member of the Church of England in his early adulthood. He gave up a comfortable, secure income and position in the church to become the new bishop of Rupert’s Land in Canada. (At 34 years of age, he was the youngest bishop).  At that time, Rupert’s Land was huge and it was Machray who arranged to have it divided into smaller dioceses…Moosonee, Athabasca, and Rupert’s Land. Machray was bishop throughout the tumultuous period of the Metis uprising and our confederation. Some feel that Machray’s strong opposition to the uprising was highly controversial. It was Machray who instituted the elected vestry and it was also Machray (and others) who introduced the notion of a general synod to Canada in order to coordinate church resources and speak with one voice. Appropriately, at the first general synod in 1893, he was chosen to be Canada’s first primate.  To read more:  http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/machray_robert_13E.html

In Christ,

Susan