Good day,

I have another summertime worship service change to let you know about. In Sault Ste Marie, Emmaus will be hosting Zion Lutheran throughout July at 10am. And then Zion Lutheran will be hosting Emmaus throughout August at 11am.

The Strawberry Festival at St. James, Goulais River is this coming Saturday, June 28, 11am to 1pm. 

Prayer Study at the Trinity Centre: Thursday, July 3rd, 4-5pm – continuing our dive into contemplative prayer. 

The Algoma Angels are taking their turn providing the take-out meal this coming Wednesday, June 25 at St. Vincent Place. If you’d like to help, you can come anytime after 1:30pm. If you’d like to donate money for future meals that would be very much appreciated. You can contact me about that.

A Liturgical Note For You: In case you hadn’t noticed, the yearly calendar that most people follow is not a Christian calendar. We, the Church, however, have a different calendar of days that we follow – or, rather, I should say that we have a calendar that we are meant to follow but we often just follow the secular calendar of the majority. Our calendar is designed so that we experience the story of our salvation and are formed as people of God following the ways of God’s kingdom. That’s why there are rules about which days can bump our usual Sunday liturgy and which days can not. And so…

Why days are not transferred: This quotation from McCausland’s Order of Divine Service explains:  “Every Sunday is a celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Hence, Sundays are normatively feasts of the Lord. Saints’ days should not be transferred to Sundays, with the exception of the Patronal feast (and even then not in Advent, Lent, or Easter).”  The Lord Jesus Christ takes precedence over saints on our calendar with VERY few exceptions. This is also why, although appropriate to acknowledge secular occasions through the prayers and hymns on a Sunday, those occasions should never be the primary focus. 

For Your Devotions:

Tuesday, June 24th is the Holy Day of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the few feasts that takes precedence of a Sunday. Every Sunday is a celebration of the Paschal Mystery and are, therefore, feasts of the Lord.(This is why secular occasions such as Remembrance Day and Canada Day should be acknowledged but not dominate the Sunday worship.) Saints’ days, as a result, are not transferred to Sundays (with the exception of your church’s patron saint – and even then, not in Advent, Lent, or Easter).  

John was born to prepare the way for the Saviour of the world…the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke first introduces us to John’s parents – Elizabeth and Zechariah – and draws unmistakeable parallels between them and Abraham and Sarah.  Luke creates through John a bridge between the Old and New Testaments. For All the Saints says, “the birth of John the Baptist gathered up and embodied the whole truth of the Old Testament and made it ready for its own perfection in Christ Jesus.” To read more, check out p.204…  https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/ForAlltheSaints.pdf

Saturday, June 28th is the memorial of Irenaeus, Bishop Lyons, Teacher of the Faith, died about 202. Irenaeus was one of the main opponents to Gnosticism (a heresy which threatened the early Church). Through his writings against Gnosticism, we have Irenaeus to thank in large part for our current creed, the canon of Scripture, and the authority of the episcopal office. He is thought to have been born around 120 A.D. and to have died about 202 or 203 A.D.  Irenaeus knew Polycarp who, reportedly, knew John the Apostle…I think that’s cool! For more info: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Irenaeus
 
 Sunday, June 29th is the Holy Day of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul. If your church is named after one of these saints, you can transfer this day to Sunday but it falls on a Sunday this year anyway and is one of just nine Holy Days (in addition to the 7 Principal Feasts) that take precedence of a Sunday. Have you ever wondered why the two greatest apostles of the early Church share a Holy Day? This is because they are believed to have been martyred during the same persecution of Christians by Nero in 64 A.D. (They are celebrated separately, Peter for his Confession and Paul for his Conversion, on our calendar as well). To read about these biblical greats, have a look at p.208… https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/ForAlltheSaints.pdf 

In the hope of the risen Christ,

Susan