Good day,

Right Now:

Christ Church ACW ladies are gearing up to bake apple pies. Orders for pies will be taken up until Sunday, September 28th. Cost for the pies are: large $16.00 and small $8.00. Pies will be ready for pick up on Oct. 8 and 9th. Those ordering pies will be called when their pies are ready for pick up.  Contact Bonnie 705-779-2858 or lyons.bonnie@gmail.com OR Laura 705-254-2477 or lau_ave88@hotmail.com.

This Weekend (Sept.26 & 27):

Annual Lay Readers’ Conference, Christ Church North Bay. For more detail and to register, please go here: (scroll down to the blue “REGISTER HERE”) Lay Readers of the Diocese of Algoma | Diocese of Algoma

If you can’t make it to North Bay a Zoom option is available. I’ll be hosting a Zoom for local lay readers at the Trinity Centre at 7pm on Friday evening and then again on Saturday morning beginning at 11:00am. 

Coming Soon:

Blessing of the Animals, Saturday, October 4, 11am at Holy Trinity, SSM. 

This day is the memorial of Francis of Assisi, a friar who died in 1226. Please remember that it is actually optional to observe memorials (and commemorations) and these days never ever bump the usual Sunday worship of the church…Every Sunday is a feast joyfully celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (see pp.15, 17, 20 of the BAS).

A Liturgical Note For You:

Thanksgiving or Harvest Thanksgiving…Is there a difference? 

What do we celebrate? 

Thanksgiving is an important secular holiday observance in our society. It is always the 2nd Monday in October. You can acknowledge this day on the Sunday immediately before (so, Sunday, Oct.12, this year) and call it Harvest Thanksgiving. You can use the regularly scheduled lectionary readings (my preference) and acknowledge Harvest Thanksgiving by having thanksgiving type hymns and, of course, giving thanks during the Prayers of the People. The “propers” (prayers & readings) for “Rogation Days and Harvest Thanksgiving” are on pp.396-7 of the BAS if you’d like to use those instead. 

Now, just to be confusing, you don’t have to have Harvest Thanksgiving on the Sunday right before our Canadian Thanksgiving Monday. According to the rules for this sort of thing in our BAS, “Harvest Thanksgiving may be observed on a Sunday as determined by local custom” (p.16). Depending on where you live in Canada, your congregation may choose a Sunday that is closer to the actual harvest time in your area (just, please, don’t bump a more important Sunday. For example, you would not have had Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday on Holy Cross Day. Sept.14). 

Regardless of the Sunday you choose to call “Harvest Thanksgiving”:

*It is a time of acknowledging the abundant generosity of God, giving thanks for this, and asking the Holy Spirit to stir up our hearts to share this abundance with all others. 

*The liturgical colour is white.

*You can use the regularly scheduled propers & readings for the Sunday OR the propers I mentioned on pp.396-7 of the BAS. 

For Your Devotions:

Monday, September 22 (transferred from Sunday – unless your church is named after Matthew) is the Holy Day of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist.  Matthew, generally thought to be a tax collector, was, in the opinion of many other Jews, one of Jesus’ questionable companions – tax collectors were seen as corrupt betrayers of the Jewish people working for the Romans. It is quite ironic then that Matthew’s Gospel is considered the most Jewish of the Gospels – he skillfully and deliberately made sure he portrayed Jesus as being faithful to his Jewish heritage. Being a tax collector earned him the designation of ‘patron saint of bankers’ in the Roman Catholic Church. Although his name is traditionally attached to one of the Gospels, many scholars don’t believe it likely that he actually was the author. Attributing authorship to a well-known individual to give authority to a piece of writing was quite a common thing to do at that time. It could very well be the case that Matthew’s oral stories and teachings were written down later by his followers. Tradition says Matthew died about 90 A.D but legends don’t agree on whether he died of old age or if he was martyred. For more info:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Matthew

Thursday, September 25th is the commemoration of Sergius, Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow, and Spiritual Teacher, who died in 1392. At a young age, Sergius and his brother decided to become hermits living in the Russian forest. However, in a time when Christians in Russia were disheartened and confused, news of their wisdom, gentleness, compassion, and spirituality spread and they soon had a monastery forming around them. Sergius was instrumental in the eventual formation of an independent Russia. To find out more:   http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/251.html

Friday, September 26th is the commemoration of Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, who died in 1626 (I love his name – it reminds me of Sir Lancelot of Arthurian legend). Andrewes is one of the greatest Anglican scholars – he knew 15 languages and contributed greatly to the King James Version of the Bible.  You can read more here:  http://prayer.forwardmovement.org/the_calendar_response.php?id=400926

In the joy of Christ,

Susan