Hello,

Coming Up:

Friday, January 23, 6pm Movie Night at Holy Trinity, SSM: We’ll be watching The Shack. Of course we’ll have snacks too. 🙂 Just $5…See you there! (The Shack is about a man whose young daughter is abducted and murdered. He then has a mysterious encounter with God…)

Saturday, January 24 at Emmaus, SSM: Painting with Amy Williams; $50 per person, limited spaces; 1pm-4pm. Please call Deborah to reserve your spot: 705-256-9760

A Liturgical Note For You:      It May Be “Ordinary” But It’s Not Boring

The End of the Christmas Season/Beginning of “Ordinary Time”:  After Evening Prayer on The Baptism of the Lord, the Christmas season comes to an end. We will then be in “Ordinary Time” which means the colour on the altar and other hangings in the worship space will change from white to green.  A quick reminder: “ordinary” doesn’t mean “usual” or “normal” in church use. Ordinary comes from the Latin word meaning orderly or numbered.  (The Latin word ordinalis, which refers to numbers in a series, stems from the Latin word ordo, from which we get the English word “order”.) So, the Sundays in “Ordinary Time” are numbered after an important Sunday that has just passed – Sundays after the Epiphany and Sundays after Pentecost. It is the use of the word “after” that tells you they aren’t a part of the other seasons of the church (i.e. Christmas and Easter; and their times of preparation – Advent and Lent). Ordinary time is when we hear the teachings of Jesus as he lived his mission among us and, with this as our guide, it is our time to renew our focus on the mission of the Church under his Lordship.

Feria days in ordinary time: I’ve discovered that some people have never been taught a little something about a certain entry in our vestry books that we fill in after every worship service so I thought I’d mention it to everyone…

The column in our vestry books that says “Day of the Christian Year” is actually not simply recorded as “Sunday” or “Wednesday” or whatever day of the week you are having a worship service. Our names for the days of the week stem from gods of the ancient world – therefore, they are most definitely not a day in our Christian year. What do you write?  For now, during “ordinary time”, you would simply write “Feria” when there is no other calendar observance. Sundays will be recorded as the “2^nd Sunday after the Epiphany”, the “3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany”, and so on. (Please note that it is not Sundays of or in Epiphany.

“Feria” is a Latin word that means “weekday”. We used to say that there were major ferias and minor ferias but, currently, “feria” is used to label the days of the week other than Sunday on which there are no other observances. So, for this week, there are just two feria days – Wednesday and Friday.

For Your Devotions:

Monday, January 12th is the Holy Day of The Holy Innocents (transferred from Sunday). You may have celebrated this already on December 29th (again, transferred) since this is the alternate date. Regardless, here is the low-down…

This is the remembrance of the innocent children slaughtered in Bethlehem on the order of King Herod the Great in his attempt to kill Jesus. This feast most likely originally shared the day of The Epiphany but eventually was designated its own day of observance.  It was a day of fasting and mourning. In fact, in medieval England, children were reminded of the solemnity of the day by being whipped in bed.  What a way to start your day!  For more info:  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Feast-of-the-Holy-Innocents

Tuesday, January 13th is the memorial of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, who died in 367.  Hilary started life as a pagan but, through reading the Scriptures, was converted to Christianity. He was married by this point but was elected as bishop anyway. Hilary defended the Church against the heresy of Arianism – which actually was winning out over orthodoxy for a while.  Arianism is the belief that Jesus was begotten by God the Father at a point in time, a creature distinct from the Father and therefore subordinate to him, although also a god. It was a bumpy road defending the faith…To read more:  https://catholicexchange.com/st-hilary-of-poitiers

Thursday, January 15th is the commemoration of Richard Meux Benson, the founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. He died in 1915. Even as a young child, Richard leaned toward austerity. His governess found him sleeping on the floor and, when she put him into bed, he complained that he wouldn’t be able to learn hardness if he slept in a comfy bed. Richard was a prayerful and devout priest. He wanted to go to India with a vision of “a body of men gathered together, whose life of what the world would call self-denial and poverty should be cheered with a greater joy than the world can ever give, by the sympathy of kindred hearts and the spiritual strength of abundant means of grace.” His bishop, however, did not want to lose such a wonderful priest and told Richard to stay…the rest is history as they say. To read more:  http://anglicanhistory.org/bios/rmbenson.html

Saturday, January 17th is the memorial of Antony, Abbot in Egypt, who died in 356.  Antony chose to give away all of his money, property, and possessions and live the life of a hermit in the Egyptian desert. News of such a devout Christian spread and people began to travel to see him to get his spiritual guidance. So much for being a hermit.  Many who traveled to see him decided to stay and Antony became the “Abbot” of a group of men dedicated to poverty and hard work. They supported themselves with their labour and raised money for the sole purpose of giving it to those in need. If you’d like to know more…  http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/77.html  

In the joy of Christ,

Susan