Good day,

Life is off kilter for me at the moment and I have not been very good at remembering to send out these emails…I’m trying to make it a habit to send it each Friday morning. Mondays are still ingrained in me since I’d been sending them out on Mondays for many years…Anyway, here’s what’s coming up…

Coming Up:

In Person Easter Book Study: The Meal that Jesus Gave Us: Understanding Holy Communion by N.T. Wright. Tuesday, April 14, 6-7:30pm in the Trinity Centre. What better time than during Easter, just following Jesus’ institution of this meal with his disciples, than to learn more about this astounding gift. You don’t need to have the book to benefit from the discussion. We’ll also meet on Thursday, April 23, same time, same place, and again Tuesday, April 28.

Last Online book study this Wednesday, Apr. 15. The book is called To Love and Serve: Anglican Beliefs and Practices but there isneed to have read the book in order to enjoy the sessions.

Elvis is in the Building! Saturday, April 18, 2-4pm in the Trinity Centre; $5 entry; $2 hotdogs; other snacks and drinks will be available too. Email susan.montague2@gmail.com or phone 705-254-1692 to get a ticket.

Movie Night: “I Can Only Imagine”, Friday, April 24, 6pm in the Trinity Centre.

A Liturgical Note For You:   Water, Water Everywhere…

There are a few very important liturgical aspects of Easter that I’m sure you’ve noticed. We’ve just finished the Octave of Easter filled with feasting and bright white linens and lots of “alleluias”. The Octave of Easter is the eight days in which we feast and celebrate our risen Lord with particular joy and vigour from Sunday to Sunday. Who needs to diet anyway?! This Octave takes precedence over all other days so maybe you also noticed that there were no other calendar observances throughout that time as we focused on the glory and redemption of the resurrection. We still have a lot of Easter days ahead to celebrate though – 6 weeks more as a matter of fact. There will now be a single “Alleluia” at each worship’s dismissal until the Day of Pentecost when it is doubled once again. Speaking of Pentecost, here’s a gentle reminder… importantly, the Day of Pentecost is not the first day of a new season; it is the last day of the Easter festival, “uniting the events of the Resurrection and the empowerment of the Church” (p.99 of Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary published by Abingdon Press.)

What other important worship element am I hoping you’ll see in abundance throughout Easter? Water, of course.

The Importance of Water in Easter: As we sing and shout our “Alleluias”, we may wonder why Jesus’ resurrection fills us with such joy. Well, since Jesus has new life in glory in God’s kingdom, so now do we.  And we are given this amazing gift through the mystery of baptism.  

Water is the most obvious symbol (though not the only symbol) of baptism. In fact, the word baptism comes from a Greek word that means “to plunge.”  If you know your bible at all, as I’m sure you do, you’ll know that you cannot get very far without coming across a reference to water.  From God’s Spirit moving over the waters at the time of creation to Noah and the flood to Jonah and the whale…the life-giving, life-taking images of water overflow from the Hebrew Scriptures and continue into the New Testament as well. 

Jesus gives us a new twist on the thinking of water as the symbol of purification and cleanliness.  When Jesus gets down on his knees and washes his disciples’ feet, water and washing also become for us a symbol of servanthood born of the love we are commanded to have for one another.   

There are so many things to say about water as it is referenced throughout all of the bible – perhaps some that never struck you as important before. In Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus wants his disciples to be able to meet with him to eat the Passover meal, he uses water as a means for them to find their way to the right place. Jesus tells them that, when they go into the city, they will meet a man with a water jar. They are to follow that man to the chosen location (Mark 14:13).  Through the waters of baptism, we, too, are led into the presence of Christ.  

All that being said (and much left unsaid!), I pray that you will see plenty of water flowing into the baptismal font each Sunday of Easter. 

For Your Devotions:

Thursday, April 16 is the commemoration of Mollie Brant (Konwatsijayenni), Matron among the Mohawks, died 1796. Mollie was born into a family of chieftains, learned to speak fluent English at the Anglican Mission School she attended, and married Sir William Johnson in a Mohawk ceremony.  She convinced her people to remain loyal to Britain during the American Revolution and her home was destroyed by the rebels because of that. She and her people relocated to Kingston where she was given a generous pension and new house by the British government. She was a founding member of St. George’s Anglican Parish in Kingston. To read more and to pray her commemoration collect, you can go to page 144-45 here: https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/For-All-The-Saints.pdf

In the joy of the risen Christ,

Susan