Hello,

Finishing off the Week of April 26:

$5 Monthly Meal: Perogies and coleslaw and dessert…Today, Friday, May 1, 5pm take out; 5:30pm eat-in. Email susan.montague2@gmail.com or phone 705-254-1692 to order.

Elvis is at the Trinity Centre May 2! 2-4pm; $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.

Deanery Council is on Saturday, May 2^nd in Thessalon (Church of the Redeemer), starting at 10am

Coming Up in the Week of May 3 and Beyond:

In Person Easter Book Study: The Meal that Jesus Gave Us: Understanding Holy Communion by N.T. Wright. Next study is Thursday, May 7, at 5pm 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. More dates to be announced soon…

Spring Fling Barbecue & Everything Sale: Saturday, May 23, 11am to 3pm in the Trinity Centre; craft tables, baking, “new to you”, sausages, hot dogs, pop, freshly baked cinnamon buns, and so on….

Next Movie Night: Friday, May 29, 6pm in the Trinity Centre, “Wild Hogs” starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy

A Liturgical Note For You:   

Ascension of the Lord: Coming up on Thursday, May 14 – always 40 days after The Sunday of the Resurrection. This is one of the seven Principal Feasts of the Anglican Church (Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Epiphany, All Saints, and Christmas are the other six). Christmas seems to be the only general exception to the fact that most Anglicans (and most Christians, actually) don’t go to church on a day other than Sunday for a feast day.  Ascension Day – although hugely important – is, sadly, no longer widely observed.  The Anglican Church has not given the “okay” for this feast day to be transferred to the following Sunday as it has with All Saints’ Day. The provision with All Saints’ Day is that it may be transferred in order to be observed “in addition to its observance on the fixed date” (BAS, 15). Well, I don’t know about you but, until I began leading worship on All Saints’ Day itself, I had never had worship on the actual day available to me.  If these days of observance for our lives as followers of Christ are so important, why is it that we are, generally, so reluctant to make the effort to get together as the Church – the Body of Christ – in order to observe these feast days when they are not on Sunday? 

Anyone familiar with the writings of Walter Brueggeman will know that he often speaks of the voice of dominant culture holding sway over what we do as the Church – and that we must speak up as the Church when dominant culture leads us away from the way of life of God’s kingdom. Since dominant culture tells us that Christmas is important, we still hold Christmas worship on its actual feast day. Our calendar observances are designed to form and transform us into a people living the life of God’s kingdom together. If we continue to allow the voice of dominant culture to tell us when and how to worship, we will simply be an indistinguishable part of dominant culture, dwindling in many contexts, rather than “turning the world upside down” and revealing God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven as we are meant to do.

Christ’s ascension into heaven signals a new relationship between Jesus and God – Jesus took his place as ruler of all things at the right hand of God – and between us and God since, with Jesus’ physical departure, the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to us enabling us to actually participate in the divine life as members of Christ’s body.  The wonderfulness of this continues to fill my heart to bursting with gratitude for God’s abundant love. Please check out this short video of N.T Wright speaking about Ascension: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwWVcQtmQ_E

For Your Devotions: 

Wednesday, May 6th is the Holy Day of John, Apostle and Evangelist. For some reason – maybe because the Orthodox Church celebrates John in May – John has two dates on our calendar from which to choose to acknowledge his importance to our lives as Christians. In Christian tradition, John is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, he is the son of Zebedee and brother to James, and generally credited as being the author of three letters and the Gospel of John.  Some also attribute the Book of Revelation to him as well. Of course, scholars debate whether or not he actually wrote those things but, regardless, he was an important leader in the early Church in Jerusalem.  John was also one of the three apostles (Peter, James, John) who formed Jesus’ intimate inner circle. John is said to be the only apostle who died a natural death from old age. According to legend, when over 100 years old, John took seven disciples outside of Ephesus and had them dig a grave in the shape of a cross. John then went into the grave, and the disciples buried him there, alive. Later on, when his grave was opened, John’s body was not there. On May 8 of each year (when the Orthodox church celebrates John), dust rises up from his grave, by which the sick are healed of various diseases. For more information – and other interesting legends:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-the-Apostle

In the joy of the risen Lord,

Susan