Hello everyone,
Here is the latest info for you…
Christ Church ACW ladies will be busy soon making turkey pies. Orders for pies will be taken up to Friday, November 13th. Cost for a small or individual pie is $10.00. We are limiting the number of pies a family can order to 10 pies per family. Pies will be ready for pick up Wednesday, November 18th 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.
The Guild of St. Joseph breakfast will be Saturday, Nov.21, 9am in the Trinity Centre. A $10 donation is appreciated. Please note that this is a change from the original date.
The annual Snowflake Tea and Bake Sale is Saturday, Nov.14, in the Trinity Centre, 11am – 2pm; $15.
Elvis is in the Building! Saturday, Nov.21: Come enjoy a couple of hours (2pm – 4pm) of fabulous tunes and fellowship for just $5. Elvis impersonator, Mike Catling, will be sharing his talent with us. Hotdogs $2 and other snacks and drinks available. In the new Trinity Tower Common Room. Enter through the church doors (north entrance of 360 Northern Ave. E; off Old Garden River Road). Call 705-254-1692 or email me (susan.montague2@gmail.com) to reserve your tickets – they’re going quickly!
Next movie night is Friday, Nov.27, 6pm in the Trinity Centre. We’ll be watching “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. $5 entry and all the snacks you can eat.
ADVENT QUIET DAY – JOY: Please join me for a few hours of rest and rejuvenation on Saturday, November 28, 10am – 2pm in the Trinity Centre. We will look at some scripture together, reflect on our lives and the world around us and, hopefully, leave with a deep-rooted sense of the joy found in being a follower of Jesus Christ. Lunch will be provided so please tell me if you’re coming. (susan.montague2@gmail.com)
“Muffins & Market” is Saturday, December 5 in the Trinity Centre, 10am – 2pm; with various vendors, “new to you” table, baking, etc. Come enjoy a coffee (or tea) and muffin and browse the tables.
A Liturgical Note For You: Translations and their Trip-Ups – Part Two
A Question for You: Is “hell” in the Bible?
Okay, I admit, that is a bit of a trick question since the answer is both “yes” and “no.” Yes, the word “hell” is found in the Bible. But, more importantly, our modern concept of hell is absolutely NOT in the Bible. Hell as a place of demon regulated horror for all eternity is a concept that evolved from Teutonic mythology. The concept was cemented in modern thinking by an Italian poet named Dante who spent most of his time in Italian courts, writing and lecturing. He wrote his famous poem “Inferno” in 1314 – a poem showcasing “hell” and heavily influenced by the politics of the day.
It may surprise you to learn that the word “hell”, derived from the Old English “hel” and “helle”, was first used around 725 AD. Scholars estimate that date to be about 1700 years or so after, for example, the texts in the Book of Genesis were written down. So, “hell” is a late addition to biblical translations and replaced other words previously used. There are several words in the Bible that began to be translated as the word “hell” but let’s just take a quick look at one that Jesus uses.
Matthew 5:29 says “it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Any decent translation will have a footnote here – and every time this word occurs – that tells you the original word Jesus used is not “hell” but “Gehenna”. Actually, if you want to get technical, Jesus would have said, “Ge bene Hinnom” but “Gehenna” is the Greek translation. Gehenna is not an otherworldly place where bad people go when they die. Gehenna is the local garbage dump.
There is a very good reason why this place is used as the local dump and why there is sorrow attached to this place.
Gehenna is a deep, narrow glen southwest of Jerusalem and it is where, long before Jesus’ time, idolatrous Jews offered their children in sacrifice to a god named Molech. After this horrific practice came to an end, the valley was shunned and became the place where the garbage from the city was dumped – dead bodies of animals & criminals, filth of all kinds – and, as is the practice in many places, the garbage was burned to make room for more. When Jesus uses the word Gehenna, in Matt.5:22 for example, he has been explaining to the people what they must do in order to live with God in God’s kingdom. Mentioning Gehenna helps the people visualize and understand what life would be like without God. Gehenna is the place where people made the choice to turn away from God. It is an earthly place just as God’s kingdom is here on earth. Gehenna is a separation from God and God’s kingdom choosing to worship something other than God.
For Your Devotions:
Sunday, November 1st is the Principal Feast of All Saints’ Day. This important feast falls on a Sunday this year. But, even when it doesn’t…since this is a Principal Feast it can be celebrated on the Sunday following November 1 in addition to being observed on its fixed date. This is also one of the four Principal Feasts named by our Church as the days on which baptisms should take place. It would therefore be highly appropriate to renew baptismal vows on this day even if no baptisms are taking place. This is the day we celebrate all of the saints of the Christian Church – known and unknown – who have died and attained heaven. This day has been celebrated in different forms and on different dates since at least the 4th century. Of course, in medieval England this day was called “All Hallows” and so its eve was “All Hallows’ Eve” from which we get Halloween. For more info: https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Saints-Day
Monday, November 2nd is the memorial known as the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed. This is very different from All Saints’ Day and is not a Principal Feast and thus does not get celebrated on the Sunday. (In fact, if Nov.2 fell on a Sunday, this memorial would be moved to a different day of the week). This is the day we pray for our dead loved ones. It was based on the idea that prayer could help dead loved ones more hastily pass through purgatory into heaven. This sparked controversy in the Church – for one thing, many scholars argue that the concept of purgatory is not supported by Scripture – and so this day was not liturgically celebrated until the Middle Ages. Here is what the website at the other end of the link says: “Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God’s presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/commemoration-of-all-the-faithful-departed/
Tuesday, November 3rd is the commemoration of Richard Hooker, Priest and Teacher of the Faith who died in 1600. Hooker was an English theologian and most definitely one of my main Anglican heroes. His writings played a massive role in shaping what we know as ‘Anglicanism.’ One of my favourite quotations of his addresses those who believe that, if Scripture doesn’t say it, it must be prohibited. Here is Hooker’s response: “It is no more disgrace for scripture to have left a number of…things free to be ordered at the discretion of the Church, than for nature to have left it unto the wit of [people] to devise [their] own attire.” Please read more about this formative figure here: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Hooker
Wednesday, November 4th is the memorial of The Saints of the Old Testament. Today we remember that our faith did not begin with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem but with Abraham and Sarah long before. The Roman Martyrology has a long list of those considered “saints” of the Old Testament which may sound odd in our ears because we never refer to them as saints…people like Moses, Elijah and King David. You may wonder at calling some of them saints – Moses killed a man, David took another man’s wife. Living a life according to the will of God is what they all have in common. If you would like to read a bit more, see page 334 here: https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/ForAlltheSaints.pdf
Saturday, November 7th is the commemoration of Willibrord, the Archbishop of Utrecht, Holland, and missionary who died in 738. We actually don’t know very much about Willibrord but, I find it amazing that way back then someone born in England could study in both France and Ireland when traveling must’ve been difficult, lengthy, and dangerous. Speaking of dangerous, Willibrord began his missionary work in Frisia in 690 and had to leave the region several times because of war. He died a natural death but other missionaries to the area weren’t so lucky (Boniface was martyred in 754). http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/279.html
In the joy of Christ,
Susan
