The Saskatchewan Anglican, February 2018

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Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel

Ash Wednesday is Feb. 14 and kicks off the 40 days of Lent, which runs until March 18 (Fifth Sunday), followed by Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week on March 25. The Lenten season is an opportunity to cultivate the interior life through spiritual exercises and practices.

Fasting, prayer and almsgiving are three actions to practice during this time, says the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer. Lent is a time of rediscovery, a golden chance to open ourselves more deeply to the beauty and power of the dying and rising to new life in Jesus. It is a time to ponder the reality of the death and resurrection and to allow it to soak into our deepest parts.

Photo courtesy Time.com

Beechy honours lay leaders

By Rev. David Nevett

Eleanor Taylor and Carol Essen show off the goats they received from the congregation of St. Michael and All Angels, Beechy, where they are lay worship leaders.

Photo by Rev. David Nevett

BEECHY (Qu’A) – St. Michael and All Angels Church honoured two members of the congregation for their role in the worship of the church in early December.

Carol Esson and Eleanor Taylor have been lay worship leaders for many years, and it is hoped, for many years to come.

One of the reasons the small congregation has survived is it has such people who are willing to take the responsibility of leading worship and is willing to accept lay-led worship.

Esson and Taylor were

each presented with a goat (in Africa through PWRDF), a bouquet of flowers and a little goat Christmas tree ornament.

On the second Sunday of each month a priest celebrates the Eucharist.

On that Sunday the Beechy United Church worships with the Anglicans.

On the third Sunday the Anglicans worship with the United Church. All other Sundays Esson and Taylor lead the worship, in addition to conducting worship at the Beechy Personal Care Home once a month.

The congregation thanks both women for their continuing ministry to the church.

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The Saskatchewan Anglican

February 2018

Human wickedness a corruption of the divine image By the Rev. Canon Shawn Sanford Beck Diocesan Training and Development Officer The Book of Common Prayer and the Bible sometimes refer to humans as wicked. What makes humankind wicked and why do both call for repentance?

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early beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness... (BCP, p.7, Daily Office of Matins).

When I was but a beardless youth, the word wicked had experienced a period of odd usage: it meant awesome, exciting, and excellent.

For instance, Iron Maiden co-founder Steve Harris could pound out a wicked set of riffs on his Fender Precision bass.

My brother and his friends could do wicked ollies and kickflips on their skateboards. As a breakdancer, I could also bust a wicked backspin, if I do say so myself.

All of this would, I suspect, confuse the good Archbishop Thomas

Cranmer, for whom the word wicked held a much different meaning.

For the 16th century reformers, and for most of us who aren’t using modern slang dialects, the word wicked is synonymous with badness: moral corruption, cruelty, sin.

It connotes our fallenness, our human proclivity to greed, sloth, wrath, and all manner of nastiness and mayhem.

Martin Luther accurately diagnosed this fallen human nature as incurvatus in se, or “turned in on itself.” In other words, selfishness writ large.

In contemporary popular culture, there flourishes a naive sort of optimism that often denies the reality of wickedness among and within us. We tend to shy away from such medieval notions as fallenness, depravity, or original sin.

However, it doesn’t take much time watching the news or browsing the internet to see that the power of sin is alive and well in our world.

In our own personal lives and interpersonal relations, a little honest

reflection will reveal deep patterns of brokenness and entrenched harmful habits.

We sin against God, our neighbours, and ourselves on a daily basis.

Beyond the personal, there are also larger socio-cultural patterns of corporate and systemic sin (often referred to as the “powers and principalities”), which breed racism, sexism, colonialism, violence, poverty, homophobia, ecocide, and a legion of other isms and oppressions.

Christian morality has often paid more attention to the personal sins and turned a blind eye to – or even unwittingly fostered – the more corporate ones.

But wickedness truly includes both types, feeding on and festering in corruption.

Corruption, however, assumes there is something originally healthy to be corrupted.

There is a type of Christian spirituality, a sort of crypto-Calvinist perversity, which revels in the contemplation of human depravity.

This has led to an unhealthy view of

humanity that denies, in practice, the more primal and primary theology of Original Blessing.

Our deepest roots in Indigenous, Israelite, and Christian tradition remind us that the whole universe is a thoroughly good creation of a loving Creator.

Each and every human is created in the image of the Divine Parent. Plants, animals, spirits, and all our relations are part of the Incarnate Wyrd, the great cosmic round dance of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator and Mother of all.

Only in the context of this deeper Original Blessing does the concept of original sin make sense.

Sin and wickedness are always secondary to the more primary reality of divine prevenient grace.

As brother Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20b, KJV).

Also, as Mother Julian prophesied, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” For the goodness of Love Divine, thanks be to God.

Christ defeated The Fall and the death it brings

By Rev. Christopher Dowdeswell The Book of Common Prayer and the Bible sometimes refer to humans as wicked. What makes humankind wicked and why do both call for repentance?

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efore I address the main question, we might not all agree on what the word wicked suggests.

For anyone who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, wicked might carry with it the connotation of excellent or maybe even praise-worthy!

I understand that this slang usage actually stems from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings in the 1920s. So with that kind of recent history, it is important to begin by being clear about what we intend with our various uses of such a term.

It is often the case that slang emerges from

the reappropriation of a term that was originally disparaging towards a marginalized group.

The group brings the term into mainstream use as a point of self-identification and pride, and through this act, the term becomes a source of cultural empowerment.

The act of reappropriating the term redefines the boundaries of the mainstream and its privileged centre, causing the centre to shift in the marginalized group’s favour.

In this case, the emergence of the use of wicked as a slang term denoting something positive might well have been intentional, considering the heavy weight of judgement the term had represented in centuries prior.

The word wicked originally stems from the 12th century wick, meaning

bad or false, which itself is the adjectival use of the Old English wicce, relating to witchcraft. Wick-ed.

If you look closely at the use of wicked in the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, sometimes the word implies an inherently negative quality of an action or actor, and sometimes it implies the negative intention of an actor.

Thus, sometimes human nature is described as wicked regardless of intention (as in the BCP absolution paralleling it with our sinful human nature), while sometimes the nature of spiritual beings is described as wicked because of their evil intent (as in Luke 11 when the exorcised demon returns with his morewicked buddies to trash the clean house).

These two uses are both persistent and reflect a more general tendency that humans have of

attributing agency to a person or thing, even if the thing to which we are attributing agency is an inanimate object.

We are wired this way because it is helpful for our survival; it has been said that, It is safer to mistake a rock for a bear, than to mistake a bear for a rock.

Thus, throughout human history and up until the present day, people tend to interpret events and circumstances that affect them as the work of spiritual forces of either good or evil, depending on how they have been affected.

This is the human tendency that led to the witch-hunts in the European Middle Ages.

Something negative happens to someone at the power-centre of the community, while someone at the margins gets blamed for it, even if Continued on page 3

Published by the Dioceses of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Qu’Appelle.

Published monthly except for July and August.

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The Saskatchewan Anglican

February 2018

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What is God calling you to do?

By Bishop Rob Hardwick

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ometimes we hear that some people have a “calling,” that God showed them that He wanted them to be a missionary, or a minister, or a nun. The calling was clear, the steps they needed to make were clear, so they took them and now they have a vocation.

However, for others, it is not that clear. Yes, there may be a sense that God is calling, calling them to something, but they still have to discover what that something is.

Struggling with a sense of call lends validity and depth to any ministry that follows in its wake.

Even if the struggle ends in the knowledge that there has not been a call in the particular ministry you first thought of, the struggle, at the very least, lends integrity to one’s life.

For those who test vocations, we would do well to note the phrase ‘not as we judge.’ In God’s search for a leader, the story from the book of Samuel reminds us that in matters of discernment, God’s criteria are apt to be different from ours: “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘I do not judge as a person judges. Men and women look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7, Today’s English Version, TEV).

After seven interviews, Samuel, the OT equivalent of the ACPO assessors panel, was still batting zero. “Do you have more sons?”

Jesse did, but David seemed such an unlikely candidate.

“There is still the youngest, but he is out taking care of the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:11, TEV). The call goes out to this youngest son and the Lord says, “This is the one. Anoint him” (1 Samuel 16:12, TEV).

God is a God of surprises and reversals, and, as the psalmist expresses it, God has often “given us wine that makes us stagger” in astonishment (Psalm 60:4, New English Bible, NEB).

It has always been that way, especially in the area of Christian leadership: “... God chose what is foolish in the world,” says Paul (1 Corinthians 1:27-28), “to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are ... .”

The story in Samuel ends, “Immediately the spirit of the Lord took control of David and was with him from that day on” (1 Sam 16:13), “… and was with him from that day on.” To what is God calling you?

One thing is clear, God believes in you, and has a magnificent plan and glorious mission for you.

All He needs from you is a humble and contrite heart, a bit of faith, a dependent spirit, a desire to be faithful, and your availability. God will provide the rest.

Recently, as I was reflecting on the nature of call, I was drawn to read again the Church of England report, The Mission and Ministry of the Whole Church.

The report looks at all ministries but has a particular emphasis on one such ministry, a ministry often overlooked, dismissed or, in some dioceses and provinces around the world, simply viewed as a transitional stage on the way to other vocations.

The report encourages the Church to locate the diaconate more centrally in the overall mission of the Church and thus correct prevailing assumptions.

The report states that those called to ordained ministry should be encouraged to consider their calling to the “distinctive permanent diaconate as a full and equal order.”

It even suggests those whose call is to the priesthood should consider taking the opportunity to serve longer as a deacon in order to engage in this primary missional and liturgical office

before ordination to the priesthood.

Within many Roman Catholic and Anglican circles the distinctive calling of the vocational diaconate is being renewed and encouraged across our denominations, an interest that has prepared the way for an upcoming international conference on the diaconate at Campion College, Regina, May 10 to 13 (conference booking on the Diocese of Qu’Appelle website).

With gratitude for the financial support given by our respective national governing bodies, the conference is also co-sponsored by the Anglican Diocese of Qu’Appelle and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina through their joint AnglicanRoman Catholic Covenant Implementation Committee.

Deacon Michael Jackson, from St. Paul’s Cathedral, an author himself on the diaconate and the longest-serving deacon in the Anglican Church of Canada, has invited an amazing team of presenters from around the world.

These people will stimulate our thinking and practice of this most ancient of Holy Orders. I hope you will consider attending.

Maybe God is calling you to the diaconate? At the very least, please pray this Lent for the calling forth of deacons, priests and lay ministers that the Church needs for its mission and ministry.

As the report makes clear, it will take the combined efforts of all in the mission to which God is calling the Church.

... Christ defeated The Fall and the death it brings Continued from page 2 the accusation requires attributing malicious intent and magical powers.

Now, I don’t think F. Scott Fitzgerald was necessarily intending to redefine wicked for the purpose of helping the plight of women accused of being witches.

But when we use terms like this that are loaded with meaning and history, it is important that we understand them well.

That is why a word such as wicked is so valuable in a liturgical setting.

Liturgical language provides a springboard to all sorts of catechetical conversations that can weave this sort of historical nuance and education into them.

It provides a living connection to the tradition; renewing, enriching, and grounding our ongoing language use.

It also begs for a deeper

understanding from the most lethargic 8 a.m. service attenders. But on top of all these benefits, I like the to use the word wicked in liturgy for the same reason some use profanity in conversation: the shock value.

I don’t mean shock value for the sake of shock value.

I mean it pedagogically – that there is no other way to communicate the gravitas of what that word represents.

That there is something so evil within the depths of our nature, whether we’re aware of it or not (usually not), that it should shock us and instill in us a type of fear only reserved for an evil spiritual agent.

The brief glimpses we are gifted with of our basest intentions should so scare us that we are driven to our knees in devout contrition before a Holy God. For the degree of our personal piety is

always and directly tied to the degree of our personal contrition.

What has made us wicked? The Fall. Now it needs to be said that The Fall is a spiritual narrative and not an historical one. It is a narrative that was tried, tested, and evolved against the human experience of countless generations through which it was, at first, passed orally.

It testifies to human culpability and the most primeval human experiences of being vulnerable people in a vast and threatening cosmos, a force only beat back through blood, sweat, and tears before we are finally consumed by our toil.

The Fall frames this experience with the reassurance God means for us to experience hope, peace, joy and love, and that He Himself is working to bring the cosmos, and

us humans as a part of it, to this intended state.

Turning against our wickedness, or to use another loaded term, our repentance, is the most fundamental form of toil to which we are called in this fallen cosmos.

Repentance means to make a 180-degree turn away from the advancing force of the fallen cosmos and fleeing from it. For in and of ourselves we are powerless to overcome The Fall and the advancing death it brings.

Our only hope lies in a Messiah who has defeated The Fall and the death it brings. Once the power of His Incarnation, Life, Death and Resurrection is manifest in our lives by faith and through the Holy Spirit, the sting of The Fall is removed, and our toil becomes part of the advancing Kingdom of our Lord against the retreating powers of

darkness.

Therefore, as much as I highly value the BCP’s use of the word wicked, I do think that in one way the BCP sometimes follows too closely a medieval excess of motivating fear. It sometimes resists accepting that our confession results in forgiveness, even when that confession is followed by a priestly absolution!

Specifically, I would note how in the service of Holy Communion we encounter the Eucharistic Prayer of Humble Access after the Absolution.

While our wickedness is to be acknowledged and confessed, part of accepting the gift of forgiveness should also be a kind of liturgical repentance, turning from contrition to powerful celebration.

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The Saskatchewan Anglican

February 2018

Participating in lessons and carols and choir events

By Rev. David Nevett BEECHY (Qu’A) – On the second Sunday of Advent, people gathered at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, Beechy, for the traditional Festival of Lessons and Carols.

The evening service was led by Eleanor Taylor, with Sylvia Haugen as organist.

Lessons were read by individuals from the village and surrounding area: a representative of the Beechy United Church, a constable from the Kyle

Detachment of the RCMP, the reeve of the R.M. of Victory, a board member of the Beechy Personal Care Home, a representative of St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church, a staff member from the Beechy Health Centre, the mayor

of Beechy, the Beechy fire chief, and Harvey Haugan, representing churchwarden Sylvia Haugen.

The Festival of Nine Lessons with Carols was first drawn up in 1880

by Edward Benson when he was bishop of Truro, England, for use in that cathedral. In 1918 the service was adapted for use in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, by the Dean, Eris Milner-White, who wrote the bidding prayer and the blessing. ***

By Heather Brownell REGINA – Members and

friends of the Living Spirit Centre in Regina sang at the 77th annual Rotary Carol Festival at Knox Metropolitan United Church in early December.

The Living Spirit Centre is home to three congregations: St. Philip Anglican, Eastside United, and Bread of Life Lutheran.

All three congregations were represented in the Living Spirit Centre Choir.

The Rotary Carol Festival features choral groups from Regina and area and has evolved into afundraiser supporting local charities. With a goal of $15,000, the Rotary's share purchases Christmas hampers.

Happy birthday, baby Jesus

Another successful Christmas day camp was held Dec. 2 at the Church of the Ascension in Arborfield, with 14 children and six adults in attendance. The day opened with prayer and music. A progressive Emoji Christmas skit was performed scene by scene during the day. A Christmas poem based on Luke 2:11 was read

by Alice Carpentier, accompanied by Mary Ann on the guitar. The children also enjoyed two crafts during the day. Shauna Bitzer and Shirley Hoiland provided a kid-friendly lunch of pizza buns and fresh vegetables. Brenda Edwards and junior leaders helped organize games and puppet shows that stressed the importance of always keeping Christ in Christmas. The afternoon concluded with a birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus.

Photo by Alice Carpentier

Rev. Dale Gilman inducted

Flanked by Archdeacon Trish McCarthy and Bishop Rob Hardwick, Rev. Dale Gilman was inducted on Dec. 3 in Nehiyawe parish, a parish she served from 2000 to 2005.

Photo courtesy Diocese of Qu'Appelle

DIOCESE OF SASKATOON

Announcements for February 2018 g Saskatchewan Anglican online! You can read current and past issues of the Saskatchewan Anglican online on the Diocese of Saskatoon website or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/saskatchewananglican. g No news is not Good News!

Is your parish planning an event, fundraiser or has it already held one and has something to report?

Well, don’t keep it to yourself!

Your news and upcoming events are “Good News” to us all and the news of your planned activities and their successes can help put your parish and its activities in the news and perhaps give additional people the chance to consider supporting them! g New Opportunities for Discipleship Training in Saskatoon St. Brigid's School of Discipleship: The Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon is pleased to announce the creation of St. Bridget’s School of Discipleship.

St. Brigid’s offers short, practical, and accessible classes designed for all levels of Christian discipleship, from testing the waters, through lay readers’ training, all the way to our

locally trained clergy program for deacons and priests.

We also provide diocesan-wide rites of passage preparation courses, advanced spiritual care training and theological reflection, and continuing education events for clergy.

St. Brigid’s provides training for local church renewal, by our local church, by drawing on our own in-house talent and resources.

St. Brigid’s is a school without walls; by offering classes for discipleship training in local parishes throughout our three deaneries, we cut down on your amount of commuting and bring the school to you instead.

St. Brigid’s is dedicated to prayer and worship; we are committed to worshipping together, listening for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and looking for ways to serve Christ in our communities.

Courses and services are free of charge and sponsored by the diocese.

For more information, please email the Rev. Canon Shawn Sanford Beck at greenpriest@ hotmail.ca or call the diocesan

synod office at 306-244-5651. g Native Ministry in Saskatoon: St. George’s Anglican Church (624 Ave. I South) provides a monthly Anglican Native Ministry Service.

The service is held in the church hall at 1 p.m. with soup and bannock then at 2 p.m. a Eucharist and sharing circle that is led by Rev. Denise McCafferty and others.

“We look forward to feasting and saying prayers with you to our Lord and Creator; please notify your friends and family and plan to attend this gathering.” g Celtic service begins in Saskatoon: A new Celtic service has begun at St. George’s, Saskatoon (624 Ave. I South).

Services are held every Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Come and join us to share in a time of ecumenical Christ-centred meditation, communion and perhaps a bit of Celtic music, followed by a time of tea and community.

Each night’s service format will be adjusted as the spirit moves us. g Community Coffee House The Parish of St. George’s,

Saskatoon, every Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Join them for a warm social time with coffee, tea, toast and some type of baked goods at no charge.

The coffee time is followed by a weekly Bible study from 11:00 a.m. to noon.

Both events are in the Parish Hall, 624 Ave. I South. g Seniors’ Lunch in Battleford: The Friendship Committee of St. George’s, Battleford invites all seniors to join them for lunch the first Monday of each month until June. Each Seniors’ Lunch begins at noon.

Deadline To be included in a timely manner, brief notices should be sent to the Associate Editor by e-mail or “snail mail” by the last week of the month, two months before the month in which insertion is desired (for example, December submissions will be in the February issue).

Detailed and longer texts of upcoming events will not be included here, but should space allow, could be the subject of article and notices elsewhere in the paper.

The Saskatchewan Anglican

Spiritual formation and practice By the Rev. Dr. Iain Luke Principal, College of Emmanuel & St. Chad

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ears ago, in a previous job, I worked on a curriculum for parish team training. The teams were responsible for the big picture of ministry in their parish, with or without a rector. Ministry wasn’t just what the team did, but what all the members of the church were doing, as they put faith into action, serving God and their neighbour.

I wanted the curriculum to be both practical and manageable, so I divided it into six general areas of ministry. The first three were easy. Worship, Christian education, and pastoral care, are the core ministries that keep the heart of the parish beating.

The other three were more of a challenge.

Everyone understood outreach as serving their community, though not everyone wanted to do it,

or could imagine what it would involve.

That was even more true with evangelism, sharing the faith we have in words and actions. The first time I mentioned the E word to a team, one woman reacted immediately, “We’re not having any of that in my church!”

The sixth category was the most elusive. Once you list the rest of the tasks of ministry, there is still something left over. It’s basic to our understanding of a faith community and our sense of being salt (or yeast) in the world.

It doesn’t really have a

name. The best I could do was to call it, “Helping one another to grow spiritually.”

In our college program, we describe this as Spiritual Formation, but I don’t think the phrase, or the capital letters, quite do justice to what I really mean. It’s not about showing people how to be Christian.

It’s not about leaders giving directions to followers. It’s about connecting with, and serving, all the ways in which our neighbours experience the world spiritually, whether or not they describe those experiences in the language of God or religion.

Sometimes, for clergy, this is an impossible task.

There is still enough residual memory of religion in our society that people know, or think they know, where we’re coming from when we wear the clergy collar.

I’ve lost track of the number of times nonchurch people start with the assumption that I am

DIOCESE OF SASKATCHEWAN

Stella Jones, Order of Sask. recipient, always there for family and friends

By Mary Brown CHRISTOPHER LAKE (Skwn) – In 2002 Stella Jones received the Order of Saskatchewan through a nomination from the parish of St. Christopher’s Church, Christopher Lake.

Stella and her husband, Blake, now belong to the parish of St. Andrew’s, Shellbrook. This past year they celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary.

They have three boys and one girl, 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Stella was the youngest child and only girl, with seven brothers.

As her brothers left the farm for the army and work, it was up to Stella to care for her invalid brother and help her parents on the farm. Her father said she was the best son he had!

Stella had quite a reputation in Christopher Lake as a stripper and a hooker! She helped strip the logs for the church and helped hook chains around

going to try to mould them into my version of spirituality. I don’t blame them, there’s a lot of history there!

But that same history contains plenty of wisdom and insights into the human condition and its spiritual dimension.

We wouldn’t be credible, or true to our origins, if we tried to live our faith without acknowledging the spiritual reality of people all around us. So, it’s still a vital component of ministry, both for clergy and congregations, to learn how to “help one another to grow spiritually.”

One big focus for this work is spiritual practices.

These are things we do that exercise our spiritual core. While the focus on “doing something” speaks to our cultural environment, spiritual practices are often intensely counter-cultural.

Perhaps the most obvious example is to do something by choosing to do nothing. Silence, rest, retreat, contemplation, sabbath keeping, are all practices that remind us we are not simply defined by the things we do.

There is a deeper reality to who we are, which may only come out to play when we give it the time and space provided by silence and rest. Other examples throw cultural trends into reverse. Fasting and almsgiving each get a mention later this month,

February 2018

in our Ash Wednesday services.

This isn’t because food or money are bad, but because there is something more to who we are, which gets buried under all the ways we use the good things of creation.

So, we set aside those good things for a time, in order to rediscover who we are underneath.

There’s another, less obvious, kind of spiritual practice, one that connects people together in order to discover the reality of who we are in one another’s presence. Hospitality to the stranger is a sacred part of how most monasteries organize their life, because it is such a powerful reminder of the sacredness of “the other.”

Practices like this require a little thought to translate into modern terms. Travelling, in order to learn about oneself and other people, can be a spiritual practice.

Volunteering has the potential to change who you are, as you come into relationship with the people with whom you work. Feasting together, whether at a holiday meal or a soup kitchen, highlights the sense of community in which our spiritual nature finds fulfilment.

We study these practices, not out of arcane interest, but because they are a vital and sometimes missing element of life in the 21st century. As Lent begins, what will you do to enable the people around you to grow spiritually?

Sharing Christmas in the community

Stella Jones with her well looked after husband, Blake.

Photo by Mary Brown the trees to log them.

She has always been there for her family and friends and has always

looked after people.

She now looks after her husband Blake, for her a labour of love.

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At noon on Christmas Day, St. George’s Saskatoon held its third annual Christmas potluck dinner for members of the parish and the surrounding community. More than 90 people attended, enjoyed and shared in the Christmas warmth of community and the abundant and varied foods.

Many attending also took home plates and containers of food. St. George’s also distributed 16 hampers of Christmas groceries and decorations to individuals and families in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Photo by Rev. Peter Coolen

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The Saskatchewan Anglican

February 2018

Double Belonging

Ecumenical growth an internal and external process

By Rev. Marie-Louise Ternier Editor’s note: Rev. Marie-Louise Ternier, an Anglican priest, serves the Anglican and Lutheran parishes in Watrous. This column is co-published with the Prairie Messenger.

Marie-Louise blogs at http://graceatsixty. wordpress.com.

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n the past 50-plus years, many ecumenical agreements have been published by a variety of bilateral dialogue groups at national and international levels.

But for the most part these remarkable texts are similar to unopened Christmas presents, left on library shelves and in church archives. Rarely do they trickle down to the people in our churches.

In our small prairie town of Watrous we wanted to change this. So it was that in six sessions Lutherans, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics (LARC) dove into the document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, published in 2007 by the International Anglican – Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, or IARCCUM. It was no small task.

While everyone kind of knew each other in this small community, rarely had they had occasion, or permission, to share their faith at this personal a level. Moreover, the brave souls who participated felt initial hesitation and inadequacy in engaging such a comprehensive document, full of theology and history.

But the beauty of breaking open the text in community soon became evident; engaging the text together replaced apprehension with curiosity

Correction There was inaccurate information about a picture in the January edition of the Saskatchewan Anglican. In the article entitled Wearing vestments reminds us to put on Christ, the picture of Deacon Michael Jackson should have said he is wearing a dalmatic – the deacon’s vestment – and not a chasuble, which is a priest’s vestment.

We regret the error.

and openness, surprise, humour and more questions!

The discovery that the similarities between our traditions far outnumber the differences lifted many spirits.

The realization that each tradition has made past exclusive truth claims, thus dismissing other denominational expressions of the Gospel, now caused a good deal of liberating laughter.

On the other hand, some learning sparked shock, embarrassment and even anger: “I am shocked and embarrassed to learn that Rome does not recognize Anglican and Lutheran ordinations,” a Roman Catholic participant lamented.

Participants admitted struggling with old stereotypes of the other:

“A challenge for me was trying to get past what was instilled in me as a child.” Yet, even to voice this struggle, daring to be vulnerable, resulted in deeper understanding and closeness in the group.

A Lutheran participant noted, “The written material made very clear the reasons for the diversity between the Catholic Church and

the Lutheran/Anglican churches.

“In the Lutheran church we recognize Mary as the mother of Jesus. I wasn’t aware of the extent to which the Catholic Church places Mary in their faith.”

One general sentiment was the group’s previous ignorance of ecumenical dialogues that have been taking place at national and international levels between our respective bishops and theologians for the past 50 years.

Participants felt left out, asking why they were not informed of these developments years ago. This led to a discussion about the notion of reception and the arduous process this can be. One participant noted rightly that an ecumenical vision by local pastors is crucial for making the fruits of ecumenical

dialogue and agreements available and accessible.

This ensures they can be examined and embraced by the people in the pews whose lives are directly affected by these achievements.

The most salient parts revolved around the Eucharist. Lutherans and Anglicans had trouble understanding why Rome limits sharing the Eucharist and how that can be justified from Scripture. Catholics were surprised to learn that Rome asks them to refrain from sharing Holy Communion in an Anglican or Lutheran Eucharist. By the time we explored this sensitive subject, however, mutual affection lead one Anglican to say to a Continued on page 7

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The Saskatchewan Anglican

February 2018

7

DIOCESE OF QU’APPELLE

Bishop preps task force for marriage canon conversations

By Jason Antonio REGINA — During its most recent meeting, Diocesan Council instructed Bishop Robert Hardwick to strike a task force to help with the consultation process of discussing the marriage canon at every level of the diocese, especially at the parish level and regions.

The bishop will appoint a small group of less than 10 people, giving possible consideration to a crosssection of individuals with various skills such as canon law, theology, culture, and possibly one clergy person from each archdeaconry.

While Diocesan Council made several suggestions for the task force's makeup, it was agreed that Bishop Hardwick would have final say as to who would form the group.

The bishop was expected to have a group put together by the end of January.

During discussions, the bishop explained a process needs to be put in place since the Council of General Synod (COGS) has sent information to

dioceses about this issue and wants to hear back what dioceses are doing and their particular process.

Hardwick noted the process for the Diocese of Qu'Appelle would be a small task force would come back to Diocesan Council in March to facilitate the mechanism and possibly explain how things will unfold.

The task force could also report back to Executive Council about how things are unfolding, at the diocesan, regional and parish levels.

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, sent out a letter on behalf of COGS encouraging dioceses to engage in this discussion, said Hardwick.

"It's important that we as a council grapple with this (issue)," he added.

Rev. Nancy Yee distributes Advent goodie bags to some of the participants at the Women's Day of Advent reflection.

Photo by Joanne Shurvin-Martin

Taking a spiritual break to reflect on Advent

By Joanne Shurvin-Martin REGINA – Women from three parishes gathered on the first Saturday of Advent for a time of reflection. St. Philip hosted the event, with 16 women from St. James the Apostle and St. Matthew participating.

This included the three parish clergy: Deacon Rita Brann from St. Philip, Rev. Anne Marie MacNeil from St. Matthew, and Rev. Nancy Yee, intentional interim priest for both St. James and St. Philip.

The women responded to the invitation to prepare their hearts to receive

God’s promises, to take a spiritual break in this busy time and to learn how God’s handiwork makes each person special.

The day began with a brief welcome followed by potluck lunch, where tables were assigned by lot to encourage participants to meet new people.

Guided table discussion and fellowship followed lunch, then everyone moved upstairs for a meditation and reflection based on Psalm 139, which includes the phrases “knit in your mother’s womb” and “wonderfully made.”

MacNeil said many

women knit, crochet and sew. Just as individuals all have different creative gifts, their spiritual gifts also vary.

She said while it is good to try your best when creating things, “perfection is over-rated. Only God creates perfectly.”

Participants were invited to try various meditation activities, including colouring around Bible verses, making collages, and meditating with music in one of the chapels.

The day closed with Holy Eucharist, with a guided meditation led by Brann instead of a sermon.

... Ecumenical growth an internal, external process Continued from page 6 Roman Catholic: “Well, if God moves you to receive communion at our Eucharist, you can always go to confession after.”

The final session was characterized by a strong desire that this exchange not end.

Using the categories from Part II in the GTUM document (Joint Study, Visible Faith Expression, Cooperation in Ministry, Shared Mission) practical ideas were generated on how to continue to foster Christian Unity in our prairie town.

Some ideas included

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; joint services on fifth Sundays of the month; praying for one another in the Sunday intentions; mid-week services during Advent and Lent rotating churches; ecumenical retreats; sponsoring refugees; regular sharing circle; sharing Good Friday service and Way of the Cross; joint Bible studies; the list goes on.

Some of these are already happening. Now that we have encountered one another as sisters and brothers in Christ, there is no turning back.

The Saskatchewan Anglican

February 2018

8

Christmas Day potluck for the lonely By the Fort Times FORT QU'A PPELLE (Qu'A) — St. John’s Anglican Church in Fort Qu’Appelle hosted a Christmas Day potluck for residents who might have spent the day alone and wanted fellowship or who didn’t have the resources to make their own meal.

Roasted turkey and baked ham were provided, while attendees were encouraged to bring their favourite baked meat dish, casserole, vegetable, salad or dessert to share. Residents were even encouraged to attend even if they didn’t have a dish to bring.

“It’s been my experience that there’s a lot of elderly people in this community — and young people as well — who really don’t have any family or don’t have the resources to make a meal,” said organizer Gwenda Watson.

There was a Christmas Day community meal that was organized for the past three years, but one of the main organizers wanted to spend time with family in Edmonton.

The organizers, including Watson, had hoped someone would come forward to organizer the

Christmas Day community meal, but that didn’t happen.

Watson pointed out there is a manual with instructions about how to organize the meal. Residents and businesses also donated items, so running the event was simple, she said.

“We didn’t want to just leave it alone, (as) we thought there would be a number of people who would be alone,” said Watson.

“So, we thought have having a potluck.”

Someone had asked Watson what would happen if a mother with four children came with only potatoes, or nothing at all.

To handle that, the bakery cooked the turkey and roast ham for those who didn’t come with a dish.

“It’s reaching out to others who are not as fortunate as ourselves,” she said.

Watson becomes emotional thinking about being able to host the potluck meal. She finds it easy to organize such events, which brings joy to people who have little in their lives.

That is the true meaning of Christmas to share

with others.

As a Christian, Watson said it’s important for her to show she cares with both her words and actions.

“There are many blessings in this life,” she said.

“I grew up in a family where we did not have a lot of monetary things, but we were always surrounded by lots of people on Christmas and holidays.

“My mother would invite people new to the community to come and eat at our table.”

A drugstore donated small items for gift bags to be distributed during the Christmas meal.

Other residents knitted socks and mittens, which were then placed on tables for people to take if they needed them.

Christmas at St. Luke, Regina

St. Luke’s, Regina provided 17 Christmas hampers to families identified by the Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Balfour Collegiate Teen Parent Program. Fran Clarke packs one of the hampers.

Photo by Nigel Salway

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g Rev. Chris Dowdeswell has been appointed incumbent priest of Swift Current Parish.

His official appointment in this new position began Jan. 1, with an induction scheduled for Jan. 7. g Amanda Page joined the diocesan office staff as finance administrator on Jan. 1 and worked with Dragan Radivojevic during a transition period in January. Radivojevic’s role as finance officer ended Jan. 31. Page completed her business accountancy diploma at SIAST and is currently working towards a degree in business administration. g Rev. Mark Osborne, formerly serving the Parish of Estevan, has been appointed incumbent of Big Country Parish, effective Feb. 1. Big Country is a large fourpoint parish, centred on Kindersley.