Posted by Webmaster on October 25, 2009 under Contributors, Webmaster Blog | 
Stewardship prayer
I offer this day to you dear God.
Thank you for the blessings you have given me.
May I use these gifts to build your kingdom.
May my actions be a reflection of your Love.
May what I do today bring others closer to you.
May my words be kind and gentle and bring joy to others.
Today, Help me give back a portion of what you have given me.
I ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Why St. Paul’s?
Roy and I used to attend another church. It was friendly and spiritual. The problem was, it was very large and impersonal, and there was a very large congregation, so there was no chance of really getting to know someone.
Then we started attending St. Paul’s. Here we found a family: warm, caring, and easy to approach. We’ve really become attached to father Markus; he is very understanding and helpful.
Getting involved in the many different functions of the church has allowed us to really understand the meaning of the various aspects of the religion.
April Simeon
Posted by Webmaster on under Contributors, Webmaster Blog |
Strife, Life, and Each Other
These three have been with us (Roy and April) a long time, yet we didn’t know the difference between them. Allow me to explain. The words trouble, conflict, discord, contention, fighting, dissension, friction, and rivalry. These words all describe the strife that was in our lives; these things were so intertwined that we were having trouble finding each other.
When we first started coming to St. Paul’s we were received with open arms and understanding. I myself could physically feel the Love. In the time that we have been here, we have used the services of the church, the advocacy office, father Markus as an advisor, and all of you to talk to, complain to, and befriend.
Each time we come through these doors, another string in our lives straightens itself out, allowing us to get rid of the strife, and find God and each other, as well as our lives.
Since we have been coming here, our lives have improved immensely, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well.
I would Love this to continue for others; therefore, we will give of ourselves, our treasures and all of the Love that has been shown to us.
Roy Simeon
Posted by Webmaster on under Bible Readings, Webmaster Blog |
Mark 10:46-52~ Reading for October 25, 2009
Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Posted by Webmaster on October 18, 2009 under Sermons |
Some of you may be wondering what I’m doing up here. I certainly am! However, it seems to have happened.
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” These are the closing words of this morning’s Gospel reading. In the verses that follow, Jesus angers those same citizens of Nazareth that he had just impressed and is driven out of the city. He goes to Capernaum and teaches there on the Sabbath. And then comes a series of three stories of healing…with more to follow in the succeeding chapters. Healing, whether psychological, physical or spiritual comprised a large portion of Christ’s ministry on earth.
We have all heard and read for ourselves the stories of Jesus healing those who came to him. And we have heard the instruction to us to pray for one another.
At today’s service, we will experience the Sacrament of Healing, the anointing by a priest with holy oil. This beautiful liturgy reflects biblical command, ancient church tradition, and Anglican practice. In our minds, it can be connected with serious illness or the approach of death…but using this sacrament in what is otherwise a “normal” Sunday service is a step towards acknowledging that there are many different illnesses that seek to be healed. The physical is only a part of the story of healing here at St. Paul’s.
We also offer the ministry of healing prayer, or laying on of hands. It takes place at the 9:15 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. services over at the healing station in the corner by the Lady Chapel altar. I want to focus on healing prayer for a moment, because for me, and perhaps for some of you, this ministry is difficult to understand and often misunderstood.
One of the hurdles that Anglicans have to overcome is the manner in which we see healing prayer most often portrayed.
I grew up in the ’50s and a regular feature of my Sundays was the various evangelists and faith healers on the radio.
This evangelism was not “my religion.” My parents had become Episcopalians in their late 20s. Now my father may have chosen Anglican liturgy and Anglican theology…but it deeply, deeply annoyed him to admit that the Baptists had gotten all the best tunes! He loved gospel music…and radio religion was the easiest and cheapest regular source.
As a family, we went to Morning Prayer three Sundays a month and on the fourth we had Morning Prayer followed by Holy Communion. But then for the rest of Sunday there was a whole different sort of faith coming over the radio…a faith of intensely emotional spontaneous prayer and the call to “step forward and be healed.”
The church people I knew would never act like that. My parents prayed for their relatives and friends and for themselves in illness and trouble, but it was a private, personal act done in the seclusion of their bedroom or in a quiet moment when no one else was around. This radio stuff was embarrassing. My brother and I laughed at and did quite good imitations of the faith healers. We knew it was a “performance.” We knew it was, intentionally or unintentionally, a “fake.”
And for a large part of my life those radio evangelists and faith healers remained my picture of healing prayer.
Perhaps this suggests one of the big problems that we non-evangelical Christians and that society at large have with “healing prayer.” Many of us have subconsciously accepted the evangelical image, the evangelical way of healing through prayer, as the only way healing prayer can work. So we either dismiss it totally or accept it as a possibility…”but just not for me” without realizing that there are other possibilities.
Healing prayer, as it is practiced here, is quiet prayer involving just two people and God, at the healing station. It is a way that resembles something more like a “joint-meditation”…a meditation shared by three participants, the one requesting prayer, the one praying aloud and the One receiving the prayer, our loving God who is closely with us at that time. Any result may remain unseen, hidden to both human parties, but seeds have been planted that will grow: sometimes quickly, sometimes only after a long struggle. What the change will be we may not know at the time.
What is Healing?
And this leads me to what I feel is another aspect of our difficulty with healing prayer. What do we really dare ask for? How one defines “healing” is crucial. In the laying on of hands, the prayer is for “healing,” the “highest possible healing available” we might say. We acknowledge that healing may, but does not necessarily include a physical “cure.” Healing can happen in body, in mind, in the heart and in the soul.
Now often when I say this, especially to someone outside the church, I can see in their eyes what I always think of as “the big, flashing, neon sign that says: “What a Cop-Out!!!!” Their unspoken thought is: “Deep down inside you know that you can’t heal anybody, so you’re changing the definition! We all know that the real goal is physical healing. Healing of mind is what counselling’s for!”
Here again, a part of this kind of reaction may be that the public imagination accepts the evangelical healer as the definition of what healing prayer is and is meant to be. If the lame don’t throw away their crutches and walk, then healing didn’t happen. Healing of the spirit becomes a sort of runner-up prize that you “settle for” because you have to.
We need to step back and consider: If as Christians we believe that our ultimate goal is union with God, then spiritual healing suddenly becomes not just “the consolation prize,” but the deepest healing possible. The balance of the scales has changed.
Why do I need you?
And now, a third question: why do I need someone else involved in my prayers to God for healing? It’s similar to the question: why would I need a priest involved when I confess my sins to God and ask forgiveness? And the answer is up to you. Your conversation with God in both of these situations is a deep and personal one. But I know, from my own experience, that there can come a time when one is so hurt and tired and overwhelmed that a “conversation with God “ seems impossible. All the words have been used up. The well is empty. Having someone else to share your burden and to speak for you can seem like a really good idea…much better than just banging your head against the wall.
Within our church, healing can come in other forms; it can come through confession. It can come through “official/ identifiable ministries”: through the companionship and support of Our House, the quiet and meditation of the Labyrinth, or the helping hand of the Advocacy Office.
And yet, if you take another step back, the entire ministry of the church itself is healing. Everything the church does is in some way about healing. Healing is what God does for us…but healing is also what God does through us
At our baptism, our birth into the Christian life, we were all thrown into that great, big gene pool of possible practitioners of healing. We have received the potential by virtue of our baptism.
Members of the Healing Guild do not have “magic hands”; we do not have arcane wisdom or severe ascetic practices. We are…now, how can I put this nicely…we are every bit as screwed up as you are!
Healing may be carried out by each and every one of you both in recognized ministries and in your everyday lives. What you do and what you are can bring healing: to the world, to those you know and those you love, and to yourselves.
There are a lot of people out there hurting and in need.
To be a candle in that kind of darkness is to be a healer in anybody’s meaning of the word.
[As a member of St. Paul's Healing Guild, Jo Anne Tharalson delivered this sermon on October 18, 2009. Jo Anne will be awarded the Order of the Diocese of New Westminster at 4:30 p.m. on November 1, 2009 at Christ Church Cathedral. All are welcome at this special eucharist celebration.]
Posted by Webmaster on under Bible Readings, Webmaster Blog |
Luke 4:14-21 ~ Reading for October 18, 2009
Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Posted by Webmaster on October 13, 2009 under Contributors, Webmaster Blog |
Last week, each of you received a pledge form in your bulletin.
By having candid conversations with you about “What St. Paul’s means to each of us” and “Where the money goes,” as well as reminding you that it is an ongoing need, we on the stewardship committee are hoping to break the taboo Anglicans have about talking money in church.
We’d like to give you ideas on ways to help and pledging is one of them. I will admit that this will be my first year pledging money. Years past, I had a plethora of excuses why I couldn’t pledge more than my time and singing voice.
When I volunteered to chair this committee, Leslie Buck provided me with a few reports. One of them was on the giving patterns of our church. It mentioned a person who once pledged $14/month. It reminded me of the story of the widow who gave her last shekel and I felt shame.
I have no idea what this person’s situation is. Maybe they are a CEO of a large company living large, but my imagination says differently. I see a woman on fixed income; maybe she’s on disability or possibly CPP. I see her buying No Name instant coffee to have at home instead of going out, in order scrape together the $14 a month for the church.
It made me think: for all that St. Paul’s has given me, what have I given back? Yes, my time and voice, but in a way doesn’t that make me more responsible to come up with part of the money to pay Dianne’s salary?
So here’s the taboo. This is my situation, no imagination. Last year, the government told me I grossed $27,000 (and please give them $7,000.) This year, my business was hit by the recession. I know that I’m making less. I sat down and did some math. In one column, I put the amount I need to keep my business going and me in relative comfort; in another, what St. Paul’s means to me. I had to move things around in my budget and came up with $50. I am pledging $50 a month to St. Paul’s and if business picks up, I’ll top that up.
Throughout the month, other people will tell you what St. Paul’s means to them, why they are giving, and possibly one will be brave enough to share their situation with you. At the end of the month we will be hosting a couple of Harvest Dinners. There, if you still have questions, our trusty treasurer will explain why we need pledges and how to go about pledging without breaking the piggy bank.
When you go home, think about how much St. Paul’s means to you. Then look at your budget and see if there is any wiggle room to add to St. Paul’s fund.
If you want to share your story email me at Stewardship and, No, you don’t have to say how much you’re pledging.
Posted by Priest on October 11, 2009 under Sermons |
In last month’s newsletter to the parish, I wrote about gratitude (And if you didn’t receive the newsletter, please call the office to make sure you are not left out.) Of course, this was sparked by the closeness of Thanksgiving, which we celebrate today. And of course, our annual stewardship campaign, about which you will hear later in this service, has something to do with all this too. But I think the topic of thankfulness deserves to be spoken of often. As I wrote in the October newsletter:
Thankfulness isn’t just a response to something God has done. Thankfulness is a state of mind, is an attitude, is a way of life. … Yet, achieving this state of thankfulness takes practise, takes being intentional about our generosity.
End of quote.
Thankfulness takes practise.
But why? Why does it? Why is it that even important?
Isn’t it sufficient to just open our hearts, so we can experience how much God delights in us, how much the Creator values us? Isn’t it enough to trust Jesus who, in today’s Gospel-story reveals, “You are of more value than anything else”1? Isn’t it enough to just be here?
Well, it is sufficient to know of God’s love for us. And I know for many even this is hard to swallow, hard to accept. Far too many experience themselves as unlovable, unredeemable, rejected and abandoned by God and their fellow human being.
Nothing could be further from the truth, though! God does not abandon us. God’s all-encompassing, accepting, overflowing, abundant love reaches out to each and every one of us, to you and me, whoever we are and wherever we find ourselves on the journey. We are worthy of God’s love. God is like a lover, who seeks to reach out to her beloved, seeks to pull us out of our darkness, our misery, our lethargy, and our death, seeks to swoop us up for a love-dance that dances in ways beyond our imagination.
And when we follow God’s call of love, when we let it sink into our hearts and souls, then our lives will change. Nothing will remain the same. We will not just want to be passive recipients of God’s love. We will want to respond to God’s call to dance. We will want to dance along, dance through the morning, dance through the day, dance through the night, dance for the rest of our lives, dance even through our death into the promise of God’s resurrection. I believe when God’s love embraces us we will want to respond by being thankful.
Gratefulness, though, doesn’t come naturally. A life lived out of thankfulness is not something we do easily. We must practise the steps of gratitude so that we can indeed dance along for the long haul, so that we don’t stand still and wither away. It is through practise, and not through passive reception that we will discover more of the beauty that the Creator of all things intends not just “for the birds of the air”2; or “the lilies of the field,”3 but also for each and every one of us.
One way to practise our steps, to practise thankfulness is by being intentional about sharing our resources, sharing what we have in time, talent, and treasure. After all, all that we are and all that we have comes from God: Any form of donation of our life and labour only returns to God what rightfully belongs to the Lover of our souls in the first place. Good stewardship of our resources and considering the needs of others and of God’s church bring us closer to God as they help build God’s reign of love, peace, and justice.
But there is another way of practising the gratefulness we have for the divine love: We can practise thankfulness by sharing with others what we are grateful for – and do so in a way beyond the walls of our hearts: with a family member, with a friend, or with a colleague.
I am always amazed how willingly we share all kinds of things with one another. Facebook and other websites are full of information. But when it comes to sharing our gratitude for the love that is the source of our lives we easily become shy and embarrassed. And it is hard… I know, because I am no better. In fact, I do get nervous about thinking of myself as somebody who shares publicly what has touched me so deeply inside. I get a little embarrassed as I was thinking about sharing the gratitude I have for God’s love for me. Yes, we all need practise!
But, here I am on this Thanksgiving Sunday. And I will give it a try. I will give it a try by sharing with you a couple of stories that do make me thankful. So, here it goes:
The most senior clergyperson of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, recently travelled to the Holy Land. He had been invited by the Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem, who is our Anglican partner there. Bishop Suheil Dawani of Jerusalem took Fred to Gaza, a place filled with pain and injustice. The reason for this portion of the trip was this: A few months back, in the midst of a fierce outbreak of the conflict between the peoples of the Holy Land, as rockets, bullets, and missiles were flying, the Bishop of Jerusalem called out for help from his Anglican sisters and brothers. And Anglicans responded from all around the world and also from our diocese. Within weeks we were able to raise over $70,000 to support the Anglican hospital in Gaza.
While at the hospital, Fred met an Anglican staff member, a woman, one of a very few Anglicans left in the Gaza strip. When others had decided to leave, she had remained behind, faithfully serving the people of Gaza, whatever their religious background. Because of the travel restrictions, she had been cut off from her faith community: there was no Anglican Church, no Anglican priest, no Anglican worship service. However, there still was an Anglican chapel in the hospital. This was the only place of sanctuary left for this woman. The only time she could receive the sacrament was when a travelling Anglican clergyperson would visit the hospital – a rare and cherished occasion.
Of course, Fred was willing to do just that: to celebrate communion with his fellow bishop, with their respective staff members, and with this faithful Anglican woman. They gathered up some bread and some wine and made their way to the chapel. The chapel, however, had been shelled and there was rubble and debris everywhere. Yet, miraculously, the altar had been untouched, had survived the ferocious attack. Archbishop Hiltz moved to the altar and spread the corporal, the linen that represents the death cloth of Jesus. And together they celebrated communion. They remembered Jesus’ death. And they celebrated the feast of life, remembering also Jesus’ resurrection. In the midst of death and chaos, among suffering and pain, bread was broken, the cup was shared, and all were made one with Jesus the living Christ.
Did this celebration move mountains and end the violence and the injustice? No. Or I should say, not in a way that could be experienced right away with human eyes.
But hope shone forth and love touched each of their hearts. And God’s love-dance goes on – for the sake of this woman, for the sake of those she serves and in whose lives she makes a difference, and God’s love-dance goes on for the sake of those who hear of God’s faithfulness in a place that despite the appearance has not been abandoned by God.
I celebrate this story for the witness of the church. And I am thankful. Thankful for what our diocese has done in Gaza, thankful for Anglicans ministering in places of unrest and terror, thankful for the ministry of the Bishop of Jerusalem and our own primate, and thankful for this unnamed Anglican woman.
Well, this wasn’t so difficult, right?
Yet it’s not so easy to share when it comes to our own stories. Sharing about global encounters can be a first step. They can be a practise to move us into sharing the gratefulness of our own lives. And maybe sharing these bigger stories first, allows us to also think about our own lives.
So, let me share another story, a story a little bit closer to my heart. And I share this story not to make me look good or to seek your compassion for me. I am not fishing. Truth is: My life is as broken and as fragile as yours. And my life is as loved and as affirmed by the Creator as yours. And maybe this story will give you courage to think about your own stories, stories that will make you thankful.
I became an Anglican in the midst of my theological studies. Changing denomination is never easy. It always creates havoc. In my case, to become an Anglican I had to give up the security of home, language, culture, and family. Yet, I was happy to do it, because Anglicanism had given me life in ways I had not experienced before. I believe the fathers and mothers of the English Reformation were inspired by God in a particular way, as they celebrated with gusto God’s love and compassion for creation and God’s coming into our flesh in Jesus to walk our ways, to speak our words, to embrace us with human arms, and to heal us in body, mind and soul. Of course, this was enough of a reason to leave Germany…
… until I ran into a major stumbling block in my ordination process. It is a complicated story, one too long to tell from the pulpit on a Sunday morning. Let me just say this: it had nothing to do with anything particular I had done. But it had to do with cultural issues, with issues surrounding who God created me to be, and with my inability to translate my sense of God’s call into a language understood by the assessors.
When I received the negative letter from the Bishop, I was devastated. I plunged into a deep, dark hole. There seemed to be no way forward. I was cut off from my homeland (or so it seemed) and I was cut off from the church I had chosen (or so it seemed too). I was surrounded by a devastating void… until I decided to fly to Cambridge, Massachusetts to be with the brothers of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, a monastic order for men in the Episcopal Church.
When I arrived, I was taken in. I was nurtured and affirmed. I was surrounded by prayer and by care. I was supported and comforted. I experienced the celebration of the Eucharist in a way that restored my soul and my confidence. I wasn’t just “attending.” Centred in who God called them to be, the monks pulled me into their midst, so that the light of Christ could shine on me even more brightly. And God embraced me, lifted me out of my darkness and placed me again among God’s people.
To this day I am grateful in ways defying words to the brothers. And, more importantly, I am grateful to God, who is so present in this monastery and who, I now know, had never given up on me – and never will.
Phew!
Yes, this was difficult. It isn’t easy to share something personal so publicly. It is hard. But on this Thanksgiving Day it makes sense. It makes sense to remember and celebrate why I am here and, more importantly, to celebrate my thankfulness to God. Of course, there are many, many more stories. And I bet you have tons of stories too.
So, here is my challenge for you today.
In the coming week, take courage and share with someone a story that shows your gratitude for God’s love for you. I know it seems like a very un-Anglican thing to do. But it really isn’t. It isn’t, because as Anglicans we celebrate, yes, celebrate with gusto God’s love for us. And we should all be part of this celebration – even on weekdays, between Sunday services.
1 Matthew 6:26
2 Ibid
3 Matthew 6:28
[The Reverend Markus Duenzkofer delivered this sermon on Thanksgiving Sunday, October 11, 2009.]
Posted by Webmaster on under Bible Readings, Staff Blog |
Matthew 6:25-33 ~ Reading for October 11, 2009
Jesus said, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What will we eat?’ or `What will we drink?’ or `What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Posted by stpauls on October 10, 2009 under Webmaster Blog |
Challenges for the church in a post-religious culture
Keynote:
Dr. Patricia O’Connell Killen
Prof. of Religious Studies, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA
Kolin Lymworth
Founder and owner of Vancouver’s Banyen Books
Panelists:
o The Rev. Dr. Sharon Betcher, Associate Professor of Theology, VST
o The Right Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop, Anglican Diocese of New Westminster
o Dr. Patricia O’Connell Killen
o Kolin Lymworth
Moderator:
Douglas Todd – Writer on religion, The Vancouver Sun
Saturday, October 17, 2009
9:30 am – 3 pm. Bring your own lunch.
St. Laurence Church
825 St. Laurence Street, Coquitlam BC V3J 6G7
Parking available.
Pre-registration requested!
Carol Simpson: csimpson@vancouver.anglican.ca or call 604 684-6306 ext 212.
Cost: $15 per person; parish team of 5+ $10 per person
For more details: Paul Borthistle at pborthistle@vancouver.anglican.ca or for registration questions: Bettina at bgruver@vancouver.anglican.ca.
Posted by Priest on October 7, 2009 under Webmaster Blog |
Have you ever met an Anglican Franciscan friar? On Wednesday, 21 October, we will welcome Brother Robert, Society of St. Francis (SSF) as preacher at our 7:00 p.m. mid-week celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Brother Robert is a member of the SSF, a religious order of Franciscans in the Anglican Communion all around the globe.
From the Society of St. Francis site:
St. Francis was born in Italy into a wealthy merchant family in the town of Assisi. Through war, imprisonment, and ill health he discovered humility. Through dreams, revelations and insights, he discovered God’s calling for him.
