Posted by stpauls on March 9, 2009 under Contributors, Webmaster Blog | 
We want to thank everyone who helped in the creation of our most successful fundraiser for Our House to date, held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church’s King Room on February 14, 2009.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church was instrumental in aiding us with this fundraiser. We have a lot of gratitude and appreciation for all the help and cooperation given by everyone involved. We raised enough money so we can help more addicts find a better way of life through the Our House program. The guests were very understanding and helpful, the speakers were astounding, and the food was delicious. The event not only raised money to further our dream in helping those less fortunate; also, it was to celebrate the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Our House program, and a cake, which was made by John Wilson, was presented to Norm Sharky in thanks for all his hard work.
We do not consider ourselves to be a Drug Treatment Centre or a Recovery Home. There are no health professionals or therapists involved. We are people who have found a way out of the drug world, into freedom. Our philosophy on freedom from drugs has been developed over the years, beginning in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1977.
The help we offer new residents is based on our own success with staying drug-free and happy, for periods up to and including 37 years.
We do not claim to have all the answers, but certainly enough answers to enable people to change if they wish to. We are self-supporting, with the assistance of social services and the sale of our book Sanity365.
We will be looking forward to seeing you all again at next year’s Our House fundraiser.
With All Our Gratitude, April Winsor & Roy Simeon
Posted by Priest on March 8, 2009 under Sermons |
“Noah!”
There was no reply.
“Noah!”
Again no reply.
“Noah!”
Finally, he heard the voice that was calling him. He put down the tools he had been using and started to listen. What he heard did not please him. I sometimes wonder whether he needed some convincing. But, in the end, he did as he was told. He went and cut down tree after tree and started to build an ark. A big ship, that is. He would go into the forest in the morning and cut the trees. At noon, he would stop for lunch, thanking God for the blessings of the earth, and then he would take the trunks, one by one, to the field next to his house, where he would split them and slowly, masterfully, put them together. He did not stop working when the sun had set, but continued working with the help of fires. He was up again before the crack of dawn, building his ark, or, better, God’s ark.
He had to work hard on his sons so that they would help him. They thought their dad was out of his mind. You know how parents are; once they pass a certain age, they cannot be trusted anymore: something stops working up here [pointing to head]. And Noah knew how children are; once they reach a certain age; they do not take any advice form their elders. They think the world belongs to them. Yet, Japheth, Shem, and Ham, although they just had started their own families, helped their father with whatever he was building in the field next to the house. They had to take quite a lot of heat from their wives and families.
Noah’s neighbours were not as kind as his family. In fact, they complained about the noise that could be heard even late at night. Noah and his family were the talk of the town. Even people in other parts of the province heard the jokes about Noah’s ark. Whenever Noah’s wife went to get cheese or fruit or flour for bread, people would stare at her, and, after she had left, the gossip would start: first whispered, then aloud, when Noah’s wife was out of earshot.
She had to endure quite a bit. But, over the years, she had started to become very fond of Noah. What should she do? She was wondering about the mental state of her husband, but Noah had been good to her.
In fact, when the other women were still talking to her, she had been astounded and shocked by the stories they had to share. All this pain and suffering! The forced sexual intercourse, the beatings, the affairs outside marriage, not to mention the affairs inside the families, the incest.
Noah’s wife had heard it all and she had felt the hurt and the agony of the other women, the hurt and the agony that cried to heaven. Some women would fight back. They, too, had affairs, beat their children, and took what they could get. Some even abused their husbands! And everybody was envious of everybody else. There was more greed than charity in those days.
Noah had tried to convince his neighbours to join him. He had opened his house to explain what was going on, but nobody would listen. So, Noah built his ark by himself; nobody outside his family would help. After putting the last beam in its place, he heated gallons of pitch and covered the ark with it. It was an impressive ark, three stories high. When he had finished he stepped back and looked with amazement at his work. But then he remembered: This was not his, but God’s. And he remembered God’s threat: One day soon God would send a flood that would cover all the lands and all the people and all the creatures that live in it. All? No, not all, because God also had promised that God would spare Noah’s family and a pair of each of the different animals of the earth and the air.
Noah called his family and they went inside the ark. Two by two, slowly and miraculously, the ark started to fill with the different animals of the earth and the air. When the last pair had entered, he closed the door to the ark – and the rain started to pour down. It rained, and rained, and rained, and when the ark lifted from the ground floating on the water, Noah felt safe. Forty nights and forty days, they were inside the ark as in a tomb.
And something tells me it was not an easy forty nights and forty days!
If we sometimes have problems with families, friends, or neighbours, imagine spending forty nights and forty days in confinement, with nowhere to go! And can you even imagine the smell?!
Those forty nights and forty days must have felt like an eternity in hell.
I bet there was a lot of quarreling and arguing. I bet every individual in the ark lived through dark, dark days. Every individual had to go through valleys of darkness, face the depth of their humanity, be covered by a flood of emotions, and be drowned by a night that did not seem to end. They had no idea what would happen and they were stranded on a fragile home, surrounded by a desert of water.
But God ended the flood. God lifted them out of the depths of the sea. God liberated Noah from the darkness to start all over again with these chosen few.
Noah did not look back. He left the ark behind. The forty nights and forty days in the darkness of the hull, in the darkness of their imprisonment, in the darkness of their all-too-human reactions and experiences, were soon but a distant memory of the past. When Noah was blinded by the colours of the rainbow, God promised to be with them for ever. No more flood. No more pain. No more darkness. The rainbow was God’s sign that the flood had ended, that their journey was fulfilled. Noah built an altar to God, who had spared them, who had maintained their lives even in the darkness, and who had given them another chance. And life began anew.
****
This is a familiar story for those who grew up in Sunday school. Yet, I believe it is not so familiar in the end – and not just because we live in one of the most secularized cities in Northern America. And it is a story that is timely in this season of Lent, not just because Lent, just like Noah’s time on the ark, consists of forty nights and forty days.
Lent gives us the unique opportunity to look at our lives and to listen closely, listen to God’s gentle nudging that reveals a reality quite different from the changes and chances of our world. In the busyness and hectic of our lives, Lent can be like an ark, a safe haven, where we can contemplate what separates us from God’s love, from the love of our neighbour, and from the love of ourselves – even when outside voices are calling us in different directions. And just like Noah and his family, we will have to face the darkness that comes with honest self-examination, a darkness that at times can seem bottomless and that at times seems to threaten our very existence.
In the safety of the ark, however, in the safety of a Lenten discipline, we can watch and we can wait. When we allow ourselves to be still before God, we will realize how God moves and works and remains victorious and never abandons us – even in the midst of a flood, even when the Tempter seems to overcome us, even when the darkness seems too dark to bear. And we can watch in stillness, with patience, embraced by God’s love in the safety of our ark as the waters of God’s flood drown the evilness that wants to harm us, drown the things in our lives that clutter our existence, disturb our peace, disconnect us from one another, and rejcet God’s love for our lives.
In the end, though, we shall step into the brightness of the rainbow. Once the diverse and colourful beauty of God enwraps us and penetrates us, we, like Noah, will build an altar and will be thankful to God. And then life will claim us fully again, showing us how to build and rebuild anew a life that reflects God’s glory, God’s love, God’s justice and God’s peace.
We can use this time until Easter, a time that is marked by texts that challenge and maybe even annoy us, to look at the voices and vices that want to hinder us from doing God’s work in the world, and from living into the beauty that God intends for us – and, with God’s grace, we can move beyond these things.
Lent is not about sackcloth, unworthiness, or guilt. There is no room for guilt in love and, as the beloved of God, we are never too unworthy, too puny, too corrupt, or too insignificant for God to rescue us from the deep of the flood. But Lent allows us to discover God’s second, God’s third, God’s one hundredth chance for us all. The rainbow of God is shining brightly. Even now. For us all.
[The Reverend Markus Duenzkofer delivered this sermon on March 8, 2009.]
Posted by stpauls on under Bible Readings, Webmaster Blog |
Mark 1:9-15 ~ Gospel reading for March 8, 2009
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Posted by stpauls on under Staff Blog |
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Posted by Priest on March 3, 2009 under Staff Blog |
At our Baptism, we commit to “persevere in resisting evil and, whenever [we] fall into sin, [to] repent and return to the Lord” (cf. p. 159, BAS).
“Being right with God and one another” is at the centre of what it means to be a Christian and a major focus at all times, not just during Lent. For many Christians, partaking of the sacramental rite of the “Reconciliation of a Penitent” (cf. pp. 166-172, BAS) has become a way of living into this aspect of the baptismal commitment. It can be an important tool in the ongoing conversion of life to God’s will. If you would like to learn more about this sacramental rite – or if you would like to give it a try in the season of Lent – please feel free to call the Rector Markus Dünzkofer at 604.685.6832 x14.
Posted by Priest on under Staff Blog |
Are you interested in being baptised, confirmed, or received into the Anglican Communion here in St. Paul’s Church in Vancouver? Lent has traditionally been used as a time to prepare baptismal and Confirmation Candidates. If you are interested in learning more about these opportunities of commitment to the Christian journey, please talk to the Rector Markus Dünzkofer at 604-685-6832, x14.
Posted by Webmaster on under Contributors, Webmaster Blog |
Article submitted by Linda Sklazeski
Where does one start to tell a story with no ending, a continuous love story, a continuous marriage, a continuous humble accompaniment to Christ, our King?
Well, it all started about a year ago, when April Winsor approached the church committee and announced about getting things together for a Fund Raiser for Our House to be held on February 14, 2009. She worked tirelessly getting things done, organizing, delegating, and teaching all of us about Commitment. She also was encouraging and making sure everything was going to be done right for the 32nd Anniversary of Our House.
Tasks included shopping for the roasts, the chickens, the veggies, the desserts, coffee, sugar, and cream, and the list goes on. It was all coming too quickly. On, Friday the 13th, which was not a bad Friday, but a good one, members from Our House came and started to put the decorations up. Others picked up the food and carried it to the church. Things were coming together and a camaraderie was building. Meanwhile, the life of Our House continued. Everyone had other commitments in their own lives.
The stage was set, the church’s tea cup-and-saucer settings were matched up for this occasion; knives, forks, and spoons were set out for the gala event, and wine glasses were precisely set above the knife and fork. The rickety tables were adorned with table cloths and sprinkled with little hearts; centrepieces were handmade out of red craft paper. Seventy-two placemats hosted seventy-two settings of dinnerware, cups, saucers, wine glasses, and napkins.
Red-and-white hearts were carefully cut out and tied to the ceiling pipes with care, to decorate and enhance the hall.
Our House was there early Saturday morning, February 14, preparing by hand the potatoes to be peeled, the salads to be prepared, the scallops, the chickens; on and on, it seemed. Dale Pleven helped Roy Simeon out with the wireless system, the projector and screen. And, I am sure everyone within a block radius of the church could smell the roasts roasting on Saturday, tantalizing us all. Were we ever going to get to eat? How selfish of me!
There might have been a few hiccups arising from working together, but around 5:00 p.m., we all held hands, breathing in slowly and exhaling slowly, praying out loud together to God.
It was that moment of intense awareness, the touch of the hands on each side of me, and then I had a “ting” (some people call it an epiphany; I call it a “ting”), when I realized about Our Hands. Our Hands that were doing everything that day: preparing, folding napkins, reaching out, hugging, lifting our hands to God, clapping, serving. And I think, as I write this: Our Hands Our House.
Then, it happened. Six o’clock had arrived. People started coming, one after another. Their eyes lit up when they were welcomed with a hug from a person from Our House, and then the party began.
Roy organized the sound through the computer and the slide show of Estevan and our house started. One by one, members of Our House got up to the podium and shared their stories with us.
Their stories were sad, but inspiring. Some who had been on the street in the West End of Vancouver were up front, telling everyone about the love that Our House has for them and their pride in being part of Our House.
Our House has shown us Jesus’ great commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” What more can one say about God’s gift of Our House to St Paul’s?
We truly are blessed by this gift.
I know that we are knitted together and, as in Markus’s sermon last Sunday, we cannot get along without one part of us. That part would be Our House.
Our House has shown us that we can work together, we can love together, and we can continue our Dance Together.
Posted by Priest on March 1, 2009 under Bible Readings, Staff Blog |
John 17: 20-24 ~ Gospel reading for March 1, 2009
Jesus prayed, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
Posted by stpauls on under Sermons |
The late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, in his Little Red Book, once described the post-revolutionary state as a machine in which every member is a part. Only the totality of the parts working with one another makes it function properly. When all come together, then the machine runs smoothly and the Revolution is a success. Yet, even the smallest grain of dirt within the system can jeopardize the triumph of the whole.
Sound familiar?
This sounds a lot like passages from The Letter to the Romans1 and from the First Letter to the Corinthians2, in which the apostle Paul describes the church, not as a machine, but as a body made up of all kinds of parts. These organs work together for the greater good of the body, for the mission of the church. Only if every “organ” plays her or his specific role does the body of Christ function properly, does the church live.
Similarly, Jesus’ prayer in today’s reading from John, underscores the point that one of the church’s main objectives is the unity among its members. Jesus prays, that we all may be one. For Jesus, the success of the mission of the church hinges on the members of the church coming together as a whole.
So, did Chairman Mao borrow from the apostle Paul? Is Jesus the original Communist?
Yes, there are scriptural passages that are indeed a radical challenge to our economic system; passages, in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Second Testament that lay out a very different way of doing business for the people of God; passages that emphasize justice and equality; passages, we might want to pay more attention to, not just because the current economic crisis profoundly questions the value of Capitalism and our greed for more. But, today’s gospel text cannot be used to advocate the overthrow of the market economy, despite all the injustices that cry to heaven. In addition, there is quite a profound distinction between Mao and Jesus, not just because the reality of Maoism is a far cry from the biblical vision of justice.
Mao and Jesus operate under rather divergent realities. For Mao, machines run only smoothly if all parts work. But if one part is faulty, just throw it out and replace it with a spare. This was the reality of the Cultural Revolution when uncounted Chinese were harassed, tortured, and killed. In the eyes of the Red Guards, these men and women had become defective, had become grains of dirt blocking the smooth running of the whole. They had become dispensable: they were thrown out – and replaced. In the end, the Red Guards believed that all are indistinguishable and all are replaceable.
John the Evangelist, however, wrote his gospel at a time, when the concept of replaceable spare-parts had not yet been invented. Machines did not come off conveyer belts. There was no automatized mass production. Each “machine,” each product was individually crafted. There were no spares, because each part was distinct, was unique. No two things were alike. They might have looked similar, but each part only fit into a certain larger whole.
This, of course, leads to a radically different understanding of the parts. Jesus prays for unity indeed, but it is the unity of unique individuals, who each matter and who each are irreplaceable in the eyes of God. Each part counts. Each organ is important. Each member of the body is needed. If one part suffers, the whole body hurts. If one organ is weighed down by sin, the whole body is hunched over. If one member dies, the whole body experiences this death. One cannot exist without the other. There is a mutual and an interdependent relationship between each individual part, each individual member on the one hand, and the whole on the other hand.
Of course, this goes not just for Jesus’ prayer. It is also a revelation of God’s will for the church as a whole, as it is for St. Paul’s Anglican Church.
Each member is important, each member counts. Everyone is a vital part of this body, whoever we are and wherever we find ourselves on the journey. Without one of us, the whole will not remain the same, will be un-whole. If one goes missing, their departure takes away from all of us, they can never be replaced. Equally, there are still many, many out there, who have yet to become part of us, who have not been able to join us, who have not even been invited to come and see, and whose absence makes us incomplete. We are still building this community. We are still not done, not finished with the end product. We are but a shadow of who we can be, who we are called to be. And the change that is immanent when new members, when newcomers finally claim the seat at the table that has been set aside for them, this change, as difficult as it might be, is but a growing pain, is but a growing into the full stature of who and what God calls us to be.
But this is not just a one-way road. Remember, there is a mutual and an interdependent relationship between the individual and the whole. Just as an individual can never be replaced, so the mission of the whole cannot be sacrificed for the needs of an individual. All are called to partake and participate. We are responsible one for another, each one of us is responsible for the welfare of the whole, each one of us is responsible for the mission of the church, each one of us is responsible for the ministry of this parish, each one of us, whoever we are and wherever we find ourselves on the journey. It is not just that many are missing in our life as a community of faith, but the life offered here in this sacred placed is also equally missing in the lives of many out there. And what are we willing to do to remain a light in the darkness? What are we individually willing to sacrifice to remain the salt of the earth? What are we individually willing to offer to remain a city on the hill? How are we individually to answer Christ Jesus’ call to be one with one another, as Christ is one with God?
Over the last year, we have seen changes in our parish, we have seen changes in our neighbourhood, and we have seen radical changes in the life of our society. But St. Paul’s has flourished and is alive in the Spirit. Many have come to this sacred place, hurting in body, mind, and soul, unclear and confused. Here, they have found welcome and openness, healing and salvation, direction and meaning:
- Together, we have broken bread and shared the cup, too many times to remember, thus proclaiming God’s overflowing and abundant love and creating communion with God and with one another.
- Together, we have prayed and worshiped, thus joining God in His gentle love song, which sings throughout time and space, from eternity to eternity.
- Together, we have anointed and prayed for healing right here, in homes, on the streets, in hospital rooms, and in nursing homes, thus claiming the healing power of God’s Spirit and incarnating God’s health for those who are hurting and downtrodden.
- Together, we have proclaimed forgiveness of sins in God’s name, thus relieving the suffering of souls and celebrating Jesus Christ’s redeeming purpose for us all.
- Together, we have been present with those who are dying, we have buried the dead, and we have comforted those who mourn, thus immersing ourselves and those captured by death in God’s abiding and endless care for all of us even beyond the grave.
- Together, we have sung praise and made a joyful noise3, thus joining the choir of Angels in their “Holy, Holy, Holy!”4
- Together, we have helped run and administer this parish, thus ensuring the presence of God’s welcome in the West End and in Yaletown.
- Together, we have read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested Holy Scripture5, thus discerning the movement of God’s Spirit among us and Her will for us.
- Together, we have proclaimed the Good News, when necessary using words (even a lot of words, at times), thus continuing in the faith and mission of the apostles and fulfilling Christ’s call to make disciples of all nations.6
- Together, we have adorned God’s sanctuary, thus highlighting the beauty of worship and the beauty of creation.
- Together, we have reached out to seekers and searchers, to the outcast and marginalized, to those wounded by the institutional church and those put off by formalized religion, to those on our streets and those high above our streets, thus making known God’s overflowing love for all people and living into God’s reign of justice and peace.
- Together, we have married and blessed relationships, thus joining in God’s delight in the sensual, sexual, mutual, stable, lifelong, and faithful love between two people, of whatever gender.
- Together, we have celebrated with each other, thus foreshadowing the heavenly banquet when God will be all in all.
- Together, we have connected to the community around us, thus seeking God’s presence even in the most unlikely of places.
- And last, but definitely not least, together, we have baptized and we have reminded ourselves of our baptisms, thus grounding our life and our ministry in the source of all life and in the end of all being: our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This parish is blessed with people: a wonderful staff, and wardens, a treasurer, a secretary, and members of the church committee, who are dedicated and hard working. And we are blessed indeed with a multitude of amazing ministers: you and I. Together, we have danced the dance of God’s love and we have danced beautifully and awesomely. We will continue to do so for the sake of all, whoever they are and wherever they find themselves on the journey.
But new challenges lie ahead of us:
- Together, we will strengthen our existing ministries and continue to live more fully into the baptismal covenant, so that we may continue to nurture our community here and the community beyond these sacred walls.
- Together, we will be intentional about being good stewards of our resources, both the immaterial and the material resources, both the blessing of human diversity and the gifts of talents, time and treasure.
- Together, we will tackle the financial challenges and listen to each others’ concerns, as the number of pledgers are shrinking, and as fewer and fewer of our members donate in identifiable ways to this parish.
- Together, we will look at our physical resources and we will engage in an action plan about our buildings that will grow our ministry, aid our mission, nurture our neighbourhood, and secure our presence for the future.
- And last, but definitely not least, together, we will prayerfully and communally discern our way forward as a parish. The Ministry Assessment Program, or MAP for short, is moving into a new stage that will require both our input and our willingness to engage with one another. Most importantly, however, MAP will provide us with tools to discover the movement of God’s Spirit among us and to find the next step on the journey that our triune God has put in front of us.
There is indeed a lot to do. But this is not so scary if we remember that this is all part of God’s plan to live into the beauty that God has already created in us individually and in us as a parish. And I, for one, think this is an exciting time to be part of St. Paul’s. Jesus’ prayer to be one remains a challenge and an opportunity, as it is already being fulfilled here in this place.
[The Reverend Markus Duenzkofer delivered this sermon and Rector's Report on March 1, 2009.]
Footnote 1~ Romans 12.4f,
Footnote 2 ~ 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Footnote 3 ~Psalm 100.1
Footnote 4 ~ Isaiah 6.2f
Footnote 5 ~ Collect for Proper 32, p. 391, Book of Alternative Services
Footnote 6 ~ Matthew 28. 19
Here is a wordle that Markus created out of the text of this sermon.
