• Increased appreciation of the psalms when they are read in a worship service;
• Appreciation of the poetry in the Psalms alongside other spiritual poetry by St. Francis of Assisi and others;
• New bursts of creativity and access to creative self-expression through writing;Strengthened relationship with God and Christ;
• Discovery of practical tools for journal-writing and psalm-writing to accompany spiritual growth;
• The workshop leaders non-judgmental tone encouraging participants to express themselves through writing without judging themselves or others;
• Gathering together to learn in a circle and the surprisingly fast way that community is built between friends and strangers;
• A contemplative style of leadership that honors the movement of the spirit and entering into mystery as we approach God with our own new Psalms.

Saturday, June 8th, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
St Paul’s Anglican Church, King Room (Library)
Cost: $15
Register by phone at the Church Office at 604-685-6832 x10 or email office@stpaulsanglican.bc.ca

Ray has been a writer for the “Seasons of the Spirit” curriculum since 2005. He is author of Writing the Sacred: A Psalm-inspired Path to Appreciating and Writing Sacred Poetry (Northstone, 2005). His Psalm writing workshop, Writing the Sacred, is one of a menu of different writing workshops he teaches, along with prayer-writing workshops, journal-writing workshops for grief and loss, journaling for health and wellness, and poetry and nature walking workshops. Since 1999, he has taught across Canada and to churches in thirty-five states in the USA. When he is not away on tour, he usually worships at Christ Church Cathedral. For more information visit his website at www.writetotheheart.com

Bishop Michael Ingham announced today he will be retiring from his position on August 31st, 2013.

“The Diocese of New Westminster has been at the forefront of positive change in the Church for decades” he said. “From the ordination of women, to support for indigenous peoples, to the dignity of gay and lesbian Christians, to inter-faith dialogue – it has been a privilege to serve a Diocese living and growing at some of the leading edges of the Anglican Church of Canada.”

“Easter is a good time to look forward to the gift of new life both for myself, and for the Diocese.”

Bishop Michael said he was particularly pleased to announce the creation of two new initiatives in mission as his final act of leadership. One is a new ministry to Korean Anglicans to be located at St. Stephen’s Church in Burnaby. The other is a Filipino Anglican ministry to begin at Bishop Hills’ Memorial Church in Vancouver. Both will commence later this year.

The Bishop will attend the Canadian-African Bishops International Dialogue in Cape Town, South Africa, at the end of April.

He will preside over the regular annual Diocesan Synod in May (which will not be an electoral Synod), and will ordain two new deacons in June. The Bishop will lead the diocesan delegation to the General Synod in Ottawa in July.

Bishop Michael has served as the 8th Bishop of New Westminster since January 1994. He is currently the longest-serving active Anglican Bishop in Canada. He is the author of two books: Rites For a New Age (1985), and Mansions of the Spirit (1997), as well as numerous articles and essays in other books and publications.

Simon Fraser University will honour him with the Degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) in June this year.

He holds degrees of Doctor of Divinity from both the Vancouver School of Theology (1998) and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts (2009).

The process of the election of a new bishop, which is governed by the Canons of the Diocese, will commence at the April meeting of Diocesan Council. Chancellor George Cadman will advise the Council at that time on the next steps to be taken.

The Dean of the Diocese, the Very Reverend Peter Elliott, will, in accordance with Diocesan Canons, assume administrative responsibilities as Commissary on September 1st until a new bishop is installed.

For further information please contact the Diocese of New Westminster

story by Alex Wilson originally posted on “The Diocese of New Westminster” website at  http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/Home/tabid/161/ArticleId/1705/Default.aspx

25 March 2013, Monday in Holy Week, 7pm: Holy Eucharist

26 March 2013, Tuesday in Holy Week, 7pm: Holy Eucharist

27 March 2013, Wednesday in Holy Week, 7pm: Holy Eucharist

28 March 2013, Maundy Thursday, 7pm: Liturgy of Maundy Thursday (Foot Washing, Holy Eucharist, Stripping of Altar)

29 March 2013, Good Friday, 12noon: Liturgy of Good Friday (Veneration of the Cross, Communion from the Reserved Sacrament)

30 March 2013, Easter Eve, 9pm: The Great Vigil of Easter & First Eucharist of Easter

31 March 2013, Easter Day, 8am, 9.15am, 11am: Holy Eucharist

Meeting after the 10:00am service (meeting will be in the Lower Hall).

March 3: Voting on acceptance of 2013 budget. Election of officers of the parish.

Lunch will be served following the meeting.

It would be easy to make them the butt of a joke, to suggest anyone who believed was foolish or just plain stupid.

But they aren’t the butt of a joke in today’s Gospel or in the church’s celebration of Epiphany. Rather they have become heroes of a sort. They are among the very first who recognize Jesus for who he is: king of kings, lord of lords. They are not taken aback by his humble beginnings – even if their stop in Jerusalem suggests they anticipated finding the future king of the Jews among the existing royalty. For these wise men, there was no question that a poor carpenter’s son could grow up to be the leader of his people. Even Herod, himself, gets that. The possibility that somewhere, in some backwater town there might be a child who would eventually challenge Herod’s position of power and prestige is real enough to Herod that he becomes frightened. And he reacts and plots out of fear.

I think we’re often a lot like Herod, even while we pretend to be the Wise Men. We know on some level that God can and will show up in surprising places, but we tend to react to that with extremes and fear. Think about all the ways in which we attempt to control God’s actions in the world. We pray for what we want, not what God wills. We act as if God is in our particular corner and nowhere else. We get a hint that God might be up to something new, something different and we respond with “but we’ve always done it that way and we’re not about to change now.” We get mad when our favourite carol isn’t sung on Christmas Eve because we confuse nostalgia and comfort with the worship of a God who comes to us incarnate, as an infant, poor and vulnerable. Yes, we’re very good at being Herods.

But we are also sometimes Wise Men. From time to time, we do leave everything (metaphorically or physically or spiritually) and take big risks in order to follow the Star. Perhaps that’s the story for some of you this morning: just getting here was an act of risk, an experience of leaving one place and journeying into newness (even if the place you left was just your warm bed and the journey was measured in blocks rather than days). Perhaps you feel or felt drawn here like the Wise Men were drawn to the follow the Star – an inexplicable need, a compulsion. And perhaps admitting that you believe in God, or even would just like to believe in God, perhaps that feels like a risk to your reputation if not your very life.

I want to point something out that’s different for us as 21^st century readers of this Epiphany story than it appears to have been for the participants. In the story as Matthew tells it, the idea of a King being born among the people is not dismissed as impossible. Herod’s response is not that of someone who simply doesn’t believe in prophesies. He believes. He’s terrified and going to ensure that the prophecy can’t come true – as we see if we keep reading in Matthew’s Gospel. No one who didn’t believe in the possibility presented by the Wise Men, their star, and their prophecies would bother ordering about his own scholars to verify or seeing to the death of thousands of children in an effort to prevent one from becoming King of the Jews.

But today, for many of us, prophecy is simply dismissed. Some of that is understandable. Some of what is presented to us as prophetic witness is easy to see through. Our scientific knowledge has expanded, reducing some of the mysteries of life. And we’re cynical. Sometimes we’re cynical and proud of it. People who take prophecies seriously are laughed at, treated as a little slow. While watching that Christmas episode of Glee where two of the characters decide the world will end following the Mayan calendar, my partner said “I don’t remember them portraying this character as quite this stupid before.” And she was right – the two believers were presented as not quite in touch with reality. I’m not suggesting that we should be swayed by all prophetic voices or become gullible. But I do wonder if we sometimes need to remember to believe six impossible things before breakfast, as CS Lewis suggests. And in as much as we do that, we do risk our reputations.

For those of us who have committed ourselves to Christianity, to following an Incarnate God, born in a barn, a king unlike all others – the question of reputation is twofold. At least. As we live into Christian faith in this time and this place, I am often aware of the weird space Christianity has come to hold in our wider society. On the one hand, we Christians do risk our reputations as sane, rational, scientifically minded citizens who can be passionate about issues other than those declared important by a narrow, but vocal strain of our faith. But on the other hand, there are far more scandalous places to be on a Sunday morning than church. And certainly, many in our wider culture still have fond feelings for church in a nostalgic way at the very least. So while we go on believing in prophetic witness, proclaiming our desire to see know Christ as one who came, who is, and who will come again – we join the Wise Men as ones who are potentially misunderstood, as ones willing to take risks for what we believe to be true, as ones willing to take journeys in order to be in the presence of the Promised One, the King of Kings.

R Monette

6 January 2013

Epiphany C

Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

With these comforting and  familiar words, Markus so often invited us all into the warmth and acceptance of the community he helped nurture and grow at St. Paul’s. We shared a wonderful journey of almost nine years. With both sadness and joy we bid farewell to our beloved Priest at the end of 2012, when after much prayer and reflection, he embraced God’s call to serve as Rector at St. John the Evangelist in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Markus’s had a profound and indelible impact on our lives and on the mission and ministry of St. Paul’s. He modeled trust in God, and listening to the Spirit. His character, depth, openness and truly pastoral heart touched and uplifted lives within and outside our community. His guidance and support helped so many grow towards greater fulfillment of baptismal living. With his leadership, commitment and energy we were inspired to journey into a deeper discovery of our potential, and of who we are as a community. We will dearly miss him. Yet it is so exciting to consider what lies ahead for him in Scotland!

On December 15^th we held a celebration banquet for Markus, with a sumptuous feast in the Labyrinth. No such event honouring Markus would have been complete without humour and at least a little teasing. To this end we conducted a mock ‘exit interview’ which Markus improvised through with his customary wit and panache. Needless to say there were a few curve balls, but he fielded them all. When asked ‘Which of the 12 Apostles would you like to date?’ without skipping a beat he quipped “Mary Magdalene.’  And that wasn’t the silliest question….

Billy Sutherland and other members who regularly attend the 9:15 service also collectively knitted and assembled a lovely green themed stole, which they presented to Markus at the service on December 23.

Markus’s final service at St. Paul’s was on December 30^th.  In St. Paul’s style, we celebrated afterwards with a cake, custom made by John Wilson.

Among his many strengths and gifts, Markus is a remarkable and natural preacher, one who ‘knocks it out of the park’ on a regular basis. His final sermon was especially innovative and moving, capturing his deep understanding and love for us and expressing his hopes for our future.

You can read it on our website: http://stpaulsanglican.bc.ca/

On December 31^st  Markus presided over a final Eucharist in the Labyrinth. It was a tender and profound moment as we heard him finish with these words, now also so very familiar and meaningful to us.

Dear Markus, we wish the same for you, as you journey onward, discovering and following God’s path and purpose for your life.

Live without fear: your Creator has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a good mother.  Go in peace to follow the good road and the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you always.  Amen.

If you wish to have a copy of the group photo taken with Markus in December, please contact Barry Goheen at the office. Barry has the digital files and will make them available to you upon request.

(story by Ross Bliss, photo by Sandra Vander Shaaf)

I broke the wafer for the first time – and it didn’t break at all at the indentation. I broke it again – and yet again it didn’t break where it was supposed to. At this point I raised an eyebrow. I broke it again – and once more it was in a rather surprising place. And so it continued. None of the breaks were where they were expected to be. Not a single one of them! It was funny on some level – but it was also a bit disconcerting, surprising, and unexpected. Very surprising, actually, quite unexpected.

I think it is sometimes difficult for us to remember that Christmas is also a break in an unexpected place. After doing it for some 2000 years, after establishing quite some traditions around how to celebrate this festival, it is maybe not surprising that we have forgotten how surprising the first Christmas must have been. Yes, Christmas is new, comes out of left field, and breaks into our world and breaks it in places that are most unlikely.

Take Herod for example. Christmas breaks into his world in an unexpected way.

Herod is quite comfortably governing from a beautiful palace. Yes, there are responsibilities. Yes, he has to watch out for possible assassins or political intrigue. But he is the power-broker. He is in charge. And compared to his subjects, he is living in comfort enforcing his might in ways that often disregard justice and mercy alike. Like so many who think they run the world, he rules with might on the backs of those less fortunate, and particularly on the backs of the poor and lowly.

Christmas, however, breaks into his world and turns it upside down: A fragile newborn is revealed as the king of kings, as lord of lords, as God of heaven and earth. The baby Jesus is the All-powerful born among us. Yet, it is a different kind of might that is born in Christmas. It is a might that seeks to lift us out of injustice, misery, sin, and death. The powers of the world have no ultimate power. And despite Herod’s horrific and sweeping efforts to overcome the Christmas might by brutally murdering innocent children, he cannot stop the power of love made manifest in the Baby Jesus. In the end, Jesus will have the last word. The love that comes to us on Christmas is already establishing a reign that is different in a world that still too often shakes in fear as the Herods of every age speak loudly and rule with iron fists. Christmas overcomes this fear as it reveals the frailty of Herod’s loud voice and the weakness of his iron fist.

Yes, Christmas is new, comes out of left field, and breaks into our world and breaks it in places that are most unlikely.

Take the Shepherds for example. Christmas breaks into their world in an unexpected way.

Many Christmas sermons centre on the fact that the shepherds were outcast of society. And indeed, Christmas breaks into the world of outcasts, into the world of those on the margins, and affirms that they are as beloved by God as those on the in.

However, many commentators have argued that shepherds weren’t so much outcasts, as they were just walking their own path, marching to their own drum. They were outsiders, yes, but maybe they weren’t so much pushed to the margins as placing themselves there, disconnecting on their own from the rest of society.

Christmas breaks into this reality of the shepherds and reveals that none of us lives onto ourselves. No man is an island unto himself, as the saintly John Donne once said. No woman is an island unto herself. We are all interconnected and interdependent of each other. What I do even in my own four walls affects the world around me. Every action has consequences for those around us, even when only two consenting adults are involved. Ethics cannot be built exclusively on self-fulfilment and self-realisation.

For those who call themselves followers of the baby Jesus, this means that we cannot live our faith in separation. Christmas forced the shepherds to go and see the miracle of the Saviour’s birth and after they worshipped they moved forward into society to praise God with loud voices. Christmas compels us to move from self-imposed securities and self-centred communities of faith to create communities connected to and focused on those around us. You cannot be a Christian in isolation. Community is essential. So, we are called no only to secure the survival of our faith-communities, but also to do everything to share the good news of God in Christ through prayer, through action, and through word.

Yes, Christmas is new, comes out of left field, and breaks into our world and breaks it in places that are most unlikely.

Take Mary and Joseph for example. Christmas breaks into their world in an unexpected way.

You can say that again!

It is unfathomable for people in our times to understand what this surprising pregnancy must have meant for Mary and Joseph. And, yet, in this scary and horrifying moment in their lives, God speaks to them through angels, and speaks the four words which are repeated in God’s self-revelation over and over and over again: Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.

Whoever you are and wherever you find yourselves on the journey, God is with you, seeks you out, and loves you. God yearns to be connected to you just like God was connected to Mary, as he took habitation in her womb. God longs to be your guide and protector, just like God protected and guided Joseph on the long way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, on to Egypt, and back home again. God wishes you to teach the insights of God’s will, God’s purpose, and God’s truth, just like he taught the scholars in today’s Gospel story. God desires to reveal himself as your true father and God desires to reveal herself as your true mother, just like God did unto Mary and Joseph when they finally found Jesus in his true parental home. And God craves to lighten your darkness, whatever that darkness might be, as he lightened the world at Bethlehem with a light that no darkness can overcome. In God’s reality no darkness is too dark, no burden too heavy, no sin too unforgivable, no fear too threatening, no life too puny. God is with us!

Yes, Christmas is new, comes out of left field, and breaks into our world and breaks it in places that are most unlikely.

Take the people of St Paul’s for example.

Wait a minute!

We weren’t in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. So, what the heck am I talking about?

Well, I believe the birth of the Saviour was a unique and singular event and took place when Mary gave birth to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christmas, however, is ongoing. And Christmas continues to break into our realities in unexpected ways. And Christmas is very much breaking into our reality in surprising ways here at St. Paul’s: When I broke the waiver at the 9:15am service last week, it wasn’t just a metaphor for Christmas. It was also a metaphor for St Paul’s.

I came here 8 ½ years ago and I thought I had a fairly good grip on what it meant to be a priest. And, I did. But nothing had and nothing could prepare me for the reality of St Paul’s. Doing ministry here is a bit like breaking a waiver and not knowing where it will break. So many surprising and unexpected things happened over my time of being your priest.

And I wouldn’t want to miss any!

Yes, I could list events such as the 100^th anniversary of the building, the 15^th anniversary of the Labyrinth, or the turning of the pews. All very memorable! But in the end the most unexpected aspect of my time here were the very people God had called me to serve. The most surprising thing of all was you!

And whenever I thought I had seen it all, whenever I reckoned I knew how the cookie would crumble, something new happened. Something unexpected would surprise me.

Sometimes this was hard to bear.

But most times, it was something that not only allowed me to see you more intimately, but it allowed me to claim my own self more honestly and more genuinely. And it allowed me travel more deeply into the mystery of the Divine.

The Bible calls this grace. Whenever we see glimpses of God’s love for us, it is grace. Whenever we find reasons to rejoice in God’s compassion for us all, it is grace. Whenever we recognise the image of God in others more clearly, it is grace. Whenever we find new ways of trusting God, it is grace.

You have become a sign of grace for me. Over the past 8 ½ years you have formed me and shaped me. And I know you are not the same anymore either. We have grown together in ministry and mission. And, even more, we have grown together in love. Yes, I love you: I love this crazy community. I love the wonderful people here – with all their quirks and idiosyncrasies, with all their strengths and abilities. God opened my heart to see and God placed you firmly inside this very heart. And thanks be to God for this!

As I leave, I pray and hope so much for you.

Yes, there is lots of work to do as you claim more deeply being a community focused on healing, worship, reflection, and hospitality in Christ’s name for all. God has given you a lot and there are thousands of people out there waiting for you to minister to them and to share the Good News of God’s love in Christ! Don’t let them wait! Don’t rely on others to do the work! God has called you!

However, I pray and hope that you also continue to discover in your own lives what it means to be God’s beloved – each and every one of you – and what it means to be God’s crazy and wonderful community in this place.

U2, my favorite band, once wrote a song that speaks of my wish for you. It speaks of what it means for the reality of God’s love to break into our lives in unexpected ways. It speaks of God’s grace which can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. It speaks of how grace is very much manifested here.

So, as my swansong for you, I will play it for you.

And until we meet again, may our triune God hold you in the palm of God’s hand.

Pregnant.  A word with a curious ‘charge’. A familiar enough concept, but depending on the context, still sometimes startling, even to our jaded post-modern sensibilities.  Pregnant.  A beautiful thing, really, obviously, beautiful, but being so obvious, also potentially scandalous.

I mean we all know about the birds and the bees…..

And then there’s Mary.

There has always been a lot of interest in Mary’s private business. Consider the centuries of impassioned discourse, controversy and even doctrines about Mary’ own Immaculate Conception, and even about Mary somehow remaining a virgin for life, despite the subsequent births of our Lord’s human siblings.

This peculiar interest should get our attention. Not because of the implied miracles, nor because of whatever is or isn’t believable or correct in these stories. What hopefully, or eventually, will strike us is this central example of our obsession with notions of sexual purity, that only apply to women, in a world where women still have yet to attain equal and full human status, in every way and in every place.

I’m guessing you can tell I’m not that interested in the quest for certainty about the specific biological mechanism by which Mary came to be with child.  However, it may surprise you that on the other hand, it seems to me somehow fitting, lovely, and theologically sound, to declare that the one and only human mother who ever bore God in her womb, the one and only time it ever happened, was at the time, a virgin.

The thing is, this is not mainly about Mary, or her particular virtue elevating this cosmologically singular event to an even holier status. The point is not to establish the purity of the human vessel which bore Christ. How would any human quality or condition of any participant, increase or diminish the significance of this birth, of the son of God?

And it is definitely not about Mary’s virtue being determined by her sexual history. Such a narrow construal of feminine virtue is actually offensive. This ancient and unfortunately ongoing controlling obsession concerning female purity reveals a fear and discomfort around the centrality and power of women’s’ role in reproducing and nurturing life. In addition to being misogyny, and repressive, it also denigrates procreation itself.

If Jesus had been born to Mary after she’d already had children, He would be just as Holy, just as truly God, and she would be just as worthy of our admiration.

Once liberated from these unnecessary moral implications, the idea of a virgin birth could simply be a way to bear witness to the mystery of how ‘eternal God’ entered time, a way to attest to a surprise so magnificent, for which even the prophets could scarcely prepare us – the one time only conception and birth of the person who was, is and ever shall be fully God, who in order to also be fully human, was of necessity born to a human mother.

If Mary is to be a hero, or a saint, let it be for just being a woman, a real woman, who said yes, when God called.

At any rate, Mary was pregnant, and unwed. In her immediate social milieu this would have raised a few eyebrows. Our familiarity with this story, might distract us from the implicit scandal of Mary’s pregnancy in her own time and place.

But in today’s reading we hear none of this concern. The brief, almost clipped description of Mary’s journey to visit Elizabeth suggests haste.  And in an overall narrative that is not lacking in divine imperatives to undertake journeys, any such command to make this journey is conspicuously lacking. In other words, it seems like she just couldn’t wait to go visit her also miraculously pregnant cousin to share the joy.

And my goodness, when she gets there all heaven breaks loose. No sooner is Mary in the door than the future John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb as spirit filled oracles pour forth from her lips.

The second of these oracles, coming in the form of a question, is very important. She asks “why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?”  Use of this word, translated as ‘Lord’, which stands in for the one unpronounceable word reserved for the God of creation, was very serious business for Jewish people in the first century. Elizabeth uses this word to refer to the unborn child in Mary’s womb.

This declaration is simply remarkable.

She is at once recognizing and confessing Christ as God. Though we know Paul’s writings are actually older than this Gospel, this may be the first Christian confession ever attributed to anyone.

Centuries of debate have also taken place around the identity and nature of Christ. Even with all the polemical and ecclesial chicanery involved, we somehow still arrived at deeply meaningful, and I believe, true, creedal statements. Let us never diminish the importance of this topic, which is still about most vital conversation going.

But it is interesting to note that before any of the earliest theologians even started thinking about what we call Christology, two humble, and likely scarcely literate expectant mothers, both recognized and declared, joyfully and unambiguously, that Mary’s unborn child, was no one less than God. In other words, they got it right, the first time.

For that matter, so did the unborn John the Baptist when he leapt in Elizabeth’s womb. His wordless physical response, possibly the first attributed act of celebratory Christian worship, says it all. Fully God and fully human. Deeply incomprehensible, and utterly simple. Paradox. Welcome to Christianity.

Responding to Elizabeth, Mary’s song of praise and thanksgiving, the Magnificat, proclaims God’s love for us, and God’s commitment to us.

Mary prays to God as Saviour, utterly declaring and defining our relationship with the one who meets our need for deliverance. This cannot be an expression of the proud. It expresses need, the need of the lowly, the poor, the oppressed, the hungry. Our need.

She also sings of a reversal of expectations consistent with what Christ preached and modeled throughout his life and ministry. In this reversal it is the poor and the weak who are fed and uplifted, while the rich and powerful face uncertainty and calamity.

Now, we know from history and personal experience that life just doesn’t always seem to work out this way. The wicked prosper, and the poor certainly do suffer, and if pride does come before a fall,  we don’t always see it. Life isn’t always fair.

However, the rich, powerful, and proud are not immune to inner poverty. No one is, but a life bent and spent on acquiring and accumulating wealth and power will inevitably create deficits, both in the world, and in the heart. Whether or not every fall is necessarily preceded by pride, pride will always lead us away from God, and deeper into an abyss of our own making.

It is also true that when the rich are sent away empty and the powerful are brought down from their thrones, it is not always the worst thing that could happen to them. Then, like the poor and the weak, their lives and circumstances may lead them to embrace their real need and accept the deliverance and truth that is always on offer, from the one who loved us into being, who gave Himself for us.

Mary’s words also remind us that blessing is always bound up in the fellowship that God seeks to share with us. Apart from this relationship, we are truly in the desert.

We all may have to experience the consequences of our choices, and our sinfulness, but rich or poor, we are not abandoned to ourselves, or to the loneliness of only our will.

Thankfully, God, is always there for us.

So here we are at Advent 4, the most pregnant day in the liturgical year.  Our expectancy builds as we await the celebration, along with Mary and all the Saints, of the entry of God, the great I am, into human life, with all its corruption, adversity and threatening murk, as a tiny defenceless child.

During this season, when retailers desperately hope to claim over half their year’s profit, and media everywhere bombards and compels us to comply as good consumers, we can begin to feel powerless and ineffective in a system where money seems like a prerequisite for any kind of significance, or happiness.

What can we do in the midst of this? We can remember who we are, and whose we are, and reclaim our faith in God’s triumph in Jesus Christ.  From the scandal of the manger to the scandal of the cross, Jesus redeems all of creation from the epicentre of His entry into time and humanity. This same Jesus invites us, to become fully human, and be his body, of real people, committed to love, every day, with God’s help.

Mary’s story before Christmas highlights how the glory of the incarnation came about through the willingness of ordinary people to respond to God, and to God’s claim on their lives. Ordinary people, like you, like me, like Mary. Thanks be to God.

1) in the Labyrinth Hall

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM in the Labyrinth – New Year’s Eve Service of the Eucharist with Rev. Markus Dunzkofer.  All are welcome!

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM in the Labyrinth – Walk the Labyrinth to the didgeridoo and more with David Yates.

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM in the Labyrinth – Walk the Labyrinth to the voice, crystal bowls, guitar, and beyond with Theda Phoenix.

10:00 PM – 11:00 PM in the Labyrinth – Circle dancing led by Corinne Chepil – All are welcome to join in.  Note, the Labyrinth is not available for walking at this time.

11:00 PM – 12:15 AM in the Labyrinth – Labyrinth walking to solo clarinet with Johanna Hauser.

2) in the Church Sanctuary

7:00 PM – 7:45 PM – Join Kira Van Deusen in the Sanctuary for storytelling and music (“Ebony Horse” from “Thousand and One Nights”).

9:30 PM – 12:15 AM – Enjoy food and refreshments in the Church Sanctuary along with friendly conversation.  Wine – $2 per serving. ALL ARE WELCOME!

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Programming for New Years Day, Jan 1, 2013, 10am – 2pm

Please join us New Years Day for our annual “New Years Day Walk”. A silent walk will be held from 10am – 12noon followed by a walk to the cello music of Kira Van Deusen from 12noon – 2pm.

Food will be served in the Lower Hall. ALL ARE WELCOME!