I feel like I am in a cycle of new beginnings. With Advent we start a new liturgical year; in September we began a new academic year; in January we will celebrate a new calendar year.
With each new beginning there are new plans, new hopes, new possibilities.
And I love a new beginning—a new start. It is sort of like when your computer, phone, or tablet acts up, and you press restart and (most times) all gets sorted and you begin again. And I love this about our life of faith; we have restarts built into our liturgical year with Advent and Lent in particular, but we also have built into each liturgy when we confess our sins—the things done and undone—and share the peace of a fresh start.
Life at Queen’s College is also full of new beginnings and fresh starts. This Advent we will be doing a weekly podcast on the lectionary with invited guests sharing their thoughts on the readings and possibilities for preaching. “The (Be)coming of the Lord: Preaching the Promise and Challenge of Advent” will be available on our Facebook and YouTube pages. (https://www.facebook.com/queenscollegenl and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2xZJDX8aVYCwllquav4wGw/videos
In January we will be doing another “new thing”. We are offering an Intensive course as a means of preparing for Lent. “Call of the Cross: Preparing for Lent in a time of cultural and climate crisis” can be taken as a regular 3-credit-hour course, or as an audit. We are offering a special audit rate for those who have a leadership position in their faith community (clergy, lay ministers, Bible study leaders, etc.) of just $100. The audit will give you access to all of the classes and materials without having to do any of the papers or assignments. As a part of the January 27th class of this course, we will also be offering a free workshop, both in person and online, on preparing liturgies for Lent with the Rev’d Canon Dr. Boyd Morgan. This is part of our goal to provide affordable, accessible learning to all who are interested. For more information see our webpage: https://queenscollegenl.ca/
We have also been busy “restarting” things that we have not been able to do during COVID, such as in person gatherings and community meals. It is wonderful to see how our online interactions have maintained our community and built new friendships, and how quickly we connect now that we are in the same physical space. We already know so much about each other. It is important to note that this “restart” of in person gatherings does not mean we no longer connect online. These different types of interactions help feed one another. Some communication is better in one medium than another, and some folks flourish in different modes of interaction.
So let us all flourish as we continue to begin again.
