Members of the Church of the Good Shepherd became involved in Halloween this year. After receiving an invitation from the Twin Town of Norris Point, to participate in a drive through Halloween for the children of Norris Point and Rocky Harbour, representatives of the church donated items and 100 treat bags were prepared. The activity served as a great outreach activity for the congregation and placed plenty of smiles on the faces of our children. Thanks go out to all who donated and participated in the activity.

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My entire life I have been surrounded by friends. I taught for almost fifty years and I considered all my students to be my friends. I would go to the supermarket and see so many people I knew. My wife would get mad at me for being gone so long when she sent me to the shop because she was waiting for the particular item she sent me for and it would take me over an hour to get back home! I spent the time greeting friends and stopping to chat with each and every one of them, forgetting that she needed the item “right away.” I just couldn’t pass by friends without having a conversation to ask how each was doing; was the family well? Were they healthy? Did they need anything? When were they going to drop by the house for a visit? On a daily basis, I saw so many and had so many good conversations! But now, all that has disappeared. Now, we spend our time in the house, waiting for the pandemic to be over, and please God that will happen soon!

I know that I’m not the only one feeling lonely during this difficult time. I worry about my children, grandchildren, and my great grandchild. I worry about the province and all the people who have been shut in for months now. I worry about the country—how are we ever going to be able to pay for all this when the pandemic is over? I worry about the world! How will the whole world recover from this pandemic? So much concern and stress that I have found myself, at times, unable to sleep. I’ve spent months in a constant state of worry and anxiety about what is to come!

I know I am not alone with all my fears. I know that many of you reading this are also feeling anxious and down. Many of you are lonely and tired. Many of you, like me, want this to end. 

So, what can we do to feel better about all this concern? My friends, the only thing that has gotten me through all of this stress is my belief that our Lord and Saviour is holding us all safe in his arms! Jesus Christ was born to save us all! The Son of God was sent to us as a sign of God’s commitment to us, that he will NEVER abandon us! In our lowest moment, all we need to do is turn to God, and he will see us through ALL our difficult times! If we remember God’s love for us, in our darkest days, he will open his arms and hold on to us tightly! 

For 2021, my greatest hope is that you all remember your Lord and Saviour. Give all your trials and tribulations up to him and you will get through! In this New Year, I pray that you will all be comforted and feel God’s strength. I pray for your good health and I pray that soon, we will all be able to meet once again to give each other the hugs and handshakes that we so richly miss! Begin this New Year with a renewed sense of strength, sent to you by the birth of Jesus Christ!

Have a blessed 2021!

The post My New Year Wish appeared first on Anglican Life.

The Fall Fair Committee pitched the idea of a Virtual Christmas Tea which would follow the model of the traditional Christmas Tea. The concept for the virtual tea was that we would provide a food container with the same contents in the same portions as patrons would find on their table at the regular tea. Purchasers of tickets would come to the church at the appointed time and pick up their teas. We would have draws through the tea, like the usual tea, and we would have our traditional Christmas Variety Basket on tickets. 

Sales were done through the parish office. Purchasers would provide their credit card number for the number of teas and basket tickets they desired and we would process the transaction using Square. There was no need for the purchaser to pick up their tea tickets and their basket tickets would be held at the parish office and given to them when they picked up their teas. This kept contact with patrons to a minimum. 

The ingredients for each tea were contained in a windowed pastry box. Included in the box were a Grace, a napkin, sandwiches, cookies, tea buns, Christmas cake, cream and jam for the buns, a piece of chocolate, and a baggie containing tea, coffee, sugar, sweetener, and butter. 

The major effort for this event was in the planning. Production started on the Friday with workstations set up to accommodate social distancing. The workers were outfitted with masks, hats, and gloves so they all looked the same! The fashions of the traditional sit down tea were nowhere to be seen. Saturday was the go day. The items that had to be made fresh were prepared and placed in the boxes ready for pickup. 

At the traditional tea, patrons sit in tables of eight. The eight people put their name in the hat and draw for the centrepiece. With the virtual tea, people were assigned in tables of eight and names drawn for the centrepiece. The winners received their prizes when they picked up their teas. There are draws for prizes throughout the afternoon at the regular tea. This became the virtual part of our tea. We planned to broadcast the drawing of the additional prizes at three o’clock followed by the draw for the Christmas Variety Basket, which for the first time sold out. The draws were conducted with the assistance of Canon Edward Keeping who also offered a prayer and a blessing. Our rector, Father Rudolph Anthony, was unable to attend the event. We ran into some technical difficulties and so the broadcast was a little late being available through our Facebook page. Prizes were either picked up or arrangements were made for delivery. 

Our teas and our event received rave reviews. We thank everyone who assisted with this parish fundraiser. Stay tuned, perhaps we will do it again in the future.

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Each of the ordinands were asked: “What is it like to be ordained during a Pandemic?” 

Rev’d Sacrey stated: “To be ordained to the sacred order of the diaconate is a most humbling experience. I also felt the weight of what I was doing and what I was promising before God. Ordination in the time of COVID-19 certainly had a different flavour. The initial date for my ordination was in March—the week all closed down due to the virus. It had been much anticipated then, and all could come to the service. The most difficult aspect of this ordination was that it was by invitation only. I was ordained in the parish I had been part of since the age of five, and the parish I was and will continue serving in. Knowing the service could not be open to all, having to decide who would receive an invitation, was very hard as I did not want to have to make those choices. I did not want anyone to feel left out. I am very thankful that it was live on Facebook.”  

Rev’d Cox shared: “I was looking forward to my ordination on March 19th, 2020. Due to COVID-19, it was postponed to October 28th, 2020. Those seven months of waiting were hard spiritually, physically, and mentally to say the least. However, those seven months gave me the opportunity to reflect on myself and my vocation, and to re-examine the call God has placed upon me, which was affirming. While the ordination service was done a little differently compared to the ‘traditional Service,’ the Spirit was overwhelming! Even though I couldn’t physically feel the presence of the people, I felt the presence through the Holy Spirit.”

Rev’d Cross reflected this way: “My paternal grandfather, Skipper Eli, would always respond to hard times or challenges by stating calmly, “Perhaps ‘tis all for the best.” As one who chooses in life to experiment and be creative, God intervened and chose a new path through the process of my formation and ordination. After all, it’s to his call I’m responding, and this reveals a quirky sense of humour in a divine sort of way.”

The post Ordinations During A Pandemic—The Diocese of Central Newfoundland appeared first on Anglican Life.

Here at St. John the Evangelist, it has always been customary to celebrate each red letter day on the church calendar—sometimes it was just sharing a cup of tea in the basement after service, and sometimes it was joining in fellowship for a three course meal. 

Now, we’ve all been cognizant these last eight months of the need to compromise. But since this year marks the 160th anniversary of the church’s origin, we have been dodging the development of the coronavirus all year long, with the hope of a respite.

But as we have journeyed through the uncertainty these past months, which have ultimately lead us closer toward the end of 2020, it has become a realization that social distancing still prevails. And as a consequence of the current restrictions, Rev’d Jolene chose an alternative approach to the celebration of this milestone by making it an integral part of the Sunday worship. 

She guided us on a trip depicting its progression through the decades; encompassing its roots, growth, and history, while tabulating the measurement in weeks, months, and years. 

We were honoured to have Archdeacon Sam Rose, our Diocesan Administrator, as a guest priest. Archdeacon Sam delivered a message of congratulations on our perseverance.

As an added bonus in making this celebration more special, was the presence of Rev’d Tibbo. At 90 years old he approached the altar while still displaying his jovial prowess; at the same time, sharing memories of his eight years with us in the 70’s and early 80’s.

We also received best wishes from Rev’d Collett who succeeded Rev’d Tibbo.

Messages were also sent and acknowledged from Rev’d Bill Bellamy and Rev’d Wayne Parsons. 

So despite our initial disappointment with the cancelling of our regular celebration because of the coronavirus, the expertise of Rev’d Jolene’s delivery, the presence of Archdeacon Sam Rose, the reminiscence of former priests, and the applause of  the congregation, all combined to make our 160th anniversary celebrations very meaningful.

Sometimes good things can fall apart
So that better things can fall together.
It’s an ill wind that blows no good.

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Story telling is not an uncommon practice for Newfoundlanders & Labradorians. It is through story we learn about past traditions, local customs, and our culture.

For 20 years, PWRDF has worked with Indigenous communities in Canada as development partners. PWRDF is committed to nurturing and building relationships with indigenous communities, supporting the preservation of language and culture, and defending the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. 

In British Columbia, the Nuu-chah-nulth (NCN) Language & Culture Program (NLCP) supports community initiatives that contribute to the preservation of the NCN language and culture. A total of 94 resource items have been developed as a direct result of NLCP funding. The “I want to learn the Nuu-chah-nulth Language” Facebook page has 1,300 members. There are 600 active adult learners of the Nuu-chah-nulth language and more than 12,500 indirect learners. The resources developed through the project have been celebrated and showcased by the 14 communities. (Source: pwrdf.org).

Puppets have long been used on television to engage young children while teaching them.  The Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na RaotitiÃhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KORLCC), a PWRDF partner in Kahnawake, Quebec, uses puppets to teach children as well, but instead of teaching their ABCs and 1-2-3’s, they are teaching the Mohawk language and culture. The episodes also teach culture and history, using mnemonics to help the children learn about the 50 chiefs of the Iroquois confederacy, or teaching one word in each of the 5 languages of the confederacy.  Other episodes use traditional legends like that of the Corn Husk Doll to teach values, including thankfulness and peacefulness. (Source: pwrdf.org).

Thank you for enabling storytelling to continue in the local languages of Indigenous communities. Your support is part of the story of PWRDF in Canada!

The post Happy New Year—Another Year of Sharing PWRDF Stories appeared first on Anglican Life.

Apple-themed fundraising projects at the Cathedral began a number of years ago as a commitment to the Anglican Church of Canada’s fifth Mark of Mission: “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”  The project was the brainchild of the late Eileen Churchill, who felt that church members could make good use of apples that would otherwise just spoil on the tree or ground each autumn.   

Overseen by parishioner Stelman Flynn, a trained chef and entrepreneur, the first apple pie fundraiser was held mere months after Churchill’s unexpected passing in 2015.  Because Flynn’s sisters from Labrador were unable to assist with making pie crusts in fall 2020, the Apple Pie Project became the Apple Crisp Project, which used 1500 pounds of otherwise waste apples. (Flynn also assisted with making 450 apple crisps for St. David’s Anglican in Pasadena, NL.)

Over the years, the apple project has served as a fundraiser for various causes: the cathedral generally, the Primate’s World Relief Development Fund (PWRDF), and this year, for the ACW’s ministries.  Funds raised will allow the ACW to contribute to causes that exemplify another mark of mission: “to respond to human need by loving service.”

The post A Fall 2020 ACW Fundraiser appeared first on Anglican Life.

But there is another way to talk about mission that is much more helpful and encouraging. In John’s Gospel, when Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection, he says, ‘Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, so I send you.’ And that’s what mission means. It’s so simple that children can understand, but it’s also so profound that the church could spend another two thousand years unpacking what that means.

We are being sent into the world as the Father sent Jesus. That means that we are being sent to carry on the work that Jesus began—to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is already making itself known in this world. If you want another simple but profound way to talk about mission, listen to the way we talk about Jesus’ work in Godly Play. ‘His work was to come close to people, especially the people no one else wanted to come close to.’ That’s the Good News right there. The kingdom of God is in the midst of us, because in Jesus, God was coming close to the least, the lost, and the left out. And if we are being sent as he was sent, we also need to be able to say that God is coming close to people through the Church and through us as individuals.

So when we help to feed the hungry through the food bank, we need to remember that this is about coming close to people. When we make disciples—passing on our faith to others—it is really about continuing Christ’s work, not our own. When I march in the Pride parade, when I helped the Occupy NL camp find a safe home for their General Assemblies, or when I built homes in Guatemala, these are not just stories about what I have done, but about the church being God’s presence in the midst of the world.

But it can be easy to get too comfortable with that kind of thinking. We can start to use the Five Marks of Mission as a checklist to justify the projects we are already involved in, and to congratulate ourselves for all the good mission we are doing. That’s why it’s important that we learn to ask what God is doing in the world, with us or without us. We have to learn not to be so arrogant as to assume that we have a monopoly on the Kingdom of God. We have to learn to watch for what God is doing through other parishes, other churches, and especially through the groups and individuals who seem to have no official religious affiliation. When we recognize what God is doing there, our first response should not be to try to copy their work, or to try to take it over, but to ask how we can join in with what God is doing. In that sense, one of the most important things we can do to prepare ourselves for mission is to learn to discern what God is doing in the world and to hurry to join in.

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From a report in The Evening Telegram on 2 September 1918, we know that he was in St. John’s in 1918 drumming up support for an ambitious ministry project that is memorialized in the school that bears his name today—Henry Gordon Academy, Cartwright. Encouraged by the support he had received from “several of St. John’s keenest laymen,” most likely parishioners of St. Thomas’ Church, he returned to his Mission of Sandwich Bay.

His journal records that the SS Sagona arrived in Cartwright on October the 20th bringing besides the supplies for the winter, a pile of newspapers and personal letters that was always a delight. On this occasion the news was not good. “Our newspapers relate of a serious epidemic which is raging in Newfoundland and other parts of the world. One hopes that it will not reach down here, but the fact that some of the steamer’s crew are down with it looks ominous.” 

Nevertheless, he set out to visit several communities, and when the St. Helen arrived back in Cartwright on October 30th, he wrote, “Not a soul to be seen anywhere, and a strange, unusual silence. Going along the path to the Parsonage we met one of the Company’s (Hudson Bay Company) men staggering like a drunken man, and from him learned that the whole settlement was prostrated with sickness. It had struck the community like a cyclone two days after the Mail-boat had arrived. …Whole households lay inanimate all over their kitchen floors, unable to even feed themselves or look after the fire. … One seemed utterly incapable of dealing with the situation, the only thing one could do was to see that no one perished for want of food and firing.”

On November 2nd he reported that he himself was “feeling rotten, head like a bladder full of wind,” but the next day he “got up, took a dose of brandy, and buried Howard Fequet at 1:30, then when back to bed again.” 

On the 4th he wrote, “Can’t remember very clearly what happened on these two days. Felt very sick. I knew Mr. Parsons came up to ask me about burying somebody or other. I thought it was myself at the time.” His journal continues describing visiting the sick, chopping wood for their fires, making coffins and burying the dead. His letter to Bishop White on February 18th, three months later, paints a grave picture of the price of a pandemic:

“I expect that you will have heard already of the terrible times which we have experienced down here since last fall. I almost hate to write any more about the subject as the memory is almost too powerful. Suffice it to say that I had to live amid dead and dying for over a month, digging graves, tying up bodies and looking after little orphans. Out of a total population of 320 in Sandwich Bay we lost 69. One could relate many stories that would astonish the outside world but thank God all is now over and it is best to forget it.

I am afraid that I suffered rather more than I was aware of especially in my nervous system which seems all out of shape. I have been able to get through my visitation and am physically fairly fit, but I simply dread the thought of another winter down here without a change and a rest.”

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These prayer quilts will be given to the sick, as needed, in the communities of Norris Point, Rocky Harbour, and Sally’s Cove. 

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