Christ Church

Monday, October 22nd
4:45-5:15pm World Religions/Inquirer’s Class – Room 206, King’s-Edgehill School
6:00-7:00pm Brownies/Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, October 23rd
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place

Thursday, October 25th
3:00 Service at Windsor Elms
6:30-7:30pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall

Sunday, October 28th, St. Simon & St. Jude/Trinity XXI
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Baptism & Communion
2:00 AMD Service of the Deaf
4:00pm Evening Prayer – Christ Church
4:30pm Holy Communion – KES

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, November 11th, Remembrance Day
9:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
10:00am Cenotaph Service – King’s-Edgehill School
11:00am Cenotaph Service – Windsor Cenotaph

Saturday, November 24th
4:30-6:30pm Annual Parish Ham Supper – Parish Hall

Sunday, December 2nd
Advent/Christmas Services of Carols and Lessons with King’s-Edgehill School
4:30pm Christ Church (Gr. 7-11)
7:00pm KES Chapel (Gr. 12)

Friday, December 21st
7:00pm Christ Church Concert Series: “With Kings To Bethlehem”, Capella Regalis, Men and Boys Choir, directed by Nick Halley

The collect for today, the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 5:15-21
The Gospel: St. Matthew 22:1-14

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY God, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul: May it please thee that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed; through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 4:5-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 24:44-52

Read more about Saint Luke here.

Artwork: Giambologna, St. Luke, 1601. Bronze, Orsanmichele, Florence. Photograph taken by admin, 18 May 2010.

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Etheldreda (d. 679), Queen, Foundress and Abbess of Ely (source):

O eternal God,
who didst bestow such grace on thy servant Etheldreda
that she gave herself wholly to the life of prayer
and to the service of thy true religion:
grant that we may in like manner
seek thy kingdom in our earthly lives,
that by thy guidance
we may be united in the glorious fellowship of thy saints;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Philippians 3:7-14
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:29-34

Artwork: St. Ethelreda, 1910, Embroidered Processional Banner, Ely Cathedral.

The collect for today, the commemoration of Hugh Latimer (1485-1555), Bishop of Worcester, and Nicholas Ridley (c. 1500-1555), Bishop of London, Reformation Martyrs (source):

Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like thy servants Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, we may live in thy fear, die in thy favor, and rest in thy peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3:9-14
The Gospel: St. John 15:20-16:1

Two leaders of the English Reformation were burned at the stake in Oxford on this day in 1555. Nicolas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, were removed from their positions and imprisoned after Queen Mary ascended the throne in 1553. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533, was deposed and taken to Oxford with Latimer and Ridley.

The three were tried for heresy, convicted, and condemned to death. Cranmer was forced to watch the burning of Latimer and Ridley and was burned at the stake five months later on 21 March 1556.

The burnings were carried out just outside the walls of Oxford. The location is marked by a cobble-stone cross set in the middle of Broad Street. Around the corner, at the south end of St Giles, the Martyrs’ Memorial was placed in their honour in 1841.

As Ridley was being tied to the stake, he prayed: “Oh, heavenly Father, I give unto thee most hearty thanks, for that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies.”

As the flames rose, Latimer encouraged Ridley with these famous words: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”

Artwork: Burning of Latimer and Ridley, woodcut, John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (1563).

“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind”

It is a wonderful phrase set in the midst of a powerful passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, a passage which opens us out to the possibilities of our being transformed into better and more thoughtful people, literally new people. At issue is whether we have learned Christ – the constant challenge in our lives, I might add – “if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.” It means a change, a change of mind, of attitude and outlook. What stands out is the very thing missing from our culture and church – teaching and a commitment to intellectual and spiritual life. We are, I fear, like those whom Paul calls the Gentiles, who walk, he suggests, “in the vanity of their mind[s]”, their “understanding darkened”, “alienated from the life of God” through two things: “ignorance” and “hardness of heart.” Tough words!

The consequence, as Paul sees it, is a dissolute and aimless life – “lasciviousness,” and “all uncleanness with greediness”  are the terms he uses. He could be commenting on our world! Yet it is precisely in the face of such things that something new and strange is revealed; a change in attitude and outlook. By God’s Word and Spirit we are called to a new life, a constant “renew[ing] of the spirit of our minds.”

Paul makes it clear that this change in attitude and outlook is founded in the motions of God’s love towards us in Jesus Christ. The Epistle reading ends with the exhortation to be “kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Forgiveness. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday, October 15th
4:45-5:15pm World Religions/Inquirer’s Class – Room 204, King’s-Edgehill School

Tuesday, October 16th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:00pm Christ Church Book Club: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Thursday, October 18th
6:30-7:30pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall

Friday, October 19th
11:00am Holy Communion – Dykeland Lodge
3:00pm Holy Communion – Gladys Manning Home
7:30pm Christ Church Concert Series I: Organ Recital, Elizabeth Harwood

Saturday, October 20th
11:00am Fr. Curry, “On The Holy Spirit” –  Acadia Divinity School

Sunday, October 21st, Trinity XX
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Morning Prayer
4:00pm Evening Prayer – Christ Church
4:30pm Holy Communion – KES

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, November 11th, Remembrance Day
9:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
10:00am Cenotaph Service – King’s-Edgehill School
11:00am Cenotaph Service – Windsor Cenotaph

Saturday, November 24th
4:30-6:30pm Annual Parish Ham Supper – Parish Hall

Sunday, December 2nd
Advent/Christmas Services of Carols and Lessons with King’s-Edgehill
4:30pm Christ Church (Gr. 7-11)
7:00pm KES Chapel (Gr. 12)

Friday, December 21st
7:00pm Christ Church Concert Series II: Capella Regalis, Men and Boys Choir

The collect for today, the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 4:17-32
The Gospel: St. Matthew 9:1-8

Artwork: Giusto de’ Menabuoi, Jesus’ Miracles, 1386. Fresco, Baptistery, Padua.

Click here for a larger poster suitable for printing.

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Edward the Confessor (c. 1003-1066), King of England (source):

O Sovereign God,
who didst set thy servant Edward upon the throne of an earthly kingdom
and didst inspire him with zeal for the kingdom of heaven:
grant that we may so confess the faith of Christ by word and deed,
that we may, with all thy saints, inherit thine eternal glory;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Ecclesiasticus 31:8-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:35-40

Artwork: Wilton Diptych (detail of left panel showing St. Edward), 1395-99. Oil on tempera, National Gallery, London.