Rector’s Annual Report, 2014
Click here to download the Rector’s Annual Report for 2014 (pdf document).
The Rector’s Annual Reports for 2003 through 2013 can be accessed via this page.
Author: CCW
Week at a Glance, 9 – 15 February
Monday, February 9th
4:45-5:15pm Confirmation Class – Rm. 206, KES
6-7:00pm Brownies/ Sparks – Parish Hall
Tuesday, February 10th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Guides – Parish Hall
Thursday, February 12th
3:15pm Service at Windsor Elms
6:30-7:30pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall
Sunday, February 15th, Quinquagesima
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, February 17th
4:30-6:00pm Annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Wednesday, February 18th, Ash Wednesday
7:00am Penitential Service with Imposition of Ashes
12 noon Holy Communion with Ashes
2:30pm Imposition of Ashes – KES
4:00pm Holy Communion with Imposition of Ashes – St. John’s, Port Williams
Sexagesima
The collect for today, Sexagesima (or the Second Sunday Before Lent) from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O LORD God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:21b-31
The Gospel: St. Luke 8:4-15
Artwork: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Landscape with the Parable of the Sower, 1557. Oil on wood, Timken Museum of Art, San Diego.
Anskar, Missionary and Bishop
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Anskar (801-865), Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, Missionary to Sweden and Denmark (source):
Almighty and everlasting God, who didst send thy servant Anskar as an apostle to the people of Scandinavia, and didst enable him to lay a firm foundation for their conversion, though he did not see the results of his labors: Keep thy Church from discouragement in the day of small things, knowing that when thou hast begun a good work thou wilt bring it to a faithful conclusion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The Lesson: Acts 1:1-9
The Gospel: St. Mark 6:7-13
The Presentation of Christ in the Temple
The collect for today, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin (also traditionally called Candlemas), from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lesson: Malachi 3:1-5
The Gospel: St. Luke 2:22-40
Artwork: Philippe de Champaigne, The Presentation in the Temple, 1648. Oil on canvas, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Photograph taken by admin, 14 October 2014.
Sermon for Septuagesima
“Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you”
Transitions. Today is a day of transition. It marks a change in focus and direction. Epiphany was the season of teaching, of opening us out to the essential divinity of Christ and to what that means for human redemption. We were shown what God seeks for our humanity. Epiphany segues into the season of the Gesimas which mark the transition towards Easter. Tomorrow, too, is Candlemas, which marks the midway point between Christmas and Easter, the transition from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the transition from light to life.
If Epiphany taught us about the divine will and purpose for our humanity, then with Septuagesima we begin to enter into the divine work of human redemption itself. The Gesima Sundays are the pre-Lenten Sundays that turn us towards Easter as suggested in their names; Septuagesima signals the week of the seventieth day before Easter, Sexagesima, the week of the sixtieth day before Easter, Quinquagesima, the fiftieth day before Easter; terms already clearly associated with an older Latin term for Lent, namely Quadragesima; the word ‘Lent’ is an Old English term of Germanic origins that probably refers to the lengthening of days that heralds the coming of spring.
I mention these things not to be pedantic as if this were some sort of esoteric and useless kind of knowledge but because they belong to the essential pattern of our corporate lives as a community of faith and because they speak rather directly to some of our contemporary problems such as the so-called ‘nature deficit’ of the digital age and to the general sense of a disconnect between our humanity and the natural world as well as between us and God.
The lessons are clear about the change of focus and emphasis. We turn from what is revealed from above to what is to be accomplished below, if I may use such spatial metaphors without being taken literally. But notice. The Epistle speaks about running a race but that race is about disciplining the body, about the exercise of temperance or self-control, and about a prize that is “incorruptible” in complete contrast to what is “corruptible”. Notice, too, that Paul speaks directly to the idea of living out what he has been preaching; in other words, a transition from learning to living.
Week at a Glance, 2 – 8 February
Monday, February 2nd, Candlemas
6-7:00pm Brownies/Sparks – Parish Hall
7:00pm Holy Communion
Tuesday, February 3rd
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Guides – Parish Hall
Thursday, February 5th
6:30-7:30pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall
Sunday, February 8th, Sexagesima
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion (followed by Pot-Luck Luncheon and Annual Parish Meeting)
Upcoming Event:
Tuesday, February 17th
4:30-6:00pm Annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Septuagesima
The collect for today, Septuagesima (or the Third Sunday Before Lent) from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The Gospel: St. Matthew 20:1-16
Artwork: Francesco Maffei, Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, c. 1650.
Charles Stuart, King and Martyr
The collect for today, the commemoration of Charles I (1600-1649), King of England, Martyr (source):
King of kings and Lord of lords,
whose faithful servant Charles
prayed for his persecutors
and died in the living hope of thine eternal kingdom:
grant us, by thy grace, so to follow his example
that we may love and bless our enemies,
through the intercession of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
with the Epistle and Gospel for a Martyr:
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:24-27
Artwork: Charles I, stained glass, Southwark Cathedral, London. Photograph taken by admin, 20 October 2014.
John Chrysostom, Doctor and Bishop
The collect for today, the Feast of St. John Chrysostom (347-407), Preacher, Doctor of the Church, Archbishop of Constantinople (source):
O God of truth and love,
who gavest to thy servant John Chrysostom
eloquence to declare thy righteousness in the great congregation
and courage to bear reproach for the honour of thy name:
mercifully grant to the ministers of thy word
such excellence in preaching
that all people may share with them
in the glory that shall be revealed;
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 Lesson: Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Gospel: St. Luke 21:12-15
Artwork: St. John Chrysostom, stained glass, Church of the Advent, Boston.