Weekly Notices - March 6, 2025

This week marks a shift in season when we move from pancakes to ashes and begin the season of Lent. Lent is often a time where we traditionally give something up – coffee, chocolate, complaining, social media etc… And while for some this can be a good practice to aid in our spiritual life, for a lot of us our relationship with things like coffee are not really tied to our spiritual lives (even if I am known to drink a coffee while I do my daily prayer time).  But another practice that many take on during Lent is to do a specific devotion for the season, engaging with a text that will deepen our faith and invite us to think about our spiritual life in new ways.

 

To this effect I thought I would share a devotion that I intend to spend time with this season. I am sure many of you are familiar with PWRDF (newly named ‘Alongside Hope), and this year Alongside Hope has created a devotion for Lent called, “Living into God’s Dream.” This resource will bring together scripture, reflections and prayers and invite us to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations as well as our own Anglican Marks of Mission. All together this will help us to live into God’s dream for the world for a sustainable future rooted in Holy Love.

 

So I invite you to join me in this journey of exploration, prayer and reflection. You will find the PDF version of the devotion attached, or you can go to https://alongsidehope.org/lent2025/ to sign up to receive daily email prompts from Alongside Hope. Together may we come to know more deeply the heart of God working in the world as we move through the coming 40 days.

Blessings,

Kirsten+

Don't forget to change your clocks this weekend!

Our new office administrator, Linda Chad, officially begins working in the office next week. Linda comes to us with a whole host of skills but it will take her some time to get up to speed on how our church office operates, as the Anglican world is a complicated one to jump into. The coming weeks will be a steep learning curve, so please be gentle and forgiving as Linda finds her feet with us.  Starting March 4th, our new office hours will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10am to 3pm.

Our first meeting of the newly elected Parish Council will be held on Wednesday March 12th at 1pm. Members please mark your calendars and I invite prayers from the community as we prepare for our first meeting together as we discuss plans for the year ahead.

Please do consider stepping up to support the various ministries in our community, as we cannot do the work of this place alone. If you can count, use a cell phone, greet people at the door, read scripture or prayers, arrange flowers, make coffee and more… we can find a place for you to help support the work of our community. Let us know if you are interested in helping out.

Rev. Kirsten will be offering a - week Bible Study for the Season of Lent. We will gather on Tuesdays from 10am to 12pm beginning March 11th (after Ash Wednesday). This year the theme of the study will be a little bit different: instead of focusing on the last days of Jesus, or elements of Lent or Holy Week, this year we will focusing on stories of five of Jesus's followers. These are people who encountered Jesus at key moments in their life, people who were transformed, some of whom were there through to the cross and beyond. Together we will explore these lives and discuss how our lives are impacted as we too encounter Jesus with the Cross heavy on the horizon. 

 Celebration of Life

We will be holding a service to Celebrate the Life of Shirley Greenwood on Saturday March 29th at 2pm. Kirsten is working with the family on planning the service but could use a few folks on the ground to assist on the day as greeters, and perhaps offer a reading. We will also be having a reception with Elaine organizing after the service and could use a few folks to assist with this as well. If you might be willing to come and assist as we remember the life of Shirley, please let Kirsten or Elaine know. On Sunday March 30th at 2pm, we will be gathering at St. Peter Quamichan to lay Shirley to rest with her dearly loved husband Alex – all are welcome to join us at St. Peter’s at this time.

St. Mary’s will be hosting our next combined Sunday service with our friends at St. Anne and St. Edmunds on March 23rd at 10am. This will be a special day for us as we will have a guest from the Diocesan Office – Rev. Jenny Reploge, Cannon for lay led parishes and parishes in transition – with us this day. Rev. Jenny is fairly new to the diocese after she served in the Diocese of Chicago for many years. She comes to us with an extensive background in ministry and in particular congregational development. To this end, after the service we will be having a finger food potluck lunch and Jenny will be doing some work with us to look at the unique make-up of our individual parishes in relation to congregational growth. This will be a wonderful event, so please do mark your calendar and plan to join us in welcoming both Jenny and our neighbours from Parksville.

It is that time of year when we invite you to collect your spare change and put your money into your very own Lent giving box. Some of you would have picked it up on Sunday, but if you are still needing yours, be sure to pick it up at the back of the church after the service on Sunday. The hope is that throughout the season you will keep collecting and then on Palm Sunday (April 13th) we will collect all the boxes and have a tally of our Lenten offerings on Easter Sunday. This is one small way we can help support our budget bottom line and engage with the season of Lent.

There are lots of things coming up in the next few months, so to help us keep track of things here are some dates to note:

Sunday March 9 – Dear friends, unfortunately Rev. Lynn Cawthra has informed me that she will not be able to be with you this Sunday. However, after a mad dash and a few calls, I have found someone to come and lead you through our service of Morning Prayer for Lent - however I am going to keep it a surprise! So be sure to come on Sunday to discover who the mystery leader is, as I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised! 

Tuesday March 11 @ 10am – Lent Bible Study to begin.  All are welcome to attend

Wednesday March 12 – Parish Council meets at 1pm in the Church

Saturday March 29 - Celebration of Life - Shirley Greenwood

Sunday March 23 – Combined service at St. Mary’s – with Guest Preacher Rev. Jenny Reploge, Canon for Lay-Led Parishes and Parishes in Transition.