From Rev. Dana’s Desk

May 2, 2024

It is really beginning to feel like Spring now. After a winter that was not much of a winter at times this year, and then a bit of false spring with the maple sap flowing as early as February this year and concern about fruit trees beginning to bud in March, all much too early, now it feels like Spring is here. It is still chilly on my morning walks but if I go out later in the day I often do not even need a jacket. The grass is ready or almost ready for its first cut and spring flowers are popping every day. For me Spring brings a renewed sense of energy, as much that was dormant over the winter is coming back to life. I find that re-energizing extends to many of the people I encounter as well, that the new life that we see and experience around us is a source of hope and joy. This ties in well, with the new life and hope that are central to our Easter Season, as we celebrate the new life and hope that comes through Jesus’ resurrection. 

Similarly, we go through different seasons in our spiritual lives, which may be tied to secular to church seasons, and the foci of those seasons, but can also be deeply affected by other events and circumstances in our lives. For many years, the anxiety, uncertainty, the loss connection, have been a spiritually challenging time. When we add to that the social unrest and general divisiveness that coincided, some of us have also felt disconnected spiritually, disconnected from God. That was one of the things that came out of the Diocesan Visioning Process, a hunger to know and love God more deeply. In response the number one call to action is a season of Spiritual Renewal, individually, as congregations and as a diocese. A time of spiritual re-energizing for all. 

As I preached about on April 28, God invites us to abide in, to be connected to God as our source of spiritual life energy, comparing us to branches connected to the vine, Jesus. Like a branch on vine, that once it is disconnected it cannot be reconnected, we are always given the option, the invitation to reconnect with God, to plug ourselves back into the source of life. I know that in that busyness of life it is so easy to become disconnected, of other priorities taking precedence, things I need to do, but sometimes that does not leave much room for God or being attentive to my connection with God. I know there are times when my prayer life and reading and studying scripture becomes only what I need to do to prepare for worship and preaching, or to lead the study group, which is not enough to feed and sustain me spiritually. I am sure we have all been through those times when our spiritual lives take a backseat to other things in our lives, things we need to attend to, but in attending to them our lives become out of balance. Spiritual renewal for me is about rebalancing our lives to include the spiritual practices we need to be re-energized spiritually. I do find that when I reconnect to God, the source of spiritual energy, that other aspects of my life are also re-energized. 

The Season of Spiritual Renewal has already begun with the appointment of the Rev. Canon Judy Paulsen to lead it, and who along with a small team are assembling resources that congregations can access. As we are all different and at different places spiritually, the resources will not be one size fits all, but a variety from which individuals and parishes can choose, as well as some larger gathering planned for later in this season. Resources will be in four primary disciplines or areas that are recognized as essential for all, prayer, deep engagement with scripture, commitment to worship and the practice of sharing faith through word and deed, the living out of our faith. We each need all of these, but some of us are stronger or have more practice with some over others. They are not spiritual renewal themselves but rather they are the tools, ways that we connect with God and live our faith more deeply. So which tools, which practices do you need to work with to be re-energized spiritually? Do you need to focus on prayer and spending time building that communication line? Do you need to spend some time reading and engaging with God’s word? How might worship be a spiritually energizing experience that helps you draw closer to God? How can what you do, how you live become a living testimony to your faith? Taken together these may seem overwhelming, like a daunting undertaking and one more thing we must do, but this Season of Spiritual Renewal is intended to re-energize and reconnect us with God. So let us embrace it like spring after a long, dark winter, and discover the light and hope, the joy of abiding in a relationship with God who is the source of all life and energy. 

One resource the diocese has already assembled is a collection of prayers for renewal that could be used in daily prayer as we begin, asking for God to guide our spiritual renewal. They are all very different and will appeal to different people and their spirituality and personality. I invite you to have a look and choose perhaps one that you might add to your prayers. You can find them on the diocesan website by following this link. Here is one that speaks to me to whet your appetite. 

Come Holy Spirit! Please show me how you can be with me

Every day, every minute, in every decision and action.

Come into my life. Be with me, help me grow into holiness.

Direct my thoughts and steps.

Make me completely your servant. Amen. 

[Unbinding the Gospel, by Martha Grace Reese, (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2008) p. 177]

Archbishop Linda Nicholls to retire and bursary established in her name 

It was recently announced that Archbishop Linda Nicholls will be retiring as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada on September 15, 2024. You can read her announcement here. She was elected as the Primate, the head of the Anglican Church of Canada in 2019. Archbishop Linda has a long history of serving the church, being ordain deacon (1985) and then priest (1986) in the Diocese of Toronto, then serving in the National Church as Coordinator for Dialogue for Ethics, Interfaith Relations, and Congregational Development, then suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Toronto (Area bishop for Trent Durham) and finally Diocesan bishop Huron, before being elected as Primate. 

The 5 years that Archbishop Linda has been primate has been a challenging time from the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on an already struggling Church, to the internal challenges of continued division over equal marriage and inclusive church, and questions and concerns about how the Church addressed and continued to sexual misconduct allegations. She may not have handled everything to everyone’s satisfaction, but that is often the case. 

In recognition of her ministry, the National House of Bishops has announced the establishment of the Archbishop Linda Nicholls Theological Education Fund to provide bursaries for theological education to women in Canada, both lay and ordained, to access theological education. The House of Bishops have also seeded it in honour of her ministry to the Anglican Church of Canada, providing an initial $20,000 and invite individuals, congregations and other groups to contribute to it in honour of Archbishop Linda and her ministry. If anyone would like to contribute through the parish, you may do so until Sunday June 2, after which we will forward it as a parish to the Anglican Foundation who are administering the Fund. Please mark your donations “Linda Nicholls bursary”. 

April 25, 2024

Monday was Earth Day. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, when millions of Americans, primarily young college students, were involved in a protest to raise awareness of the air and water pollution and led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency later that year (earthday.org). Since that time April 22 has been marked as Earth Day, a day to bring awareness to environmental causes, advocate for practices that promote a more sustainable planet, and work toward protecting our world and reversing the damage that has been done.

There are growing concerns about the damage that has been to our world and whether we have passed the tipping point of being able to reverse it. We certainly see the effects of climate change with more extreme weather patterns, which in turn have contributed to increased numbers and severity of forest fires and flooding, as well as devastating weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes. We know that we need to make changes not only for future generations but our own wellbeing. These catastrophic events related to climate change have a direct impact on us through things like rising insurance costs and even the inability to get insurance in some cases – both for homes and places like the church, because of the increased number and cost of insurance claims that have resulted. We all experienced the toxic smoke of last spring and summer’s wildfires, which has immediate and long-lasting effects on our health and well-being. We know that environmental damage impacts our health in general with increased exposure to pollution and other forms of toxin in our environment, some of which also comes through our food chain. These are just a few examples of the cost financially and personally, of the environmental crisis.

This is also a faith issue. From the beginning we, humanity, have been entrusted with the care and stewardship of God’s creation. For much of history, we interpreted stewardship as dominion over, rather than care for. We took advantage of what we had been given, without realizing that this precious gift was not in endless supply, or endlessly renewable. We did not realize the damage we were doing by our use and even abuse of this gift from God. With our realization has come for many, repentance, and desire to change our ways. This is reflected in some of our Anglican liturgy. A few examples include our Ash Wednesday litany of repentance, when we acknowledge and repent for, “our waste and pollution of your [God’s] creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us.” Similarly, a sixth promise was added to the baptismal covenant some time ago, “Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth?” Each of these represents our acknowledgement of where we have failed to be good stewards and a commitment to a better way forward. There are also faith-based organizations and ministries focused on creation and climate change.

There are a variety of ways we can choose to mark Earth Week, from practical steps like limiting or eliminating our use and reliance on plastics (the theme this year), shopping in second hand stores to increase the life of items and diverting them from landfill, choosing energy efficient items when possible. We can seek to care for the earth by picking up the garbage we see, and be part of community cleanups, as many items can have harmful consequences for other creatures – like plastic bottles or metal cans in which animals can get their heads caught and starve. We can also choose to be advocates for the earth, which can sometimes be unpopular, because the changes necessary can be cost prohibitive up front, but the cost of not making those changes can be infinitely more, both financially and to our well-being and the well-being of creation as a whole.

Most importantly, we can choose to practice sustainable, eco-friendly ways of living in the world every day and not just for Earth Day or Earth Week as we seek to fulfill our calling as good stewards of creation, as a sign of our love and honouring our creator.

April 18, 2024

This is National Volunteer Week. I know that many of you are volunteers with community groups, sports and recreation programs and agencies serving those in our community. Volunteer Canada estimates that there are 24 million volunteers who serve in various capacities across the country. Volunteers are an essential part of our society, working together to serve and improve the lives of everyone. Being a volunteer can be fulfilling, seeing how we can make a difference in the community around us. By volunteering we are helping to build and maintain strong, healthy communities, promoting dignity and respect for all people. We form relationships with those we volunteer alongside and those we are serving through our volunteer work, which also helps to strengthen our sense of community, our interdependence on each other. 

In doing a little research I came across the website for the Volunteer Australian, which is part of their annual celebration (May 20-26), it has a theme, and this year it is “Something for Everyone” recognizing the diverse talents and passions that people bring to volunteering. Everyone has their own talents and their own interests, and each of us can serve in our own way. This fits very much the Christian analogy of the body made up of various parts each with their own function, each of which is necessary for the ultimate functioning of the body. As a society we each can contribute to make the world a better place. To all of you who do volunteer in the community, thank you for making the world a better place.

As Christians we are more than volunteers, we are disciples and ministers in Jesus’ name, fulfilling Jesus’ example of serving the world, and especially the most vulnerable among us, and enacting Jesus’ command to love one another (all people), as Jesus has loved us. Jesus says that it is by our love that we will be known as his disciples. Our baptismal covenant that we renewed at Easter and that the bishop highlighted in his sermon, is filled with reminders of how we are called to minister in the world in Jesus’ name, loving and serving others, and God’s whole creation, as an embodiment of our faith. Our ministries are as varied as we are, and ideally, we are serving out of our strengths and our passions. We are ministers of worship when we assist with some aspect of the worship service; ministers of administration as wardens and deputy wardens, treasurer, advisory board member, or other organizational committees; ministers of stewardship of the church and property, fixing and maintaining what has been entrusted to us as a base of ministry; ministers of hospitality, assisting with refreshments, special functions, or welcome visitors and newcomers; ministers of service and outreach as we serve in the Second-Hand Shop and seek to be advocates for the vulnerable in our society (I am sure I am forgetting some of the ministries we have and serve in). Thank you to each of you who serves in these various capacities, thank you for being disciples ministering and serving in Jesus’ name. I encourage each of us to find our ministry, how we can best serve the community of Trinity and the community around us, living into our calling of disciples and followers of Jesus serving the world God loves.

April 11, 2024

Each year the Easter Season reminds me of the new beginnings and renewed hope that God offers us. We hear it in the gospel readings the first few weeks of Easter with different resurrection appearances of Jesus. Amid their sorrow and fears, their uncertainty and anxiety, Jesus comes to them offering words of reassurance and peace. Jesus also reminds them of their primary purpose or mission, to carry on what he has said and done. These encounters often include a commissioning or a command to go, to go and share the good news, to go and make disciples.

We also hear them beginning to live into that calling in a unique feature of the Easter Season, that our first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles rather than the Hebrew Bible. The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of what comes next, of the transformation of followers of Jesus into their own community, a community sometimes referred to as the people of the Way, as in the Way of Jesus. Like most new beginnings or times of transition, it was a time of great excitement but also challenging because Jesus did not leave a detailed manual or set of instructions that covered all the situations they would face. Rather Jesus had given them a new way of seeing the world based on love and grace, on inclusion rather than exclusion. Jesus’ life and ministry had set an example, but they had to discern how to live by it as a general guide not a strict set of rules.

As we heard in last week’s reading from Acts (4:32-35) the believers were of one heart and soul, but that didn’t mean that it was easy, and as we also read about some of those struggles to come to consensus about what God wanted and how Jesus would have responded to the situations they encountered. It is this commitment to working through what it meant to follow in Jesus’ way that I love about the Acts of the Apostles, the honesty about the challenges and struggles. In particular, which traditions, beliefs and practices did they bring into this new fellowship and which did they let go of or modify as they moved forward, such as dietary rules, and circumcision, and even their definitions of what it meant to be a member of the community. These were all issues of identity, of who they were and how their relationships within the community and with the wider community were defined and lived out. Throughout the Book of Acts, as well as the various letters that make up much of the rest of the New Testament, we see this struggle with identity, of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and how that is lived out.

While the issues are different, the ongoing evaluation or discernment about our identity as Jesus’ followers has never stopped. Throughout the centuries, questions about what is central to our identity and practices has been something the followers of Jesus have wrestled with and disagreed on at times. Many of the schisms and splits in the Church throughout the centuries have been about what is central to what we believe and how we live that out. This can be particularly true at times when society at large is wrestling with questions of identity, as influenced by what we believe and then how we live that out. Part of the challenge is that the more uncertain the world around us feels, the more tightly we want to hold on to certain aspects of our identity, but that is exactly the time we need to be most nimble and adaptive to the world around us. At the same time holding on to what is core to who we are, that defines us. That is part of the task before us as we seek what it means to be a missional people, who are seeking and living into the mission of God for us, reflecting on our identity. I asked the advisory board recently, as leaders, what do they see as the beliefs, values and practices that define our identity as Trinity. Now, both in this Easter season of new beginnings, and in this season of seeking to be missional, is a good time to reflect on what makes us who we are, what values and practices shape and define us. Let us continue to reflect on these important questions as we seek to follow the risen Lord and respond to his commissioning to go into the world as his disciples, sharing the good news, and serving others in his name.

April 5, 2024: Season of Easter, Season of Renewal and Hope 

Each year for Easter there is a choice between the resurrection account of the gospel for the year, this year being Mark and the resurrection account from John’s gospel. I was having a conversation with colleagues recently about which gospel we were using and why or how we choose. When we used to host our own Great Vigil of Easter, I would often read one at that service and one at the Sunday morning service. I find them all interesting because they each have unique details, which is one reason I like to alternate which gospel I read rather than always reading from John. Whether it is silence we heard this year from Mark (16:1-8), or the earthquake in Matthew (28:1-10) that bookends the earthquake that happens when Jesus died in that same gospel, or in Luke (24:1-12) the way that disciples refer to the women’s story as “an idle tale” (actually stronger language seems to be indicated) or John’s version (20:1-18) that focuses more on Mary Magdalene. Just as we read the four accounts of his death as part of the Meditation on the Cross on Good Friday, you might want to read all four accounts noting the similarities and differences, as the four different perspectives on this crucial event. 

One of the reasons I like John is the moment when Jesus calls Mary by name in the garden. She is feeling deep despair, that not only is Jesus dead, but his body is missing. Imagine going to the cemetery to visit the grave of a loved one and discovering a hole in the ground where they used to be. After initially discovering it she tells the disciples and Peter and the one whom Jesus loves, come and see, and leave, leaving her alone once again. It is in that moment of grief and hopelessness that Jesus comes to her, but her grief keeps her from recognizing him. It is only when he calls her by name that everything changes, and she suddenly recognizes Jesus standing there in front of her. Up to that moment, she is unable to see past her own grief and sadness. It reminds me of a verse from Isaiah on the back of a cross that a friend gave me years ago, “I have called you by name, and you are mine,” (Isaiah 43:1b). She gave me that cross at a time when my mind was filled with questions and feeling very alone and even abandoned by God. The cross served as a reminder to me that I was not alone, that God knew my name, and in fact God had called me by name. It went with something another friend said at the time, “God has not brought you to this moment to leave you here.” In a world of over 7 billion people, we may wonder sometimes if God really knows or cares about us individually, but we are assured repeatedly in scripture that God knows not only our name, but every hair on our head. When Jesus calls Mary by name, he awakens her to the reality of God’s presence in front of her and to the amazing news of his resurrection filled with hope. 

It is so easy to find ourselves like Mary, blinded by grief and sadness that keeps us from seeing the signs of new life around us. The news is filled daily with hatred between people, which has led to unbelievable tragedy and destruction. It is all too easy to be weighed down by gloom and doom that assail us. So, like Mary, we sometimes cannot see the joy and wonder, and signs of new life that are all around us. A few years ago, I challenged everyone to look for signs of resurrection, new life, of hope and joy, of God at work in the world around us, as we moved through the 50 days of Easter, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, and keep track of those observations. In the same way that daily bad news can build up our sense of hopelessness, the more we pay attention to the moments of joy, and new life, the more our sense of hope is renewed. As well, the more we look for God at work in the world, the more we will see God at work, which is important as part of our missional focus, to join God is what God is doing in the world. In this season of Easter, a season of new life, may we hear and experience God at work in our lives and in the world around us, and may we be encouraged to join God in God’s renewal, restoration and acts of hope and love in a world that desperately needs it.