O God, we are in our 5th day of Lent – the days are getting longer while winter is getting shorter and our attentions are diverted in many directions. The world grieves for Haiti while our corner of the world is donned in red and white as host of the Winter Games. As we are called to consider ‘wilderness’ amidst the busyness of our lives, may we heed the words from tonight’s gospel to “Worship the Lord our God and Only Him”. (more…)
a personal reflection on the idea of a Lenten discipline
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sh Wednesday, 8:55am, and I’ve already messed up one part of my personal Lenten discipline. For several years now, one of the simple ways in which I have observed the season of Lent is to forego using my car radio and CD player. I don’t know if you are like me, but the first thing I do after starting up the car is to turn on the radio, and this morning was no different. I was heading off to an early morning breakfast gathering, and without thinking I switched on the radio to listen to the morning news. I didn’t even get half-way down the block before it dawned on me, “It is Ash Wednesday… here we go.” Click.
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very year during February, we hold an open congregational meeting aimed at any and all who consider themselves a part of saint benedict’s table. The past year is reviewed, the finances are considered, and a bit of dreaming and goal-setting is put on the table for wider consideration and discernment. This year’s meeting takes place on Sunday February 21 at 4:00pm, followed by a supper at 5:30 and worship at 7:00. This really is an open meeting, so if you’re interested in joining us, just contact us so that we can add you to the list for the meal.
If you keep reading here, you’ll find my refection for the year, followed by one from our music leader, Larry Campbell, and one from John Berard, our part-time ministry coordinator. Later in the week, we’ll add a bit of a financial summary for the year. Even if you can’t attend the meeting, these reports will give you a good sense of what all makes us tick.
Jamie Howison
An invitation to our Wednesday evening Lenten series
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he Claim Upon Us: Learning Lent with Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Five Wednesdays in Lent: February 24 and March 3, 10, 17 and 24, presented by saint benedict’s table in cooperation with the congregation of All Saints’ Church.
Each of the gatherings will be built around a simple service of Compline, into which will be set a reflection by Dr Christopher Holmes about what we might learn from the thought, faith, and witness of the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. With so much of his life and work carried out under the shadow of the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer essentially embodies a Lenten and wilderness Christianity.
We will meet at All Saints Church, located at the corner of Broadway and Osborne, with each session beginning at 7:00pm.
You are also welcome to join us for our Ash Wednesday Liturgy on February 17 at 7:00pm.
Dr Christopher Holmes is associate professor of Theology and Ethics at Providence Seminary, and is currently serving as a transitional deacon at saint benedict’s table. In the spring of 2010 Chris will assume the position of senior lecturer in Theology at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
L et us call the community into a time of prayer. Loving God, so many have answered the call to work with the people of Haiti in so many ways. May they be blessed with financial, spiritual, and physical resources. And we ask a special blessing on the children of Haiti who are at their most vulnerable. May they be fed, sheltered, and loved.
Lord in Your Mercy, Hear our Prayer (more…)
A reflection on how and why we might observe Lent
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s of February 17, we’ll be in the season of Lent, so it is time to do a little reflecting on the nature of this liturgical season, and why we’d bother worrying about it in the first place. In case you were wondering, the season starts on Ash Wednesday, February 17, which we mark with a liturgy at the church at 7:00pm.
What exactly is Lent?
Lent is the forty day liturgical season stretching from Ash Wednesday through to Easter Eve. This year Ash Wednesday falls on February 17, with Easter Day coming on April 4. The forty days, however, are interrupted by the six Sundays that come within this period, because Sundays are always resurrection days or “little Easters.” Still, in our Sunday worship during Lent, we actually “fast” from singing or saying the word “Alleluia,” as a steady reminder of the larger season in which those Sundays fall.
News from El-Shaddai Church in Haiti
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e’ve got a bit of a connection to El-Shaddai Church in Haiti, through our support of the annual medical mission team spear-headed by saint ben’s member Dr Pierre Plourde… and, in various ways, ably assisted by the rest of his family! What follows is a recent report of the shape of things in and around El-Shaddai, as well as an update on plans for the next mission team visit. This report was issued January 30.
Damage report
G athered in Faith, uplifted in Hope, united in Love, let us pray to the Living God.
You are the God of Agape-Love. We confess that we still have much to learn on that subject. We tend to be self-serving. We tend to gluttony. We tend to judge based on appearances (isn’t that the carpenter’s son?) We are slow learners, so please show us again: your patient, kind, humble, respectful, tolerant, forgiving, honest, trusting, persevering love. Remind us again of your far-reaching, far-ranging love that invites us all to climb over the fence and step into the wide-open fields of your grace. You accept outcasts and fools—you have accepted us!—show us how to pay it forward, opening our arms and lives to those we encounter on the road. When love gets messy, sticky, and irritating, take us back to that dim mirror: I, too, am broken. I, too, am awkward. I, too, am messy. But that is only part of the story. Tonight, we submit ourselves to your love lessons once again. Please forgive us when we respond to your curriculum by trying to push you off a cliff. O God of love, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.