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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














his is a time to celebrate. It is Christmastide. The Saviour of the world has come. Light is the order of the day. Darkness’s defeat is imminent. “Joy to the World, the Saviour reigns. Let earth receive her King.” Such is the good news of Christmas. God come among us to save us and make all things right in Jesus Christ. But do we really get it? Can we grasp this? Not really. I love the way our Gospel reading for tonight indicates just how difficult it is to understand the Christ. Even Mary does not comprehend “what he [i.e., Jesus] said.” (vs. 50) But, you know, I don’t blame her for not understanding. After all, how many 12-year Jewish boys are, after a three day long frantic search by parents, friends, and family, found “in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” (vs. 46)
etween my first and second years at theological college, I had a summer job at a church-run storefront ministry called Stop 103, located in an increasingly depressed neighborhood in Toronto. Part food bank, part drop-in, part refugee resettlement program, my job was to run what we called an “internship to urban ministry” for four high school students. The idea was for me to spend an hour every morning with this group, guiding them in a sustained theological reflection on the nature of poverty and social justice, and then to spend the better part of each day working together on the front-line in the ministry. It was a great job, with a fairly steep learning curve for all of us.