The next day Colleen Peters sent along the following reflection on this great prayer, written by Frederick Buechner and originally published in his book Whistling in the Dark: a Doubter’s Dictionary. If you’ve never read any of Buechner’s work, this might just inspire you to dig in a little deeper:

In the Episcopal [Anglican] order of worship, the priest sometimes introduces the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “Now, as our Saviour Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say…” The word bold is worth thinking about. We do well not to pray the prayer lightly. It takes guts to pray it at all. We can pray it in the unthinking and perfunctory way we usually do only by disregarding what we are saying.

“Thy will be done” is what we are saying. That is the climax of the first half of the prayer. We are asking God to be God. We are asking God to do not what we want but what God wants. We are asking God to make manifest the holiness that is now mostly hidden, to set free in all its terrible splendor the devastating power that is now mostly under restraint. “Thy kingdom come… on earth” is what we are saying. And if that were suddenly to happen, what then? What would stand and what fall? Who would be welcomed in and who would be thrown the hell out? Which if any of our most precious visions of what God is and of what human beings are would prove to be more or less on the mark and which would turn out to be phony as three-dollar bills? Boldness indeed. To speak those words is to invite the tiger out of the cage, to unleash a power that makes atomic power look like a warm breeze.

You need to be bold in another way to speak the second half. Give us. Forgive us. Don’t test us. Deliver us. If it takes guts to face the omnipotence that is God’s, it perhaps takes no less to face the impotence that is ours. We can do nothing without God. We can have nothing without God. Without God we are nothing.

It is only the words “Our Father” that make the prayer bearable. If God is indeed something like a father, then as something like children maybe we can risk approaching him anyway.  – Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking

 

You might notice, by the way, that Buechner writes how in the Anglican liturgy the priest often introduces the prayer by saying, “Now, as our Saviour Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say,” while at saint benedict’s table I always change the word “say” to “pray.” We are bold to pray, because to my mind such words really must be prayed, not simply spoken. It is when we pray them that they do their deep and at times unsettling work, reminding us that there is yet work to be done. And thankfully, this God of ours knows us the way a parent knows a child…

Whistling in the Dark is a great introduction to Buechner’s writing, as is a similar collection of short pieces called Wishful Thinking: a seeker’s ABC. You can also watch an excerpt from a film on Buechner’s life and work by clicking here.

Jamie Howison

The readings for Sunday February 5 are Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 2:22-40. You’ll notice that the Gospel reading returns us to the cycle of infancy narratives, and this is because we’re observing this Sunday as “The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus,” which recalls Mary and Joseph’s visit to the temple some forty days of the birth of the baby. In the tradition it is known as “Candlemas,” but more on that on Sunday!

Our next session of ideaExchange is on for this Tuesday January 31 at 7:30PM. Our speaker for the evening is Kirsten Pinto-Gfroerer, on “Why we should not give up on sin; or, how being a sinner isn’t an insult after all.” Please note that this session will find us in a new home for these events, The Folk Exchange located at 211 Bannatyne, at Albert Street.

We’ve got a few spaces still available for this Saturday’s  House Concert in the home of Lorne and Sigrid Penner. The suggested donation will be $15 for an evening of great music, food and drink, and some very fine company. On the musical bill for the night will be Kerri Woelke and Jon Lawless. We’ll have a sign-up sheet at the church on Sunday nights, and you can also reserve a space by contacting us. That’s February 4 at 7:30pm.

The next in our series of “LivingRoom liturgies” is set for Friday February 10. For this one we’re thinking we’ll incorporate some extra music and do a bit of a songwriter circle, so if you play an instrument and want to take part that would be great. You can sign up at the church, or by contacting us, and indicating whether you’d like to bring wine, bread, cheese and crackers, olives, or hummus. Don’t delay… these are a great way to connect with people from around the saint ben’s community.

Our Mental Health support group continues to meet on a bi-weekly basis, with the next sessions happening on February 7 and 21. The group gathers in the small chapel from 7 to 8:30 pm. Please use the main Broadway doors to enter.

The next 4PM Sunday “family-friendly” liturgy is set for this Sunday February 5. While offered for families with young children in mind, these liturgies are open to everyone… And of course we still offer pre-school childcare during the 7Pm service.

We’re set for another film night in our occasional series, Theology in the Dark. For this one we’ll be screening “Get Low,” starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek. It takes place on Thursday February 9, 7pm at in the film room at Booth College (442 Webb Place), after which we’ll head up the street to Stella’s Café for coffee and conversation. There is no admission charge for the movie.

Lord of the Loving, Hear Our Prayer.

We welcome you God, however you intersect our lives – in art, in music, in conversation, in silence, in the circle of the sacraments.  We pray for the Sisters of the Church in Burlington who pray for us, Agape Table whom we pledge to support, and for reciprocity that represents balance in the giving and taking, the empty and full, the solitary and the collective.  As we strive for fulfillment and authenticity in life, we know happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed.  Give us that sense of happiness being the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.  Make us keen to give and take, to hold close and set free, to see visions and dream dreams.

Lord of the Faithful, Hear Our Prayer.

Today, we remember and honor those who are no longer with us.  We affirm their worth, their lives, and their stories.  We remember Sarah Burke, pioneer skier, and Kaitlyn Fraser – both young lives lost in senseless accidents.  For ongoing war, political unrest and ethnic clashes, we pray for Iran, Iraq, Syria and South Sudan.  We also remember the tragedy of the Costa Concordia in Italy, for natural disasters and adverse weather conditions.  We need not look far to appreciate our safe cocoon on our prairie landscape.

Lord of the Bereaved, Hear Our Prayer.

We pray for our leaders – that they will be guided by virtues of honesty, integrity, and transparency as they lead at the national, provincial, and civic levels.  We pray for equitable distribution of resources in our province in some First Nation communities – for basic running water and plumbing.  For those experiencing trauma from last summer’s flood relocation, we pray for suitable housing.  Globally, for those likewise dislocated because of war, we pray that their needs of food, safe water and shelter be met from agency donations that are not diminished by administration fees.  As we look ahead to our planet’s preservation, please give us an ongoing renewal of commitment as stewards of the earth.  Instill in us a consciousness, a sharp awareness, a personal philosophy in our daily use of things like water, choice of products and modes of transportation.  May we never ‘take for granted’ the plethora of resources we enjoy.

Lord of the Nations, Hear Our Prayer.

Our focus moves to those around us and among us needing our love and support.  For those suffering from shattered dreams, broken relationships, loss of employment, separation from loved ones, or experiencing any dis-ease of body, mind or heart, we commit their needs to you.

Please take a moment to name those in need……

We pray for the gift of science in ongoing research and development of cures and prevention of heart disease, cancers, and juvenile and geriatric infirmities.  May we seek balance in our lives in adopting healthy lifestyles but may we never lose sight of you – the ultimate healer and finisher of our destinies here on earth.

Lord of the Brokenhearted, Hear Our Prayer.

Lord of the Suffering, Hear Our Prayer.

It is by your grace that we surround your endless, inclusive, table this evening, O Lord.  Again and again, we are invited to give and receive your peace, to share bread and wine at no cost, to reflect on the privilege and freedom we have in worship.  God of this New Year, we are walking into mystery.  We face the future not knowing what the days and months will bring to us or how we will respond.  Instill vision, empower action, raise hope and BE LOVE IN US as we journey into 2012.

Lord of the Compassionate, Hear Our Prayer.

AMEN.

Written by Nancy Constantine and offered in Worship on January 22, 2012

The readings for Sunday January 29 are Deuteronomy 18:15-22 and Mark 1:21-28.

Our next session of ideaExchange is on for Tuesday January 31 at 7:30PM. Our speaker for the evening is Kirsten Pinto-Gfroerer, on “Why we should not give up on sin; or, how being a sinner isn’t an insult after all.” Please note that this session will find us in a new home for these events, The Folk Exchange located at 211 Bannatyne, at Albert Street.

We’ve got another House Concert scheduled, this one for February 4 at 7:30pm in the home of Lorne and Sigrid Penner. Again, our suggested donation will be $15 for an evening of great music, food and drink, and some very fine company. On the musical bill for the night will be Kerri Woelke and Jon Lawless. We’ll have a sign-up sheet at the church on Sunday nights, and you can also reserve a space by contacting us.

The next in our series of “LivingRoom liturgies” is set for Friday February 10. For this one we’re thinking we’ll incorporate some extra music and do a bit of a songwriter circle, so if you play an instrument and want to take part that would be great. You can sign up at the church, or by contacting us, and indicating whether you’d like to bring wine, bread, cheese and crackers, olives, or hummus. Don’t delay… these are a great way to connect with people from around the saint ben’s community.

Our Mental Health support group continues to meet on a bi-weekly basis, with the next session happening on January 24, with Gord Johnson offering a reflection on music and inner health. The group gathers in the small chapel from 7 to 8:30 pm. Please use the main Broadway doors to enter.

The next 4PM Sunday “family-friendly” liturgy is set for Sunday February 5. While offered for families with young children in mind, these liturgies are open to everyone… And of course we still offer pre-school childcare during the 7Pm service.

We’re set for another film night in our occasional series, Theology in the Dark. For this one we’ll be screening “Get Low,” starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek. It takes place on Thursday February 9, 7pm at in the film room at Booth College (442 Webb Place), after which we’ll head up the street to Stella’s Café for coffee and conversation. There is no admission charge for the movie.

Behind Gord’s song is a famous quote from the writings of a fourteenth-century mystic and theologian, Julian of Norwich. In her one book, The Revelations of Divine Love, Julian reflects on a series of sixteen visions or “showings” that she received over two days in 1373. In The Revelations, Julian writes of how at the age of thirty she experienced these visions, and then shortly thereafter moved permanently into a cell attached to the parish church of St. Julian and St. Edward in Coniston, England. In everything God revealed to her, Julian wrote, “Love was our Lord’s meaning. And I saw for certain, both here and elsewhere, that before ever he made us, God loved us, and that his love has never slackened, nor ever shall.”

It was in light of this that she could write her most famous line, “Sin is behovely, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” That word “behovely” means something between “necessary” and “inevitable,” and what she is saying here is that sin simply is a part of the world as we know it. Sin is a source of pain and suffering, yet it is can also be a path to self-knowledge, in that insofar as we become aware of our own brokenness and failings, we may well be moved to seek God.

Yet Julian is clear that sin will not have the final say, for in God “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” As she saw in her first vision—in which God held out to her what appeared to be a hazelnut, which she realized symbolized the whole of the created universe—“the world exists, both now and for ever, because God loves it… everything owes its existence to the love of God.” Her posture, then, is not one of naïveté or of shallow optimism, but rather it is one of foundational trust.

And it is that kind of trust that informs Gord’s song.

• To listen to a basic recording of song, taken live during worship, click the arrow:

Murray gets big laughs without skimping on the minute details that build a fully rounded character. And watching Murray spar with Duvall is pure pleasure. By the end of this funny, touching and acutely observed film, shot in Georgia by the gifted cinematographer David Boyd and flavored by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s bluegrass score, [Duvall's character] Felix reveals his secret heart. And Duvall, without a word wasted or fumbled, holds you in thrall.

Plan to arrive at the front doors of Booth (442 Webb Place, just a block north of Portage Avenue) between 6:40 and 6:55pm. Following the film, we’ll be making our way down to the new Stella’s Cafe on Portage at Memorial for some shared conversation.

To view the movie trailer, simply click here.

The readings for Sunday January 22 are Jonah 3:1-10 and Mark 1:14-20.

The next in our series of “LivingRoom liturgies” is set for Friday February 10. For this one we’re thinking we’ll incorporate some extra music and do a bit of a songwriter circle, so if you play an instrument and want to take part that would be great. You can sign up at the church, or by contacting us, and indicating whether you’d like to bring wine, bread, cheese and crackers, olives, or hummus. Don’t delay… these are a great way to connect with people from around the saint ben’s community.

Our Mental Health support group continues to meet on a bi-weekly basis, with the next session happening on January 24, with Gord Johnson offering a reflection on music and inner health. The group gathers in the small chapel from 7 to 8:30 pm. Please use the main Broadway doors to enter.

The next 4PM Sunday “family-friendly” liturgy is set for Sunday February 5. While offered for families with young children in mind, these liturgies are open to everyone… And of course we still offer pre-school childcare during the 7Pm service.

The next Hear the Silence liturgy is set for Saturday January 21 at 7PM.

Our next session of ideaExchange is set for January 31 at 7:30PM. Our speaker for the evening is Kirsten Pinto-Gfroerer, on “Why we should not give up on sin; or, how being a sinner isn’t an insult after all.” Please note that this session will find us in a new home for these events, The Folk Exchange located at 211 Bannatyne, at Albert Street.

We’ve got another House Concert scheduled, this one for February 4 at 7:30pm in the home of Lorne and Sigrid Penner. Again, our suggested donation will be $15 for an evening of great music, food and drink, and some very fine company. On the musical bill for the night will be Kerri Woelke and Jon Lawless. We’ll have a sign-up sheet at the church on Sunday nights, and you can also reserve a space by contacting us.

Finally, it would appear that all 100 tickets for the January 20 event “17 and Crazy” have now been sold. That has to be pretty encouraging for Davis Plett and his circle of young artists, writers and musicians.

In Christ,

Jamie

Saturday February 4 will find us in the home of Lorne and Sigrid Penner, 799 Waterloo Street (just a bit south of Grant Avenue), for an evening of music with Kerri Woelke and Jon Lawless.

Kerri Woelke is an accomplished musician whose debut CD released through Avante Records took her across Canada numerous times and received two Covenant award nominations,  as well as a Western Canadian Music Award nomination for Outstanding Christian Recording. This recording resulted in Kerri being signed to Signpost Music for her second album, Where We Were, which in turn led to an 8-month tour opening for Steve Bell. Where We Were used accomplished musicians Michael Longoria (percussion – Patty Griffin), Ryan Boldt (“Deep Dark Woods”), Steve Bell, Matt Epp and “Last Ditch On The Left” duo partner Brent Warren. Alongside of these other recordings, she was also a contributor to our Beautiful Mercy project. Currently working as part of the neo-folk duo Last Ditch on the Left, we’re delighted that Kerri will be with us for this event.

Jon Lawless is a regular at saint ben’s. He records and performs as part of First Rate People, though for this one he’ll be working solo and acoustic. For a taste of that side of John’s music, give a listen to his song “It’s Never Not Happening (Pt. 1)”. You can also click here to take a look at a story about some recording Jon did in All Saints this past autumn. In Jon’s own words, “The gift of youth is the wide-eyed innocence that accompanies it.” The desire to explore their vast musical palette is what drives Jon’s “First Rate People” project. Formed almost immediately out of high school in small town Ontario before scattering across the country, it didn’t take long for First Rate People’s world to be embraced by the one we live in today, garnering positive press in The Guardian and The Village Voice.

There is a suggested donation of $15 for the evening, which gets you a couple of sets of great live music, a bit of food and drink, and some very fine company… but we’d like to get a sense of how many people will coming, so do send an RSVP through our contact form.

The readings for Sunday January 15 are 1 Samuel 3:1-20 and John 1:43-51.

We’re now organizing our Winter round of LivingRoom liturgies, with the next dates set for January 12 and February 10. The January 12 evening still has a bit of space, but we really do need to hear from you in the next day or so if you’re interested in coming. You can sign up for either evening by contacting us, and indicating whether you’d like to bring wine, bread, cheese and crackers, olives, or hummus. Don’t delay… these are a great way to connect with people from around the saint ben’s community.

Our Mental Health support group has now resumed meeting on a bi-weekly basis, with the next two sessions happening on January 10 and 24. I’ll be joining the group on the 10th to talk a bit about the place of prayer in finding stability, while Gord Johnson will be there for the session on January 24. The group gathers in the small chapel from 7 to 8:30 pm. Please use the main Broadway doors to enter.

The next 4PM Sunday “family-friendly” liturgy is set for Sunday January 15. While offered for families with young children in mind, these liturgies are open to everyone… And of course we still offer pre-school childcare during the 7Pm service.

The next Hear the Silence liturgy is set for Saturday January 21 at 7PM.

Our next session of ideaExchange is set for January 31 at 7:30PM. Our speaker for the evening is Kirsten Pinto-Gfroerer, on “Why we should not give up on sin; or, how being a sinner isn’t an insult after all.” Please note that this session will find us in a new home for these events, The Folk Exchange located at 211 Bannatyne, at Albert Street.

We’ve got another House Concert scheduled, this one for February 4 at 7:30pm in the home of Lorne and Sigrid Penner. Again, our suggested donation will be $15 for an evening of great music, food and drink, and some very fine company. On the musical bill for the night will be Kerri Woelke and Jon Lawless. We’ll have a sign-up sheet at the church on Sunday nights, and you can also reserve a space by contacting us.

Looking well down the line, our annual weekend at Camp Cedarwood is confirmed for March 9-11. Details and registration will be available in the next few weeks. And if you are interested in being a part of the planning team, do let us know as soon as possible!

Finally, it would appear that all 100 tickets for the January 20 event “17 and Crazy” have now been sold. That has to be pretty encouraging for Davis Plett and his circle of young artists, writers and musicians.

In Christ,

Jamie

Singing we cry out to you; …blessed be God forever.

God, we thank you for the various faith communities both near and far who desire to have an impact in your name.  From around the world to around the block, may your blessing pour out upon your people as they seek to be a blessing to others.

Singing we cry out to you; …blessed be God forever.

We pray for this community of st. benedict’s table.  Thank-you for the opportunity to gather and worship together.  Despite the busyness of our lives, may we remain committed to you and in-turn each other, striving to be obedient to your call and loving each other as we have been loved by You.

Singing we cry out to you; …blessed be God forever.

We pray for the needs of the world, and particularly those places that continue to be torn by war and violence.  May we be constantly mindful of the world beyond our horizon, cautious to never grow stale in our own comforts.  For losses had, sacrifices made, and those who mourn, may the peace longed for by so many, one day be known to all.

Singing we cry out to you; …blessed be God forever.

We pray for this city and all those who live here. During the winter season, we are made readily aware of the wants and needs of many within our greater community.  May we strive to be generous in our living, so that no one would go without.

Singing we cry out to you; …blessed be God forever.

We pray for the needs of those known to us; for those who are sick or suffering, alone or isolated, or who have other needs and challenges.  (I invite you now to pray aloud the names of those known to you.)  For those named aloud, those spoken in the silence of our hearts, and for the ones we have forgotten,

Singing we cry out to you; …blessed be God forever.

Written by Brett Schmall and offered in worship on January 8, 2012