o, when was the last time you bought a toaster, and how much did you pay for it? Maybe $25 if you’re working on a tight budget, or around $50 if you’re looking for something that will last, right?   Even if you bought yourself some high-end European-style chrome model, it can’t have cost you more than a $100.

Well, the subject of toasters came up in connection with our ongoing relationship with Agape Table, the local community nutrition program that works out of the All Saints Church hall, offering food and hospitality to as many as 250 people each day.  As they say on their own website, “Agape Table is committed to providing a community based program, nourishing the body, mind, and spirit of our guests in a cost effective and financially responsible manner.”  That has always seemed to us to be a great set of commitments, so from our earliest days we’ve been gathering fresh fruit  for them, as well as sending volunteers their way.  We’ve spent some hours gardening alongside of the sisters at St Benedict’s Monastery, bringing boxes of freshly harvested vegetables back for Agape, and for the past two years we’ve been part of hosting an open house with them on the February statutory holiday.

For each of the last two years we’ve also designated a gift of $1000 to support their work, and this year rather than just making a general donation we decided to consult with the staff and volunteers to see if there was something in particular we could purchase for them.  Almost without delay, the request came back: we need a new toaster.  ”Sure”, I thought, “but then how will we spend the rest of the money?”

And then the word came: that toaster will need to be a proper commercial unit, the price-tag on which will be about $1000.  That must be some toaster…

So the purchase has been made, and the new commercial toaster is in use five mornings a week, cranking out an apparently endless stream of nicely done pieces of toast.  That’s good.

Interesting, too, that the second item on the Agape Table wish list was also worth about $1000.  It seems that day after day they run out of hot water in the church kitchen, due to the fact that the aging water heater just can’t keep up.  Well, a few people caught word of that, and have decided that they’re going to just get together and donate the extra money needed to replace the tank.  That’s also good.

Agape Table does a good and important piece of work, and with their increasing emphasis on moving past just filling empty stomachs and instead seeking to “nourish body, mind and spirit”, their work becomes all the more significant.  For our church community to be in a place of supporting Agape and of collaborating with them in their ministry is also significant, for it is a steady reminder that a church community which finds its life in the sharing of bread and wine at the communion table must not and cannot ever forget the hungers of our neighbours.

And you know, sometimes things as simple as a decent piece of toast matter.  They just do.

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t’s a delight you have joined us on a night I thought – at times – would never come.

Yesterday morning was another long-anticipated time for me. Around 1 am I completed an 18-day stretch covering the Olympics. It was quite an experience for a confirmed non-jock to spend 12 or more hours a day immersed in the world of sports.

And that experience, while physically and mentally exhausting, was also a fascinating look into a world I don’t usually work in… in this case the world of television sports coverage. I learned a lot while I was in the locker room, so to speak.

I learned that while the fascination of sports is certainly about big victories, like Sunday’s hockey gold, it’s also about small things, incremental improvements and, above all, statistics.

Did you know that there are indeed people who care about who was the seventh place finisher in men’s 50 km cross country pursuit, and whether that was better or worse than his performance in Turin?

Considering my new understanding of the importance of statistics, I thought I’d pull a few together about Beautiful Mercy | A Book of Hours.

• Dimensions – 9” x 9” and based on a Mother Goose book
• Number of people involved – 64
• Number of artists – 46
• Number of production helpers – 21
• Gender split on contributor – about 60/40 (26 male artists – 20 female)
• Number of pages – 160
• Number of CD tracks – 13
• Number of minutes under the max time allowed on a CD – about 2%
• Number of copies printed – 559
• Number of times fully proofed – 6
• Number of mistakes I saw as soon as I opened it – 3
• Number of times I swore at that moment… hmmmm

I first heard of this project when my wife Sharon, who was a warden, told me she had joined yet another committee. She told me about it and I said “wow… have fun… I’m glad I’m not involved because that’s a huge project!”

Shortly after I came onboard I hired Mike Berg for layout/design.  Mike’s wife wife Kris had a baby last week Milo Oliver – their second.  When Mike and I first met to discuss this project, his wife was not pregnant, so it’s interesting to note that it was faster to produce Milo than the Book of Hours. Mike is a huge contributor to the success of this project.

The copy editors – Christine Neale & Corinne Plett – have eagle eyes. I’m glad I was not their child, because I wouldn’t have been able to get away with anything. They did line by line proofing and the larger tasks of editing for sense and flow. We did miss one important thing though – we actually spelled Corinne’s name incorrectly on the first printer’s galley… since fixed!

People immersed in multi-layered projects can get a bit lost, so last fall, I suggested to Sharon that we needed someone outside of SBT, someone who knows nothing of the project, who is detail oriented yet able to see the bigger purpose, who is amiably grumpy and wouldn’t hold back. She said that sounds like Gary Robson. Gary got the book before Christmas, scoured it and offered feedback. Interestingly enough, when he and I met at Tim Horton’s in late January to review his comments, I thanked him, said that I hoped it wasn’t too much of an imposition and he tells me he got a call from Sharon who told him she was involved in producing a book and he said: “wow… have fun… I’m glad I’m not involved because that’s a huge project!”

If Sharon calls you, hang up.

Thanks also to my committee – Sharon, Suzanne Pringle, Jamie Howison and John Berard. They spent countless hours determining placement, copy length, colour palettes, theological questions and on and on. Their work was invaluable.

There are others involved and I’m sorry if I missed you. This book is the due to the efforts of many people. And that is what makes it so unique.

In my view one of the primary tasks of people of faith is to create a new reality. When it becomes so clear that the reality of our lives and how we as a society live is so broken we have just two choices. We can try to fix what was… or we can create a new reality that makes the old one obsolete.

And there is much about our present reality that is broken; the many ways in which we fall short, as a society, of what we could be. In a terrifying way we are reaping the harvest that we planted long ago.

When we rejected community and instead celebrated our individualism, we didn’t realize how arid and lonely that road could be. We didn’t understand the dangers of atomization, unchecked autonomy and how frightening it is to face the world and eternity by yourself.

Beautiful Mercy | A Book of Hours is one of the ways saint benedict’s table is creating a new reality that will make the old one obsolete.

Together we have made something of beauty and value.

Together we have created media of consequence.

Together we have said that our faith matters, that our struggles matter and that in the messy reality of living out our Christian faith in the real world… some things are better done together.

It has been an honour to have been a part of this project… but the next time Sharon joins a church committee, I’m saying “no” … and I mean it this time.

Thank you.

*A brief postscript from Jamie Howison:  One of the things about which Bram has always been insistent is that anything saint benedict’s table might produce should be of sufficiently high quality that it could be taken seriously outside of the walls of the church. That is part of the reason that we launched this project at McNally Robinson Booksellers, and now we’ve just received word that the project is their bestselling hardcover nonfiction book for the week.

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or tens of thousands of years, humans have used art to try to make sense of the world in which we live.  Over centuries and millennia, stories have been told, songs sung, dances created, images painted and carved and sculpted.  And we are a part of that.

The community that tonight launches the project called Beautiful Mercy | A Book of Hours stands in a biblical tradition that tells stories, some of which are almost 4000 years old.  We read and we sing psalms and the poetic songs of prophets like Isaiah, that take us back hundreds and hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.   We shape our imaginations through the four gospels, each of which is an artfully presented story of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, who himself told those artful stories called parables.

And we stand in a tradition that has raised up generation after generation of writers and visual artists and musicians and architects and poets who have sought – through their various offerings – to say something true about the world in which we live; who we are, and whose we are.

The novelist Reynolds Price observes that, “a few of those servants (of Jesus) have given to Western civilization its central masterpieces of literature, painting, sculpture, music and architecture.  Remove Christian art from postclassical Western art and very little, prior to the 1880’s, survives.” (A Serious Way of Wondering, p. 118)

But after 1880, though the 20^th century?  That’s a much more complex question than I can begin to address tonight, though it is fair to say that as art migrated to galleries and music to concert halls – and as architects were commissioned to design great edifices to say something not about the holy, but rather as monuments to finance and commerce – the Christian church largely forgot its connection to the arts.  Not entirely, of course; there are notable and remarkable exceptions to that generalization.  But how often do we now hear of a church commissioning a piece of art or music?  How often do we raise up and celebrate the work of a poet or a playwright or a sculptor, as being essential to our common life?

Which is where Beautiful Mercy comes in.  It has been created locally, generated from within a community, and has welcomed specialist and non-specialist alike – the professional as well as the one who does it solely for the love of it – to offer their work to the Glory of God and for the delight and nourishment and maybe even consternation of any who happen upon it and begin to page through.

“Can art be as basic a service as a cup of cold water?” asks Calvin Seerveld in his book Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves.  “Definitely, yes!  Because depending on your condition, it may not be water that you need: you may need a hernia operation or financial assistance – or you may need the help of an artist.” (p. 19)

We agree.

Jamie Howison

With an estimated 27 million victimized around the globe, human trafficking includes everything from forced sexual labour in brothels, to the debt bondage that produces the jeans we wear, the cell phones we put in those jean pockets and the harvesting of human organs for sale. Next to trading weapons and drugs, trading people produces the greatest profits for international organized crime in our increasingly globalized world.

In this episode of ideaExchange, Val Hiebert and Dennis Hiebert wrestle with the question of how to respond meaningfully and effectively to this complex and troubling issue.

Dennis is the Chair of the Department of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Providence College. Val is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Providence College.

There are three ways to hear this ideaExchange podcast (runs 55:11):

• click on the arrow below
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ast night at the end of our liturgy, we had everyone who had played some role in the creation of Beautiful Mercy gather at the front of the church for a blessing.  In that context I made just a few remarks as to why we’d put such time and energy and resources into the production of a work of art (and more than being a collection of writing, art and music, this book is itself a piece of art), putting at least some of the blame squarely on the shoulders of Calvin Seerveld.  Cal is a founder member at the Institute of Christian Studies in Toronto, where for many years he taught and wrote in the area of philosophical aesthetics, labouring tirelessly to try to convince the church that the arts need to be part of who and what we are.

Well, for a number of us who call saint benedict’s table home, Cal made a pretty convincing case, so when the time came to do this blessing of the Beautiful Mercy project I pulled out my copy of his book Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves to give me the right words with which to frame things.  After worship, several people asked me about the words I’d read, looking for more information about the book and its writer, so it made sense to share the words here.  Cal often draws on the image of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with perfumed oil – an act to which Judas objected on the grounds that it was wasteful – as a good place to begin to think about art.  I read aloud the following lines from the book’s introductory essay:

When art is crafted for God and neighbour… and is simply spilled like an offering of perfume as this woman (in the gospels) did, then you as an artist have God’s authoritative blessing.  If you have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to write songs, or to draw the human face, to tell stories to children or to grown-ups so their mouths drop open, to paint colours that bring cheer to the sad, or film shapes that stop the self-assured with uneasy reflection, or if you can be trained to make choreographed gestures that bespeak righteous anger or redemptive tenderness, then you have Jesus Christ’s explicit approval for such ‘good works’ of love.

Do not make it so hard, my friends, for them to spill their perfume over my body, says the Christ; over my often tired, beleaguered, recalcitrant yet expectant people; or even spill the perfume over the neighbours who maybe never had anything ‘beautiful’ done to them either.  Such little artistic acts of love are worth remembering.

Wonderful, artful words, aren’t they?  It is hard to think of more to say, other than to again offer the prayer we used to mark the release of our book:

O God, through whose blessed Son you have sanctified and transfigured the work of our hands, of our hearts and our imaginations: receive this book which we offer, and grant that it may proclaim your love, benefit your people, and minister grace to all who use it; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God.

Lord in Your Mercy, hear our prayer.

Thank you for the healthy global community of athletes at the Vancouver Winter Olympics – for their tenacity in training; their joy and humility in success; stoicism in defeat; and tolerance and celebration of all cultures, countries and abilities.  Likewise, may we walk, run, cycle, skate, and ski our personal challenges – may we be motivated in our vocations and causes for equity and peace; and disciplined in our faith journey with contemplation, reflection and stewardship.

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God.

Lord in Your Mercy, hear our prayer.

For another year, this community has pledged its ongoing offering of accountability to vision, to each other and to God.  For the deliberations of this afternoon’s meeting, we commit to you all the tables which we surround – those that teach us, those that feed others, and those that symbolize the faith we live by.  Locally we pray for issues faced by civic and provincial governments surrounding waste management, policing and safety, and the health care system.   We continue to ask for protection from flues and viruses.  Please protect those living in unsettled regions caused by weather patterns, natural disasters, war, and economic strife; Afghanistan, Portugal, Haiti and Darfur.  We hold up our troops and their steadfast commitment to the mission.  In our safe cocoons of prosperity and privilege, may we find purpose in facilitating awareness and alternative solutions for what plagues our world, country, region and neighbourhood.  Heal us so we can heal; save us so we can save.

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God.

Lord In Your Mercy, hear our prayer.

At this time, we are called to pray for those in need.  We remember the Sisters of the Church in Burlington, Lola and Roger and Home Uganda, St. John’s Baptist Church and Rout Bah in Durham, and for people choosing baptism, renewal of baptismal vows, and discernment of vocation.  We pray for recipients of Agape Table and other soup kitchens and shelters.  We ask for ongoing ability to meet this social need and thank you for visionaries like Harry Lehotsky who made a difference to that end.  We remember the life of Peter Berard, father of John.  Please take a moment to mention aloud or in your hearts any names of people needing prayers…….….Lord, what we have not, give us; what we know not, teach us; what we see not, show us; and what we are not, make us.

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God.

Lord in Your Mercy, hear our prayer.

We are approaching the time in our service where we will surround your Table.  This feast shows us how to remember what has been dis-membered by human attempts to separate and divide; judge and cast out; select and punish.  May our table continue to be one of sharing food where we are brought into the ongoing work of making creation whole.  We are reminded that you cast no one out, you turn no one away, your welcome is inclusive, embracing and consoling.

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God.

Lord in Your Mercy, hear our prayer.

Father, we thank you for this community’s celebration in Beautiful Mercy – A Book of Hours and its launch on March 2nd.  As Anglicans, we honor the monastic tradition of our faith and observances.  This week marked the beginning of Lent and as we received  the sign of the cross on our foreheads, that mark posed as an inward validation of covenant, a call to faithfulness, and a comfort of your embrace.  As this 40-day journey continues, may we each take time in the days and weeks ahead to quiet ourselves; to be open to that time apart, that desert, that wilderness; to invite literature, music, nature or conversation as mediums to you.  Be Still and know that I am God; Be Still and know that I am; Be Still and know; Be Still.

AMEN

Written by Nancy Constantine , to be offered in worship on the 1st Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2010.

A

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.

It is always intrigues me that I so automatically fill the car with noise while I drive, and it is a bit telling that twice during my ten minute drive to breakfast I reached forward and almost turned that radio on.  Again.

And for the forty days from now until Easter Day – with the exception of the Sundays, of course, because they aren’t actually numbered amongst the forty days of Lent – I’ll drive in relative silence.  Each time I get in to the car, I will be reminded that I am in a very particular season, and on at least a few of those drives I’ll do some thinking about who I am and why I do some of the things I do so automatically and without reflection.  For me, it is a good piece of the seasonal discipline.

As I was driving back from my breakfast gathering, I began to think about this business of how I so often fill my  life with noise; about how I use the chatter of CBC radio to fill space, and about how I can let music – wonderful music – be little more than just background soundtrack.

So this year I’ve added another piece to my practice.  Every week I am going to take one of the CD’s from my collection that really deserves careful and intentional listening, and I’m going to sit with it and listen.  Not while I chop onions in the kitchen or go through e-mail or flip through a magazine… the goal will be to sit and to listen, from beginning to end.

You see, I’ve got some great music sitting there – music with real theological and spiritual grit – but so often when I put it on I don’t really attend to it.  It becomes like the car radio, in that it is just there, filling the space with sound.

So I’m thinking that over these six weeks, I’ll listen carefully and closely to these discs:

• Oliver Schroer, Camino (Big Dog, 2006)
• John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (Impulse! 1964)… and for good measure, I’ll have another go at trying to really listen to Coltrane’s far more challenging free jazz project Ascension (Impulse! 1965)
• Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, Officium (ECM, 1994)
• Arvo Part, Litany (ECM, 1995)
• The Terence Blanchard Group (with spoken word pieces by Cornell West), Choices (Concord Jazz, 2009)
• Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil, performed by the Estonian Chamber Choir.

You see, part of what can be really valuable in Lent is to give something up and to be steadily reminded of being in a different season.  But the other side of this is to take on some extra practice for these days; something that slows you down or focuses your attention just a bit differently.

None of this should be taken as a “religious obligation”, in the sense that God needs us to prove something in order to earn some divine favour.  Rather, it is an opportunity to do some soul-searching and learning, and to wonder at the truth that we are already numbered amongst the beloved of God in spite of how easily we drop the ball (or automatically hit that radio button…).  And along the way during these days, we might actually grow up a little.

Jamie Howison

]]> http://stbenedictstable.ca/2010/02/give-it-up/feed/ 0 http://stbenedictstable.ca/2010/02/reflections-and-reports-for-our-annual-open-meeting/ http://stbenedictstable.ca/2010/02/reflections-and-reports-for-our-annual-open-meeting/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:40:49 +0000 Jamie http://stbenedictstable.ca/?p=1830 E

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

Annual Reflection - February 2010 – Jamie Howison

It is an interesting challenge to sit down and to try to write a reflective review of the past year, and to have that do more than just catalogue what we’ve been up to.  It is a particular challenge to do that for a year in which we marked our 5^th anniversary as an “official” mission congregation… or to count things a bit differently, in which – as of this month – we hit the seven year mark since we first gathered a group of people to talk with our bishop about planting a new worshipping community.

Some things are worth listing off, of course, and so in no particular order that is where I’ll start:

• In January 2009 we welcomed John Berard on board as a new part time staff person, with responsibility for planning, implementing and coordinating some of the ministry activity that happens in the life of saint benedict’s table
• In March 2009, we held our first ever congregational weekend event, held at Camp Cedarwood.
• In November 2009 we hosted a series of well-attended events with the writer and new monastic Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.  Sometime over the coming months, the recordings of these events will be made available in CD form, which will hopefully reignite some of the conversations Jonathan initiated with us.
• Over the entire year, a group of us worked away at our soon-to-be-released book and CD project, Beautiful Mercy | A Book of Hours. And let me tell you, no one worked harder than Bram Ryan.

Those are just the few things that get the bullet points… how about the beginning of the “Theology in the Dark” series, the publication of our Book for Lent (wonderfully illustrated by Helen Lyons), and our first ever quiet retreat at St Benedict’s Monastery, to say nothing of the various things that continued to happen and unfold in the day to day, week to week life of the church?  Surf around the archives section of the website, and you’ll quickly get the picture.

But again, cataloguing is not the same as reflecting.  And none of it really touches the defining thing that we do, namely to gather Sunday by Sunday – and to borrow a great line from Robert Farrar Capon – “to celebrate the Holy Mysteries… to taste and see how gracious the inveterately hospitable Lord is.”

The number of people who come out on Sunday night to celebrate and to “taste and see” with us has grown, but numerical growth is not the same thing as maturing or becoming more seasoned.  Numbers alone come with a particular kind of challenge, and one that can leave some people feeling lost in the shuffle.   And maybe it is a bit of seasoning – a bit of growing up or growing deep – that is our most serious piece of agenda for the coming year.

Part of that will happen through some explorations around having an alternative worship gathering twice a month at 4:00pm on Sunday afternoon.  These gatherings will start on March 14, and continue on the 2^nd and 4^th Sunday of each month through to the end of May.  While we’re doing this with the parents of young children and babies in view, we are not interested in starting a “kids’ church” as such; rather we are adding an option for anyone for whom that time might be more workable than 7:00pm.  After we’ve done this for a few months, we’ll sit down again and look at how things have gone and if we want to again start up with this model in the autumn.

But really, that still doesn’t directly address the core issue of growth and maturation.  A big part of the challenge for me, as the community priest, will be to see how my own practice of pastoral leadership can shift a bit, without losing sight of the things that actually define who and what I am.  We are going to do a formal ministry evaluation of my work (as well as that of John Berard and Larry Campbell), and I’m also seeking some outside support and resources to help me to discern the shape of my ministry here over the coming years.

I will also be taking an eight-week sabbatical leave in January/February 2011.  I have received a study grant from the Louisville Institute, which will allow me to spend that time pursuing a project related to the area of popular culture and theological inquiry, and specifically the music and vision of jazz musician John Coltrane.  While at first glance such work might seem a bit of a tangent from the questions I’m asking in this report about leadership and the church, in fact the opportunity to do a sustained piece of theological work is pretty central to the work of ministry.  The sabbatical will coincide with the beginning of my seventh year as full-time pastoral leader at saint benedict’s table.

Needless to say, leaders don’t lead in a vacuum.  The issues that I’ve flagged in this reflection are actually community issues, and they come down to one real and pressing question:  how do we carry the organic and creative energy of these first five years into our next five?  The next five years will see us needing to structure ourselves a bit more intentionally, yet in a way that doesn’t block new initiatives but rather shares them and sets them free to happen.   Put differently, what kind of structure is needed so that we can “put wheels” on good ideas, fresh initiatives and pressing ministry needs?  And how do we ensure that the pressing ministry needs that are closest to us¾those of the local neighborhood, the Agape Table community, and the student population of the University of Winnipeg for instance¾are kept in view?

And how do we keep having fun doing it all?  Maybe the idea of “growing up”  or maturing isn’t such a great one, if that means we risk losing a sense of delight in the things that we do together.  And after all, Jesus did seem to think that the culmination of the spiritual life was marked by something that looked awfully childlike (Mark 9:13-16). Maybe it really is a case of “growing deeper,” rather than of growing up.

So this is really going to need to be a collaborative affair, drawing on the insights, gifts and passions of many; setting free those very insights, gifts and passions, so that we can do the work of the reign of God in the here and now, in our city, our community, and our various back-yards… even if that “back-yard” happens to be the world wide web.  This will call for a considerable and shared stewardship of time, talents, and finances, and it will place a claim on our courage and our imaginations.

But be mindful of the words with which we conclude our liturgy during many of the seasons of the year (words drawn directly from Ephesians 3:20-21):

It ultimately isn’t our work, or at least not ours alone. Not only that, it is and always has been much bigger than this age, this context, this congregation:

Amen indeed.

Jamie Howison

*     *     *     *     *

Report for The Annual Open Meeting – Larry Campbell

Being part of the music at saint benedict’s table has been an amazing experience for me and, by all accounts, the other members of the music teams as well.  We have been blessed by not only the number of people who have stepped up to be involved in the music at sbt, but the number of talented and gifted musicians and singers participating in the various teams.

The process we follow for people who approach us to be part of the music is to ask them to worship with us for about 9 or 10 months.  The reason for this is two-fold.  First, it gives them time to be part of the congregation and to get an idea of how we do worship at saint ben’s.  The second reason is connected to the first in that, as people participate in the worship life at our church, the congregation gets to know them and visa versa.  When it comes time for them to help in the leading of worship, the congregation knows them and there is hopefully a level of trust.  There have been a couple of exceptions to this but generally this is the way people have entered into leading worship.

Following is a list of the many people involved in worship music and the various parts they play:

• We have several people who have stepped up to provide leadership in worship at saint benedict’s.  They are Al Fehr, Lyndon James, Gord Johnson, Robert Burton, and myself.  Jaylene Johnson and Alana Levandosky have agreed to lead once in a while when they are available.  (Gord and Robert have stepped back for a time but I have included their contribution here to recognize the work they have done. We hope they will take up this important role with us sometime in the future.)
• We have five excellent piano players.  They are Al Fehr, Lyndon James, Trish Vrolijk, Jaylene Johnson, and Rachel Penner.
• There are many that play guitar.  Mike Koop, Davis Plett, Brad Vrolijk, Gord Johnson, and Robert Burton, and myself.
• Percussionists Bobby Hobson and Jeremiah Heinrichs hold down most of the rhythm in our groups, with others providing some percussion when needed (or they just like to play).
• We have three bass players; Tim Plett, Charles Garinger, and myself.
• A new addition to our roster is our trumpet player, Andrew Colman.
• The vocalists are Catherine Pate, Jodi McLaren, Aimee Lane, Trish Vrolijk, Jaylene Johnson, Charles Garinger, Mike Koop, Bobby Hobson, Tim Plett, Krista Wiebe, Al Fehr, Lyndon James, Gord Johnson, and myself.

We have different groups that provide opportunity for leadership and also offer a place for those joining us to plug in.  We’ve named them for our own enjoyment and as a means of communicating who is playing when.

• The Multitude of Sins, lead my Mike Koop, has the feel of a rootsy band that plays everything from Bob Dylan to Blind Willie Johnson.
• Grade One (formerly called Grade Three, but it sounds better don’t you think?) is lead by Lyndon James.  Lyndon leads worship with a mixture of chants and spirituals.
• Al Fehr leads another worship group by the name of Tattered Habits.  Al’s brings a sensitivity in his choice of material and artful presentation.
• Not enough can be said about Gord Johnson’s contribution to the worship at saint ben’s.  His prolific writing has given us the words to speak the deepest parts of our hearts.  We have learned much about contemplation and silence through Gord’s leadership, and look forward to his return.
• The two groups I lead are Ruckus and The Traveling Bill Murrays.  We try to provide some typically contemplative songs along with new songs and new arrangements of some older, well known hymns.

We have had some opportunities to lead worship outside saint benedict’s table during this last year.

• Gord was asked to join Jamie for the national Christian Church Press conference worship sessions.
• Gord also joined Jamie in leading the clergy conference for the Anglican Diocese of Montreal this past fall.
• Jamie was asked to give a presentation of the ministry at saint benedict’s table in Edmonton for the delegates at the Provincial Synod in June.  I went along to lead some worship and give an example of what the music at saint ben’s is like.

As we look to this coming year there are a couple things that appear on our radar.

The first is in response to the many requests we have received for sheet music.   We need to figure out some way of responding to these requests.  There are two possibilities, one being individual sheet music for our more-often-asked-for songs, and the other being to develop a song book with lyrics and music.

The second wonderful surprise to pop up on the horizon is yet another expression of worship at saint benedict’s table.  Over our last retreat we were blessed to experience a sung/chanted liturgy that we are going to introduce to our worship.  If this is we received we will probably insert it into our regular scheduling cycle.

This is much for which to anticipate and to thank God.

Larry Campbell

*     *     *    *     *

annual meeting  year-end general review – John Berard

At the time that saint benedict’s table drafted this one-day-a-week position, it was described as a collaborative effort working alongside Jamie and other leaders within sbt with a view to coordination of and development of expressions of ministry outside that of the formal worship experience.

Of the many different things I was involved in these past months one particular feature has anchored  them , and that is the collaborative nature of the work and the back-and-forth that goes on between Jamie, Larry and myself, as well as with Audrey, who keeps us all and many others on schedule.  That has been a particularly good experience as we have continued to unpack the ministry and work of this position.

Involvement in various activities and projects continues to shape the focus of the coordination and development work. Projects such as the Lenten book, the Book of Hours project and book launch, and the CD compilation project from the Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove weekend have involved growing levels of involvement. As the possibility of more of these types of creative projects and outlets grows so does the need for bringing people together in the process and that’s where some of my work will continue to grow over this next year.

While the summer was not very summer-like we did have another year with the Gardening project at St. Benedicts Monastery with a committed group of gardeners from our community. And the harvest, while not stellar, did bring in fresh garden produce as part of our ongoing support of Agape Table. Other involvements included leading one of the Rivendell House contemplative days, the Lenten series, and working with a planning group for the Cedarwood retreat weekends.

Assisting Jamie with what we currently offer and thinking about other expressions of ministry that might emerge from who we are is a part of this position as well. From finding a new location for Theology by the Glass to discussing article possibilities, to working collaboratively with a planning group about ideaExchange presenters and themes to contacting the roster and getting it in place. And at the same time watching, listening and talking with others, the Wardens and the Kitchen Table to identify other expressions of ministry that we might try. Theology in the Dark is one such new expression and a fine winter complement to the Theology by the Glass series.

There are other duties and related meetings that are typical of and that come with a position such as this, like being available during the times when Jamie is away. In addition to these this next year will involve continued collaboration on various creative projects, coordination of the range of ministry activities that emerge from sbt, and as the occasions arise the development of new ministry initiatives and expressions that support the community of sbt and encourages the use of community gifts.

Respectfully submitted,

john berard

T

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.

]]> http://stbenedictstable.ca/2010/02/the-claim-upon-us-an-opportunity-for-lent/feed/ 0 http://stbenedictstable.ca/2010/02/prayers-of-the-people-february-7/ http://stbenedictstable.ca/2010/02/prayers-of-the-people-february-7/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:10:44 +0000 Terri http://stbenedictstable.ca/?p=1809

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

Loving God, each of us seek to serve. In serving we are alive. We are your vessels of Christ’s love for the world, but we need your gift of discernment so we can hear you when you say, come follow me.  Help us to follow. Help us to trust. Help us to see what you see in us.

Lord in Your Mercy,  Hear our Prayer

Loving God we pray for the needs of Home Omuka in Uganda. We pray for the medical needs of hospitals and clinics in Haiti. We pray for the works of love of the Sisters in Burlington Ontario. We pray for the resources needed by Agape Table at All Saints Church and we pray for the continued support for all those involved in all ministries throughout Winnipeg.

Lord in Your Mercy , Hear our Prayer

Loving God, bless your servants of this church, those who have answered your call to be bishops, priests, deacons, lay persons serving within your Church today. May they be mindful of Christ’s invitation to follow, act on the Holy Spirit’s gift of love, and trust in God in any challenge they may face.

Lord in Your Mercy,  Hear our Prayer

Loving God we pray for those seeking an affordable safe home in the city of Winnipeg.  May our civic, community, and business leaders be blessed with the spirit of wisdom, generosity and compassion so more affordable and safe housing is available.

Lord in Your Mercy,  Hear our Prayer

Let us now take this moment to speak the names of those we hold in our hearts at this time. For all those names spoken and unspoken, and for those we may have forgotten, we ask you God to take our prayers and may it be your will that is to be done.

Lord in Your Mercy,  Hear our Prayer

Loving God we now remember all those who have died. May we experience healing in our mourning. May we reach out to those seeking comfort in their loss of a loved one.

Lord in Your Mercy, Hear our Prayer

Written by Helen Mikolajewski, to be offered in worship on the 6th Sunday of Epiphanytide, February 7,  2010.