Easter Letter

Dear Friends in Christ,

Our journey of hope and joy began three months ago. We have travelled far in a short time. Now, we follow Jesus to the cross and onward to the empty tomb.

I am excited that we will soon be celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ together with family and friends. We all need to hear Good News and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the best news ever! We have not seen, and yet we believe. How blessed we are to have received the gift of faith.

We are a resurrection people. We worship a Living God who promises us eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. And we trust the Holy Spirit to guide our steps and to help us help others whom God places in our path.

Yes, we have Good News to share so I hope you will invite others to come and see. Rain or shine, it will be all sunshine inside St. George’s on Easter Sunday. And so I pray that on the Day of the Resurrection of our Lord:

May the Word of God read and preached encourage you.
May the music of our choir and hand chimes choir uplift you.
May the prayers offered comfort you.
May the fellowship after our service enrich you.
And above all, may you rejoice in the eternal truth that Jesus lives!

Faithfully in Christ,

The Reverend Dr. Connie Phillipson
Interim Priest-In-Charge

Report on activities of the 4C's for 2023

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others,
for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
— Hebrews 13:16

By Louise Ewing, Chair, Christian Community Concerns Centre (4 C’s)

A very happy and blessed New Year to every one of you who have contributed through donation of cash or items to be sold, or through service to the Christian Community Concerns Centre [4 C’s] in 2023.

God has been an excellent provider this year, especially during this season which can be so joyous for some and so heartbreaking for others. Our Board members wanted to take an opportunity to share with you the good news about things that we have been able to provide over the last 12 months.

Being a private not-for-profit charity, the 4C’s does not receive government support. We rely solely on donations. We are truly blessed to have received several large local and anonymous financial donations enabling our food bank to meet the increased demand this past year. Every dollar donated to the 4C’s food bank goes directly to the purchase of food from our local grocery stores. Any expenses to run the food bank or the store are paid for through the income earned at the Lily Ann Thrift Store.

The food bank has also benefited this year through an increased number of food drives by local businesses to fill a truck, a cruiser, a bin, or a bag with food and/or toys. Food drives, conducted at Haliburton Foodland and Todd’s Independent, ensure that the items donated are fresh and within the ‘best before’ period. This is so VERY IMPORTANT to the organization as we are, by law, not allowed to distribute items past their due date. Such items must be sent to the landfill.

During these drives, our community can donate at the cash register when checking out, by purchasing items to donate outside the store or they can purchase already-prepared brown grocery bags inside the stores. We want you to know that the grocery stores consult with our food bank manager, Judy, to see what is needed and they, in turn, fill those bags with the most needed items at that time.

The Lily Ann Thrift Store has provided a place for everyone in the County to receive and/or purchase needed items at reasonable prices. The store is stocked through generous donations of clothing, jewelry, books, movies, music, household items and so much more. Sales provide not only funds to support the food bank, but also to share with other not-for-profits in need in our community.

Our volunteers at the Lily Ann Thrift Store spend many hours sorting through donated items to ensure that only the best reach the store! Unfortunately, broken, stained, smelly and damaged items must be discarded and sent to the landfill at a great cost to the 4C’s.

You may not know that the 4C’s (Christian Community Concerns Center) was originally developed by the churches in Haliburton, designed to be a central location where individuals could be referred for food and financial assistance! Our mandate is clear, and we will continue to develop programs to support the evolving needs of individuals and families throughout the community.

“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.
For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace.”
— Colossians 3:15

To our beloved Parish of St. George’s and St. Margaret’s

By the Rev. Canon Dr. David and Shirley Barker

Shirley and I thank you for your grace and kindness as we drew to a close this precious time in our church family when I was interim priest-in-charge. It was an honour to serve again for these past two years. The friendships that we have built together over the past decade and more have been deepened and enhanced during this time of ministry.

We are grateful for the time of rest that we are enjoying now. And yes, we are catching up on the many things we had set aside until we could get some time to devote to our art, and to other creative channels.

Thank you for your kindness in the gifts that you gave us, at Christmas, and then even more on our last day of the year.

Some have asked what was in the gift box, so we thought we should share that with you. We received a beautiful water colour painting of St. George’s.

To help us relax and unwind, we received a couple of books by Kevin Kelly: The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that Will Shape our Future; and Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier. And just so that we don’t run out of things to read, we also received gift cards for Master's Bookstore. As a promise of good things to come, we also received season’s passes to both the Highlands Opera Studio and to the Highlands Summer Festival.

Finally, to spread the joy even further, a gift was made in our honour to FaithWorks, the outreach arm of the Diocese of Toronto.

Thank you for your kindness and your love. We look forward to seeing you again in March.

Blessings!

Epiphany Season 2024

The origins of Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day

The 40-day season of Lent officially begins Ash Wednesday. With our Catholic friends, Anglicans worldwide traditionally ‘celebrate’ this day. But few of us can match our historical counterparts in observing any kind of Lenten fast, which traditionally also begins then.

Such, by the way, is the historical reason for Shrove Tuesday, the term used in many English-speaking countries for the day before. The word shrove, past tense of the old English verb shrive, referred to obtaining absolution for one's sins. In other words, Christians were expected to go to confession in preparation for the penitential season of turning to God.

An early church tradition advised abstention from anything killed, and the produce—like milk and eggs—of those animals. In pre-refrigeration days, that meant a lot of food had to be consumed so it wouldn't go bad during the weeks leading up to Easter. So many families would whip the households’ perishables into pancakes the day before Lent. The day thus became known as ‘Pancake Tuesday’, which in some quarters morphed into Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).

The Farmer's Grace

An out-of-town pastor had been invited to a men’s breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area, and found himself charmed by the company and atmosphere. Before they all dug into the hearty meal, the group's leader asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace.

“Lord, I hate buttermilk,” the fellow began. The pastor opened an eye to glance at him, wondering where this might be going.

“Lord, I hate lard!” the farmer proclaimed. Now the pastor was growing concerned.

“And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw flour,” he went on, without missing a beat.

The pastor once again opened an eye to peer around the room, and noticed many of the other men shifting in their seats uncomfortably.

“But Lord,” the farmer added, “when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love them warm fresh biscuits.

“So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing and baking. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen.”

How about that for great, down-to-earth wisdom worth considering when it comes to complicated situations?

While we find ourselves in a mix-up of so many things we don't, like the farmer, ‘really care for’, as we pray, trust and believe surely—as surely as God is God—something good will result.

We can’t know when or how, but “we [do] know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

The Very Model of a Modern Trinitarian

Don’t miss Fr. Ken McClure’s hilariously brilliant Trinitarian take on Gilbert and Sullivan’s famous ‘patter song’, I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General!

Bill Gliddon’s new ‘phone ministry’: bringing joy one call at a time

St,. William on his porch [photo: Darren Lum, Echo]

By Darren Lum

An easy smile washes over Bill Gliddon’s face as he sits on his porch, talking about the musical interludes he offers over the phone to residents at long-term care facilities in Haliburton.

Bringing happiness and joy through music is something he’s been doing for decades, through his church, as a teacher and as a volunteer. During this health crisis, which has gripped the world and the community he loves, the 80-year-old has been bringing happiness and joy to residents isolated at Highland Wood and Extendicare-Haliburton.

The past ‘Highlander of the Year’ says playing his keyboard and singing songs such as ‘Zip-A-Dee-Do-Da’ from the 1940s and ‘Let Me Call You Sweetheart’ from the 1930s on the phone has as much benefit for him as it does for those he sings to.

“They’re just so cheered up. Of course it cheers me up too. I love it. Just do a couple. I don’t go too long. This is something I look forward to now,” he said.

He performs every other day, calling residents in their rooms. Before visitation was suspended due to COVID-19, [Bill] said he visited the senior homes with a small group of people once a month. He said he got the idea to perform on the phone to residents at Extendicare-Haliburton and to Highland Wood from his friend Fred Shuttleworth, who he knows from choir. His friend, he said, is a concert pianist and was performing classical music for the people he phoned.

“What a great idea. I’m going to do that with the songs,” [Bill] decided.

It’s been close to [three] weeks since he started and through word-of-mouth, his list of song recipients has grown.

“It’s probably ten to a dozen and it keeps getting [to be] more,” he said. “They tell their friends and then they phone me and say, ‘Can you sing to so-and-so?’”

He hopes his connection with long-term care residents inspires others to share their musical talents with people who are in isolation at their residence.

“Music, I tell you, it does something that words alone cannot do and especially for older people if it’s the songs they knew when they were younger. It just brings back all those happy memories,” he said.

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Even during the crisis, you can still hear Bill playing the organ for our (now online) church services, as well as on his Sunday evening Canoe FM Concert Hall.

[Original article in The Haliburton Echo]