An engaging talk on learning to live and walk with God

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In case you missed the Rev. Connie’s astonishing sermon from last Sunday (the whole service is here: 'Three in One ... a personal walk with Thee': Sunday service for May 26, Trinity Sunday; her sermon begins about 26 minutes in), I encourage you to!

Reverend Connie wondrously uses her own story of growing up an only child of a working mother to engagingly teach how she came, at a very young age, to rely entirely on her Heavenly Father and the Trinity He embodies.

As she explains, the Holy Trinity has never been ‘just doctrine’ to her, but her lived, personal experience.

She explains how she “felt like the luckiest little girl in the world with such an awesome Father who no one could ever take away” from her; “the only father she has ever had or needed.”

Imagine if all could learn this at such a young age … especially the fatherless (in fact or feeling).

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

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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

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pankcakes and bottle of syrup use1.jpg

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).