Caledonia Times The
Diocesan Section of the Anglican Journal October 2016 Edition Volume 48 Issue #6
The Cathedral receives the gift of music There was a congregation of folks at the Cathedral recently for a wedding who were astonished when they heard the organ play but no one was at the keyboard. So questions were asked as to how exactly people were hearing the organ but no one was playing it? The Dean replied, “Oh that’s the new digital hymnal that was given as a gift to the parish by one of its members. It is a computer that can play music, sound like a pipe organ, a piano, a worship band or even an orchestra.” For about the last three years now, since beloved organist Doreen Ridsdale (she was in the choir and at the organ bench for the past 60 years) and devoted pianist Mavor Carter found that playing ever week was not possible, the Cathedral had been on the hunt for a new musician to help maintain the traditions of the sung liturgies of the congregation. At the Annual Meeting, the situation was discussed and it was concluded that some research should be done and a digital hymnal purchased. The digital hymnal along with updates to the Ca-
Call for the Kingdom to come in 2017 By Journal Staff /ACNS The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is issuing an international call to prayer for evangelism leading up to Pentecost Sunday in 2017. The worldwide roll-out of the Thy Kingdom Come prayer initiative follows the success of a similar scheme this year when churches in the UK and around the world joined in what had been intended as a Church of England initiative. In February, The Archbishops of Canterbury and York wrote to every incumbent in the Church of England asking them to take part in “a great wave of prayer across our land” in the week leading up to Pentecost Sunday on 15 May. Some churches responded with special prayer events while others focused on evangelism as part of the usual routine of worship. But the scheme was picked up and promoted by other church leaders in the UK and around the world, including Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. He wrote to all his parishes asking them to join in. “For me, that vigil of Pentecost had far deeper resonance in my own life and in my own prayer than ever before,” Cardinal Nichols said later in a live Facebook Q&A with Archbishop Justin. “Maybe that’s just a little sign of our growing confidence of the presence of the Spirit . . . and the culmination of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.
“The whole season ends at Pentecost and for me this time there was a real sense of new growth.” He told Archbishop Welby that the Catholic Church in England and Wales would adopt “a more systematic and structured approach” to next year’s event. The success of this year’s event – and the knowledge that many people took part from churches across the world – has led to Archbishop Justin Welby extending the call to prayer globally. He has invited every province of the Anglican Communion to join in the period of prayer for more people to know the love of Jesus Christ. Next year’s focus on prayer for evangelism will take place from 25 May to 4 June – between Ascension and Pentecost – and will again use the theme Thy Kingdom Come. Already, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has committed to playing a full part; and the Free Churches Group in England is actively encouraging all its member churches to get involved. Many Pentecostal churches and new churches in the UK will be participating, and several UK-based Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches have signalled their support. Globally, every province of the Anglican Communion has been invited to join the wave of prayer, and the World Methodist Council is encouraging all Methodists across the world “to warmly receive and actively participate in it.” In a video invitation Archbishop Welby says:
thedral’s sound system that include hearing assist for those who need it were completed in September. The hearing assist has small personal units for individuals to wear while they are in a service. These units allow for the service to be broadcast so that those who have hearing losses to be able to hear and better participate in the service, including hearing the music and signing. “One parishioner can use his own hearing aids and doesn’t need the pack to use the hearing assist,” said Dean Haggstrom. Meanwhile the congregation is antiipating the start of the needed work on the Cathedral’s roof which has been two years of hard work and sacrifice. This is due to being anytime now. On top of the Cathedral raising the money for projects that need to be done in the building, we have also been working on meeting our finaical obligations and, God willing, we will meet them all again this year, as we did last year ” noted Dean Haggstrom. “We are seeking to pray for people to know who Jesus is. We pray for the Holy Spirit to empower every Christian – all of us – to give us a passion for sharing and witnessing the Good News we have in Jesus Christ – that that sense of what He has done for us – how amazing it is to know that we are loved by Jesus, that there is salvation; when we turn to him in repentance we find forgiveness; when we turn to him in despair we find hope – just the most extraordinary miracle. . . “Let’s get together in calling out to God in prayer, in whatever way we like, wherever we are. That our often lukewarm or cold hearts are set on fire with love for Jesus; that He is the answer to the fears, the despairs of all around.”
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The Caledonia Times: Informing and Inspiring the Faitful across Northern BC since 1905
On my diocesan stationary I have a quotation from St. Thomas a Kempis:
Bishop’s Notes Rejoice in the Lord and do not be afraid Depending upon one’s viewpoint, this fall might be seen as a time of uncertainty and fearfulness. The recent General Synod’s decision to give approval to the first reading of a motion permitting same-sex marriage passed amidst technical errors and confusion, and clear signals from some major dioceses that they were going to move ahead and implement the change regardless of what synod decided. At home, our hope for an electoral synod that would reduce the time between my retirement and a new bishop taking up this ministry was frustrated by a technical objection that will now leave us without a diocesan bishop until mid-summer 2017. Within this context, as my ministry draws to a close, I am fielding questions and concerns from across the diocese that reflect fear and anxiety about the future of our parishes as well as the choices some individuals face. It is easy in times of stress and anxiety to give in to despair and a sense of hopelessness. Which leads me to my message for this column this month. Throughout my episcopacy I have frequently referred to St. Paul’s admonition to his followers to “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” (Philippians 4;4). This has, for me, always been a touchstone passage in times of trouble and sorrow because it is a reminder that God will ultimately prevail in all things. The difficulty we face as human beings is that we constantly give in to the temptation to want to be in control, rather than simply trusting God to accom-
plish His purpose. This becomes even more evident when it appears that events are spinning out of our control and we are feeling powerless. In the face of this it is important that we remember that we have, as a diocese, been blessed with good and committed clergy, who will continue to minister to the needs of our family throughout the months ahead.
Someone who seeks for anything in religion, other than God and the salvation of his soul, will find nothing there but sorrow and trouble. Across our diocese, and in every parish, we are blessed to have people who seek God and the salvation of their souls. They may be quiet and they may be low profile, but their prayers and their commitment to following Christ make them a blessing to all around them. With this in mind let us rejoice in the Lord and pray for His guidance and blessing to be upon us. +William: Caledonia The Right Reverend William Anderson is the ninth Bishop of the Diocese Calledonia. He was elected in October, 2001 and was consecrated and installed in February, 2002. He is currently in the 15th year of his episcopacy and is one of the longest serving diocesan bishops currently active in the Anglican Church of Canada. He retires from active minstry on December 31st, 2016.
We are also fortunate to have in Archbishop Privett a metropolitan who is a man of personal integrity and sensitivity who will provide the episcopal oversight of the diocese until a new bishop is elected. I have every confidence that +John will guide the diocese through the process of electing its next bishop in a manner consistent with our canons, whilst providing support and guidance to the clergy during the interim period. And finally, we are fortunate to have, across our diocese, you. A diocese is always much more than a collection of buildings, a synod office, a bishop or clergy. It is the faithful people of God who are faithfully trying to live out their vocation in obedience to God. One of the great blessings I have witnessed over my episcopal ministry has been the many people who simply seek to walk with God, and to do His will.
Archdeacon Gary Paterson (1939 - 2016) It is with sadness that the Cal Times announces the death of the Late, the Venerable Gary Paterson, who died on Tuesday, August 16th, 2016 at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, BC. from a stroke. He was 77 years old. Gary was born in Smiths Falls, Ontario and spent his teen years in Brantford, where he met Barbara. After graduating from Huron College (London) he was ordained both deacon and priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. Gary served parishes in Windsor, Churchill, Prince Rupert, and Regina. Archdeacon Paterson served in Caledonia as Rector of St. Andrew’s Cathedral and as Dean of the Diocese for a number of years during the 1970’s and 1980’s along with wife Barb and their three daughters Sharon, Anne and Sarah. After retirement in 2001, Gary and Barb moved to Kamloops where he enjoyed more time for travelling, canoeing, squash, swimming and cross-country skiing. Gary loved to teach and preach, and continued to do so in retirement - both in church settings and for Kamloops Adult Learner Society. Many people in Prince Rupert, Regina and Kamloops will remember his stimulating and challenging sermons and workshops. We also remember his sense of fun and his harmonica playing. He loved spending time with family and delighted in his granddaughters. In the last four years some of his activities have been curtailed because of his journey with leukemia, but he continued to walk, read and study.
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He is survived by his wife, Barbara, daughters Anne Paterson-Welsh (Warren), Sharon Paterson (Nick Heap) and Sarah Stratton (Len) and granddaughters, Isabel, Ella, Imogen and Genevieve. He is also survived by his sister, Susan Hood (Graham) and brother-in-law, Peter DeVille (Dorothy) and seven nieces and nephews and their families. Predeceased by nieces Pamela DeVille and Becky Halsey. A Celebration of Life Service was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kamloops, on Monday, August 22. Rest eternal grant unto him O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, though the mercy of God rest in peace.
The Caledonia Times Publication of the Diocese of Caledonia Publisher: The Bishop of Caledonia Editor: The Dean of Caledonia Associate Editor: Audrey Wagner
Published monthly, except July and August by: Diocese of Caledonia, 200 – 4th Avenue West Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1P3 (250) 635-6016 or (250) 600-7143 Address correspondence and copy to the address above. Or to caledoniatimes@gmail.com Submissions must be received by the first day of the month for the following month’s issue. Send subscription orders, address changes Diocese of Caledonia c/o Anglican Journal 80 Hayden St. Toronto, Ontario M4Y 3G2 Printed and mailed by: Webnews Inc., North York, Ont.
Caledonia Times — October 2016
Skypilot Moments Living the “godly, righteous and sober life”
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n taking time to consider everything that has happen this summer, there is a pattern that I have noticed emerging in conversations that I think is worth mentioning. We are becoming a Church that talks more and more about things like “Marks of Mission”, about the need for inclusivity and relevancy where our society is concerned. Yet we spend precious little time actually developing communities that are holy. Some will shake a Bible at others while another will use rights language and procedural technicalities as battering rams to accomplish political goals. The shocker for me in all of this is an inability to talk about God: specifically who God is and how we see God. We all agree that God is love and loving. We agree that God is compassionate towards people, especially the poor, the disenfranchised, and those who live at the margins of our society. What I am not hearing is any “God talk” that relates to God as being holy and being judge of all of us. I believe this is both critical and crucial if we are to move forward together into being the kind of Church that God is going to use in the future to continue to build the kingdom. Please understand that when I raise an issue like judgement, I do so as a person who knows that he will be judged not only for what he has done with Christ, as each and all of us will. I know that a shepherd of God’s people, I will be doubly judged for how I have led the congregations I have been responsible over the years of my ministry.
Is it plausible that what God is teaching us through our current struggles, is what holiness and righteous are really all about? Can we not see that the ways in which we treat each other as being damaging both the Communion within the Church and the witness of the Church in the world? Or are we only willing see it when things are laid bare like it was that morning on Calvary? We were shown what God is like and what we are like, but are we willing to go no further? Are we willing to see such pain and forgiveness, such suffering and sacrifice in Christ but then not apply the same to ourselves? We need to keep in view that this life is destined to be transformed into the life of the kingdom and of the new heaven and new earth. Because of this, life even in this moment and in this place is animated by the holy things of heaven. The difficulty is that seeing things for what they really are, and for taking into consideration people as they really are because we are affected by the sin in the world, including our own. We need things revealed to us because we chose to not see and we believe in what one bishop I heard call a “mechanical and technological” life. A call to holiness is a call to community and to the relationships that we hold in that community starting with God. This is the core relationship that then branches out to our brothers and sisters in the faith and then to those we have as neighbours. We cannot be holy or righteous apart from
Books on the Way By Ruby McBeth It is no secret to churchgoing people that attendance at Sunday services is dropping off. We need a new start as Christian congregations. We may want to check our priorities and ask ourselves why Christians have stopped portraying their faith as good news. N.T. Wright, the New Testament scholar and former Church of England bishop, has written a book to give Christianity a voice in our secular world. In his book Simply Good News Why the Gospel is News and What Makes It Good Wright has done for our age what C.S. Lewis did with Mere Christianity in the second half of the 20th century. While Lewis was writing as a layman, Wright is a theologian. Lewis addressed ethics more directly while Wright, as we would expect, connects everything to the New Testament. Wright includes problems that people have with Christianity as it is practiced and understood. He has sympathy for many atheists who are not attracted to Christianity because they don’t find it believable. He says we must get back to the Good News that Jesus taught if we are to be truly Christian. Wright says people often replace the Good News with “Good Advice.” Near the end of the book the author summarized the Good News when he says it is about the “creator God coming to renew and restore creation.” Wright believes that Jesus came with a mes-
Caledonia Times — October 2016
sage about God’s love.
each and all of those relations. The Christian life is about more than feeling loved and having personal opinions validated. We are called to holiness, righteousness and companionship. The Christian life is more than learning about loving (not just tolerating those who annoy us, that is not what we are called to for such a thing is more likely a veiled hatred) people that are hard to love. The Christian life is about learning to give selflessly and to make sacrifices. It is about learning to surrender one’s possessions and agendas to whatever it is that God wants. God and his Church do not exist to allay our fears and vanquish our doubts. Too often people are voting for decisions that they think will keep the Church afloat rather than taking to risk of actually trusting God and doing what God has asked: to be both holy and loving. The Church exists to make manifest the love of God in the crucified and risen Christ and to invite into its fellowship, those who do not already belong to it. God calls us to come and live, as the BCP would put it, “A godly, righteous and sober life.” And in living that life, we have an immovable anchor that will not drift based on the winds of circumstances. Rather that Anchor allows us to ride out the storms together because of common experiences of being in the boat together and riding them out in safety. Jason+ Editor, The Caledonia Times
Wright, N.T. Simply Good News: Why the Gospel is News and What Makes It Good. New York: Harper Collins, 2015.
In Simply Good News Wright uses memorable images. Talking about the modern mindset, he says that now people think in terms of a split level universe. They have put religion upstairs and everyday life downstairs. The secular culture sees religion as upstairs - dealing with the afterlife and having no relevance to the present world. Later in the book writing about the Lord’s Prayer he says that we tend to approach prayer backwards. He compares this to entering a mansion from the back door. We go to the kitchen asking for food. Only after we have gone through the house do we approach the owner (God) and get greeted. The Lord’s Prayer has it the other way around. This extended metaphor helps the reader to catch onto the theological meaning which Wright is expressing. In other words, N.T. Wright knows how to explain theological concepts to a lay person. Simply Good News challenges us to rethink our faith. It will raise questions for you and give you different perspectives. The reviewer found herself saying, “aha, yes, that is what I believe. Now I understand it better.” Recommended to inquirers and also to Christians and Christian study groups. As with Mere Christianity the appeal is general not limited to Anglicans.
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Church Life: the Wider Church’s News By Journal Staff, Tali Folkins
Churches inject millions into surrounding communities: Toronto study Ten Toronto-area religious congregations benefited their surrounding communities to the tune of more than $45 million per year, a recent study on the economic impact of churches found. Phase One of the Halo Project, a study funded by the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and a number of other organizations, looked at the value of the services provided by the congregations using categories such as direct spending, education and community development. According to Paige Souter, campaign manager for FaithWorks, the diocese’s annual appeal, the results of this first phase showed that every congregation brought economic benefits to its surrounding community, regardless of the size of the congregation or its faith tradition.
One Anglican church, All Saints ChurchCommunity Centre, in downtown Toronto, was found to contribute services to its surrounding community valued at more than $13 million per year, in areas such as suicide and crime prevention and improving individual health. The study, Souter said, “reminds us that congregations are not old and dusty buildings that are insular and focused on their own members, but rather dynamic communities that are opened outwards to the communities in which they reside and to which their programs are directed.” —The Anglican
Diocese of Ontario divests from fossil fuel investments The Diocese of Ontario will be selling its stocks and bonds in oil, gas and coal companies after a decision made by its Synod Council this summer. At its June 16 meeting, the council approved a motion to amend the diocese’s investment policy “so as to require divestiture of all investments, both equity and fixed income, in fossil fuel extraction companies.”
simple across-the-board divestment policy.
Supporters of divestment from fossil fuel companies say it’s necessary in order to fight climate change, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The diocese is planning a number of workshops, slated for the November diocesan synod, intended to help congregations develop their own “action plans” for fighting climate change. —Dialogue
Edmonton’s new ‘chaplain to the environment’ role created A PhD candidate at the University of Alberta has been named to the newly created role of chaplain to the environment for the Diocese of Edmonton. This past July, Bishop Jane Alexander announced she had appointed Sarah Ficko to the post. Ficko, who is now working on a PhD in land reclamation and revegetation, is also a member of St. George’s Anglican Church in Edmonton. As chaplain to the environment, Ficko will “develop ideas to challenge and assist individuals and parishes” in the diocese around environmental issues, according to a statement released by the diocese. Ficko says she expects this work to include helping parishes find ways to reduce their consumption of resources, put environmentally sustainable practices in place and raise awareness about the scarcity of resources. “Most people realize that our daily actions are impacting our environment, but it can be overwhelming to think about changing our lifestyle,” she says. However, she adds, “Seemingly simple actions can go a long way.”
Ficko’s past work includes serving as an environmental scientist on Baffin Island, where she worked to restore plant life to a Cold-War area military site. The site, a former radar detection facility, had been stripped of vegetation in a bid to rid it of asbestos and other contaminants. —The Messenger
N.S. church reaches out with ‘Sudays@5’ A Halifax-area church has found it’s been able to successfully attract newcomers with a Sunday evening meal-and-discussion program.
The program—dubbed “Sundays@5”—was first launched by St. Nicholas’ Church in Westwood Hills, N.S., in 2014. It’s intended to provide a church experience that will feel comfortable and inviting for people and families who have rarely or never attended church, but are seeking community, friendship and moral teachings based on the gospel. Sessions begin with participants in turn naming something they are thankful for, before sharing a free meal together. Over dessert, the Rev. Tammy Hodge, rector of the church, shares a story, often with the help of a video projector. There is then a lesson based on Christian teaching, a group activity meant to show the moral of the evening’s story and clean-up. The entire program lasts about an hour and a half.
The community of Sundays@5 participants is particularly close-knit and enthusiastic about the gospel, Hodge says.
“I’ve seen evangelizing happening from the Sundays@5 group like nothing I’ve ever seen in the morning,” she says. “Why? They are excited to be there. They’re a part of something, part of a family. And they are ultimately, whether they know it or not, living the gospel, rather than just talking about it.” —The Diocesan Times
Comic Life
Similar decisions have been made by the Dioceses of Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, as well as the Church of England and the United Church of Canada. When it met this July, General Synod approved a motion to create a task force for social and ecological investment, charged with, among other things, developing guidelines for divestment “where necessary.” The motion passed with a majority of just over 90%, with several members of synod urging strongly against a
Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” - Mark 1.17 ESV Page 4
Caledonia Times — October 2016