Pentecost 2

Greetings, good people of St. John’s!

Summer is a-coming in! Sing loudly, people! After this past dreadful winter, we shall enjoy all the warmth and growth around us all the more. And we will celebrate summertime with a  church picnic after the services this coming Sunday, July 29. Come out for a hamburg &/or hotdog, some fellowship, and games for children. Please bring a dish to share with others.

We are into summer mode, but both services continue unabated throughout July and August. I will be away from July 11 to July 25, and Duncan and Howard will take the services and respond to pastoral emergencies. Contact them or Kim in the office if you have need.

The positive responses of parishioners to the fund-raising ventures have been very encouraging. St. John’s people are rising to the challenge set before them. Alleluia! Once the debt to the Diocesan Ministry and Mission is paid off, St. John’s can take firm steps to maintain fiscal sustainability, with a view to supporting a full-time rector, and then continue its mission to the kingdom of God, working with and for hope, joy, peace and love.

At the Niagara clergy conference, our guest speaker challenged us to tackle the subject of Atonement, to seek to explain it clearly for 21st-century seekers. In my sermon for Pentecost 2, Pent2.Atonement, I took up her challenge. I hope it will foster dialogue on this important topic.

Blessings for a safe, enjoyable summer. Shalom. wf

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Trinity Sunday

Greetings, good people of St. John’s,

Very pleasant ambience at last Sunday morning’s services. I enjoyed chatting with the “trinity of children” at 10:30 about the dance of the Trinity 2014. St. John’s is fortunate to have such joyous worship experiences.

    The Parochial committee met Wednesday evening with the Diocesan consultant, Bob Morrow, to begin the process of preparing the parish profile. It was a very positive meeting and he left us with much to do over the summer, with a view to sending him the draft of the profile by August 25. He would aim to polish and finish it by mid-September, so that the committee could meet with the Bishop at the end of that month or beginning of October.

      There have been many generous responses to the fund-raising efforts in the past few days, so much so that we look to send $7,000 – $10,000 to the diocese in the very near future. Thank you to all who adopted a bill. Covering the monthly expenses frees up money to pay down the debt to the Diocesan Mission and Ministry. These recent gifts are very heartening and give us all renewed hope for the continuing ministry of St. John’s.

     Don’t forget the Potluck Parish Picnic after services June 29.

     Shalom. wf

 

Pentecost

Greetings, all!

I seemed to have been absent from this blog for a few weeks. I’m not sure where I have been. Eleanor and I certainly did enjoy our trip to Washington in May. It was warm summer days there at the time and we walked along the Mall, just missing meeting President Obama one day who was crossing the Mall to a meeting. The conference we attended was stimulating and my paper for the Hemingway Society was well received.

I have just returned from the annual Niagara clergy conference on Lake Couchiching. It was great to be among friends and colleagues for three days. We enjoyed warm weather and some of us even got into the lake for a swim. Our guest speaker Phyllis Tickle was engaging and challenging. She left us with a lot of questions to ponder and Bishop Michael has assured us that we will meet more often in the fall to discuss the topics coming to us all from Emergence Christianity.

Our young people enlivened our worship on Ascension Sunday. It was a joyous celebration with dancing in the aisles. Pentecost was also a happy occasion, and marked our entrance into Ordinary Time. This coming Sunday we observe the Trinity and on the last Sunday in June we celebrate as a worshipping community with a Potluck Picnic.

Attached are my homilies from Easter5.One Way? and Pentecost ’14.

See you all real soon. Shalom. wf