La saison de l’Avent, qui vient de commencer, nous entraîne dans un voyage à travers les grandes prophéties anciennes qui annonçaient la venue du Messie, l’oint de Dieu. Nos chants de l’Avent nous conduisent des ténèbres à la lumière, et notre espoir – comme celui de tous ceux qui attendent dans les ténèbres – est qu’il y ait une démonstration de puissance et de force pour accomplir ces prophéties.

Au lieu de cela, comme nous le savons, Dieu a bouleversé nos attentes humaines et a renversé la pyramide du pouvoir. Jésus le Messie, bien que roi, ne s’est pas avéré être un guerrier doté d’une grande force. Il s’agissait plutôt d’un bébé impuissant né dans l’environnement instable de la Palestine occupée par les Romains. Des signes miraculeux et d’importants visiteurs inattendus ont souligné la naissance de Jésus, qui a été suivie d’un horrible massacre perpétré par un dirigeant déterminé à conserver sa position de pouvoir et d’influence.

Il faudra attendre encore trente ans pour voir Jésus accomplir l’œuvre pour laquelle il a été envoyé – en continuant à remettre en question et à renverser les hypothèses humaines, non pas en gouvernant depuis le haut, mais surtout en guérissant, en enseignant et en réconciliant les personnes confrontées à leur impuissance face au chaos et à l’injustice de leur monde.

Nombreux sont ceux qui, à l’heure actuelle, se sentent impuissants – impuissants face à des conflits mondiaux insolubles qui ne semblent pas avoir de solution en vue ; impuissants à une époque où le changement climatique s’intensifie avec des conséquences qui ne peuvent pas encore être pleinement comprises ; impuissants alors que les gouvernements perdent le contrôle et que les sociétés transnationales semblent régir leur vie et le monde.

Et pourtant, Dieu a confronté le pouvoir à l’impuissance, et en la personne de Jésus – un bébé innocent, devenu plus tard un prédicateur itinérant – il a montré le pouvoir qui découle de l’attention portée au peuple de Dieu. Le pouvoir qui découle du temps passé avec Dieu.

Alors que nous nous préparons à célébrer l’incarnation du Christ, que cette période d’obscurité et de préparation soit pour nous tous l’occasion de demander à Dieu de nous dépouiller du pouvoir que nous pensons avoir aux yeux du monde, et de continuer à nous construire pour devenir aujourd’hui un peuple de réconciliation, de guérison et de paix.

The post Message de l’Avent Décembre 2023 appeared first on Montreal Anglican.

The season of Advent which has just started takes us on a journey through the great ancient prophecies which foretold of the coming of the Messiah, the anointed of God. Our Advent carol services lead us from darkness to light, and our hope – like that of all those who wait in darkness – is that there would be a show of power and strength to fulfil those prophecies.

Instead, as we know, God disrupted our human expectations and turned the pyramid of power upside down. Jesus the Messiah, though a King, turned out not to be a warrior with great strength. Instead, a powerless baby born in the unstable environment of occupied Palestine under Roman occupation. Miraculous signs and significant unexpected visitors highlighted the birth of Jesus, which was followed by a horrifying massacre driven by a ruler hellbent on keeping his position of power and influence.

It would take another thirty years to see Jesus take on the work for which he was sent – by continuing to challenge and subvert human assumptions, not ruling from on high but mostly going about healing, teaching, and reconciling people dealing with their powerlessness in the chaos and injustice of their world.

Many at this time feel powerless – powerless in the face of intractable world conflicts that do not seem to have a solution in sight; powerless at a time of escalating climate change with consequences that cannot yet be fully comprehended; powerless as governments lose control and transnational corporations seem to rule their lives and the world.

And yet – God did face power with powerlessness, and in the person of Jesus – an innocent babe, later an itinerant preacher, he showed the power that comes from attending to God’s people. The power that comes from spending time with God.

As we prepare to celebrate the incarnation of the Christ, may this season of darkness and preparation be for all of us a time to ask God to strip us of the power we think we have in the eyes of the world, and instead continue to build us up into today’s people of reconciliation, healing and peace.

The post Dean’s Advent Message, December 2023 appeared first on Montreal Anglican.

The urgently needed project began in 2016. The steel structure and aluminum tiles, which had replaced the original stone spire in the 1940s, had corroded to the point of instability. If left unchecked, the spire was a potential danger to the public. Therefore, we had no choice but to undertake major work to ensure its safety and longevity.

The Cathedral’s architects, EVOQ, developed a plan of action in two phases. In the first stage, which began in 2017, the expert masons at Rainville strengthened the structure of our stone tower, facilitating the subsequent work of restoration. Although we uncovered significant additional masonry work, the cathedral was able to receive funding from Parcs Canada and to complete the phase on time in 2019.

The second phase, the work on the spire structure, started in 2019. The original plan was to remove all aluminum tiles, slice the spire in two and then lift both halves down to the ground for maintenance. However, this proved to be impossible thanks to the many other construction projects happening around the Cathedral and the load-bearing restrictions of being situated on top of a shopping mall. A new process had to be developed.

The new approach involved enveloping the whole spire into scaffolding in order to remove the tiles. Each was painstakingly numbered so that it would find its place again at the end of the project. As tiles were removed, they were taken to a specialist firm in Ottawa for cleaning and decontamination to remove over eight decades of pollution.

COVID hit just as we were getting into gear, stopping the work temporarily and then slowing down the process because of distancing restrictions on building sites.

Restoration work was also hindered by the pandemic’s worldwide supply chain issues. Some of the materials needed for the work, including the additional scaffolding and many other highly technical items, had to be sourced elsewhere than originally planned with longer lead times and higher costs.

In May 2022, the Dean faced his own fear of heights and climbed the scaffolding to the top of the spire in to bless the cross as it was set back in place, a powerful symbol of the presence of Christ in the heart of the city of Montreal.  Since then, our teams of architects and contractors continued to work steadfastly – tackling each challenge as it arose – and finally taking down the scaffolding from our spire.

This has been an extraordinary journey, one that will ensure that the Cathedral will continue to be a place of gathering for Anglicans and Montrealers for many years to come.

We have celebrated completion of the project and are now faced with counting the financial shortfall, likely to be in the region of $500 to 750,000.We are extremely grateful to the Conseil du Patrimoine Religieux du Québec for their significant support, and to the many individuals and foundations who have contributed so far.  Please consider sending a financial donation to minimise the impact of this necessary work on our ongoing mission.

You can donate by e-transfer to accounting@montrealcathedral.ca with “spire” in the message, a cheque labeled “Spire” to Christ Church Cathedral, 1444 Av. Union, Montreal, H3A 2B8 or online at montrealcathedral.ca/finishing-the-spire.

The post Risen up! The Cathedral Spire Shines Again appeared first on Montreal Anglican.

As Montreal’s first Anglican community, Christ Church Cathedral has been lifting up the cross of Christ since its inception.

The Cathedral building, on the other hand, has not been without architectural issues, and has faced many challenges in holding up its spire cross. The original stone spire, built in the 1850s, weighed nearly 1.6 million kilograms––about as heavy as 150 school buses. By the 1920s, the Cathedral’s spire leaned more than a metre to the south. To save the building from collapse, the original spire was taken down in 1927 and replaced in 1940 with a much lighter steel and aluminum version.

However, a chemical reaction between the steel and aluminum tiles corroded the frame over time, and in 2016, the Cathedral’s spire was at risk of collapsing into the building. We had to act fast––to save the building, and to ensure the safety of the public––so we got to work right away.

We are pleased to announce that we have finally reached the last stage of the project. On May 19th 2022, the Cathedral’s cross was reinstalled atop the spire. Together with Rector’s Warden Sheena Gourlay, Dean Bertrand Olivier braved his fear of heights and climbed 70 metres to the top of the spire to rededicate and bless the cross as a symbol of Christ’s abiding presence in the heart of downtown Montreal.

This event, two years after the cross had been taken down, launched the final phase of the project: replacing the aluminum tiles on the spire’s roof and taking down the scaffolding that has surrounded the building since 2017.

The project was initially projected to cost $6 million dollars and take place largely offsite. Although the architects had originally planned to cut the spire in half and remove it to be rebuilt, this was ultimately impossible.

Instead, the team of metal restoration experts and masons has restored the spire while leaving it in place. Unfortunately, this challenge, as well as unexpected tower repairs and COVID-19 disruptions have nearly doubled the project cost. The price of saving our spire has soared to approximately $10.5 million dollars.

We have received generous support throughout this project, but we are still working to raise sufficient funds for the astronomical cost.

We have been fortunate to receive generous funding from the Conseil du Patrimoine Religieux du Québec, as well as a grant of $1 million from Parks Canada. We have also received support from a number of philanthropic organizations and individuals, along with contributions from members of the Cathedral congregation and the wider Anglican community.

Despite the generous support we have received, we are anticipating a shortfall of between $1 and $1.5 million at the end of the project. And so our fundraising efforts continue.

Located at the heart of the commercial life of the city, Christ Church Cathedral is a visible and vibrant Anglican presence amidst soaring buildings of glass and steel. We are open every day, providing a place of welcome and hospitality to all who live, work, or shop downtown.

Today, we are inviting you to be part of this project to ensure the ongoing witness of our tradition by contributing to ‘burning the Cathedral mortgage’, essentially ensuring the reduction or cancellation of any shortfall at the end of the restoration works.

Any contribution––large or small––will help us continue to stand as a symbol of God’s love in the heart of Montreal.

If you are feeling in-spire-d to donate, please visit www.montrealcathedral.ca/finishing-the-spire or mail a check to Christ Church Cathedral, 1444 Av. Union, H3A 2B8, with the words “spire restoration” in the memo. All donations over $20 will receive a tax receipt.

The post Cathedral Spire Restoration: The End is in Sight appeared first on Montreal Anglican.

Do not worry: The cathedral is still very much focused on the worship of God as incarnated in Jesus Christ and in the power of the spirit. What this article is not about is worship content as – in the good Anglican tradition – we are all probably doing things slightly differently as is appropriate.
What I am describing here is the solution the Cathedral has used to move from Zoom only worship, as we experienced from the beginning of the first lock-down, to a blended technological form which allows us to worship together as one community even though some have returned to the cathedral building, while others continue to join us on Zoom.
From the beginning, it was important to us that no one should be left behind or feel excluded. Maintaining the integrity of the community was paramount and this is why we decided to go down this particular route.
This solution would work either as a transitional set up for a larger church, or a permanent solution for a smaller building. Whilst it needs someone with some technical knowledge initially, it is pretty easy to run once installed.
Like any other choice, it has pluses and minuses, but it helped us achieve our objectives.

The system allowed us to:

• gather on Zoom and in the Cathedral for the same acts of worship
• enable those on Zoom to see the action at the cathedral and benefit from the liturgy and the music
• enable those on Zoom to continue to be part of the reading and intercession rota and to be broadcast into the cathedral
• enable those in person to see some of the Zoom participants, as well as see and hear Zoom readers and intercessors

How we did it:

• We invested in a Mevo camera (see mevo.com), that has good microphones and can be controlled through a smartphone. As such, it provides the possibility of changing the view remotely.
• The Mevo app was linked wirelessly to a Mac laptop, allowing the Mevo camera to become a virtual camera into Zoom.
• We ran Zoom on the Mac, choosing Mevo as the Zoom Video and Audio input. The picture and sound from the Mevo camera was therefore broadcast as one window into the zoom meeting.
• We ran another instance of Zoom on a separate laptop, which we linked to two large screens using an HDMI splitter and two long HDMI cables. We duplicated the screen from the laptop to those screens, and used them to show the gallery view of the Zoom congregation, and the reader and/or intercessor as necessary.

It was crucial to stop the Mevo sound on the Mac when someone was interacting on Zoom into the church, as well as to switch back when that interaction finished. Otherwise, it was fairly straightforward once up and running.
In order to work seamlessly, this required a tech operator to operate the two laptops and camera in the church, as well as at least one Zoom host to let people in and to share the bulletin on screen.
Otherwise, this was a pretty easy and relatively low cost system to operate
This system was a very good way of transitioning back to in-person worship for the cathedral community, and it ensured that everyone felt that they were included in the plans. We used it from the start at our three morning services and evensong. People on Zoom enjoyed the interaction, and for many, seeing the altar and the familiar surroundings of the Cathedral was quite an emotional experience after months of seeing the clergy lead and preach from their homes.
For those who were happy to attend in-person worship, it was a reminder that, while we were small in numbers in the building, there was a wider cloud of witnesses joining us through the internet.
Overall, it took a little while for members of our congregation to adjust to a more liturgical format (as opposed to the informality of the Zoom worship) as well as the slightly more echoey sound from the cathedral.
The advantage of the Mevo camera is that it is also a camera with livestreaming abilities, so it can on livestream directly to FB Live or YouTube, providing better editing options than a standard iPhone camera. We used this function to livestream Evensong on our FB page.
For the Cathedral, it is clear that hybrid worship is here to stay, and we have now invested in further professional equipment so that we may continue to gather those who are not ready to come back in person and of course to maintain a connection with our shut-ins and others who had not been able to join us for some time. We are delighted that we have been able to rekindle a connection with old friends of the Cathedral in these strange times. There were some silver linings in the clouds of Covid-19.

Questions? Email me bertrand.olivier@montrealcathedral.ca

The post So, You’re Considering Hybrid Worship? Some helpful information before you start appeared first on Montreal Anglican.