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Gracious God, sustain us in our Lenten practice when the goal of spiritual renewal through repentance, prayer, fasting and alms giving seems unattainable and burdensome. We pray that this journey brings us into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with you. This preparation leads to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection and the renewal of our baptismal vows. We pray you will sustain us as we live out this legacy, and make every effort to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ where ever we go.

We beseech you, Lord God, to help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to always remember to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Valerie and Stacey

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Lives are changed as campers and leaders come to know Jesus and experience God’s love.

For summer 2024 we are offering “Signposts” exploring passages from the Gospel of John. Each day the campers will experience one of these five exciting stories: “They Have no Wine,” “Your Son will Live,” “They Have Opened My Eyes!” “Lazarus Come Out!” and “I Have Seen the Lord!” Our program will unpack the stories through songs and games, small groups, crafts and liturgical dance all geared to children of 4-12 years.

Visit www.crosstalkministries.ca/wordpress/ for further details and to access the fillable application form

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Called A Still Small Light, this Epiphany Retreat’s full itinerary was posted throughout the space at the church, giving us a chance to mentally prepare for the rhythm of the day to come.

After breakfast, the Rev Grace Pritchard-Burson, our retreat leader, provided some words of welcome and orientation. This set the tone for a day of rest, reflection, meditation and restoration. When we entered the chancel space and huddled together to sing hymns and say morning prayer I was curious about how things would unfold.

I confess that I appreciate the opportunity to sing in community. This is one of the unique and special offerings of the Church and I am always moved by this humble yet powerful experience. So, when we joined together as a small but mighty chorus, accompanied by our friend and colleague, Neil Mancor on piano, I was officially in my element.

Following the chorus, Grace led an opening meditation, priming us for stillness. I started to notice how I was feeling, and it got me thinking – as we do when we are attempting to meditate, – that when things are too busy or we are too stressed or in our heads, we can find ourselves feeling isolated and alone. We feel stuck. At least, that is how I had been feeling.

To be honest, with everything going on in my life, the last thing I had time for was a full day retreat – but – at the same time, it was exactly what I needed. There is an old Zen saying: “You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you’re too busy, then you should sit for an hour.” Just by being there, I started to let go and I feel my soul relax. The truth is, sometimes all you need to do is show up.

During the break there were times of silence. Prayer stations had been laid out in the beautiful sanctuary, carefully prepared for us to engage with. Having this structured time to consider what I needed was a balm for my soul. I felt so soothed and cared for as I made my way around the spectacular stone-walled space without a care in the world. I moved slowly and breathed deeply.

Eventually, I climbed a flight of stairs and found a couch to slump into. The space was lit by some huge lead-paned windows. I picked up a Bible and opened it without much thought or effort, taking comfort, allowing myself to get lost in the words. The simple act of reading and being present was fortifying. When the retreat bell sounded inviting us to return for another round of meditation, I was alert and prepared.

Meditation can reveal so much to us about the quality of our thoughts and our capacity for stillness and listening. It can sweep away cobwebs and invite us into deeper union with our Creator. I felt the tension in my neck melt and my heart soften. The meditations throughout the day provided the perfect balance of guidance and silence.

When we were invited to choose our own silent prayer time, I returned to the couch, let it hold me, and, covering my eyes with my hat, I fell into a gentle slumber. Breathing slowly and rhythmically, was both calming and restorative. My body and soul experienced a sense of deep rest that I hadn’t realized I needed.

Soon, we returned to the chancel for midday prayer and more singing and this is where the floodgates opened. My heart and soul were moved and I felt the Holy Spirit. Tears flowed down my cheeks. I welcomed the release, trusting that when emotions surface, they deserve to be felt and expressed. And so, I did.

We left the inner landscape and returned to the space we started in where, we enjoyed some conversation, lunch and fellowship. I was delighted to meet an inspiring 93-year-old woman who shared pictures from her youth. We crafted together and closed the day with sharing.

I was moved by the depth and insights from the participants of all ages and by the impact that a day of retreat had on each of us.
I am so impressed and grateful to the Rev. Grace Pritchard-Burson and her team at All Saints by the Lake for delivering a retreat for tired people, to allow us to be spiritually fed, (the hot breakfast certainly didn’t hurt either!) and to provide formal opportunities to enter into profound spaces of restoration and connection with ourselves, with God and with one another.

What I am trying to say is… thank you, I needed that!

The post A Personal Reflection; my experience at the Retreat for Exhausted People at All Saints by The Lake, Dorval appeared first on Montreal Anglican.

The SEC is recommending that all churches in the Diocese move to Geothermal energy sources to replace current fossil fuel heating systems (oil, natural gas) in order to meet the goal set at Diocesan Synod in June, 2023 – that all buildings have zero emissions by 2030 at the latest.

There are new grants available covering up to 75% of the costs for such projects, which can also apply to homes, making this type of conversion extremely attractive.

The presentation includes details about how the systems work, the potential costs and savings, plus other advantages, such as air conditioning and savings in domestic hot water heating. The SEC is offering this presentation to deaneries and interested parties within the Anglican Diocese of Montreal.

For more information, please visit our website or contact the committee at sec@montreal.anglican.ca.

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Marc was born and raised in Montreal but has lived and worked in about a dozen other places in Canada throughout his career.
His homecoming to Montreal is the first time living in the city since he was 17 years old when he left home to join the Regular Officer Training Plan of the Canadian Armed Forces.

At Dio’s first Wednesday community lunch of the semester, Marc was asked to share a fun fact about himself by way of introduction. He shared that while he has flown in a Canadian Army helicopter many times, he has never landed in one. Instead, as a paratrooper, he was practiced in jumping out of and rappelling out of helicopters. During his military service, he was deployed with the Canadian Airborne Regiment to Somalia, and to Croatia, and Bosnia to prepare the troops to return home at the end of their tour.

When Marc left home to join the military, he had his sight set on becoming an air navigator, but he soon found himself called in another direction. “Early one Friday morning in September, I clearly heard a voice calling me to vocational ministry as a chaplain to the military.” He described feeling an unmistakable presence of warmth and light that he still struggles to put into words. “I kept that event to myself for one full year, unsure if anyone would believe me.”

He ended up pursuing a Master of Divinity at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Prison Chaplaincy. “Looking back, I think that God has had a grip on me from an early age,” he says. “I remember, as a young boy, after my First Communion as a Roman Catholic, pretending to be a priest and celebrating mass.”

During his time at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario he had an encounter with Jesus that changed his faith expression, and he became Baptist. “I accepted the fact that Jesus loved me as I was, that my sin did not have to keep me away from being loved by God. That moment began my life’s transformation which continues to this day.”

He is an ordained Baptist minister and was most recently employed as the Pastoral Leaders Development Associate for the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec before joining the faculty at MST. After pursuing his M. Div. in his 20s, he continued to work in the military as a chaplain, and member of the Air Force and Army for nearly 20 years.

He eventually settled down in Nova Scotia to provide stability for his children and began working in congregational ministry where he remained for 18 years. During this time, he went back to Acadia Divinity College for a Doctor of Ministry that focused on the supervision of seminary students in field education. He moved to Toronto in 2018 to begin his job at the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. “I was not looking for a change,” he says. “I was very settled in my position. It was really by chance that I stumbled upon the position at MST.”

He was in Montreal, helping to look after his grandson, when he happened to skim the newsletter from the Association for Theological Field Education. His curiosity was piqued when he stumbled across an ad for the Director of Field Education job. He was attracted to the prospect of taking leadership in renewing the field education program and helping to shape future ministers, especially given the nature of his D. Min. research.

“The consortium that is MST was also attractive to me,” he notes. “I am ecumenically minded and strongly believe that the unity of the church is necessary to announce the Kingdom of God. As a military chaplain I had the opportunity to work with Anglican, United, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Roman Catholic colleagues. To me, it felt like church at its best.”

We are all eager to witness how Marc transforms the field education program at MST. The wisdom and guidance he will provide to our future ministers will be an asset to the Church. “I do not take my responsibilities lightly,” he says. “I trust that God will lead the way as only the Holy Spirit can.”

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The Diocese of Montreal has had a partnership with the Territory of the People (formerly known as the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior) since 2008. The Territory of the People is located in south central British Columbia, and spans some 166,500 square kilometres; roughly eight times the size of our own diocese.

This past January, the Vicar General, the Ven. Robert Camara, and myself had the honour of traveling to the Territory for the consecration of their new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Clara Plamondon. The consecration took place at St. Pauls Cathedral in Kamloops: Robert and I were welcomed as esteemed visitors from “the far east”!

Diocesan partners benefit from sharing their own experiences and by learning from each other. One of the invaluable things that we can learn from our relationship with the Territory is a greater awareness of the Residential School experience by Indigenous peoples; a dark chapter in the Church’s history.

The Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior was formed in 2002 after the Diocese of the Cariboo (founded in 1914) was forced into bankruptcy, resulting from litigation settlements to survivors of abuse in the Residential School system. As part of our time in Kamloops, Robert and I visited the former St. Louis Residential School.

The school opened in 1890. It soon became the largest Residential School in Canada, with enrolment peaking at 500 children in the 1950’s. The school closed in 1978, and is now owned by the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. The building houses a museum dedicated to the school’s past. A monument stands at the entrance of the building, honouring “all the survivors” who attended the school. In 2021, ground-penetrating radar discovered over 200 potential unmarked graves around the school site.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada determined that Residential Schools were nothing short of “cultural genocide,” intended to destroy Indigenous communities and their ways of life. Indeed, the renaming of the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior as “the Territory of the People” in 2015 was a deliberate attempt to move away from the trauma still associated with words like “Church” or “Anglican.” Standing in front of that red brick building, the awareness of the Residential School system became much more real.

Another learning that can be gained from our partnership with the Territory is the ability to do more with less. The Territory is considerably larger than our diocese, and its parishes are much more geographically isolated, often separated by hundreds of kilometres. Despite this, they function with fewer financial resources, very few clergy, and a streamlined administrative staff. They have a history of being creative and resilient about the ways in which they do ministry. The Territory also has a strong commitment to lay leadership.

Pastoral Elders provide important lay leadership within the Indigenous communities of the Territory, such as providing prayer at funerals and feasts, and leading Sunday worship. They care for their communities. They hold the language and customs of their people in balance with the language and customs of the Christian faith. The consecration service included a drumming procession, and a traditional welcome to the Territory by some of these elders.

Partnership dioceses walk together and share their experiences. They support each other, and rejoice in all that God has created. We met new friends in Kamloops, rekindled old relationships, shared our stories, and prayed together. We hope that Bishop Clara will be able to join us at our own synod this summer. The Diocese of Montreal is deeply enriched because of this ongoing partnership with the Territory of the People.

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Since Archbishop Chris had already been approached by the Diversity in Community group from St George’s Place du Canada, the two groups decided to work together on the event, which was held in November.

This webinar, which was hosted by PWRDF’s Janice Biehn, was a huge success. We learned some important things that we who live in Christian communities should focus on.

Being a Christian trumps everything else. Being a Christian means that we are all part of one family, the family of God. Being human means that we tend to do things that hurt others. Being Christian means acknowledging and accepting individual responsibility for the things we do wrong.

Being human often means that we are afraid of truth. Truth is important because it is a necessary part of the healing process. Archbishop Chris spoke about forgiveness. True forgiveness comes from the heart. God forgives us because God loves us. When we love others we are accepting them as children of God.

Archbishop Chris also spoke about treaties that had been broken and that Canadians do not receive enough learning about our own history. He said we can all make a difference, and he had changed the role of the Indigenous Archbishop to helping the diocesan bishops to support indigenous people in their dioceses.

I hope that your appetite has been whetted to learn more of what Archbishop Chris told us. The recording of the webinar is posted on the PWRDF part of the Diocesan website.

I want as many people as possible to listen to Archbishop Chris’ message. As a Lay Reader who had been assigned to lead a service of morning prayer at my home church, St George’s Ste Anne de Bellevue, I found an opportunity. I was able to shorten the morning prayer service and show the Archbishop’s part of the webinar instead of the usual homily.

We started in the church and during the gradual hymn proceeded to the hall where the gospel was read and the video played. When the talk had finished we continued morning prayer downstairs and sang our closing hymn.

If you have questions regarding this latter event, contact me at rhodesbartow@gmail.com.

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