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There are a couple of ways of understanding the word ‘saint’, and the church has seen some evolution in the way All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ is understood and celebrated. In the more traditional sense, the ‘saints’ of the church are those whose lives are seen as having so witnessed to the love of God and the faith of the church that they reveal a particular, widely-recognizable closeness to God, both in their lives, and even after their deaths. We also use the term ‘the saints’ in a more all-encompassing way, referring to those many brothers and sisters who walk the life of faith, who share in God’s life both before and after death, and yet who do this in the more ordinary, everyday, flawed, but no less beautiful way we see all around us.

Although many of the more prominent saints had specific Feast Days on which to celebrate and remember their lives, it eventually became important to have a ‘catch all’ holiday to honour them within the contribution that their lives as a group, a communion, make. November 1st was traditionally All Saints’ Day, with All Souls’ celebrated the day after. All Souls’, in many parts of the world, became the bigger of the two festivals, as this was a time for honouring the family and friends of individuals in a faith community who had died. The church taught that, for most ordinary people, heaven would not be an immediate reality. The purification of purgatory must be endured for an appropriate amount of time before an ordinary, flawed person would be ready to make that next step into God’s heavenly graces.

Purgatory is not a part of our Anglican teaching. We remember and pray for our loved ones, not because we want to get them out of purgatory, but because we understand that they remain an important part of our lives, even after they have died. This is a fundamental principle which is at the heart of our worship today, just as it was 1400 years ago. Many of us have experienced – some in very concrete, or some in deeply intuitive, ways — that those who have died continue to be present to us. For all of us, it is an affirmation that we make regularly in our practices and in our worship: our lives are of deep value to God, our lives hold the possibility of participating in God’s life and truth, our lives are joined in Christ’s resurrection, and death does not destroy us. Now the celebration of All Saints’ and All Souls’ is often rolled into one all-embracing worship observance, and we mark this day in the church year on the Sunday closest to November 1st.

Our worship today honours the range of emotions present in the beliefs we profess. It begins on a celebratory and triumphant note. We give thanks for the courage, love and faith of our saints: this is praise for the God who is continually working in and through ordinary human beings in order to communicate with us. Our worship also has a solemn note, remembering those who are close to us who have died in this past year. No matter how certain a person is in their faith, losing a loved one is devastating, grief can be overwhelming, even crippling, time and space and support is needed to walk through the grieving and healing process.

And within that recognition, we celebrate the sacrament of Eucharist, gathering at God’s table to receive God’s good gifts to us once again. We receive those gifts and perhaps we

experience the thinness of the veil between this world and the next: God gathers us and all of the faithful before and after us into the eternal song of heaven, into the vast and enduring promise of God’s love working in and through us, walking beside us on our journey.

This doesn’t sound like a very Christian question.  Surely, followers of Jesus, we are taught to give with no expectation of return.  That isn’t the whole story, however.  We are also taught relationship.  And so, as we enter into Jesus’ life, we discover it is just as St. Paul articulated numerous times in his letters:  our lives are woven into a communal body; when one rejoices, all rejoice; when one suffers, all suffer.  I simply cannot give without also receiving.  I also can’t give without knowing what I have already gotten.  You have heard me say it before, and you will hear me again:  Christians are taught to NOTICE.  It is when I see my life as having received blessing that I become a source of blessing to others.  It is when I become a blessing to others, that my own sense of blessedness deepens and grows.

When you give financial resources to the church, when you give your time and your energy and talent to ministry in the service of others, here are a few things that you can expect to get in return:

Abundance–there is no better way to experience ourselves as having all that we need than to give some of what we have away.  Those who cling to what they have will always feel as if they are lacking, as if they don’t have enough.  Those who prayerfully give out of a sense of blessing repeatedly discover that they have enough, and in fact have more than enough.

Freedom–Money can very easily become a false idol.  We can get tricked into thinking that money will save our lives, that if we just have enough of it, then we will be free.  The Old Testament warns repeatedly against setting material objects or material wealth as idols over and above our worship and allegiance to the Living God.  Jesus warns against becoming a slave to our riches.  Generosity with our money, not to mention generosity with our many other gifts, liberates us to be in right relationship with the material world around us and right relationship with the One who created us.

Faith–Stewardship is a core Christian practice.  You can expect that, as you pay attention to what you have, and as you choose to give some of what you have away, your relationship with God will deepen as you become more in tune with where you see God’s blessings at work in your life and in the life of the world.

A Tax Receipt–okay, so this is more of a practical consideration. But it is worth noting that there is a very measurable benefit to sharing your financial resources for the sake of our shared ministry.

Whether you have given to the church your whole life (some of you tell of those pennies that you were asked to bring to your Sunday School classes for collection!) or whether you are new to the idea of stewardship, we invite you to make choices that you can feel good about, then to notice how those choices are connected to how you feel good in other aspects of your life too.

Probably the word that comes to mind for a lot of people is “Fundraising.” We have a bad habit of equating Stewardship with Fundraising. Although Stewardship does help us to talk about money, it is in fact a core Spiritual Practice which applies not just to how we give our money, but to every choice we make about how we ‘spend’ our lives. Regardless of what faith tradition a person follows, the practice of Stewardship is essential to leading a thoughtful, blessed and faith-filled life. Let me outline the key principles of this core practice:

1. Count your blessings – People of faith are asked to take stock. Regularly. To notice. What do I have? For what am I grateful? This involves noticing things like time, energy, skills, passions, relationships, and yes, financial resources.

2. All Things Come of Thee and of Thine Own Have We Given Thee – this was the traditional prayer sung in my Anglican Church at the time that the offertory plates were brought forward in our Morning Prayer service. It was only later as an adult that I recognized how profound this statement is. Taken from I Chronicles 29:14, it expresses the second fundamental truth of the practice of Stewardship: everything that I have is a GIFT FROM GOD!

3. Responsibility – in the creation accounts found in the first chapters of Genesis, God creates human beings with a special responsibility in caring for the world God has made. This responsibility is a gift to human beings — created in the image and likeness of God, created to walk closely and intimately with our Creator. We have been given the honour, the privilege, the joy, and the RESPONSIBILITY of making wise and thoughtful choices about the gifts God has entrusted to us. It is our responsibility to choose to use these gifts, not just for ourselves, but for the good of others, for the good of the world.

4. Offering – When I understand what I have, when I know that what I have belongs to God, and when I take up the mantle of responsibility that has been entrusted to me, then I choose how I am going to Offer. I choose how to offer my work, my skills, my talents, my interests, my time, and wrapped up in all of this, representative of all of this, I choose how to offer my money. In fact, the ways that I spend my time and money will paint a very vivid picture of what is important to me as a person.

5. Receive – Blessings tend to multiply. When you give – your time, your talent, your money – make sure that you notice what you receive in return. *Hint: You can expect to find out that you have more than you thought you did and that generosity feels GOOD!

In certain times and places within Anglicanism and across various parts of the Christian church, you can find the belief that the Eucharist (also called Mass, or Communion) should only be celebrated infrequently – once a month, or even only once a year – in order to preserve the special attention and prayerfulness that we bring to our remembering of this event in Jesus’ life. I grew up in an Anglican church which celebrated the Eucharist once a month. It was a big adjustment for members of that congregation when a new priest started with us and insisted that we should be coming to God’s table every Sunday.

The difference lies in our understanding of Eucharist. Yes, it is a remembrance of a specific event in Jesus’ life and ministry, the night of his arrest, the last supper with his closest friends and disciples as he tried to impart final wisdom to them before his death, as he tried to communicate to them that, although he would be dying, he would also always continue to be with them. But for the churches who celebrate the Eucharist the majority of Sundays in a year, our sharing in the bread and wine also means much more.

It is not just about remembering something about Jesus, it is about remembering something about ourselves, and in this remembering, it becomes about participation. We remember that we come before God, each of us valued and loved, each of us reliant on God’s good gifts to give us life. We remember that we are the Body of Christ, called to be people who embody Jesus’ life – namely God’s compassion, justice, peace, healing, service – in our broken world. That is why we say these words “the Body of Christ” when we receive the bread, “the blood of Christ,” when we receive the wine. It isn’t just a statement about what we are receiving, it is a reminder of who we are.

Furthermore, it is about remembering something about our world, about the promise, the dream, of how God wants our world to look. God wants it to look like a place where all are fed and all are welcome, where we do unto others as God has done for us. It is about ritualizing, walking into the symbols, of where our faith is based – that God provides for our needs, that we are to provide for the needs of others, that we are never alone, that God is so fully with us that we carry God in our very own bodies, just as we take the bread and wine into our bodies. It is about gratitude. Eucharist means ‘thanksgiving.’ It is about remembering, noticing, giving thanks, for a world full of God’s good gifts. Recognizing that as we participate in God’s life through Jesus, we also participate in how those good gifts get multiplied to feed others.

Remembering one event in Jesus’ life, this is arguably something that should be honoured in a special way at a particular time of the year. But remembering who we are, who we belong to, who we are called to be, and how God is with us, these are things that we have to remember all of the time. These are things that human beings are surprisingly adept at forgetting. We get off-track, off-centre, we forget. Week by week, we gather here with community, with song, with prayer, with the deepest hopes, heaviest burdens, and most joyous thanksgivings, and we remember. We remember and we participate. We find God again. We find ourselves again. And we journey on.

In some church backgrounds, it is taught that the baptism of babies ‘doesn’t count.’ There are some denominations that, in fact, will insist on re-baptizing believers as adults, when the person can make the choice for him- or herself. It makes logical sense. How can a baby make a promise to follow Jesus? Understand what it is to accept and grow into a relationship with God? There is a whole movement of Christian history – reflected today in particular Christian denominations – that reacted against infant baptism as superstitious and inappropriate church teaching.

And yet, in the Anglican tradition (as well as the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, United, and Presbyterian traditions), we continue to baptize babies. We continue to baptize babies, and we teach that there is One Baptism, that regardless of where, when, or under what circumstances you were baptized, that baptism is valid. Why? When it makes no logical sense?

Because our relationship with God actually isn’t about logical sense. Baptism is not about our understanding enough to be ‘ready’ for a relationship with God. It isn’t a graduation ceremony, where we have achieved certain requirements that validate us for the Body of Christ. Baptism is first, foremost, and ultimately about grace, about gift. Specifically God’s gift to us, the gift of God’s self, God’s love, God’s relationship. No strings attached. It is about a human recognition of the covenant that God makes with each and every one of us, of God’s faithfulness to us, whether or not we deserve it, whether or not we understand it. We continue to practice infant baptism because in this sacrament (an outward sign of an invisible gift) all of us are reminded most clearly of God’s unconditional love and acceptance of us. Although this baby has never done a single thing to earn a place in the community of people who are committed to walking together in the way of Jesus, they are welcomed, accepted, validated, valued, and joined to us, nonetheless.

Today we are incredibly blessed in being able to celebrate both an adult baptism, as well as the baptism of several infants. Tanya Schleich, our youth and nursery leader, has made a significant decision in choosing baptism, choosing to share her gifts and her life with the Christian community, for herself as an adult. We give thanks that as she takes this step herself, she also is providing care and leadership to many of our young people at St. George’s, showing them by example why our faith choices matter. And we are also so very blessed to welcome new children, new lives, into our journey and our community. We ask for God’s blessing today on each of them, that they might grow into the full measure of courage, spirit, joy and wonder that is our life of faith.

The Anglican tradition has always straddled the line between Tradition and Reform. We honour and uphold the wisdom and the practice that has been passed along to us through the community of faith, sharing it in a way that it becomes truly alive to us Here and Now. At the same time, as part of the ‘reformed’ tradition, we believe that God’s Spirit is still on the move, that we are not a finished product, and that there remains much for us to learn about who God is and what God’s kingdom is meant to look like.

The role of bishop has been established from the early church records as an apostolic ministry – that is to say, that the bishop has been understood as the one responsible for passing on the tradition that has been passed on to us, maintaining the unbroken line of teaching, fellowship and practice that binds us to the apostles, the first followers of Jesus selected to continue his teaching and ministry. This responsibility has a number of facets to it: –Teaching – the primary role of bishop in the ancient church was that of teacher — understanding, articulating, and sharing with the church who God is, and who God wants us to be, as revealed to us in Jesus.

–Discernment – the bishop leads the church in re-interpreting, in each historical and social context, how the Gospel is received, where God is leading us in new directions, as well as where God is leading us to return to what we have forgotten or neglected.

–Unity – through our baptism, we are united with all Christians in the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ, unfortunately, is incredibly fragmented by denominational divide, and even by arguments within our denominations. The bishops have the difficult task of maintaining a sense of unity (across our vast diversity!) within our Anglican denomination, and seeking unity and common ground between our own denominations and others (it was this work of unity which has led to the full communion agreement between the Anglican and Lutheran churches in Canada).

–Pastor to the Pastors – God forms us into the community of the church so that we can be strengthened as disciples – the life of Jesus in our world. The ministry of the pastor is to empower the baptized as disciples. The ministry of the bishop is to empower the pastors.

Along with this already impossibly-full job description, the ministry of the bishop ends up taking on a large variety of administrative tasks that become essential in the life of an institution as large as the church: Human Resources, Hiring, Firing, moving clergy from one church to another, helping congregations dealing with transition or conflict, fundraising, providing vision and an overall picture of congregational health and leading discernment across the spectrum of the church.

We are pleased to welcome our Bishop, Michael Bird, to St. George’s this weekend. Bishop Michael was elected as Bishop of Niagara in 2007. Prior to that, he served in congregations in Burlington, Oakville, and Newfoundland. He began his ordained ministry here at St. George’s, serving as Assistant Curate with Reverend Barry Hollowell from 1987-89. Welcome Bishop Michael!

The Wardens, along with the Rector of the parish, comprise what is called “The Corporation” of the congregation. Together, these three persons are entrusted with the responsibility to govern and lead the congregation, and to bear legal and financial responsibility for the life of the church. One Warden is elected by the Vestry (the entire church membership) in February for the coming year. One Warden is appointed by the Rector. It is a testament to the depth of leadership in this parish that our Wardens serve only one year in this role, that we are able to continually draw new people into this responsibility and leadership at St. George’s. It is also a testament to the congregation’s wisdom that the Wardens serve as Deputy Warden for one year prior to taking their position, essentially learning the job and sharing in the decision-making and responsibility of the congregation.

This year, our People’s Warden (elected by the Vestry) is Doug Ridge and our Rector’s Warden (appointed by me) is Paul Chapman. Deputy People’s Warden is Sharon Vermolen. Deputy Rector’s Warden is Marc Delisio. You will see all four of your Wardens regularly acting as welcome, guide, helper, and key-keeper at our 10am worship service. If at any point you have any questions, concerns, hopes or insights about our ministry here, these four people are readily available to approach.

The Parish Council is composed of the Rector, the Wardens and Deputy Wardens, Lay Representatives to Synod (the governing body of the Anglican church in a particular geographical region), other members of the Congregation as elected at Vestry or as appointed by the Rector. At St. George’s, the additional members have been comprised of a variety of people who hold leadership roles in ministry at St. George’s, keeping in mind the desire to have representatives of the spectrum of ages we have at St. George’s as well as people from both the 8am and 10am worship services (for example, many of you don’t know that our new Warden, Marc Delisio, is a lifelong member of St. George’s and a Lay Reader in our congregation because his primary worship service has always been 8am). The role of Parish Council is:

(a) To consult with, advise and assist the Rector or Incumbent and Churchwardens and to co-ordinate the activities of the various local Church organizations.

(b) To assist the Churchwardens in securing the funds required for the purposes of the Church.

(c) To make recommendations in regard to insurance and maintenance of Church property.

(d) To assist the Rector or Incumbent and Churchwardens in informing the Congregation fully of the plans, activities and needs of the whole Church.

(e) To assist the Churchwardens in preparing for the Annual Vestry Meeting estimates of receipts and expenditures for the coming year.

(f) To assist in organizing the Congregation for visiting the sick and poor, calling on newcomers, making surveys and canvasses and promoting generally the welfare and progress of the Congregation and the Church at large.

In view of this ‘job description’ you will notice that our Wardens now take responsibility for sharing a monthly report with the congregation on the decision-making of the Council. You will also notice that Parish Council is open to any who want to attend. However, only those who are elected or appointed are permitted to vote.

Your Parish Council this year, along with me and the Wardens, is:

Synod Council Representatives – Corwin Cambray, Melissa Bowles, Charles Burton

Penny Smith-Steinman – Co-Chair of Stewardship Jim Streadwick – Property Manager

Janet Veale – Breakfast Program Coordinator Doug Gallaway – Finance Committee

Myrna Holman & John Belford – past Wardens Jim Jenter – Treasurer, Lay Reader

Dorothy Dundas – Coffee Hour Coordinator & Dialing Disciples

Fred Hanam & Louise Cross – Elected members

Linda Telega – Secretary

We have now entered the season of Lent in the Christian year. This is a forty-day period of renewal for people of faith in which we are invited to an intentional thoughtfulness about what we consume, how we engage with the world around us, and where we can draw strength and nourishment from our relationship with God. Our Lenten worship changes over this period of time in order to facilitate reflection, to nurture a posture of attentiveness to our prayer and our faith. Although nothing about Lenten worship is particularly ‘new’ – it follows rites which are offered in our Book of Alternative Services – it will feel simpler and quieter. No matter how this worship affects you, whether you find it refreshing or unsettling, note your feelings and reflect on what this is telling you about where and how you most naturally connect with God.

A few notes on the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ of our Lenten worship:

No Procession – We are used to worship beginning and ending with a great organ-led hymn as the choir and the worship leaders symbolically enact the journey of faith in which we all share by processing into, or out of, the sanctuary. During Lent, we emphasize simplicity and reflection by quietly walking to our places from the side of the church.

Penitential Rite – We begin our worship with a time of repentance, reflecting on the brokenness of our lives, the mistakes we have made, our need for healing in ourselves and in our world. This is not about inducing guilt, it is about creating space for being prayerfully honest about our need for God to be present, forgiving, and renewing in our lives.

Purple – Mirroring this emphasis in the shape of our worship is the colour purple in our church decor. Purple has traditionally been used to symbolize penitence.

Psalms – Normally our choir leads this part of our Scriptural proclamation through song. The psalms are found in Scripture and are the most ancient hymns which we have. Saying these words of Scripture responsively changes our focus and our participation and allows us to hear these words differently as we share in saying them together.

Peace – Normally we are in the routine of ‘sharing the peace’ in the middle of the service. By sharing the Peace at the end of our worship, we again simplify and streamline our communal prayer. We still enjoy this time of friendship and warmth with one another, but it becomes a transition from the formal to the informal part of our fellowship and gathering. Theologically, the emphasis changes too: rather than being reconciled with one another before we come to God’s table, instead we discover that we are reconciled with one another because of being at God’s table.

No ‘Alleluia’ – Our Sunday School children helped us to prepare for Lent by ‘hiding’ the Alleluia last weekend. Like many good and life-giving things from which we might choose to abstain during Lent, this joyful and celebratory word becomes all the more powerful and meaningful at Easter for having intentionally gone without it for these forty days.

I have, in a previous “Question of the Week,” described a number of possibilities for individuals to consider in preparing for the season of Lent – everything from giving something up, to taking something on, to simply making more conscientious consumer choices. However, flexibility has not always been a Lenten hallmark; in particular times and places within the Christian culture, certain Lenten disciplines were not considered optional. For example, it has often been the case that Christians would reduce or eliminate meat from their diets for the forty days. This practice had a very practical element to it: because Lent coincides with spring, and because spring is, in the natural world, a time for mating, procreating, regeneration of the species, it made sense that human beings would ‘give the animals a break,’ recognizing that it was in everybody’s best interest to allow that regeneration to take place. It was also the case that Christians, across the board, would adopt a spare and simple Lenten diet. More traditional Christians would, and in some cases still do, eliminate sugars and oils as a means of drawing the spirit into a fuller sense of gratitude for these things we come to take for granted, as well as to move the heart with compassion for those whose regular existence is geared more toward survival than pleasure. On top of this, Ash Wednesday, the day following Lent, was a fast day. Fasting – abstaining from eating for a day, or a portion of a day – is one of those spiritual practices that transcends religious and cultural boundaries. All major world religions recognize the validity of the choice for temporary hunger as a way of drawing closer to God.

Shrove Tuesday – or “Fat” Tuesday or “Mardi Gras” – became a response to the religious realities of Lent. It was a practical necessity that the pantry be properly cleansed, that all temptations be removed from the household, before the 40 day change of routine. The Tuesday before Lent began, then, was a time for feasting and indulgence, for using up the oils and the meats and sugars, and thereby being ready for starting fresh the following day. It isn’t surprising that the indulging has proven to be much more wildly popular than the fasting on which its existence is based. People throughout the world, Christian or not, have a wonderful time celebrating the Tuesday preceding Lent, and in many cultures the indulgence takes on a carnival character, with behaviours far beyond pantry-clearing permitted and encouraged. In Canada, our celebrations are relatively tame. Many churches mark the day with a pancake supper – a Canadian way of enjoying one last meal of refined carbs, high-fat proteins, and most importantly, maple syrup.

St. George’s holds our pancake supper on Shrove Tuesday too, February 17th, and like all of our dinners here, this one is delicious, fun, and relaxed. Although it doesn’t help us clear out our individual pantries for Lent, it does give us opportunity to reflect on the Lenten season before us as we are partaking of the feast.

This is a term used primarily in the Roman Catholic Church. It refers to Christian observances throughout the year on which the faithful are to “abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.” In the Anglican church, we refer instead to “Principal Holy Days” or “Principal Feasts,” and these include: The Epiphany, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas), The Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Day of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, All Saints’ Day, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Ash Wednesday. Historically, these celebrations and observances have been considered mandatory for Christians.

Now, you might be surprised by this list. You might also be surprised by the suggestion that we are required to participate in these things. Let me say a little more on both fronts. I can tell you, for example, that I have only ever celebrated the Annunciation a handful of times, and all of those times have happened since being ordained. I can also tell you that many of these celebrations have so far fallen away from being considered main events in the life of a Christian that many of them were never part of my Christian upbringing at all.

But I also want to say that I like the term ‘Obligation.’ I like it because Christianity is a choice. Whereas a few generations ago, most Canadians went to church, whether they wanted to or not, now becoming a practising Christian is increasingly a counter-cultural choice, and a serious one at that, because it involves devoting time and energy and service to a thing that is very much different from the ‘business as usual’ that is now most common in our secular world. I like the word ‘obligation’ because it speaks of how, when we give ourselves to walking in faith with a church community, we are claimed for something other than just our own purposes and our own convenience. It makes it clear that our faith life occasionally interrupts the normal flow of life and asks that we set aside other commitments, other busy-ness, in order to come together for the other-centered purpose of worship, to be blessed in finding peace, renewal, strength, possibility, hope, and meaning in doing so.

Ultimately, when Choice and Obligation meet one another, there is an Invitation. I am more than aware of all of the competing demands on the lives of families and individuals. I am deeply opposed to any sort of guilt tactics to get people to church. To participate in a relationship with God through the relationship of the Church is always an act of freedom. But there is this invitation at the heart of our spiritual practice occasionally, on special occasions throughout the year, to suspend the normal hubbub of our lives and to enter into a different kind of space, a life-giving kind of space.

Ash Wednesday has always been regarded as a “Principle Holy Day,” or “Day of Obligation.” It takes place on February 18th, and we offer worship at 12:10pm and 7pm, hoping that these two times will allow most people to be able to attend if they wish. Our office is also open that day from 8am to 4pm. You are welcome to ring our doorbell and come into the church for some quiet time and holy space as your own schedule allows through that day. Ash Wednesday marks the start of the forty days of Lent. The worship is particularly poignant, focusing on the question

of our own mortality and the call to make choices for compassion, generosity, for knowing and making known God’s love, each and every day with which we are blessed.