News, Links, and Prayers for September 8 to October 14

If a brother or sister lacks daily food,
and one of you says,
“Go in peace, and eat your fill,”
what is the good of that?
Faith, if it has no works, is dead.
(James 2:8-17)

There are 8 news items, 9 links, and 9 prayer paragraphs for September 8 to October 14.

NEWS:

A Big Bunch of “Thank You”’s:

“Thank You,” Rick Coller, for your many years of service as Envelope Secretary, and “Thank you,” Joe Seidel, for taking on this ministry. “Thank you,” also, Lynda Mountford for volunteering to act as our Readers’ and Sidespeople’s coordinator. And “Thank you,” Louise Mullaney, for stepping forward to organise this year’s Mitten Tree.

Congratulations, Adam!:

On August 12, it was our great joy to Baptize Adam Nicholson at St. Paul’s. Adam, we are thrilled at your decision to follow Jesus, and to share your journey of discipleship with us!

Please Keep Our Christian Education Committee in Special Prayer:

Our Christian Education Committee is in the process of reflecting on exciting possibilities for Children’s and Youth Ministry that have arisen over the summer. Please pray that we are given wisdom to choose the path for children’s and youth ministry for St. Paul’s that is in keeping with the Lord’s will.

We are Forming a Grief Support Group at St. Paul’s:

Jesus wept at the grief of his friends as they mourned the loss of their brother Lazarus. His heart goes out to us in our pain, and he walks with us through the darkest valley on feet pierced with nails from his love for us. At St. Paul’s, we would like to form a support group this Fall where all those who are walking the dark path of grief can share the love of Jesus with one another. If you would like to be part of this group, please let me know.  

September 9 – We Kick off OneBody South at St. Peter’s:

On September 9, from 12 noon to 2 p.m., all youth and all youths’ families are invited to a BBQ at St. Peter’s, the inaugural event of OneBody South, a joint venture of St. Paul’s and St. Peter’s. Don’t worry about bringing anything – just your appetite for food and fun! If you would like a ride, please let me know.. For more information about OneBody South, please look under the September 19 news item below.

September 16 – We Celebrate Holy Cross Sunday and the First of Three Ministry Sundays:

During the Services, look for a focus on receiving the love of Jesus for us, and allowing it to flow through us in service to others. This will also be the first of three successive Sundays to focus on the ministries that are active in St. Paul’s. On September 16, look for presentations during the Services on the Sidespeoples’ and Counters’ ministries, and the after the Services, representatives of these ministries who will be delighted to share information and answer questions. Our Sunday School ministry will be featured on September 23, and our Hospitality and Community Connection ministries will be highlighted on September 30. If you have a ministry you would like to share about, please let me know.

Thank you, Dinah Breu, for the following prayer for our Parish ministries. I invite us all  to make it part of our daily prayers for St. Paul’s:

O Lord our God, our creator, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given your people of the Parish of St. Paul and for the many wonderful ways in which these gifts are already being used to glorify you. We pray that you will continue to strengthen, encourage and uphold all those who share their time and talents in ministries of every kind. Our prayer is also that you, our Provider, will continue to build up these ministries, touch people’s hearts for service and  fill up vacancies where needed. It is you alone, Lord, who supplies our every need. We pray this in the name of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.     

September 19 – We are Invited to a OneBody South Youth Walk:

As a new youth ministry initiative this Fall, we have formed with St. Peter’s what we are calling “OneBody South” (Good Shepherd, St. Laurence’s, and St. Martin’s have formed “OneBody West”), for combined activities for youth of Junior High and High School age. 

From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on September 19, as a OneBody South activity, our youth are invited to the Glenmore Landing Good Earth Cafe to grab a beverage and then take a stroll around the Glenmore Reservoir with the youth from St. Peter’s. Everyone is welcome to bring along their friends.

Please talk to me if you would like further details, including a schedule of the OneBody South events that have been scheduled for the Fall through the Spring. Please also let me know if you would like to be on a steering committee to work with Aaron Havens, the OneBody South Coordinator, to plan OneBody events.

September 23 – We Celebrate Holy Baptism Together:

At the 10 a.m. Service, it is our great privilege to Baptize Edwin William James Cowan, grandson of David and Diane Ablett. We share the family’s anticipation of this joyous day, and pray for God’s blessings to overflow in Edwin’s life.

September 23 – We Celebrate Our 127th Anniversary with Evensong at the Chapel:

On the evening of Sunday, September 23, everyone is invited to a service of Evensong (a traditional sung Book of Common Prayer Service of Evening Prayer) with Harvest Thanksgiving hymns at our Midnapore Chapel, to commemorate the 127th anniversary of the first Service at the Chapel in 1885. A map showing the location of the Chapel (just West of Bannister Road, on 146th Avenue) is embedded below. Please let me know if you need further directions, or would like a ride.

September 29 – We Help Install Our New Bishop at the Cathedral:

At 11:00 a.m. on September 29, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, the Rt. Rev’d Gregory Kerr-Wilson will be Installed as the ninth Bishop of Calgary. If you would like to travel as a group (we’ll be taking the LRT), please sign the list in the Hall. We plan to arrive at the Cathedral at 10:15, to ensure that we all have a place to sit.

September 30 – We Observe the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels at St. Paul‘s, and Share Our First Triple C Service of the Fall:

To help us feel connected to the Installation of our new Bishop, our 8:30 and 10:00 Services will have the same readings and St. Michael and All Angels’ focus as the Installation Service at the Cathedral on September 29.

Our 10:00 Service will be our first Triple C worship of the Fall. These Services, which usually occur on the fourth Sundays of the month (this one is the fifth), are Christ-centred, Creative, and Compact times together, in which we stretch ourselves and share worship in new and exciting ways. As is the case at our other 10 a.m. Services, Nursery and Sunday School will both be available.

 

October 7 – We Give Thanks Together:

This year, Thanksgiving Day falls on October 8, which means that Thanksgiving Sunday is the first Sunday of October. Everyone is invited to gather together to offer our thanks to our God of grace. As an expression of our gratitude, we are invited to bring fruit, vegetables, and non-perishable food items with which to decorate the Sanctuary. After the Services, the fruit and vegetables will be delivererd to the Mustard Seed and the non-perishable food items donated to the Food Bank.

This will also mark the beginning of our five week focus at St. Paul’s on stewardship.

October 14 – We Celebrate Our Grandparents and Seniors:

Grandparents’ and Seniors’ Day occurs on October 14 this year at St. Paul’s. Look for the traditional Book of Common Prayer Liturgy and traditional hymns, with special reflections and gifts for all our grandparents in the Faith at both 8:30 and 10:00 Services.

LINKS:

1. www.stpaulscalgary.ca – to our website [The most recent additions on our “News and Events” page, in the “Announcements and Newsletters” section, are the August News Bulletin; July-August issue of Living Waters; and July and August Calendars (print copies of the September issue of Living Waters, complete with the September calendar, will be handed out at our September 9 Services and then be available on the magazine rack in the Hall; please look for an electronic version of this issue, and our September 9 News Bulletin to be posted on our website by the middle of next week).] (Thank you for our website, Paul Bourgeois!);

2. http://www.calgary.anglican.ca/news_weekly.html – to the Diocesan News Service bi-weekly Newsletter;

3. http://www.anglicanjournal.com/ – to the Anglican Church of Canada’s national stories of interest, such as “PWRDF Provides Aid to Syrians Fleeing Uprising” and “Over 800 Lutheran and Anglican Youth Attend Gathering in Saskatoon;”

4. http://secure.powertochange.org/p-656-asher-naomi-ministry.aspx – to the section of the “Power to Change” website through which donations can be made to Naomi Asher, a former member of our Parish family, who after our August 12 Service shared about her ministry among young people (information about Naomi and “Power to Change” is also available on a table in the Hall); 

5. http://pyrenes.blogspot.ca/ – to a blog by Bob and Hilda Micholuk chronicling their journeying the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain (click on “view comments” for their updates; I invite us to continue to lift up Bob and Hilda in special prayer throughout this most special time in their lives) (Thank you for this link, Marlene Wright!);

6. http://achristianpilgrim.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/ – to a “senior’s version” of “Jesus Loves Me” (thank you for this, Anne Lowry!);

7. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2012-summer-games/Canadian+wheelchair+rugby+team+match+Australia/7214269/story.html and

8. http://www.westernwheel.com/article/20120912/WHE1101/309129996/-1/whe0803/teenager-scores-paralympic-silver – to articles about the silver medal winning Canadian Rugby Team at the London 2012 Paralympics, and Zac Madell, a young man for whom we offered earnest prayer five years ago, when he lost his legs from necrotizing fasciitis (Thank you for the first link, Laura Anne!); and  

9. http://www.poeticexpressions.co.uk/POEMS/Holy%20Humour.htm – to a collection of “Holy Humour” (Thank you for this, Dinah Breu!).

Please keep emailing me stories, videos, and other items to which I can include links in this section, for the uplifting of our Parish family.

PRAYERS:

The following part of this posting is for new prayers or prayer-emphases. The complete Prayer List is included on the back cover of the weekly Order of Service. If you are unable to attend on a Sunday, and would like to have these prayers emailed to you, please email the Office at office@stpaulscalgary.ca).

In our prayers:

We thank the Lord for the improving health of Audrey Gasser, Anne Lowry, Kerry O’Shea (Sheila’s son), and Barb Wysotzki.

We give thanks for the well-being of the Gillingham family and all the people of Newfoundland, whom we remembered in prayer throughout the recent the storm, Leslie.

We share the joy of the family of Edwin William James Cowan (the Abletts’ grandson), as they prepare for his Holy Baptism on September 23, and we pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon him.

And we especially thank God for the Good News of life and love which it is our privilege to share in word and deed with God’s world by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray for Our Lord’s healing touch upon Margaret Anderson, Lionel Chaddock (Catherine Curren’s uncle), Dave Christopher (Doreen and Kerry Peters’ friend), Doug Irwin, Margaret Anne Knowles’ mother, Dorothy Lewis, Dennis Moore, Lynda Mountford, Louise Mullaney, Nicola Peden’s father, Ken Penley (Linda Hubert’s father), Art Trundle (Rhonda’s father), Brian Tyson (my father), Marlene Wright, and Barb Wysotzki.

We commit into God’s eternal keeping Maureen Good (Frances Pike’s niece), Charlie Gray (Richard’s brother) and Agnes Hubert (Ben’s mother), who passed into eternal life on August 11 and 26, respectively. Rest eternal grant to Maureen, Charlie, and Agnes, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. Amen. We pray for comfort for Frances; Colleen, Richard, Maja, and Len; Ben and Linda; and all Maureen’s, Charlie’s, and Agnes’ families.

We also commit into God’s loving arms our former Premier, Peter Lougheed, giving thanks for his years of labour for the people of Alberta, and especially remembering his family in our prayers. We ask you that his reflection, “I found anything in my public life we really accomplished that was worthwhile we accomplished as a team,” would be embraced and lived out by all members of our society.

In their recent bereavements, we pray for comfort for the Fink-Lee, Hellyer, Hollings, Hubert, Lewis, Matthews, Mountford, Ponting, Roett, and Wood families.

We lift up all who are suffering in our own city, our country, and the whole world. In particular, we pray for healing for all who are enduring famine in East Africa and violence in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Syria. May all be sustained by the Lord of love.

And we pray for wisdom and strength for those who are working for peace and justice in Egypt, Iran, Syria, and the Middle East; and for economic stability throughout the world.

God bless you all, always.

Your Brother in Jesus,