I work in a mall. Well, I don’t exactly work in a mall, but my office is situated in a mall. As I sit at my computer each day, I overlook the second floor corridor as people make their way from one end of the mall to the other, weaving in and out of stores like mice scurrying in and out of their burrows.
The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (IASCER) held its last meeting in Kyoto, Japan, under the chairmanship of the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. The Commission is charged with reviewing current international ecumenical dialogues involving Anglicans, and provincial and regional initiatives towards unity with other Christians. IASCER consists of representatives from each international dialogue involving Anglicans, including the multilateral dialogue of Faith and Order, and of certain other commissions and networks, and consultants who bring particular regional or theological expertise.
What started as an orientation exercise for a national communications committee has turned into an unprecedented display of unity and generosity by thousands of members of the Anglican Church of Canada in congregations right across the country.
The third week of Advent is when we traditionally focus on joy, and for me, this Advent joy relates to one of the volunteer jobs that I do: co-chairing our diocesan stewardship initiative, called “Companions on a Journey.” For some people it will be difficult to believe that co-chairing a church committee could bring someone joy, but it really does! Okay, not all the time, but certainly when I see people’s faces light up as they learn new things—not just about their church, but about their faith and how it has shaped their life.
Katie Puxley got hooked at the 2007 justice camp in Victoria, B.C. “My husband Dave and I went to justice camp, absolutely loved it, wanted to stay involved, and have become total groupies,” said Ms. Puxley in a recent interview. Now she’s co-chairing the planning coalition of the next justice camp, to be held Aug. 9 to 15 in the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, says he was encouraged by a Dec. 5 round table co-hosted by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and the Belinda Stronach Foundation in Toronto. The meeting gathered 30 Canadian faith leaders to plan cooperative action towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight targets for improving the lives of the world’s poorest, by 2015.
As Ali Symons notes in a recent web article, the Amazing Grace Project gives us a wonderful window into the national life of the Anglican Church of Canada.
It also says a great deal about what we are and what we can be.
When I was a child, although I liked many of the traditions of Advent and Christmas, I was most focused on the presents that would eventually show up under the tree. As I’ve gotten older, my focus and my joy are more and more about the way that the traditions of Advent and Christmas point to the true gift of the season.
The Amazing Grace Project is proving to have been a resounding success, with close to 450 videos received so far and more than $18,000 raised in support of ministry in the Canadian North.
“I guess it’s a homecoming, you might call it,” said the Ven. Larry Beardy of the World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People, held Sept. 9 to 18 in Israel. Mr. Beardy and his wife Elizabeth, Cree Anglicans from Tataskweyak, Man., joined over 400 other participants in touring the Holy Land and celebrating Christianity amongst Indigenous peoples.
Lord it is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has recorded a video message to mark the 20th annual World AIDS day on December 1, 2008. There are currently 30 million people worldwide living with HIV.
A deluge of “Amazing Grace” videos is flooding Church House from all parts of the country. Nov. 23 was Amazing Grace Sunday, when Anglicans from across Canada sang “Amazing Grace,” filmed it, and sent (or are sending) their renditions to the national office. The videos will be made into one compilation video, to be put online by Christmas. Individual singers were also asked to donate a toonie to support northern ministry through the Council of the North.
Sing because it is a lovely hymn steeped in a fascinating history.
Sing as a symbol of the unity of the church in Christ.
Sing in prayer and support for the Council of the North.
Council members began their day with Bible study at 8:30. They reconvened for business at 9:15.