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Published on Leave a comment on HAVE SCRUB BRUSH, WILL CLEAN??

Cleaning suppliesHi Folks
Just a reminder that today is another cleanup day at the Rectory.

You can arrive at 999 Clarence Street any time after 9 and give an hour or a day as you are able, getting the rectory ready to sell.
Lunch and coffee will be provided to keep you fuelled up and cleaning supplies are waiting for your elbow grease to make them work.

Thanks to all who help!
Rev. Marie

Published on Leave a comment on Vestry Meeting

Hello

Our Annual Vestry Meeting takes place on Sunday, February 2, 2014 right after the 10:30 Gathering Service ( only one service since it is the first of the month)

There will be snacks to stave off the hunger pangs ( and I promise to preach short that day!)

We do hope you will all join us. It is our "Family Meeting" and there are always questions to be answered and decisions to be made.

If there is something you would like us to talk about, please call Dave Saad who will be chairing the meeting so your concern gets not he agenda. If there is a ministry you feel called to, please talk to me or the wardens.

We are so thankful for all God has done at Christ Church in this last year - and we want to hear together how God is leading us into the future. Come and be part of that process!

In Christ
Rev. Marie

Published on Leave a comment on Christmas at Christ Church

We look forward to having you join us in the most holy of celebrations!

"Come O Long Expected Jesus"

Christmas Service Schedule

Christmas Eve:
5 pm Children's Service
7 pm Candlelight Service
9 pm Traditional BCP Service

Christmas Day

10:30 am Holy Communion

December 29 - Christmas 1

9 am Quiet Service from the Book of Common
Prayer - Holy Communion
10:30 am Holy Communion Service from the Book of Alternative Services

Published on Leave a comment on Canon Murray Tipping Celebrates 60 Years of Ordination!

Monday, December 16, 2013 marked the 60th anniversary of Canon Murray Tipping's ordination to the priesthood. This marvellous occasion was celebrated with Canon Murray's family and church family. We began with a BCP service, celebrated by Canon Murray with the Right Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews, Bishop of Algoma as preacher. Lessons were read by the Canon's children and the scores of folks who attended were "brought to heaven's gates" but the precious sense of the holy that permeated the entire service.

The service was followed by a lovely dinner at the Davedi Club, where the programme, ably chaired by Colin Vickers, included solos by former Rector and dear friend, the Venerable Dawn Henderson, who first pressed Canon Murray into service as the honourary assistant at Christ Church, a position we are delighted he still maintains. Remembrances and speeches by friends and family rounded out the evening,

Canon Murray wants all those involved to know that he is profoundly grateful for all the expressions of love and appreciation he received that evening. He describes himself as both overwhelmed and humbled. He and Joan are also deeply grateful for the kindnesses, deliveries of food and help received during his recent illness.

We are so thankful to God for the strong foundation
built at Christ Church with Canon Murray as the founding Rector, and for the joy of his and Joan's continued presence with us and their ministry among us.

Published on Leave a comment on The Potter and the Clay

As I read the Jeremiah reading to prepare for next Sunday, I was reminded that being a pot in the process of being shaped on the wheel is not always comfortable!

I am also keenly aware that there are critical moments in the shaping of a pot- moments that determine whether the pot will be something beautiful and useful, or something destined to be broken down and completely reshaped or even discarded. If the clay resists shaping, or gets off center or is fatally flawed, the potter must take action or the pot will never fulfil the purpose the potter has for it.

God reminds the people of Israel that He is the potter, and they are the clay and if they resist the gentle and steady pressure of his hands, he will take firmer action or even seek out another piece of clay. This is a sobering thought! And it behooves us to pray deeply and think seriously as we approach a series of critical moments in the shaping of our life together as a congregation.

But there is good news, very good news as well. God uses the image of clay, because clay is so malleable and in that, it is a lovely metaphor for the tension that exists between God's soveriegnty and our free will. We may get off centre from time to time, but if we stay soft in the potter's hands, he can reshape and reform us and while the end shape may be different from the one He first planned, it can still be useful and beautiful in his service.

One commentator touched my heart as he remarked on this image of the potter and the clay. It is a dirty and demanding craft, he observed (and if you have ever seen a potter's workshop you will know the truth of that!) and in the process, the hands and arms of the potter become caked in the clay. As the wheel spins and spins, it becomes difficult to see where the hands of the potter end and the pot begins. The potter is up to his elbows in the clay he is shaping - and in Jesus, God was "up to his elbows" in the muck of the clay he created, reshaping it, remaking it and forming it from a lump of muck into something both beautiful and purposeful. It was, and is, dirty, sweaty and sometimes heartbreaking work, but the potter persists for he cannot help himself. He IS love and for love of what he is creating, for love of his craft and for love of what is and will be, he shapes and forms and pounds and guides the clay in his callused hands. He pumps the wheel and it turns and turns,ever more quickly until the hands of the potter and the church he is creating meld into one.

May we be willing to be shaped!