Cowichan Anglican

02/23/2023

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

This Sunday, February 26 marks the beginning of Lent. Rev. Selinde Krayenhoff will lead worship in our church sanctuary, followed by tea in the hall.

The readings this week all speak to the curious intersection between our free will, God's vision for the world, and the struggle between good and evil in our own lives. Here they are:
Genesis2:15-17; 3:1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11
The readings are on our website at:
https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/lent-i


Curiously, the story from Genesis tells of how not listening to God "opens the eyes" of the first humans, as they realized the weight of evil. At the same time, there is an affirmation in the story of Jesus' wrestling with the devil, for our own struggle to find the pathway of truth, beauty, and wholeness: the choice to turn our hearing again towards God's voice is always present for us.

Next Sunday, March 5 I will lead worship, before we share at our First Sunday of the Month Pot-Luck lunch. If you are able, please bring a dish to share. But whether you can bring anything or not, do come and join in the festive gathering.

Following the lunch next Sunday we will hold our Annual General Meeting, discussing our parish journey over the last year, and looking ahead at the year to come. If you have a report to share, please send me a copy by email so I can print enough for everyone.

Our parish tradition is that the Annual Meeting is a time of affirmation, great participation by everyone, and a shared anticipation of the path ahead. Please do plan to be there!

Remember too that Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee will be with us at worship on March 26, speaking in our worship service, and leading a congregational conversation/consultation afterward. We do hope for a good turn-out: please be there if you can.

Warm greetings to one and all. May God rescue our world from war and financial distress, and the displacement of people from their homes and routine lives.

sincerely,
Eric

02/17/2023

Dear friends

One of the choirs in which our good friend Brad Bergen is fully involved, the Medford Singers, will be presenting a performance in our sanctuary this Sunday, Feb 19, at 2pm.

Please let others know and bring them with you, as you plan to join in this wonderful opportunity to delight in the blended voices of an excellent choral group, in our own church!

A big thanks to Brad for organizing this concert for us.

warm greetings to one and all
Eric

02/17/2023

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

Hearsay.... is either "rumour", or gossip.... or possibly first-hand eye-witness testimony being shared individually, personally, because it is far too important to be left to "official channels". Does that make sense?

In your own experience, when someone says to you, "I know you might find this hard to believe, but I swear, this is what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears!" ~ how do you respond?

Sometimes, we might take such urgent news "with a grain of salt" ~ which means we'll consider whether it might be true or perhaps not quite to-be-believed.... as things unfold. Other times, depending on the person speaking to us, and how we know them, or whether we trust them personally, we might give the message our full attention as being dependable and trustworthy because of the messenger.

When you read the Bible, you find repeated signs of this kind of "first person reporting their own experience" testimony, intended to tilt us towards believing, taking the message more seriously than we might otherwise do. The result is that we are left with the decision ourselves, whether to believe, and to act on the implications of what we have read, or to take it as a curious story, and set it on the shelf with other curious items, which we might look into again at another time.... or not.

The readings this Sunday are precise illustrations of this challenge and dilemma. Do we take what is shared "at face-value"? If so, then our lives will be significantly influenced, because the nature of the message literally changes how we might otherwise interpret all of history.

Why? you might ask? Because the message is that several of his close friends saw Jesus lit up like a lighthouse, and heard an unearthly Voice from Above identifying Jesus as "the beloved.." who they should follow, paying more attention to what he says and does than to anyone else in history.

And now they pass on to you and to me "what they have seen and heard", leaving it to us to decide for ourselves how much attention we will give to what they have said, and to Jesus himself.

This Sunday is called "Transfiguration", because it is the hinge-point in the church year between the weeks following Christmas, and the beginning of Lent next week, leading to Easter. On the Day of Transfiguration in the story of Jesus with his disciples in the New Testament, Jesus took Peter and James and John, (the small group who were so often entrusted with particular words or experiences) up a mountain with him. On the mountain top, Jesus seemed to glow brightly from within, and the disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with him, before the Voice from Above told them to pay attention to everything Jesus said and did.

Do you see the reminiscence in this story to the experience of Moses going up another mountain, where he encountered God directly himself, receiving "the Ten Words" (which we call commandments) for the people? The story of Jesus with his 3 closest friends is foreshadowed by the story about Moses. Which is another way of signalling to us that This Is A Big Deal and that We Should Pay Attention!

Here are the readings for this week:
Exodus 24: 12-18 Psalm 99 2Peter1:16-21 Matthew 17: 1-9
The readings are on our website at:
https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/transfiguration
In my Sunday sermon I will briefly explore the implications of the story for us, even though it is from "long ago and far away" in the mists of history. If the story of Jesus reveals anything to us about the larger story of God's purposes from the beginning to the end of history, how do we live today in the light of what God has said and done before?
*******************************
As we are planning for our Annual General Meeting on March 5 after worship and our pot-luck lunch, would you consider whether you might help give direction for our parish by volunteering for the parish council, or helping in other ways?
I realize we are moving into a time of change, and the more people who are actively engaged together in our parish, the stronger we will be in the years to follow. Thanks

If you have any concerns or questions, or would like a personal visit, please let me know.

We pray for God's compassion on our troubled and beloved planet earth, with so many displaced or confused or wandering wondering people. No matter what happens, what dire news breaks into our awareness, we know that the God revealed in Jesus is not absent or neglectful or uncaring of us all. And while we cannot comprehend some of the suffering and struggle of people just like us, we trust that God is nonetheless present in the midst of it all, and that we are to lend our energy, our time and our heartfelt commitment to help make a positive difference ourselves.

May you experience the light of Jesus as Peter and James and John did on that long-ago day when they were overwhelmed with a sense of glory and promise beyond their own ability to comprehend.

I look forward to seeing you at church this Sunday. (And if you're not able to be there, you will be remembered in prayer!)

sincerely,
Eric

Readings for February 19, 2023 -- Transfiguration Exodus 24:12-18 24:12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."24:13 So Moses set out...

12/28/2022

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

It is not surprising to me that many poets and writers use images from the ocean in their writing. It does sometimes feel that life is like a series of waves, continually bearing us along, lifting us up or driving us into the depths, while underneath are the more mysterious tides which flow in and out beneath all the surface activity of our everyday.

For many the last 10 days have been a busy moving festival of family, re-connecting with people, food, fun, and reflection. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth, but also bears the weight of a singular event, a unique yet very human life in history. While we measure calendar time in relation to the life of Jesus, B.C. and A.D., each of us as individuals can also resonate with his life-story, and respond to his curious and insightful teaching at the centre of history.

Those of us who live in the northern part of the world feel a congruence between the light of Christ coming at "the darkest time of the year", while we wonder how those in the south (like our dear friend Lynn Wytenbroek in NZ) experience the middle of a hot bright summer around Christmas (hi Lynn!).

This Sunday we have an opportunity to step out of the busyness into a few moments of holy space to mark the beginning of a new calendar, to pause and feel the lift of God's teaching coming to us through the layered story of Jesus in the lives of millions of others just like us. The service should be a little more informal, with singing, prayers, reflection how "The Story of Jesus" is being lived out in our little lives AND, then we will share in our First Sunday of the Month Pot-Luck lunch and fellowship with friends.

The readings this week will be Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13; Psalm 8; Rev 21:1-6a; Matthew 25: 31-40, and, as usual, they can be found on our website at: https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/new-years-day.

If you can bring something to share for the Pot Luck, please do. If you are willing to help with setup around 10:15, or would be willing to assist with the clean-up after lunch, that would be helpful.
Everyone is welcome, and if you forget to bring food, just come and share as we all do.

I look forward to being with you on Sunday morning.

May the Spirit of God breathe life and renewed hope into our hearts and into the world as we begin to move our focus from the year that is past, to all the potential before us in the year to come.

sincerely,
Eric

05/10/2022

The church uses the Revised Common Lectionary for its schedule of Bible readings for each service. See upcoming texts at https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php.

05/03/2022

The long-awaited re-opening date for our thrift store, known to the community as "Cellar Treasures" is slated for Wednesday May 4, 2022 running their regular hours: 11am-2pm every Wednesday.

Come see what you've been missing over these last two years of COVID-19 closures.

Vaccinations, masks and distancing are still recommended, and would certainly be appreciated.

Go to https://www.cowichananglican.ca/events/cellar-treasures/2022-05-04

04/21/2022

04/21/2022

03/25/2022

Dear friends of the parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

One of the novels by Charles Dickens begins with the sentence: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

That would not exactly describe our experience ~ but other parts of the world are experiencing the worst, while many commentators caution that world harmony is at a major tipping point because of Vladimir Putin's military aggression and violence against the peaceful country of Ukraine.

In our corner of the world, and in our own personal lives, we might each easily identify condition which are threatening to us, and others that give us encouragement and hope as we look ahead 6 or 12 months.

As always, the challenge we face is not to imagine we can control forces beyond us; rather, how can we rebalance ourselves from the inside in order to maintain equilibrium no matter what comes against us? In other words, we face a spiritual challenge underneath the political and potential economic turmoil caused by actions of world leaders.

When you read the stories about Jesus in the gospels, I think you will agree that most of his teaching is addressed precisely to individuals like us who sometimes feel caught like pawns in a chess game controlled by others.

Bottom line: "Seek first the Kingdom of God" ~ which means the presence and influence of God in your own realm of relationships, work, and community. Jesus begins at that personal point of opportunity, inviting each of us to move forward under the reigning presence of God above even our own strengths and abilities. Conditions in the world around us can change as each of us centre ourselves in God's will. As usual, Jesus has a way of speaking directly to us.

This Sunday the scripture readings include the following:
Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3,11b-32
The readings are available on our website at:
https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/in-person-worship-march-27-2022

Our worship service will be led by Rev. Selinde Krayenhoff, who will also preside at the Eucharist. Brad will lead our singing. I will be away this weekend visiting family in Victoria.

We are anticipating a further re-opening of other aspects of our congregational life in the coming weeks. Specifically, we all look forward to enjoying a cup of coffee or tea and a time of socializing after worship ~ perhaps even by Easter?!

Warm greetings to each one this morning. We continue to pray for peace in the world around us, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our own little lives. We trust that God is active, not absent, working within and among people like us to bring light to the shadows, and life out of death.

Blessings in Christ
Eric

Readings for March 27, 2022 Joshua 5:9-12 9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day. 10 While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated...

03/18/2022

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

"My thoughts are not your thoughts" says the Lord. This is the message in one of the readings for this week.

Anyone looking at the challenges facing our world, or simply reviewing the patterns of your own life, might easily agree.

Yet we might say it differently, depending on circumstances: "Where is God in all of this?" or "What kind of God do you believe in when you see what humans do to one another?" or "If I were God, I would run the world better!" Would we, really?

All of these sentiments reflect the words and feelings of millions of humans just like us. They also reflect what is expressed by people throughout the stories in the Bible, who are trying to "know God" just as we are.

To be human is to wrestle with our life experience, it is also to wrestle with God. Even the name Israel says that: it literally means "One who wrestles with God." Perhaps that is a clue to help us in our relationship with God ~ not to be discouraged when we are deeply challenged.

How then do we proceed? Perhaps the Bible itself can help us here, or at least point us in the right direction. Included in our readings for this Sunday is the phrase: "Seek the Lord while he may be found".

Whether things are "going our way", or seem "out of control", in other words, it makes sense to seek God ~ for insight, or patience, or for help simply to persist. We may not always understand, and we will certainly not always feel secure or in control ourselves. But if we make the God of the Bible our reference point each day, we are encouraged to hope that we may "see" patterns we hadn't noticed. Or we may feel connected to those who try to respond to God as followers of Jesus like we do, and find purpose in the community of faith, even with the struggle.

During Lent, these thoughts and questions are "part of the journey", leading us beyond where we have been. God is active, showing not only that his thoughts and ours are not the same, but also that "My ways are not your ways..." Life is the adventure of learning these insights "on the go". God is not static, but moving forward, pursuing a vision. We are not only created by this God, but invited freely to learn, to follow, to grow as we participate in the unfolding vision.

Here are the readings for our Morning Prayer service this Sunday: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9.
As always, they are on our website ... go to https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/in-person-worship-march-20-2022.

Next Sunday, March 27, I will be away; Rev. Selinde Krayenhoff will be our guest preacher, and will preside at the Eucharist.
She is married to Rev. Jim Holland who is well known to our congregation; I believe you will enjoy her leadership.

May the God revealed through the stories of people like us in history be with you today, bringing peace to our world, and motivation to our own hearts.

Bless you
Eric

Readings for March 20, 2022 Isaiah 55:1-9 Invitation to the Lord’s Salvation 55 “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money!Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why...

03/11/2022

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

Last Sunday after our worship service we held a successful Annual General Meeting in the hall.
Roy Large and Sandy Brown agreed to step in as Wardens, as we all thanked Buck and Sandy Stinson for their leadership within the congregation. Brad Bergen's financial report indicated that while our income is somewhat behind expenditures over the past year, we have some reserves, and are in a good position as we look forward to the hoped-for full re-opening of our church life. Irene Palmer expressed the hope that Cellar Treasures may be able to open soon, after having to be closed for most of the past 2 years! There was a positive sense of community among us, with energy for the future.

We sat in a large socially-distanced circle in the hall for our meeting, which included recognition of the challenge of the pandemic closings, as well as the success of having the roof replaced on our church hall this past summer. We are hopeful to soon begin having tea again after worship, and perhaps even plan for a fall fair this year. Once we begin to re-enter more normal patterns, who knows what other events will be considered?

As we look back over the past years, we quickly recognize both the difficulties and struggles we have experienced, but also the happy times, successes, and good connections with others. This pattern in human life is the underlying theme in our Bible readings for this coming Sunday. We are encouraged to look for God's guidance, comfort and strength in the midst of our own struggle between good and evil. By experience we know that while God's creation is full of wonder and potential and blessing, the reality of evil powers in opposition to God's purposes is very real.

On this second Sunday of Lent, March 13, our service of morning prayer will consider God's invitation to face the challenges of our lives in His strength, and not just on our own.

Here are the readings for this week: Genesis 15:1-12,17-18; Psalm 27; Phil 3: 17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35 ... They can be found on our website at:
https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/in-person-worship-march-13-2022

Do you notice the purposeful commitment God makes to Abraham (and therefore to all people), and the encouraging words in the other readings: "Stand firm in the Lord..." "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage..." and, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."

On days when we feel discouraged by news of war and the displacement of people across the world, or by our own personal disappointments and challenges, God's commitment to be with us in our struggles is comforting.

I send you warm personal greetings. Please be in touch if I can be helpful to you.

May God bring healing and peace to our world, and strength to each person, in whatever our circumstances.

sincerely,

Eric

Readings for March 13, 2022 Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 The Lord’s Covenant Promise to Abram 15 Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” 2 But Abram replied, “O...

03/04/2022

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan in Lake Cowichan

The devastation of war fills our minds and hearts with grief, as our imagination follows the daily news, with photographs and short video clips showing what Russia's Vladimir Putin is raining down on Ukraine.

At the same time, we are impressed and inspired to see the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking daily on behalf of his people, encouraging the strong response of Ukrainians and the rest of the world, and calling Russia to account for war crimes. Should we believe Putin, Zelenskyy, or the news-media? Who can we trust to "tell us like it is" without "spin"?

In the midst of this present military/political crisis rapidly changing our world, we are also only too aware of the struggle for truth-telling in our media. Conspiracy theories have multiplied during the Covid Pandemic, with many people not knowing what or who to believe. In political announcements we have become accustomed to question whether our elected leaders are telling the truth, or creating "fictional" public relations stories which bear little resemblance to what other observers would describe.

In other words, truth itself is a casualty of modern political and social communication, leaving us all at risk, vulnerable to deceit or worse. In the same way that some captured Russian soldiers say they were told they were only doing "military exercises", and didn't know the truth that their leaders were taking them towards real battle, are we ourselves being manipulated?

The President of Ukraine said publicly to the President of Russia on live television: "You might think you can do what you want, but God sees you; God is watching what you are doing." This is the truth of accountability. There is a standard of integrity which God requires of all of us, whether in our little daily conversations with one another, or on the grand scale or world-wide-politics and war.

"Telling the truth" is not only a rule for children; as we believe God speaks truth and light and love into the world, we are invited to respond in the same spirit. We are held accountable for the discrepancies between what we know in our hearts to be true, and the non-truths we express in our words.

This theme of integrity is central to our Biblical faith ~ a requirement for each of us to pursue in all our communications.

As we begin Lent, the moral value of integrity is portrayed in each of our Bible readings for this Sunday, March 6. It is not simply a question of history, but of current risky events, and our own individual choice to put into practice daily the discipline of truthfulness and humility. If you can, read ahead: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4: 1-13. These readings can be found on our website at: https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/in-person-worship-march-6-2022 ...
Our relations with one another, our hopes for peace and harmony between nations and in our business practices, and our relationship with God itself all depend upon truthfulness. Consider especially the response Jesus gives to temptations that often sway hearts and minds like our own

This Sunday, we will celebrate the eucharist together before moving from worship to our brief Annual General Meeting as a congregation.

We will continue with the Covid protocols in both worship and our meeting, with the hope that soon we may be able to adjust our Sunday patterns to once again include tea and coffee after worship.

Warm regards to each of you today. Please be in touch if I can be helpful to you.

sincerely,
Eric

Readings for March 6, 2022 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Harvest Offerings and Tithes 26 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession and you have conquered it and settled there, 2 put some of the first produce from each crop you harvest into a basket and...

02/26/2022

Dear friends of the Parish of St. Christopher and St. Aidan

Again it feels like the world is entering a zone of dramatic change.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine is but the most recent expression of his brutality ~ a clear disassociation from our most basic common humanity, "in the image of God.​"

With the other multiple challenges through which we have been living, this startling naked military aggression pushes our world towards a tipping point.

While we may feel somewhat protected from the threats in Eastern Europe, we know how quickly a contagion (like Covid) can spread ~ how much more the assaults of violence, the extreme pressures upon our interlocked financial systems, with the possibility of increasing social unrest and political instability? Once again, we realize how humanity really is one enormous extended family. We will pray for peace and restoration of democratic order in Ukraine (and other places) in part because by that action we are also praying for ourselves, our whole world.

This Sunday marks a significant pivot point in the story of Jesus' life journey, which dominates our worship readings especially from Christmas through Easter. The curious mountain hike Jesus' took with Peter, James, and John, probably on a large hill between Nazareth and Capernaum (on the lake of Galilee) can be read with reference to the story of Moses meeting God on Mt. Sinai.

We use the phrase "mountain-top experience" when we are trying to share the significance of a breakthrough moment in our own lives. If you have ever climbed to the top of a hill where you can see in all directions, you know the experience of being lifted above the petty concerns of your life "way down below". On the mountain top, we sometimes feel like we literally not only see the world differently, but the pathway of our own lives as well. After a "mountaintop experience" we expect people to feel and act differently.

In the story of Jesus' life, the experience with James, Peter and John on this particular mountain must have felt like a curtain being pulled back between God's realm (like heaven) and our world with all it human struggle. For a few moments, they saw and heard the significance of Jesus in a way that confirmed the singular importance of this particular man, in ways that would lead them to begin thinking of him as more than merely human, literally as "son of God", the "chosen one".

At the same time, after their mountain hike, they had to return to the everyday valleys of their own lives. As some people have said, "you can't stay forever in the mountaintop breakthrough ~ sooner or later you have to come back down to your "real" life. Nonetheless, they were changed, and returned with an inner renewal that would adjust the way they saw everything else, and how they encountered ever other person.

In the Christian year, this "Transfiguration" Sunday marks the end of Epiphany; next week will begin the season of Lent, in which we follow Jesus as he struggles with his own calling, demonstrating both power and vulnerability, teaching spiritual insight that opened the eyes and the hearts of those listening, while challenging the "taken-for-granted" status quo attitudes of both religious and political leaders.

To get a head start on the stories for Sunday, read : Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2Corinthians 3:12-4:2, and Luke 9:28-36. You can find the readings on our website at: https://www.cowichananglican.ca/news/in-person-worship-feb-27-2022
We'll have a service of Morning Prayer again this week, and celebrate the Eucharist next Sunday, March 6.

We will also have our Annual General Meeting after worship next Sunday, March 6. If you have reports you want others to see, please send them to me by return email at the email address above. If you have hopes for our church in the coming months, or other thoughts to share, send them along too.

Watching a brief overview of a recent Vancouver Canucks hockey game, I saw how the stands were full of people, ~ some masked, many not ~ filling almost all the seats. I wondered again at the restrictions still imposed upon us in the church, when a crowded hockey arena is clearly not as restricted.

However, we go forward, one way or the other. If you can come to worship at the church at 10:30 this Sunday, please do ~ it will be good to see you.

If you are unable to be present with us on Sunday, you will be remembered in our prayers. All of us, whether gathered together or in our separate situations, are part of "the family of God", one of the early designations for the church.

May God heal our world, stop war and aggression, and give us all more of an experience of God's reign on earth ~ yes, even today.

Blessings in Christ
Eric

02/20/2022

Transfiguration Sunday - Feb 27, 2022
In the New Testament, the Transfiguration of Jesus is an event where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain.[1][2] The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36) describe it, and the Second Epistle of Peter also refers to it (2 Peter 1:16–18). It has also been hypothesized that the first chapter of the Gospel of John alludes to it (John 1:14).[3]

In these accounts, Jesus and three of his apostles, Peter, James, and John, go to a mountain (later referred to as the Mount of Transfiguration) to pray. On the mountaintop, Jesus begins to shine with bright rays of light. Then the Old Testament figures Moses and Elijah appear next to him and he speaks with them. Both figures had eschatological roles: they summarize the Law and the prophets, respectively. Jesus is then called "Son" by the voice of God the Father, in the Baptism of Jesus.[1]

Many Christian traditions, including the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Church, Lutheran and Anglican churches, commemorate the event in the Feast of the Transfiguration, a major festival. In Greek Orthodoxy, the event is called the metamorphosis.