The gifts of All Saints and All Souls

This week on the liturgical calendar, we celebrate two important dates in the Christian year: All Saints and All Souls, on November 1st and 2nd respectively.

As we consider God's gifts during our stewardship, I have been thinking about the connection between gifts and All Saints and All Souls.

Certainly, the saints of the Church, both those on our calendar and our own personal saints, those models of God's love and holiness, are examples to us of the many different ways we can use our gifts for the glory of God.

The variety that exists in the communion of saints reflects the breadth of talents and gifts that God has given us. One of my favourite representations of this diversity is the Icon of the dancing saints at St Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Here is what they say about it:

"Twelve years in the making, it is a 3,000 square foot icon wrapping around the entire church rotunda, showing ninety larger-than life saints; four animals; stars, moons, suns and a twelve-foot dancing Christ.



"The saints—ranging from traditional figures like King David, Teresa of Avila and Francis of Assisi to unorthodox and non-Christian people like Malcolm X, Anne Frank, and Rumi—represent musicians, artists, mathematicians, martyrs, scholars, mystics, lovers, prophets and sinners from all times, from many faiths and backgrounds."

For those who want to learn more about this icon as well as see images of these saints, I would recommend spending some time exploring their website.

In addition to being examples to us of the diversity of gifts that God has given, the communion of saints is also a gift to us. This great cloud of witnesses, the surrounds us and supports us, is also the gift of the great family of God. A family of which we too are part. Our Godly Play story of the Great Family, of Abraham and Sarah, reminds us that we too are a part of the great family which has become as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand in the desert. As we struggle with hopes and doubts and fears in our journey of faith, we are upheld by the communion of saints and their past experiences of these struggles.

All Souls, the Day of the Dead and Halloween are also gifts for our consideration. Halloween is a holiday where we look at both sides of life - the lighthearted and the dark - and celebrate and explore both and their relationship with one another. Our Gospel reading this Sunday, the Beatitudes from Luke's Gospel, also does this. As you listen to or read this passage this week, I invite you to consider both the light and the dark in holiness, sainthood and the gifts that God has given us. What holiness has God called each of us to with these generous gifts?

Halloween at St Philip's

This week is Halloween, but we started our celebration early in Church School at St Philip's. Last Sunday we invited the children to wear their costumes to Church and after a special Children's Focus with Marilyn about the saints, the Church School class went on a journey through our labyrinth and met some of the saints along the way. Thank you to Bruce, Sheila and all those who helped prepare, set up and clean up after this special lesson. This was a wonderful opportunity to share the labyrinth with the Church school.



After the service, the Halloween fun continued with our annual Halloween lunch for families. This was a wonderful fellowship opportunity for the Church School and all others who participated. There is nothing quite like sitting down to pizza with Cinderella and a Vampire. Thanks to those who helped with lunch.

For those who live in the Kerrisdale area, see the notice above about the candy giveaway happening on Halloween at St Mary's. Stop by and see Cameron and me as well as other members of our joint youth group and the parish. We will be handing out hot chocolate and candy to our neighbours.

I will leave you with one last picture of everyone in their costumes during Children's Focus with Marilyn. Enjoy!

Offering as Worship

This week in liturgy school, we began our new unit exploring offering and giving as a part of our worship. One of the first things we discussed as a class was how offering our gifts, whether in our liturgy or elsewhere, is in and of itself an act of worshiping God.

Worship is an expression of our faith and our relationship with God. The way we choose to worship expresses and explores what we believe about God. We believe in a gracious and generous God who gives and loves without condition. We also believe that we are wonderfully made in the image and likeness of that God. Giving generously and without condition is a way of enacting these beliefs and an expression of our faith.



Worship is also a spiritual practice, an exercise that enables us to grow in faith and love. Through the practice of giving as God gives, we grow into our identity as creatures made in the image of God. With God's help, we are empowered to become like Christ, fulfilling the purpose for which we were marked in baptism.

Worship originates in our relationship with God, but it cannot be separated from our relationship with our faith community and with the wider reality of the whole of God's world. Gifts are not only given, but received and so in our practice of offering our gifts, we are pulled closer and closer in our relationships with one another. We recognize in the other the image of God and each gift is both a thank-offering for all that we have graciously received from God and a participation in God's own generosity.

Because offering our gifts is an act of worship itself, it is also an integral part of our liturgical life. The Eucharist is a celebration of Christ's own self-gift. We receive the Body of Christ in order that we might become Christ's Body, the Church, broken for the world and we pray that we might offer our own souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice, a gift of love. This is a gift we offer over and over by which we offer praise and worship to God.

Take a Bite Out of Winter

Cooperation in ministry is one of the ideas upon which Constellation Ministry is being built. This cooperation was certainly present between the parishes of the Granville/Point Grey deanery this past weekend at the Take a Bite Out of Winter event hosted by St Faith's Anglican Church and in which youth from 5 Constellation parishes participated.



Part of Vancouver's Homelessness Action Week, this event included a hot meal and distribution of warm clothing, sleeping bags and other necessities for winter to vulnerable members of the community. It was also an opportunity for fellowship, hospitality and service for both clients and volunteers.

This was the first Constellation event to include an opportunity for outreach and service in the community and it was a hit amongst the young people who participated. We hope to continue this pattern in the future by volunteering at the monthly Community Meal hosted by St Augustine's parish in Marpole.

On a related note: at St Philip's, Sophie McKenzie who participated in the event and has a passion for outreach has agreed to join the Outreach Committee. This is a wonderful opportunity for furthering the partnership between outreach and youth and family ministry at St Philip's. She will be a capable new addition to this committee.

Another Thanksgiving, not just another Fall Conference

Over Thanksgiving in Abbotsford this year, young people from St Philip's and across the province joined the BC and Yukon Anglican Youth Movement at their annual Fall Conference. This year included many of the elements that have made past conferences such a success including a great theme speaker, engaging worship, work projects in the community, executive council elections, a dance and the AGM.

Picking up garbage in parks in Abbotsford at Fall Conference

This year was extra special though as Saturday night the delegates attended a gala in celebration of the 100th anniversary of organizational youth ministry in BC. The delegates were joined by Alumni from BCYAYM, and the AYM and AYPA which preceded it. Together they enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner and a programme of entertainment and speeches from past and present members of the Youth Movement in BC.

Another new tradition seems to be developing around Fall Conference and that is baptism at the Sunday morning worship service. This year, baby Cameron, whose parents met at a Fall Conference years ago, was baptized during the service at St Matthew's, Abbotsford where the conference was held. This follows on last year's baptism of Avaya, the daughter of Jon and Melissa. Jon is currently the adult lay representative to BCYAYM Council and both he and Melissa have been involved with the organization for many years. These baptisms have added a wonderful opportunity for celebration to our Sunday morning worship.

Worshiping with the congregation of St Matthew's Abbotsford.

Also at this year's conference, Evie Byrne, a member of St Mary's Kerrisdale and our joint youth group, was one of four new members elected to BCYAYM council. The council gathers several times throughout the year to plan and promote the three annual BCYAYM gatherings: Fall Conference, Winter Retreat and Young Sojourners. Congratulations to Evie!

If you would like to see more photos from Fall Conference and keep track of news from BCYAYM, visit their facebook page.

How to be good stewards of our volunteers

This week at Church Committee, we had a very engaging and though-provoking conversation about volunteerism in the Church. Over the past few months, certain ministries and long-standing events have struggled to find some key volunteers. At the same time, there are a great number of volunteers involved at St Philip's every week. As a group, we wondered why this was the case.

As a part of our Stewardship campaign, we often speak of people giving gifts of time, talent and treasure. The one we take the most time to quantify, however, is how we give treasure and how important these contributions are to the continuing life of St Philip's.

In our discussion at Church Committee, we wondered about how we could quantify the gifts of time and talent that are equally integral to parish life. How many people contribute time and talent to each Sunday service? How many hours of work are put in each week? How can we ask people to pledge their time and talent as well as their treasure?

Volunteers selling donuts at the rummage sale are engaged in ministry.

Volunteers are a very important part of life at St Philip's and we also discussed ways that we can commission, honour and thank people for their ministry in the parish. Whether you are volunteering in the office, preparing the Church for worship or participating in the Street Ministry, all of these things are a part of our common ministry. As the marks of mission remind us, we are called by God to do many different things and in all of these things we are being the Church in the world. How can we as a parish celebrate all these gifts as a part of our offering? In every celebration of the Eucharist, we gather offerings of many kinds - money, bread, wine and as we pray, our souls and bodies as well. We give thanks for all of these gifts and we dedicate them to God. So how can we as a parish ensure that we are being good stewards of all these gifts?

Over the next few weeks, as we prayerfully discern how God is calling each of us to use our gifts for ministry, I would ask you to consider not only pledging gifts of money, but also gifts of time and talent which are vital to Church life. As Church Committee, we hope to do more to share how important these gifts are and celebrate those who give so generously as a response to God's call to be good stewards of all we have been given.

I am thankful for the liturgical year making connections easy.

Last Sunday at St Philip's we had the opportunity to celebrate God's creation. We blessed our pets and all that they bring to our lives and also took time to learn about and reflect on the place of water in our faith and in our lives.



This Sunday, in that amazing way that the liturgical calendar works, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving and starting our annual Stewardship campaign. Simultaneously, young people from our parish and across the province will be gathering in Abbotsford for the annual BCYAYM Fall Conference which this year will coincidentally be exploring eco-theology and our connection to God's creation. One of the things that connects all these celebrations is the opportunity to reflect on and give thanks for God's gifts to us.

Harvest Thanksgiving in Canada comes from the Church's annual celebration of the gifts that we receive from God in creation that sustain our lives. It is a time to recognize that it is not through our own fabulousness and skill and hard work that we are here - it is thanks to God who placed each of us in the midst of this huge thing called creation and called it good. Food and water are two of the most basic and necessary gifts for which we give thanks in this celebration, but as we begin our annual stewardship campaign we are asked to consider all the gifts that we have received and how we in turn are called to give.

Gifts and giving will be the theme of the next series of weekly reflections. As we move from Thanksgiving to Advent and Christmas and through our stewardship campaign, there are many different questions we can ask together about gifts in the context of our faith. For this week, how about a traditional Thanksgiving question:

What are you thankful for?

Malala Yousafzai and the UN International Day of the Girl Child

This Friday, October 11 is the second annual observance of the International Day of the Girl Child. This year's theme is Innovation in Girls' Education. Events celebrating girls and exploring the unique challenges that they face are happening at the UN. There are also opportunities being provided for girls themselves to gather and connect with one another on these issues as well as speak and be heard by those who do the work of the UN from various member states. 

Education activist and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Malala Yousafzai, a 16 year old girl from Pakistan was in New York this week and appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. You can watch the full interview online. If you don't like being inspired, then this video isn't for you. Only a year ago, just before the first celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child, Malala was shot by members of the Taliban because of her advocacy for girls education. This year on July 12th, her 16th birthday, the UN celebrated Malala Day where she gave her first public speech since the attack to the General Council of the UN. Her new book "I am Malala" speaks about her experiences living in Swat Valley in Pakistan and her work to promote education, especially for girls. 

I can't speak more powerfully about the importance of universal education than Malala can - so it's best to just watch the video. As someone who is lucky enough to work with and for young people in the Church, hearing Malala speak reminds me why it is important. There are many voices like Malala's that need to be heard in our faith communities. I hope to help make this a reality. Just as importantly, they need the opportunity to hear and connect with one another.

This year, a young person from one of the Constellation parishes will be traveling with me as a delegate from IAWN in Canada (International Anglican Women's Network) to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March, 2014. Achieving universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals which the UN set out to achieve by 2015. The 58th UN Commission on the Status of Women will review the challenges and achievements in the implementation of the MDGs for women and girls. We will be holding a number of events leading up to this trip to raise awareness about the involvement of the Anglican Church in this type of advocacy and gender justice work as well as raise the money needed to send delegates to New York - a cost which at present is the responsibility of delegates themselves. Please consider how you can support this side of the mission of the Church.

Stronger Together for the Love of the World

From Sept. 22-25th, I was away in Arnprior, ON with our Diocesan Youth Coordinator, Phil Colvin, at a gathering of Anglican and Lutheran Youth Ministers from across Canada. The gathering included mostly regional, diocesan (or in the case of Lutherans synodical) youth coordinators, but I was invited to help plan and lead worship along with Ottawa youth worker and musician, Zack Ingles.

The event was held at Galilee Retreat Centre on the shores of the Ottawa river, a beautiful site all year, but especially stunning in the midst of the fall colours in the Ottawa Valley.

The gathering offered several different opportunities for participants that supported their work as youth ministers. 

Temporary Community

I am an ENFJ and so surprise, surprise, I value relationships and community very highly (and I like a systematic way to explain how it works). Last spring at Ask & Imagine I was introduced to a valuable tool in the 8 characteristics of community (which I am now using everywhere, all the time, because when I like something I use it a lot - like Myers-Briggs, see above).

The characteristics of community on signs drawn (I believe) by Jenny Salisbury.

One of the things that impresses me most about the gatherings of youth leaders (or youth leaders at youth conferences) that I have been to is how well they are able to begin to build supportive relationships by creating temporary community. Many of these relationships are friendships, though more importantly given the purposes of the gatherings, there are professional relationships and working partnerships being formed which in many cases translate into the creation of new projects, sharing of ideas and support in encountering the challenges of this type of ministry. 

In the case of Stronger Together, I know that the formation of this temporary community does not happen by accident. Attention is paid by those organizing the gathering to build community through games, activities, social time, story-telling, shared work and common worship. In the case of each of these things, opportunities arise to build, even if it is temporarily, these 8 characteristics of community. 

Retreat and Recharge

Stronger Together has intentionally been held in locations that are in the midst of the splendour of God's Creation such as Galilee Retreat Centre. These locations are away from the usual patterns of work and ministry for participants giving them a chance to step back and reflect. The time away is also an opportunity to recharge - whether one chooses to do that by socializing or sleeping or reading.

Nightly social time after worship with refreshments generously provided by the Diocese of Ottawa

Sharing Successes and Challenges

The format of this year's Stronger Together involved short TED talks about a variety of youth ministry projects happening across the country. As presenters from amongst the group of participants shared their stories, others were asked to think about how what they heard could connect to their own ministry context. What could we glean from these many stories? How can we translate these experiences into wisdom that will help us do ministry in different contexts? In addition to sharing these stories of success, many presenters also offered insights into the challenges they have encountered in these ministries and the areas in which they still seek to grow inviting other participants to offer advice or help make connections that might allow these projects to flourish in new ways. 


Adventures in Trailblazing

This year's Stronger Together crew also had the opportunity to beta test a new online education programme for those who work with young people in the Church called Trailblazing. In smaller groups, we ran through the registration process as well as one of the available content modules and had the opportunity to provide feedback on both the content and delivery methods of the programme. Trailblazing is the brain child of several of the National Youth Initiatives staff and content modules are being created on a wide variety of topics by youth ministry experts from across the country. It addresses a current need for training opportunities for those doing youth ministry. Trailblazing is designed to meet a variety of different educational needs - from volunteers who have been working with young people for years, but haven't been provided with any theological training to clergy whose seminary education hasn't taught them about the specific needs and context of ministry with young people. 

I am very excited about the potential for growth in youth ministry that I believe trailblazing will help promote in the whole Church. There are already plans to develop dozens of different modules drawing on the wealth of knowledge and experience in youth ministry that already exists within the Church. Modules will range from an introduction to theology to more specific topics such as looking at music or film with young people within the context of their faith. It is expected that yearly subscriptions to the first group of modules will be available for individuals, parishes or dioceses to purchase in the new year with new modules coming out as they are written.

Perhaps most importantly, the Church's support of this new programme recognizes youth ministry as a valuable part of the life of the Church which can be enhanced and promoted by training and education. These development opportunities for volunteers and professionals are one more opportunity to share best practices and acknowledge the specific challenges of ministry with young people. 

Together (again) for the Love of the World

Following closely on the heels of this summer's Joint Assembly of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Stronger Together provided yet another opportunity for members of these Churches to explore what it looks like to be in full communion with one another. We are learning one another's acronyms and Church polity as well as hearing about an increasing amount of combined ministry happening across the country. We heard about large scale cooperation on things like the National Youth Project and CLAY (Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering) as well as Anglican and Lutheran congregations doing ministry together at the local level. Through these actions, we are living out our full communion relationship in youth ministry. 

That was Stronger Together this year. Of course there are many specific conversations and new ideas as well, but it was these underlying opportunities that make this kind of gathering worth investing in for the future of youth ministry. 

Final Note

I know I didn't really talk about the worship in this post - this is because I spoke about it in an earlier entry on worshiping in creation. I should just say that I was honoured to be able to lead this group of people in worship. It is pretty much a liturgist dream gig. One little anecdote from that experience really sums up my feelings about this gathering. 

On the final morning we had a sending Eucharist before heading home. As a part of the service, I was supposed to lead a number of musical elements, but after three days of completely indulging my extrovert tendencies instead of doing things like sleeping or not talking, I woke up with almost no voice. After I shared this with the group at the beginning of the service, a number of people stepped up and read or sang or drummed for parts of the service which I had intended to lead. This was a really important illustration for me of how we really are in this ministry together. The group gathered in Arnprior was full of those people who I know I can turn to for professional support. The nature of youth ministry right now is such that one can at times feel isolated in one's own work, but more and more we have experiences like this of support and collegiality and they are changing what it's like to do this ministry for the better.   

This bowl with sand, water and candles served as the focal point of our worship for several services.

Blessing Creation

Today is St Philip's yearly Pet Blessing service. In the past, this service has included a version of one of the stories of creation from the Book of Genesis in the Bible. This is because we bless our pets as members of God's creation with whom we interact on a daily basis. It is also our way of celebrating St Francis of Assisi whose love for God was expressed through a deep love for God's creation. With this service we bring to a close our spotlight on creation for the season.

This year we will once again hear a reading about creation, but this time from a different section in Genesis. In that section is the following verse:

"A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches." (Genesis 2:10)

As a part of our service this year, we will be using information and prayers provided for the "Right to Water" National Youth Project. The National Youth Project is a joint initiative of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada who are full communion partners. For this reason, at our combined national gathering this summer, Joint Assembly, we used these same resources to conduct a youth-led prayer service on Parliament Hill in Ottawa called Fill the Hill.

Water is important to the life of all creation. The Right to Water Campaign explores the challenges that many face to access safe, clean water, especially in indigenous communities in Canada. Through the Right to Water Campaign young people from Churches from across the country will learn about this issue and work to raise awareness, build relationships with indigenous communities and advocate for change so that all people have access to the water they need to live.

One of the prayers we will include in our service on Sunday will be the Prayer in four directions that was done on Parliament Hill. These prayers are common in indigenous communities and as we can see from the verse above, this is a theme also common to the Biblical tradition.

Life and water are intimately connected, as we pray and work to renew and sustain the life of the earth, we remember this connection.

Worshipping in Creation

It seems easy to reflect on our connection to creation when you have the chance to visit a place like the Galilee Centre in Arnprior as I did last week. In fact, after visiting the site with other members of the planning team in July, my co-worship leader and I decided that we would do all the worship outside in different spots at the Centre.

Sunday evening we went down to the beach just before the sun set to arrange logs on the beach for people to sit on during worship. Even before sundown, the strong wind off the water lowered the temperature outside by about 5 degrees and so we set off to find another spot where we might have some luck lighting candles and playing instruments without losing fingers to frostbite. We found a sheltered clearing nearby around a fallen tree and built a small impromptu shelter where we could light the candles (an integral part of our opening worship). Even in this clearing though, it was cold. Around 7 degrees while the sun was still up and we were sheltered from the wind. Very different from the 30 degrees the week we had made our visit.

We decided to tough it out for our opening worship and so in the dark, windy cold, about 20 people gathered for worship lit only by candles and (rapidly dying) cellphones. We sang and heard scripture and prayed and we even managed to light some of the candles. I was convinced that this would be the coldest, it couldn't get any worse. Tomorrow morning our worship on the beach would at least be in the sun and the wind would have died down. 

Well at 7:30am, I checked the temperature outside on my phone and it read 5 degrees: feels like 1...I decided that I should go outside to check just in case the weather network wasn't 100% accurate. It turns out they were (or it was colder). At the last minute we moved worship inside for the day - both morning and evening we worshiped in the front living room with a view of the great outdoors.

We did eventually make it outside for both services the following day because we were using the outdoor labyrinth. The temperature was about 12 degrees and it was bright and sunny and I am certainly glad we did. That morning labyrinth walk was a spectacular experience of prayer set in creation.

Overall, the experience of planning and leading worship outdoors at Stronger Together was a reminder of both how inspiring and how unpredictable and beyond our control creation is. Our decisions, in this case around prayer and spirituality are directly linked to the life of creation. I am grateful for the opportunity to be reminded of this once again.