Clergy Notes — Third Sunday of Lent, March 3, 2024

Vestry last Sunday was well attended, and certainly from my perspective had a very positive and confident feel about it. Once again I commend to you the Annual Report, which gives an encouraging account of our parish life together. At the end of our Sunday liturgies this week we shall pray for our office holders for the coming year.

It was good to announce the Bishop’s intention to appoint Mother Amanda as Priest-in-Charge in the months following my retirement. Reece Wrightman is now Rector’s Warden, serving with Peggy Smyth and Leah Postman. Andrew Campbell is now Treasurer. Trustees/Synod Delegates are Ross Hornby, Michelle Heshka and Joanna Lam. Linda Adams continues as Vestry Clerk. The Bishop will be meeting Trustees shortly to review arrangements for the vacancy, and process for the Search Committee.

I expect that Parish Council will be called upon to continue the insightful Table Discussion held at the Stewardship Lunch in November. There we celebrated what excites us about our life together at St James’, and expressed wishes and hopes for the future. We have begun to act upon some of these, for example, the rearrangement of tables at Coffee Hour, the forthcoming meeting for Readers and those interested in joining the Guild; others need more consideration.

There were one or two comments on the liturgy, to which it may be helpful for me to respond.

  • 8:30 am in person service: attendance at this before COVID rarely exceeded 6 people. Current attendance at the 9:00 am Zoom liturgy is between 20 and 25. With fewer clergy it is a better stewardship of our Sunday resources to focus on the Zoom service. There is an opportunity for a said service at the Saturday 4:00 pm Vigil Mass.
  • Communion at the altar rail: we have maintained the current administration of the sacrament adopted on Sundays during Covid for two reasons: medical advice is still to keep some distance from one another; it also avoids use of steps up and down, which are not so convenient for everyone. When the redecoration and reordering of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel is complete, the sacrament may be administered there at the altar rail.
  • Increased altar party on Sundays: we are constrained by the number of servers and of clergy available (for the time being the latter will continue to be an issue with Deacon Joyce’s retirement, and my own upcoming). The rationale has been to have a vested deacon on ‘high days’, and the celebrant only on Sundays, to give a sense of regularity, rather than one Sunday having a full sanctuary, the next only a few.

The works on the Blessed Sacrament Chapel will begin this coming week. It is hoped that the Chapel will be in use again by Holy Week. The Daily Mass will be celebrated in the Lady Chapel (entrance via the Chapel gate) during this time.

Exciting times ahead!

With every blessing,
Fr Kevin

Download the Liturgy at Home booklet for Sunday, March 3, 2024.

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Clergy Notes — Second Sunday of Lent, February 25, 2024

My Lenten reading this year is a book by Ruth Burrows, OCD: a Carmelite sister whose entire life is devoted to prayer. Our assumption of such people may be that they are somehow particularly holy; perhaps closer to God than the rest of us who are so distracted by the busyness of the world. Yet, in her book, Sr Ruth describes how for most of her life she has felt quite the opposite — keenly aware of how much she falls short of God’s holiness and grace.

While we may be surprised to learn this about her, there is an invitation here. For, it seems to me that the more time we spend in God’s presence, the more we come to realize exactly how much we need God’s grace. By contrast, when we are wrapped up in ourselves — our independence, our busy lives, our very important meetings — it is easy to forget about God and begin to think that we can go it alone. It is easy to skip prayer or devotion as optional, seeing it as an intrusion on our regular lives.

Liturgy — prayer — IS an intrusion. It is meant to be so. It is meant to disrupt our daily schedule so that we do not get so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget who gives us breath; so that we do not become so self-important that we forget the world will not collapse if we take a break. We are treasures in God’s eyes — not because of how busy our calendar is, or how important we are in our jobs, our families, or our tasks. We are precious in God’s sight simply because God loves us.

God is always with us. Slowing down to be with God, the One who tenderly loves us, is something we must choose.

We all wander away from time to time. Lent is a perfect opportunity to come back… to let God interrupt us, to let ourselves be loved.

Mother Amanda

Download the Liturgy at Home booklet for Sunday, February 25, 2024.

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