Sunday, Oct 4, 10am
Bring your pets to the screen to receive our admiration and a blessing during our Zoom church service on Sunday, October 4th!
Email Adam to sign your furry friend up.
Oct. 4 – Blessing of the Animals
Sept 30 – Digging along the Ottawa River: Past meets Present
with Ian Badgley and Albert Dumont
7:30pm, Wednesday, Sept. 30
(Orange Shirt Day)
All My Relations – Ascension presents archeologist Ian Badgley, Heritage Program National Capital Commission and Albert Dumont, Algonquin Spiritual Advisor.
Indigenous people have gathered along the shores of the three rivers that meet in the Ottawa-Gatineau area for thousands of years. Archeological digs in the National Capital Region find many artifacts dating back 1,500 to 2,500 years, but such artifacts here and across the country are in danger of being lost to shoreline erosion due to climate change. That loss jeopardizes contemporary Indigenous rights and land claims and diminishes our understanding of Indigenous history.
Learn about the connections between land, history, creation care, and present-day justice for Indigenous peoples.
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost – Sept 13, 2020 – the Season of Creation
God’s Shalom and Caring for Creation
presentation by Jerremie Clyde, Little Loaves Farm
Join Jerremie again at Story at the Rectory on Sept 17 and Oct 1
Sept 17, Oct 1 – Right Relations with Food, Faith, & Creation
Exploring the 5th Mark of Mission
with Jerremie Clyde
10am Sunday, Sept 13
7:30pm Thursdays, Sept 17 and Oct 1
We all eat, hopefully, several times a day. Many of us also pray for wisdom, discernment, and courage in growing God’s Kingdom. These are related actions, but what does eating, salvation, creation, and our own callings have to do with each other?
In the words of Wendell Berry “These are religious questions, obviously, for our bodies are part of the Creation,…. But the questions are also agricultural, for no matter how urban our live, our bodies live by farming…”
Together we will explore how growing God’s Kingdom on earth can be done every time we eat. We will look at what scripture has to say about our mission to the rest of creation, what it means to extend grace to creation and our role in making all things new. Participants will learn not only about our call to care for creation but also why it is that is news to so many. When we are done participants will be better able to explain how care of the environment fits within the Church and be better equipped to continue to grow in knowledge about restoring right relationships with creation.
Jerremie Clyde is a farmer and academic from Calgary Alberta. His research interests are linked to food, whether in history or media studies, and increasingly theology. When not at the University of Calgary he can be found looking after 164 acres of creation just North of Sundre. The farm is set in a knob and kettle mix of forests and pastures. Together with his family they raise grains, a dozen different varieties of potatoes, and good grass to feed their herd of yak. Jerremie also volunteers in the Diocese of Calgary organizing and facilitating creation care related talks, conferences, and events.
Jerremie joins us as our guest preacher on Sunday, Sept 13 and for a more in-depth presentation on Thursdays, Sept 17 and Oct 1.
Forgiveness and Justice
The Story for the
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sept 13, 2020
prepared by the Rev’d Rhonda Waters
Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.
When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Something to Do
Forgive…
Is there anyone you are reluctant to forgive? Or someone you truly want to forgive but simply can’t? Spend some time in prayer for that person and for your relationship. You don’t have to ask God to make you friends – just ask God to bring you the grace of forgiveness and commend that person into God’s care.
And be forgiven
Is there anything you feel guilty about? Spend time in prayer asking God to forgive you so that you can be set free from that burden and turn your energy towards living in God’s ways.
Something to Wonder
How many times…
Peter’s desire for clarity is understandable. Our world is full of largely arbitrary numbers intended to provide reasonable guidelines to situations with no clear boundaries. For example, nothing magical happens on your 18th birthday to suddenly render you an adult but we need a clear boundary for when to start treating you like one.
Jesus’ answer, like so many of Jesus’ answers, is that the question is wrong footed. Forgiveness is not about counting or keeping score. Forgiveness is about an abundance of grace, spilling over from God so that we might share it with others. The numbers in the parable emphasize the fundamental uncountability of God’s forgiveness: 10,000 (The Greek word is actually myriad) talents represents an impossibly huge amount, akin to “a gazillion”…or to “seventy times seven”, and then contrasts that to the relatively insignificant amount of grace being asked of the slave. Surely, having been forgiven the world, the slave can extend some mercy to their fellow?
The story, fundamentally, is about how we respond to God’s forgiveness, not about how we trigger it.
How do you respond to God’s forgiveness?
The Dangers of Forgiveness
This passage, and others like it, have been used to control people living in abusive and oppressive situations and to enable the ongoing evil behaviour of those in power over them. How do we hold both truths together: we are called to a radical form of forgiveness AND we are called to lives of dignity as persons created in the image of God? What is the difference between forgiveness and permission? Between forgiveness and reconciliation? Is it possible to forgive without forgetting?
Something to Learn
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is a set of practices that seeks to disrupt the simple pattern of finding guilt and assigning punishment. Ideally, it finds a way to balance forgiveness with justice in a way that allows people – both offenders and offended – to move forward.
Reconciliation through Restorative Justice
This short video describes a restorative justice practice in the context of a First Nations Healing Circle.
The Little Book of Restorative Justice
by Howard Zehr with Ali Gohar provides a very accessible introduction to the theories and philosophies that underly restorative justice.
Something to Pray
Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways.
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow.
The story this week has made me wonder about…
(what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.
The story this week has filled me with…
(how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.
The story this week has reminded me of…
(are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.
In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.