In December, the Youth Internship Program (YIP) followed the instructions in the diocesan COVID Communique and moved from in person to online gatherings. Work placements wherever possible moved to be placements done from home. Our second anti-racism leadership session happened on Zoom instead of in person at St Aidan’s, as did our Faith Formation session on Jan, 3. 

We continue to meet via zoom for our sessions and recently, we met for a very timely session on mental health.  Until the Diocese moves from our Modified Stage Red protocols, we will continue to meet virtually for all YIP related activities. 

We received funding from the Johanniter Humanitarian Group and All Saints Greely to cover the cost of eight YIP participants to take ASK (Assessing Suicide in Kids). This workshop is able to be delivered virtually and will take place Feb. 3 and 4. Unfortunately we have to re-schedule SafeTALK and very likely ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) as these workshops must be delivered in person. https://www.talktoolstraining.com/applied-suicide-intervention-skills-training-asist  and https://www.talktoolstraining.com/safetalk

The Johanniter Humanitarian Group will be covering the cost of both those workshops for YIP participants. 

During this time of isolation, we are taking advantage of technology to bring us closer together by meeting weekly to check in, playing games, offering prayers and attending Zoom or Uber conference Church with each other. We plan to participate in a Lenten film series called 12Neighbors:  https://www.12neighborsfilms.com/aboutus. We have extended an invitation to the YIP mentors to join us both at zoom church and the film series. 

We so have lots to be look forward to; Bishop Shane will be attending our Faith Formation session in May, and we continue to plan for our weekend retreat at Gracefield Christian Camp and Retreat Centre in June. 

If you have any questions about YIP or think you might be interested in being a participant or hosting an intern for a work placement, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. 

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11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Hosted by Anglican Diocese of Ottawa
Workshop registration: https://bit.ly/34jmYx6

Mar. 5
Youth Mental Health Day

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Workshop for Youth Gr. 11+
A 4-hour online workshop with community building exercises to increase connection and decrease isolation during difficult times.
Register by March 2 at https://bit.ly/3u9fMy8

For more information contact Donna Rourke, Animator of Youth Ministries, Anglican Diocese of Ottawa donna-rourke@ottawa.anglican.ca

Mar. 1
125th Anniversary Lecture

3 p.m. (Daylight Savings Time)
The Rev. Dr. Sam Wells on
Re-imaging Church (see details p.6)

Mar. 27
Journeying as Allies Meeting

2-4 pm on Zoom
Five LittleIndians by Michelle Good to be discussed.
Join the AMR mailing list to receive connection information: allmyrelations@ottawa.anglican.ca.

May 6 – 7
Marriage Preparation Workshop 

The Marriage Preparation Course is designed to help participants to learn and grow through online presentations given by professional speakers, online small group discussions with trained facilitators, and couple conversations.

All couples are welcome, and participation is not limited by gender, age, or previous marital status.

Information and registration forms: www.ottawa.anglican.ca/marriage-preparation 

The next workshop will be in September.

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Dificulties of Definition

This postcard from circa 1910 is the only known visual record of the first Saint Paul’s Church, Osgoode. Our momentary impression is that it was not a large structure, and further reflection confirms that our initial impression is not wrong.

Osgoode was an area of Scottish Presbyterian and Baptist settlement in the early 19th century, so Anglicanism did not enjoy early innings here, even though Osgoode was the largest geographic township in Carleton County. It was under the ministrations of the Rev. Anthony J. O’Loughlin that Anglicans formed strong churches at North Gower and Manotick between 1872 and 1884, and O’Loughlin is reputed to also have held services at Osgoode.  

His successor, the Rev. James Frederick Gorman, built the first Saint Paul’s Church, Osgoode in 1886 on land donated by Adam J. Baker. To judge from this postcard, it was located at Osgoode Station on the line of the Ottawa & Prescott Railway, perhaps to advise newcomers arriving by rail and the faithful that Anglican services were finally available locally here. There are some architectural historians who argue that the Gothic Revival had fallen out of favour for designing churches in the late Victorian era, and although this was true of some large urban churches in other denominations by the closing years of the 19th century, it did not hold true for Anglicans.  

Saint Paul’s, Osgoode is a case in point.  Despite its very small size—it would be difficult to find a smaller house of worship in the Diocese of Ottawa—it was very much built within the rubric of the High Victorian Gothic Revival. Only the entrance porch with its standard-issue side windows and door and its regular pitch of roof suggests that this was a very prosaic structure. But even the front door, with its non-standard width implied the ethos of the Gothic Revival in the larger structure, as it could be opened wider in order to permit coffins to be carried in and out for a funeral. The broader implication was that for Anglicans the days of all funerals taking place at home were coming to an end, as increasingly they came to be held in the church. The diagonal boards and the ornate hinges on the door to the sacristy reflected the larger Gothic Revival ambitions of those building Saint Paul’s.       

If the clapboards of this small house of worship seemingly contradicted the ambitions of the builders, they could not prevail against the larger design, with the steeply pitched wedge of the front gable filling a full two-thirds of the church’s height. Details of the larger Gothic Revival design were telegraphed immediately by the front triangular window containing three trefoil groupings of panes, the separate chancel that we can barely make out here, and the large pointed window in the sacristy which was larger than those in the side walls of the church.

There were a few flaws.  So ambitious was the design of this church that the brick chimney could not draw, forcing the builders to extend its height in metal to an extraordinary extent.  The belfry, instead of being octagonal to symbolize Christ’s resurrection on the eighth day of the week, appears hexagonal, which for those in the know symbolically alludes to the day of his crucifixion. And finally, what are we to make of the arches in the belfry—curiously M-shaped, and not to be found in any standard architectural work defining arch designs?   

If you would like to help the Archives preserve the records of the Diocese and its parishes, why not become a Friend of the Archives?  Your $20 membership brings you three issues of the lively, informative Newsletter, and you will receive a tax receipt for further donations above that amount.  

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PWRDF invites you into a Lenten Conversation 

As the focus of the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) Creation Care: Climate Action education program moves into its second year, now centering on gender, three women who participated in COP26 have been invited to enter into a Lenten conversation. Join Stephanie (Taddy) Stringer (PWRDF Montreal), Karri Munn-Venn (Senior Policy Analyst with Citizens for Public Justice, Ottawa) and Rev. Alecia Greenfield (Church of the Holy Cross, Vancouver) on this year’s journey to the cross, beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022. 

Learn more and subscribe to your daily Lenten reflection at pwrdf.org/Lent2022.

Diocese of Toronto study program

The Diocese of Toronto is kindly sharing its “Ecological Grief and Creational Hope: A Lent Curriculum for All Ages.”  It is posted on its Creation Care page here.   

KAIROS challenge still effective

KAIROS’ Climate Action Month’s 30 day challenge from 2020.

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The prayer is contained within the Sermon on the Mount, and in the lead-in to it  Jesus says, “Pray then this way.” What follows outlines Jesus’ approach to prayer – that is how to pray, not necessarily what we should pray for. The central themes Jesus articulates here are threefold: praise, petitions, and thanksgiving.  It focuses succinctly on two agendas —God’s and ours—and it places priority on the Kingdom message and doing God’s will. Perhaps during Lent, we can use the Lord’s Prayer to broaden how we pray, not just what we pray for.

Our Father in Heaven
This clearly identifies to whom the prayer is addressed: God, who is our parent. We are all children of God. Pray with simplicity, as a child would, for peace and fellowship with people throughout the world.

Hallowed be your name
Here the word “name” stands for God. The ancient English word “hallowed” means “holy.” This phrase in contemporary English might be better said as, “Holy are you, O God.”  We are to recognize the utter difference between humanity and God: only God is holy. Pray with humility to recognize what is false and ask for guidance to reject it. 

Pray with love for those who teach and guide us to recognize truth, and what is holy.

The prayer then continues with five petitions.

Your Kingdom come
This recognizes the priority that Jesus places on the message that he is ushering in a new Kingdom, in which love, compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation are paramount. 

Pray with conviction for a stronger faith to live as God would have us live, and that this message will spread throughout the world.

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
What Jesus means by “God’s will” is indicated throughout the Sermon on the Mount. It encompasses a call to excellence in living: showing mercy; being hungry for righteousness; eager for spiritual nourishment; and striving to make peace among people and parties in conflict.  The sphere of our actions is “on earth.” Jesus asks us to recognize that we have a role to play, working in conjunction with God, to help establish his Kingdom. It is not a prayer that leaves everything up to God, but rather represents a partnership arrangement. 

Pray with trust for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in understanding what God wants us to realize, what actions are required in our own lives to serve others, and what is needed to bring peace and love, growing God’s Kingdom.

Give us this day our daily bread
This segment of the prayer turns to the human agenda. It includes all the essentials that are required to get through the day. 

Pray with expectation for your needs and the needs of others for: spiritual growth; emotional development; intellectual maturity; and physical requirements. Pray with thanksgiving for all the blessings we receive.

Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors
Debts/debtors, in this context, is otherwise translated as sins or trespasses. Whichever word is used, it tells us that there is much that we need to do to be part of God’s Kingdom, and to recognize that we fail short in our tasks, as others will also fail. 

Pray with humility for forgiveness from God when we, and others, have fallen short and have shown prejudice, unkindness. selfishness, and hate.

And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one
This is a plea for help with avoiding despair, desperation, despondency, and-all the things that remove us from vibrant participation in God’s Kingdom and deprive us of the ability to think not only of ourselves, but also of others. 

Pray with confidence for God’s presence when you are tested, when you are tempted to do wrong or fail to do the right thing. 

Pray with certainty to receive God’s strength when tempted to follow ways that dishonour God.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever
Matthew ends the prayer without this ending. However, we usually finish by acknowledging God’s power and purpose.  

Pray with anticipation, acknowledging that what we ask for is God’s to give, and asking for guidance about what we can give. Ask for God’s help when we are in doubt or lose trust in God’s Divine Presence in all things.

Amen
We usually end our prayers with the word that in Hebrew means “So be it; truly”.

The post Praying the Lord’s Prayer during Lent and beyond appeared first on Perspective.

As I write this, I wonder how much the world may have changed by the time you read this article. We have lived with so much change and uncertainty during the pandemic. 

 I find comfort and certainty in the liturgical seasons. As we begin our Lenten journey, I look forward to singing ‘Forty Days and Forty Nights.’ (Common Praise 175). It has always been my go-to hymn during Lent and this year its meaning is amplified as I sing those words, “Shall not we your trials share, learn your discipline of will and with you by fast and prayer wrestle with power of hell? Saviour may we hear your voice—keep us constant at your side and with you shall rejoice at the Eternal Eastertide.” 

I really need to hear this hymn as we go through our own 40 days/months and thousand nights in the wilderness of COVID-19—a journey into the unknown just like eternal Eastertide! 

When the pandemic started, I took out an ironing board from St. Stephen’s Sacristy to preach via my laptop with the hope that it would be a six-month pandemic. Twenty months later, I am still preaching and officiating church liturgy from an ironing board.

In the course of those 20 months, we have lost friends, parishioners and close relatives without having a chance to walk with them. Some were sick for a long time in isolation. Worse still we could not come and grieve together as a community. I still have a family waiting for me to officiate at the funeral of their mother who died in July of 2020. This is delayed grief that takes a toll on us. Between lockdowns and partial re-openings, new waves and more lockdowns, some days if feels like we are going in circles like the children of Israel in the wilderness. They did almost everything God asked of them but it was not always smooth sailing all the way to the promised land.  

How about us? We had our vaccines and booster shots, but still, we have to batten down the hatches—prepare for the unexpected. I thought that, with the children getting vaccinated, life would start to return to a new normal. But the Omicron variant meant that the new year began much like the last one with the children learning online. My two children are very different. One is an extrovert and the other an introvert but they both missed in-person learning. Like many other parents, grandparents and guardians, I had to monitor and supervise their never-ending homework.

I was happy when they returned to school but also worried about their catching the virus. I long for a world free of the pandemic, but no one can offer that. So, I guess I will take in-person learning with the risk that I may miss work because I might be in isolation one Sunday. Friends, that is a lot to go through alone, and I need a physical community to help me deal with all this. Is it the same at your house?

I often receive calls from people with serious illnesses and, in the past, I would go pray and console them. Not anymore. I can no longer do that because they need to limit their contacts for their treatments and appointments. I would like our whole church to surround them, lay their hands on them and pray for their healing, or to walk with them.

The hugs, tears from one another that soothe our souls, and laughter in the hall at fellowship are muted in lockdown times.

Friends, our bishop and clergy hear you; they see you and you are always in their thoughts and prayers. If they, being mere mortals can understand you, how much more deeply can our God who is omnipresent in every place and every home?  Friends of mine have a plaque in their dining room which reads, “Christ is the Center of our Home, a Guest at Every Meal and a Silent Listener to Every Conversation.”

Friends, we are never alone. Remember the Scripture, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside God’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” God is walking with us.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” We all carry the weight of the trauma, whether we have thrived or floundered.

“Saviour, may we hear your voice, keep us constant at your side,” I sing again. The journey to Pandemic Eastertide might be long but ‘we have just got to stick at it, keep going, we will get there in the end do not give up’. “So if Satan, pressing hard, soul and body would destroy, Christ who conquered, be our guard …”

With Christ who conquered the evil in the wilderness and overcame death on the third day we shall overcome and reach the promised land with COVID-19 muted. I do not know the day but my faith tells me that with vaccines and playing it safe it is possible. Above all God who heals will have the last word! I wish you a blessed Lenten journey as we wait out the pandemic. 

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Unfortunately, the office has been asked by the federal department of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to pause submitting new applications while the department reduces a backlog of more than 70,000 applications that built up while the department dealt with staff shortages during the pandemic. Ghose says they have been asked to submit quarantine plans for two families, however, so she hopes things will start moving again.

“The only place where I would say there is a lot of action is with the Afghan program,” Ghose said. Under a program named Operation Afghan Safety (OAS), the department is reserving 3,000 spaces for Afghan citizens in particular categories—human rights defenders, journalists, LGBTI, persecuted religious minorities—who have managed to get out of the country and are eligible for private sponsorship. IRCC has given all the Sponsorship Agreement Holders like the Diocese of Ottawa 10 spaces each in this pool. Ghose says they could use the spaces right away if there are people who would be eligible.

There is no shortage of people who call and write to the office with inquiries about sponsoring their family members, but Ghose says that many of those people may be new to Canada themselves and may not have the financial resources to sponsor their family members, even if they meet the OAS criteria.

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Fady Milan, his wife Amina Awed, sons Joseph and Janpier, and nephew Salim Awed arrived in late November and early December. Their application for immigration to Canada dates back to early 2019, but pandemic travel restrictions kept them in limbo in Beirut, Lebanon, for almost three years. They did not all arrive together because Fady, Amina and Janpier were considered one family, while Joseph, who was over 21 years old at the time of application, needed a separate application. Similarly, their nephew Salim was not considered part of the family, so we had to file three separate applications— a mountain of paperwork.

After the long wait, the Milans are incredibly thankful to finally have made it to Canada. One of the forces driving them and the families we sponsored previously to flee Syria was that they had sons of military age and under no circumstance wanted to lose their young men in the Syrian civil war.

Fady and Amina Milan are in their early fifties, the boys in their twenties, and all are very eager to find work and build a life of their own. Fady is skilled in working with drywall and has an artistic bent and interest in interior design. Joseph studied hostelry, for which he is very suited with his outgoing personality. Salim worked in Beirut for a few years as an assistant to a jeweller and goldsmith and is looking for a job so that he can support his mother and siblings still in Syria. He would like to enrol in HVAC training at Algonquin College. The family have found some part-time contract painting and interior decorating work but are looking for more stable jobs.

With the help of a translator, Joseph Milan told Crosstalk, “I can’t tell you how happy and relieved I am to be here,” he said. He hopes to one day have his own business.

Joseph is already comfortable with Canadian winter and hopes to visit the North someday, but he said others in the family have found the cold temperatures difficult.

The sponsors’ story

Sponsorship started for us when a minister of the “Church of the Christian Community” somewhere in the U.S. circulated a letter trying to find somebody who would sponsor her cousins, two families. I felt bad about the fact that she had virtually no response and spontaneously offered to sponsor one of the families. The Armenian community in Montreal ended up sponsoring both of those families, but the minister got back to me saying she had one more cousin, Esteban Odabashian, with a family who wanted to come to Canada. 

In 2017, we had just organized a group called “Richmond Village Refugee Welcome,” (RVRW) and I joined as treasurer to help with the effort. I suggested sponsoring the Odabashian family, but one member of the RVRW executive vetoed the idea when found out they were Orthodox Christians. My wife and are retired and have more income than we would spend on ourselves. and we are both of an age where the future may be measured in—if we are blessed—a few years, not decades, so I decided to do the sponsorship myself via a “Group of Five” sponsorship.  Sponsorship has been an enriching experience, and we are glad we did it.

The family that I sponsored, the Odabashians, arrived before the Muslim family that the RVRW sponsored. Maritsa Odabashian was fluent in English and helped us a lot with translating. They lived for about four years in the rectory of the Anglican church at very favourable terms, until they bought a house of their own in Barrhaven. The Odabashians are doing extremely well, with four adults working at full time jobs and son Roupen holding an internship at the Ottawa Hospital. 

The second family that the Richmond community sponsored, with help of a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) and RVRW, were the Jneids, who are now settled and well-integrated in the community. One of their sons has recently been accepted into a university science program. 

Salma Awed, the mother in the Odabashian family, wished to bring her sister and family over, so we ended up sponsoring the Milan family with the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa as the Sponsorship Agreement Holder.

Generous support from the Anglican church community, the Village of Richmond and many friends made the sponsorship possible.  Presently, the Milans live in a rented townhouse in Barrhaven, well-furnished mostly by one member of RVRW who needed to downsize and contributed most of her furniture. We have raised a fair amount of money (covering rent for the first year) but are still short a few thousand dollars to cover their living expenses and would be very thankful for any additional donations. The treasurer of the St. John’s congregation, Mark Stalter, is taking care of the disbursement of funds collected for the family and can also issue tax receipts for any donations.

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Help from All My Relations and being able to secure funding from the Healing and Reconciliation Fund enabled us to invite the Circle of Turtle Lodge to our parish hall and open up the experience of the Kairos Blanket Exercise to our church community, to our ecumenical partners, our geographic community and our local Indigenous community.

The experience left no one untouched. While difficult at times, emotionally, the Circle of Turtle Lodge were extremely caring and supportive to us as a colonizer/settler community, many of whom had not heard Indigenous history before.

We are grateful for the funding from the Healing and Reconciliation Fund because it enabled us to learn more about the struggles and pain that our Indigenous brothers and sisters carry, to advertise and offer this experience to the broader community. More importantly, this experience has enabled us to forge ongoing ties with our local Indigenous network Dibaajimowin Pontiac. We will be hosting a Talking Circle in the next month or two either live or virtually and we fully expect this relationship to broaden and deepen with time.

We strongly encourage other parishes to avail themselves of the opportunities that the funding allows. We would not have been able to have this enriching experience without it.

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