Junior Camp (AGES 8-10): Saturday, June 29 – Friday, July 5

Intermediate Camp (AGES 10-12): Sunday, July 7 – Saturday, July 13

Family Camp: Tuesday, July 16 – Thursday, July 18

Teen Camp (GRADES 7 & UP): Sunday, July 21 – Saturday, July 27

2024 Camping Season: Registration Deadlines

Early Bird Date: May 31, 2024 (fees: $300)

Cut-off Date: June 17, 2024 (fees: $350)

2024 Camping Season: We’re Hiring!

We are looking for enthusiastic and inspiring people for the following positions:

Paid Positions: Administrator, Cooks, a Kitchen Helper and a Maintenance Person 

All paid positions are full-time and have a good wage with board and room provided. Secondary students encouraged.

Volunteer Positions: Camp leaders, chaplains, health officers, counsellors

2024 Camping Season: Camp Clean-up

Camp Clean-up is May 18, 2024. We will need some help to clean up the camp for the upcoming summer!

The post Camp News – April 2024 appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

On February 18 & 19, during the annual “Trappers Festival”, members of Christ Church, The Pas put on a tea for the entire community, which included a raffle of a quilt made by Sue Harper.

Church of the Redeemer, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, submitted by the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk

On February 22, Harry McGillvary was honoured by the Church of the Redeemer, Big Eddy (OCN) for his 45 years of service to the church and the community. Harry serves as vestry member, choir leader, and lay reader.  He faithfully supports the work of the church and is especially present for families during wakes and funerals. 

Harry’s story of service is one of remarkable transformation and faithfulness.  He was honoured with a dinner and blanketed by the Rev’d Flora Young and warden Ingar Constant.

Well done, Harry!

St. Peter & St. James, Flin Flon, submitted by Shelley Andres

Once again, many churches in Flin Flon came together on March 1st to participate in the 2024 World Day of Prayer. Participating churches include members from St. Peter & St. James Anglican Church as well as members from the Evangelical Lutheran, United, Baptist, Alliance, Salvation Army, Roman Catholic, Mennonite and Faith Light churches. 

This year the writing committee were women of Palestine using St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, “I beg you…bear with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-3).  

For over 50 years, the local churches have shared Host/CoHost responsibilities amongst each other. 

St. George’s/Redeemer Lutheran, Brandon, submitted by the Rev’d Cheryl Kukurudz

St. Matthew’s Cathedral, submitted by the Rev’d Cheryl Kukurudz

The post News from the Pews – April 2024 appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

Among the noted soloists were Carlos Castro, a cellist, Shelby English, soprano, and Lauren Shymanski.  Shymanski wore two hats for the afternoon: she sang with the BU Chorale and did two pieces on the saxophone.  She finished off the concert with a stirring rendition of Schubert’s Ave Maria.  All three are also students who sing in the choir at St. Matthew’s.

Most of the concert was classical, but not the introduction to the selections from the Chorale.  The students gathered in a circle, and to the drum, they chanted the Graditude Song by Cody Cardinal.  It was a moving display of the history of indigenous music, as well as being an active acknowledgment of the history of the area, which is situated on land obtained by the federal government through Treaty Two, signed in 1871.

Jia Zhang, St. Matthew’s resident musician, was unable to play, as earlier that week, she fell on winter ice and hurt her shoulder.  As Lauren put it, it was just one more thing to add to the stress of putting together a concert in six weeks.

Lauren also remarked on the benefits of doing any concert in a space such as St. Matthew’s.  “The sound doesn’t get squished.  There’s room to move around and with the pews, lots of seats.”  When asked if she’d do it again, she replied, “In a heartbeat.”

Now she’s looking forward to organizing other concerts for the Cathedral, although not in the immediate future, and preferably, with more than six weeks to get the participants set, the program written and the advertising done.

When asked, those who watched said, “I had no idea those kids were that good” and “we should do this again in the fall, when the weather is better.  That way I can get more of my friends to come.”

Dean Don Bernhardt was gratified the student choir members were able to provide the concert and said, “They can do this anytime.  I’m looking forward to the next one.”

The post Brandon University Music at the Cathedral appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

​When we breathe out deeply, we allow our bodies to expel the heaviness that can get caught in our souls. When we stretch our necks and shoulders as we look up, we open our chests and stretch those muscles that hold tension and worry. The very acts of stretching and breathing deeply are actions we take that facilitate wholeness and health. The season of Easter is our season of wholeness and health. It is the springtime of our souls, and we should relish the gifts of newness and hope that come with it as we say, Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Over the past year our Diocese has lived what may have seemed like an exceedingly long Lenten season. As a community of faith, you pulled together in a strength you may not have known you had but of which God was always aware. You elected this new Bishop who asked that you might wait for her as she prepared her own parishioners for her leave-taking. And then finally, she was here – in time to walk through Lent with you! It seems fitting that the consecration of your new Bishop would be smack dab in the middle of Lent, reminding all of us that hope, and new life, and divine possibilities are indeed coming … in due season. The season in which we can sing out together: Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

​Your due season is here. Jesus Christ is risen, and we have risen with him! The Diocese of Brandon is poised to begin a new Easter adventure with storytelling, faith-sharing, memory-making, family-expanding. Through our preparatory (and extended) season of Lent we have gained new perspectives, dreamed new dreams, and promised the Creator that we will walk in gentleness and peace into this Easter future unfolding before us.

​As a newly minted Bishop, I can tell you that there are times when the light of our Risen Christ is blinding. I am caught in my tracks as I consider the call that I share with you as we prepare to explore the Easter Garden that is our beautiful and expansive Diocese. I wonder if I can do this … I wonder if we can do this … and then I hear a quiet voice in my ear whispering, “Christ is risen indeed.  Alleluia!” As that insistent voice keeps whispering, I realize that I am being called to step out on my front porch – and into the parishes across the length and breadth of this Diocese, into AMC, north and south of this land Creator shares with us – and I am called to stretch out the fustiness of muscles tense with Lenten fears and breathe out the worries that come with new things, and I am called to yell out, “Christ is risen indeed.  Alleluia!”

​This Easter Season brings with it all sorts of brand-new things, but it first brings with it the truth that we are walking together into a new thing that Christ himself has prepared for us.  Right now, it is our call to stretch those muscles, take those deep breaths, and together cry out to the world, “Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”

Editor’s Note: This column appeared in the print edition of the Mustard Seed under the heading “A Word from the Bishop-elect.” As of March 18, Bishop Rachael is no longer the Bishop-elect, but the duly consecrated eighth Bishop of Brandon! My apologies for the error.

The post A Word from the Bishop – April 2024 appeared first on The Mustard Seed.