Christ Church, The Pas, photo and text submitted by the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk

At the Christ Church Anglican Tea in October, Theresa Commodore celebrated her 100th birthday. Behind her are Deacon Maureen Maciesza and vestry member Shirley Mitchell. Happy belated birthday, Theresa!

Church of the Messiah and Church of the Redeemer, Opaskwayak Cree Nation

The clergy of Opaskwayak Cree Nation had the great honour of praying for and anointing the newly elected chief and council on October 5 – a historic day as OCN elected their first female chief! We always pray for the leadership of our communities as we partner with them to serve the people and to walk in a good way.

St. Paul’s, Shoal Lake, photo and text submitted by Barb Hamilton

On Sunday, October 22nd, the Rev’d Chad McCharles baptized five members of St. Paul’s, Shoal Lake. Following the service, everyone was invited to the Drop-in Centre for a robust lunch with baptismal cake. Welcome to the Christian family Shelley, Sage, Sullivan, Jessa, and Waylon! 

St. Peter & St. James’, Flin Flon, photo and text submitted by Shelley Andres

St. Peter and St James Flin Flon has partnered with their local Women’s Resource Centre to provide a “Red Box”, which contains supplies for women in need.

St. Michael and All Angels’, McCreary, text submitted by Doug Sanderson (with the help of the Rev’d Barry Nadolny)

The Rev’d Barry Nadolny sat with Douglas Sanderson, who wanted to remind readers of the second Bishop of Brandon, the Rt. Rev’d Ivor Norris.

Preface: Doug Sanderson’s father, Thomas Sanderson, went to Synod in 1949 and learned that would Bishop Thomas announced his retirement and that Synod would elect a new Bishop. The two candidates for the position of second Bishop of Brandon, were Canon Norris and Archdeacon Bridgette.  Both were active in the Kinosota area where Doug grew up. Doug also recalls that both candidates were sons in law of Bishop Thomas.

BN+: What was your one enduring memory of Bishop Norris?

DS: Bishop Norris came to the area and confirmed me and other young people at St. Bede’s (Kinosota).  He also used to visit and lead services at St. John’s (Reedy Creed) and St. James (Bluff Creek).

BN+: Why do you think readers would be interested in hearing this story?  

DS: It’s history, Bishop Norris was the second Bishop of Brandon.

The post News from the Pews: December 2023 appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

He’s right in that a new season is dawning on us in the Diocese of Brandon. By the time you read this in late November or early December, we’ll know the name of the eighth Bishop of Brandon. It will be a wonderful day, I’m sure. It’s definitely one I’m looking forward to as I prepare this edition of the Mustard Seed.

I’ve also taken those words to heart as a new season is about to dawn in my own life. On November 5, it was announced that I have accepted an appointment as the Rector of St. John the Baptist, Sardis (Chilliwack, BC) in the Diocese of New Westminster, effective February 1, 2024. My last Sunday as the Rector of the Tri-Valley Parish will be January 14, 2024.

I will continue to be the Editor of the Mustard Seed until the end of the publishing year in June, but will do that work from BC, for most of this work can be done from behind a desk, no matter where that desk is. Even though I won’t be resident in the Diocese anymore, I will need your help even more to keep me abreast of the things that are happening in the Diocese of Brandon!

It has been a joy and privilege to be here in the Diocese of Brandon since my arrival as a wet behind the ears layman on January 14, 2017. I have been blessed by each one of you, and I leave here in gratitude for all the experiences that I have had. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done for me. This is a bitter sweet goodbye for me. I arrived as a newbie in the role of rector, and I leave as a more experienced priest. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication we not only see in my own parish, but throughout the diocese!

May God continue to bless you in your varied ministries throughout our beloved Diocese.

The post A Note from the Editor: December 2023 appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

In the classic movie, The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews, in the guise of Maria Von Trapp, sings that we should “start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”  With all due respect, when it comes to Advent, quite the opposite is true!  If we want to enter fully into the story of the Christian year – the story that takes us on a journey from Jesus’ birth to life to death to resurrection, his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit, we must begin at the end.  This is exactly why Advent and our Christian Year begin with the promised future of Jesus returning to make all things new.

It’s kind of a big ask though, this remembering the future.  We know how to remember and commemorate the past, in fact, we are liturgical experts at that!  We know how to worship and pray in the present moment, that’s completely natural.  But commemorating the future? That requires us to know something about the promised future!  Now, I admit, our Advent readings for the first couple of weeks are pretty daunting with the fire, and stars falling from the heavens, and the earth passing away – it’s a cosmic shake-up that can leave us confused at best, terrified at worst. But we must read on and know that this upheaval is leading to the ultimate goal of the re-creation of the heavens and earth and the eternal reign of Jesus who has defeated darkness, sin, and death. We get glimpses of this future in the Hebrew prophets, Jesus speaks of it, and John’s tries his best to describe it the Revelation:

I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 

(Revelation 21:3-4, CEB)

This is the future we are to remember.  A future with the resurrected Christ at its centre, where the glory of God is the only light needed, and where the nations bring their in their beauty to honour the Creator (Revelation 21: 22-26).  

This future needs to be as real to us as anything that has happened in the past or the present. Some scholars call this “prolepsis” and it is usually defined as anticipation.  But much like our spiritual commemoration is no mere fond remembering of the past, our spiritual anticipation is not a wistful hope for the future.  Rather, anticipation should be understood as drawing the future into the present.  So, we integrate the return of Christ into our lives in the present, though this event has yet to occur in time as we experience it.  We live our lives on the razor thin edge of the present, remembering that the future is actually part of our experience right now, because it describes our hope, our expectations.  And our hope and expectations form and inform what we do in the present.

Remembering the future requires us to live in confident hope. This means we anticipate with certainty the victory of Jesus and his ultimate return to make all things new. We draw that reality into our present. Remembering the future also means that we are not fooled or swayed or taken off track when the world around us seems to be coming apart at the seams. As the Apostle Paul writes, 

“We are under all kinds of pressure, but we are not crushed completely; we are at a loss, but not at our wits’ end; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are cast down, but not destroyed. . .because we know that the God who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us with Jesus.”

(2 Corinthians 4:8-14 CEB)

This anticipation is more than a fond daydream, and this is where we get to the heart of the matter.  Remembering the future involves our present commitment to living and worshipping in such as way that we reflect the future reality, in the here and now. It’s about actions and attitudes.  As the reality of Christ’s reign on earth in the future becomes infused into our present, it should cause us to live and work and worship in ways that are both contextually meaningful and eternally significant.  

Continued on page 4…

Our Diocese is in our own season of beginnings and endings.  We’ve elected a new bishop and we celebrate and anticipate a new beginning with the 8th Bishop of Brandon, with new vision, new energy, and new ideas. But of course, we have experienced endings as well, de-consecration of buildings, deaths of beloved members, and lay and ordained ministers moving onto various other ministries.  These endings are hard for us, as they require us to shift our ways of being.  We might even question what kind of plan God has for us when we experience these endings or losses. This is exactly when we need to remember the future! Jesus has called us to walk in his ways, to the glory of his name because we know the ultimate future – Jesus has conquered darkness, and sin, and death.  As we seek to live holy and godly lives, we are living in the reality of Christ’s return.  We don’t need to know the day or the hour, knowing that the event will occur is enough to shape our future.  When Peter writes “so, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace” (2 Peter 3:14, MSG), it is as applicable to us today as it was 2000 years ago.   Living holy and godly lives and watching our actions and attitudes makes so much more sense in the here and now if we understand the future that already is.  

So, as we journey into a new season in our Diocese and through this Advent season, take some time to start at the very ending, also a very good place to start.

The post Remembering the Future: A Word from the Archdeacon for Ministry and Training appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

The western world’s founder of modern physics, Isaac Newton, recognized the Temple as the work of God and devoted an entire study to explaining it. He did it primarily with numbers, as we might expect, which we understand today as acoustics. Newton confirmed the dimensions by applying philology to disparate sources in Hebrew, Greek and of course, Latin languages, especially the biblical books of Kings 1, Ezekiel, Ezra, 2 Chronicles and the Apocalypse (Revelations); he referred to the Talmud, to Philo and especially to the writings of Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. 

His numbers give us concrete evidence of the sonic power of the Temple plan, of a building designed to optimize human oral, both spoken and sung communication. 

Josephus described the Holy Place of the Temple as long (60 cubits) and narrow (20 cubits) with a height of 30 cubits (one cubit = 46 cm.): the high ceiling is suited for singing. This rectangle is the basilica shape, recognized as ideal for congregational participation. About 40 cubits from the gate with no doors was a vibrantly colored veil embroidered with four colors beyond which was the Holy of Holies containing the ark, a room no one entered. The resplendent veil of the Temple, perhaps a boundary between earth and heaven, was rent completely in two as Jesus gave up the ghost. Echoes of the Temple veil may be found in our contemporary stage curtains that separate everyday life from stage fantasy. 

Beyond this, sat the candle, table with the bread, and altar with incense, the place where sacred activity occurred. This Temple plan fostered unidirectionality for a large group: all those present looked to the elevated altar where, with even more heightened rituals of beauty and mystery, God’s presence could be experienced. There are often aisles on either side, all facing the elevated platform. This “architecture of ascent” focuses attention and leads to unity of both reception and expression of sound. The Holy Place is likely the space where Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, ministered. 

The indoor quiet of the Temple fostered complexity of oral expression such as singing interwoven with poetic speech often indicated with visual signs. The controlled interior of the Temple’s Holy Place allowed dedication to one God and joining of voices together without interruption, quite a contrast to the resounding outdoor courtyards where voices from many directions and of many gods dominated and often randomized human behavior. 

Thanks to the writers of the past, especially Flavius Josephus, details of the Temple design have been brought forward to modern architecture and builders. There is another intangible way recognized by a great modern philosopher, Karl Popper. Popper contributed the idea of three worlds inhabited by humanity: the physical, for example the actual Temple building; the world of human feeling, the psychoacoustics of the Temple. But it is Popper’s Third World that is relevant to us here: the ideas, the blueprints that we carry in our heads that live on because they are valuable, proven, perhaps essential. Although Popper does not say so, perhaps the Temple is a God-given design? 

Of course, many other church designs followed. In the Middle Ages, churches ranged from tiny parish churches such as the Gallarus Oratory, near Dingle, Ireland, to the low-ceilinged church style exemplified by Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu found across Europe by the end of the ninth century. Yet dependent upon local resources and lacking the inspired Temple plan, their physical designs have not lived on. 

As you worship in St. Matthew’s Cathedral next, or indeed the naves of other churches, look around you and thank God that you are engaged in a two-thousand-year history of divine beauty and purpose. 

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