On April 13, the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk installed a new Lay Reader at Snow Lake Anglican United Church.

Pictured to the left are Jennifer Pakula and the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk.

On the same day (April 13), the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk installed two new Lay Readers at Messiah, Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Pictured in the front row are the Ven. Lydia Constant, the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk, and the Rev’d Allan Bignell, Jr.

In the back row are the newly installed lay readers, Marlene Cowley and Gertie Young.

On May 7, the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk installed three new Lay Readers at Christ Church, The Pas. Pictured here in the front row are Marie Noel, Joanne Milner, Diane Commodore. In the back row is the Rev’d Jann Brooks (the Rector of the parish), Yvonne McKenzie and the Ven. Dr. Kara Mandryk.

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Following the service, they gathered for a photo to commemorate the occasion.

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Killarney Parish Group, 

On Tuesday afternoons, members of the parish group gather for Bible Study. During Advent and Lent, they have also added a book study. During Lent this year, they studied Taste and See by Margaret Feinberg. Throughout the book, the author travels around the world searching out modern day sources of Biblical foods and ingredients to deepen her and the readers faith and connection with scripture.

One of the chapters focused on bread in scripture and one notable example being the unleavened bread the Israelites made when they fled Egypt. She included a kosher recipe of bread that takes only 18 minutes to make and bake. So for their final meeting to finish discussing the book, they decided to try our hand making this bread recipe. The photo you see to the left are of members of the group making the dough.

Neepawa United Anglican Shared Ministry, as submitted by the Rev’d Chad McCharles OSBCn

The Neepawa United-Anglican Shared Ministry (NUASM) Sunday School has been working hard like a “chain gang” for months! Our wonderful Sunday School teachers and pupils felt inspired to create a real life prayer chain when they learned about the prayerful ministry of St. James’ Prayer Chain when it was introduced to the United Church parish family, and incorporated into the pray life of the ecumenical shared ministry. For many years the there has been a group of dedicated prayer warriors at St. James’ Neepawa, praying for everything and anyone, passing the intentions from one member to another like a chain.  This ministry has been so important and life-changing for so many, that the prayer chain members wanted to continue and incorporate this beloved, spiritual outreach into the parish life of NUASM.  They figured the best way to do this was to invite some of their United Church friends and fellow parishioners to be a part of the prayer chain.  Shortly thereafter, Sunday School got busy writing the names of every parishioner on the parish rolls (300+) on strips of paper, with a personal prayer written on the back of each, cutting out the name strips, and making them into colourful loops of a chain.  Once finished, they presented the prayer chain to the congregation on Easter morning, stretching it out down the isle for all to see!  It was a glorious and moving sight to behold, and moved many to cheers and tears. The prayer chain now resides in the narthex, strung from side to side overhead, like a banner of love over us all.     

St. James’, Rivers, as submitted by Kathy Roberts

On April 15th, the ACW of St. James held a very successful “Dessert Tea”.  Along with the tea, there was a bake table, a craft table, a white elephant table, along with both a raffle and door prize. In the photo below, Josephine Hunt prepares the bake table.

This would be one of their final events, because after many years, the ACW of St. James disbanded as of May 31st.  St. James’ was established in 1908 and the women played an important role in the church community. The first formal group was the Women’s Auxiliary, which was later changed to Anglican Church Women. At one time St. James’ had two branches, an afternoon branch and an evening branch. They wish to thank all who have supported them over the years.raised funds in many ways.  Teas and bake sales, yard sales and catering (weddings, funerals, auction sales).  They supported The Women’s Shelter, Memorial Camp, Teen Challenge, Food Bank, Bishop’s Discretionary Fund to name a few.  It goes without saying that the fellowship was enjoyed!

Pelly Plains Parish, as submitted by Virginia Beelaert

The members of St. George’s, Birtle; St. Paul’s, Shoal Lake, and St. James’, Solsgirth combined talents to host a Cookie and Pie Day on April 26 at the Birtle Drop In Centre. A wonderful selection of pies and cookies was available for the afternoon coffee break but visitors could also buy a pie or cookies by the dozen to take home.  All the proceeds from the successful fundraiser will be donated to earthquake relief for Turkey and Syria.

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We’ve just completed my fifth year as the Editor of the Mustard Seed. I am absolutely amazed how how this year has flown by. At the end of the publishing year, I always want to lean back in my office chair and reflect on the past 10 months of publishing.

I am always amazed at how the Diocese has supported this paper over the years – this truly is a paper that reflects the life of the diocese, since we have people from both “north and south” contributing to this paper and telling their stories.

I am incredibly grateful for those who, month by month, contribute photos and stories about what’s going on in their parishes. It may seem like a small  event, but what the reporting of these events does is remind all of us that there is life here and that there are other Anglicans around the area, doing things just like we are.

For many of us, it’s time for a break for the summer. Things slow down and the living becomes easy, as it were. As you do that, I’d like you to pause and pray for those who will be busy this summer at Anglican Memorial Camp and camps throughout the province.

It is a pleasure to edit this newspaper and to hear the stories from around the Diocese. I wish you a pleasant summer, and I look forward to ‘seeing’ you for our September 2023 issue!

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We are in a storm of unknown intensity and duration. It is a strange thing, to know that our beloved bishop will be serving another diocese before long; it is a strange thing, to know that his time with us would be limited; and then in the midst of adjusting our thinking to these realities it is a strange thing to discover that even for the time we thought we had, he will be unavailable to minister among us. We are in a strange storm, and the default reaction to this time might be to despair of the future – there are so many unknowns. But don’t do it.

We are Easter people, people who know in our souls that new life springs forth from death. We know so, because here we are. Every one of our lives have seen storms, and God has brought us through them; challenges that might have engulfed us, that we might have succumbed to, but He has brought us through.

As a friend of mine used to sing, God is “the salty old captain with the wheel in His grip, and a stubborn commitment to go down with this ship.” And I find, in the assurances of God’s love and faithfulness presented in Scripture (represented in my friend’s words), the comfort of knowing that whatever storm we face, our Lord is with us.

So here are some anchors, or safe-harbours, that remain unchanged and unwavering for us. The Church doesn’t have a mission in the world, but the God of mission has His Church in the world. We are His, and the mission that we engage in is His. That mission does not change. Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 28: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me: therefore, go and make disciples of all nations – baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded. And behold, I am with you to the end of the age.”

We may have specifics of how we carry out that mission, and those specifics may be different from one parish to another, and from one time to another. Yet whatever those different manifestations may look like, they are all in service of that one mission – God’s mission. This hasn’t changed and whatever tossing and turning the sea may do, we have a fixed point on the horizon: God’s mission for His Church.

In our diocese we have discerned and worked for three imperatives of that mission: we share the Good News of God in Jesus Christ (the Gospel), which is to say that we engage in evangelism. Second, we support the spiritual development to Christian maturity among the people of God, which is to say that we encourage and equip the saints to carry out God’s mission for His Church.

Finally, we seek out those opportunities that God puts before us where the gifts and skills for ministry which He has enabled in our lives intersect with the needs of the world around us, which is to say that we empower the saints in the actual carrying out of God’s mission for His Church.  Sharing, Supporting, and Seeking: these are our actions in service of God’s mission; Evangelism, Encouragement, and Empowerment: these are the intentions behind the things that we do.  This does not change, and it remains an anchor-point for us.

Think of the storm that Jesus’ disciples faced at His crucifixion, and the new life that God brought about in them through His resurrected presence with them, and the grace of their eyes being opened to see Him, again.

Pray.  Pray as Easter people, who believe that whatever death our current circumstances represent will give way to new life for this diocese.  Pray because it is our vocation: we, together, are the temple of God’s Holy Spirit; God’s temple is to be a house of prayer for all nations.  Pray for the Holy Spirit of God to enliven us with His fire for the carrying out of God’s mission through the Church – even through our local churches.

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