Following the closure of their church, Christ Church, Roblin has gifted Christ Church, Russell with a Bible. The Bible had been presented to Roblin by the Rev’d Karen and Bob Binding “in loving memory of former members of the Parish.” 

Several members of Russell’s Christ Church and Knox United participated in a Lenten Bible study hosted by Grace Lutheran Church. Discussion followed readings from Voices at the Crossroads by Paul K. Peterson. 

The members of St. George’s Birtle have enjoyed the return of their coffee get-togethers following Sunday services. They had been halted due to Covid-19. 

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

Throughout February, parishioners of the Neepawa United Anglican Shared Ministry challenged themselves to raise funds for the Vaccine Equity Fund of the PWRDF. As an outward and visible sign of these efforts, the Mission Service and Outreach (MS&O) Committee committed to posting one heart in the sanctuary for every $5 that was raised. By the end of the month, $2,762 was raised, which meant 552.4 hearts had to be cut out and posted on the walls of the sanctuary! This became such a task, that the MS&O Committee had to employ Sunday School to help with posting all the hearts. Across Canada, this PWRDF initiative has made a massive difference, with over $60,000 going towards ensuring everyone around the globe has access to the Covid-19 vaccinations. NUASM gives thanks to all who generously donated towards this initiative, both United and Anglican alike! Yet another outward and visible sign of the inner, spiritual ties that bind us together in love, with our ecumenical congregation, and our brothers and sisters around the globe. 

The Tri-Valley Parish (St. Mary’s, Virden; St. Mark’s, Elkhorn; St. John’s, Reston; Christ Church, Melita)
as submitted by the Editor

On March 24th, I celebrated my fifth anniversary in ordained ministry. I mentioned it to the parish secretary, who acknowledged it and went back to work. She eventually left the building to “run some errands.” About 20 minutes later, she returned with this cake that you see below. I wasn’t expecting it, 

and I’m thankful for the cake, the recognition, and my time here in Virden. Later that week, the article below appeared in the local paper, the Virden Empire-Advance. I include it below for your reading pleasure. 

Yesterday [the article originally appeared on March 25], I celebrated my fifth year of ordained ministry in Virden. On March 24, 2017, I was ordained as a deacon (the first ordination for many Anglican clergy) over at St. Mary’s. It was a day that was not only a long time coming, but it was also a day that I’ll never forget. However, all that being said, the first couple of months here I struggled. I wasn’t struggling because of anything anybody did (or didn’t do), but because I was going through culture shock. Some of you may know that prior to moving to Virden, I had really only lived in big cities. Sure, I had done a few stints in small towns in Saskatchewan and southwestern Ontario, but this was a different kettle of fish. I was moving from cities, where I could get anything I wanted at any hour to minister to small towns where the local grocery store closed at 6pm on weekends. 

I was ordained on the Eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, the Feast in the Church calendar where we reflect on the announcement that Mary was to become the mother of Jesus Christ. At the end of the story, we hear Mary say these words: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” As I was moving and starting out here, these words rattled through my head, as a kind of assurance that things were going to get better as I settled in. 

And frankly, dear reader, they did (but you probably knew that was coming.) I’ve been here five plus years now and I have learned that small towns have a charm about them that cities can never have. There is a sense of community here that isn’t present in cities – when I lived in cities, I didn’t know many people in the varied neighbourhoods I lived in. That isn’t the case in small towns – I’ve been made to feel very welcome here over the past five years. I feel like I’m part of this community and am known. 

So, thank you for opening my eyes to the charm of small towns. Thank you for welcoming this city boy with open arms and making him to feel like a part of the community. I look forward to more years in and around the town that means so much to many of us. 

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

It is also the Easter season when we are meant to think long and hard about the new life which Jesus offers us in his resurrection. The question that haunts us is how do we get from here (our current world, rife with destruction and pain) to there (the kingdom of love and light which is promised to the children of God.) I want to remind you of some of that story from the garden on the morning when Jesus was raised. 

Mary did not recognize Jesus. It wasn’t until he said her name that her eyes were opened and she could see him. You have heard me say that the resurrection to eternal life is the offering of Jesus to each of us, but one of the details we often forget is that resurrected life is not easily recognizable. Mary Magdalene did not recognize him, even though she had sat at table and served him. The disciples on the road to Emmaus did not 

recognize him until he broke the bread in front of them. There is something about resurrected life which leaves us baffled when it is observed from this side of death. 

Jesus kept teaching over and over again that our resurrected life is as different from the life we know now, as the seed is different from the full grown plant. In honour of Ukraine, I will use their sunflower as my illustration. We all recognize sunflower seeds. I have happy memories of eating bagfuls as a child and enjoying spitting contests with my friends with the shells. A sunflower seed is delicious as a snack, as a garnish on a salad or all alone by itself, roasted or plain. But looking at a sunflower seed does not in the least hint at the height and beauty and strength of the full grown plant. Only when I see the full flower standing tall, do I see the small part that the seed is of the whole. There is so much more to the picture. 

Our lives are like the sunflower seeds. They have a purpose and delight, but God has so much more planned for us that our hearts can barely perceive what God is up to. The new life will be glorious and it will be a profound change and that new life will be a great mystery, but who we already are will still be there, in the middle of that resurrected life, except we will be so much more than we have been. The tiny seed that was us in this world will be fully present. We cannot know the height and beauty and strength of the resurrected life we will occupy in that new, deathless, and resurrected life to come. 

That is how I maintain hope in the between time of here and there. I know that we are called to live faithfully in the here, caring for one another and working for the broken and the lost. But at the same time, the way to there is to see in every broken human, in every person in need, and in every circumstance of life the seed of what is to come when God gathers all of us to himself. That is how I live between here and there; between what I see now and what I know is coming. 

So for this Easter season, have a thought about the process of getting from here to there. Think about the ways we will carry who we are into death and then into that new and deathless life. This is what it means to be in the resurrected world. To know that we are seeds of something so much bigger, stronger and more beautiful than who were are now – even when who we are now is beloved of God. You will always be you, but you will also be so much more. 

The post A Word From Our Bishop appeared first on The Mustard Seed.

The first part of the process was to speak with Bishop William to acquire permission to move ahead with the endeavour, which was an easy “yes” from the bishop, as the bishop was quick to point out that it was a real opportunity for community connection in Neepawa and area, and for the Anglican cleric to live out his vows to serve those in need. 

Once Father Chad entered the lengthy, in-depth, highly detailed, multi-stage process of qualifying to be a bus driver, he was quickly reminded of another depth of meaning to this endeavour, one from his childhood. As a farm boy who grew up South of Shoal Lake, riding the school bus was a daily routine for Father Chad, but one that was kept from being monotonous by his bus driver, Mr. George Isaak, or Pastor Isaak as he was known in the Shoal Lake Baptist Church and wider community. Mr. Isaak was a very kind, friendly, good humoured man, who always had time to listen to Chad’s boyhood ramblings when he would stand behind him and chat away as one of the last kids on the bus route each afternoon. Through this relationship, Pastor Isaak invited Chad to attend Pioneer Kid’s Club at the Shoal Lake Baptist Church one evening each month, which turned out to be one of the key steppingstones towards the priesthood for Chad. Mr. Isaak’s friendly smile and daily greetings came to embody Christian love for the young farm boy, although Chad wouldn’t realize it until stepping onto a school bus years later to train as a driver. It was this realization that galvanized Father Chad’s decision to complete his school bus driver’s certification, and he has been driving the big yellow buses ever since. 

His parish, Neepawa United-Anglican Shared Ministry, has supported him in this endeavour too, realizing that having their Minister on the school bus allows for important community connections with children, parents, teachers, and division staff, all of which stands the faith community in good stead to be better able to reach out through those connections to share and live out the Gospel. Jesus got into boats with fishermen, into the temple with the faithful, into the country with the crowds, and came alongside the suffering in the streets, all to share the Good News. It is this model from Jesus that drives Father Chad to climb the steps of the bus each day and be the first and last encounter each child has with the school system, offering them a warm greeting, smiling eyes behind a mask, and a wish for a good night at the end of each school day. All of which leaves him feeling like he has received more than he has given, emblematic of the peace and perfect freedom promised to us by Christ if we choose to give freely of ourselves. 

This is the best theology lesson Father Chad has learned since seminary, he says, as it has remined him that it is through such simple, everyday acts that we learn and live radical Christian love. The wheels on the bus go round and round, and we as Christians carry the love of God in Christ to the world as it goes round and round, through simple, everyday acts that transport us ever nearer each other and God. 

The post School Bus Driving: A Lesson in Practical Theology appeared first on The Mustard Seed.