Lent 2 – 16 Mar 2025

Greetings to the St. George’s community,

It seems that Spring has sprung, and with the start of the season of Lent (a word which comes from the Old English for spring) there is a lot of life and movement in this place. Daffodils and crocuses are up in the church yard, the preschoolers are out in the sun, Henry Turner is faithfully caring for our building, a lively crew of ACW members gave the kitchen a thorough cleaning, and folks are paying visits and making calls to members who are sick or injured. This week and next we welcome musician Harran Shi, who played for us at Christmas, while Diana is away on spring break. For our Lenten study group we had 16 (mostly St. George folks) in person and a splendid mix of St. George and Salal + Cedar members -some as far away as Victoria, rural Wisconsin, and Ottawa come out to talk about animals in the bible and what they have to show us on our faith journey. I have been quite busy presenting at a couple of conferences online -all on the subject of how our faith is made richer when we pay attention to the more-than-human world.

                      

Two things I would like to draw your attention to:

Moving Forward a Community Conversation
This Sunday March 16 from 11-12 we will meet in the hall to talk about our coming year. A lot of work was done on the Parish Profile, this conversation is to build on that, see if new issues have emerged, and to learn what is really important to you so we can decide how to use our time and resources together in 2025.

We will gather your input in four areas:
FISCAL SECURITY -what are realistic financial goals and strategies for the year?
LITURGY/ WORSHIP RENEWAL -how can we make worship welcoming and nourishing for all?
MUSIC – what is working, what we would like to see more of?
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS – what relationships are important to build and grow, within and beyond our walls, with local and global community?

If you are not able to attend on Sunday or you think of something important after the meeting has passed, please email the office and put “Moving Forward Response” in the subject line. Click here to send your response by email.

Once everyone has had a chance to contribute, parish council will look at the responses and identify a small number of achievable priorities that we all can work on together in 2025.

What’s all this about Donkeys?
The Outreach committee has invited us to a Lenten giving challenge. Through Alongside Hope (formerly Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund), they are purchasing 2 donkeys for women in rural Kenya and they are calling on us to purchase 4 more. The donkeys cost $160 (or $40 a leg), they carry water and firewood, work otherwise done by women and girls and can make a huge difference to the economy of an impoverished family. If you would like to contribute to this parish gift to our mission partners, you can write a cheque to the parish or make an envelope donation, but make sure to write clearly Donkey Fund.

Lenten Blessings to you all,

Rev. Laurel