THE REVEREND FATHER EDWARD SIMONTON OGS
RD, M.A.(Hons), M.Th., FRAI, FRSAI, FSA Scot
REGIONAL DEAN OF THE LAURENTIANS
RECTOR OF RAWDON
PRIEST IN CHARGE OF MASCOUCHE
MONTREAL DIOCESAN YOUTH CHAPLAIN
CHRIST CHURCH, THE RECTORY, 3365 THIRD AVENUE, RAWDON, QUEBEC J0K 1S0
OFFICE & RECTORY TELEPHONE (450) 834 4457 OFFICE FAX (450) 834 8923
E-mail: esimonton@ogs.net
Easter 2006
Dear Friends,
The Lenten book group is reading Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s, Nobel Laureate for Peace and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, book God Has a Dream. It is a beautiful book and it is an encouraging and uplifting resource for one’s faith. Twelve people are reading this book. Another five younger parishioners are going through The Rev’d Dr Don Cupitt’s six part history of modern theology, ‘The Sea of Faith’, on Friday evenings. Three of the youth are reading the book but can not come to the Thursday morning class but are doing the Friday evening course. So altogether there are fourteen people participating in some sort of Christian education this Lent.
I am very pleased and proud of those who are exploring their faith in this way. 21% is a large percentage of our able bodied regular churchgoers. However I am aware that there are many people missing. When I peruse the parish list there are about 25 active and healthy people that I hope would participate in some group educational activity. It is not because I want to get the percentage numbers up it is because of something much more basic. We are aware of their absence because they are part of this community and things are just not complete without them. If you ask the participants of the Lenten book group what they enjoy most about Thursday mornings they will tell you it is the camaraderie – the friendship. It is the being together to share the things that really matter in our lives. It is what other Christians normally call fellowship. Naturally we want to share this with others and so it is always uplifting when others join us.
In my last pastoral letter I wrote at length about the educational and pastoral activities in our parish and the ways you could get involved. I examined the reasons for engaging in Christian education. I will not reexamine it yet again. I would like to point out however, as I did quite strongly in my very first Rector’s charge to the parish, that there are only three primary responsibilities of a priest. They are to administer the Sacraments of God’s Grace, to teach, and to pastor those in need (I have a great deal more to say on the nature of the ordained ministry in my Diocesan Paper column in May). From the earliest days the priesthood was heavily aided in pastoral work by the deacons. A deacon’s primary role is to function liturgically during the liturgy of the word, to look after the routine pastoral care of the community, and to keep track of those who are ill or in need and inform the priest and the community so they may keep them in prayer and care for them. In the sixth Chapter of the Book of Acts we find the rational and the history of the creation of the first deacons:
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
In our parish the role of the deacon is filled by our lay reader, John Clague. In an ideal world he would be ordained as a Deacon as he is already performing that ministry in this community. Yet the church has not developed suitable structures for the discernment and formation of locally raised deacons. Along with John the routine pastoral work of our community is shared between me and the other members of the pastoral care committee: Verna Asbil, Barbara Fall and Lillian Parkinson.
This ministry allows the priest to concentrate (when they are not overloaded with administrative duties) on the other main aspects of priestly ministry: devotion to prayer and teaching and preaching the Gospel. In this ministry I wish to reach as many people as possible to draw them into fellowship with one another. I therefore propose a number of practical options for you to consider.
I have spent many years creating a well stocked library consisting of over three thousand volumes. Much of it is devoted to the faith from weighty writings of the church fathers to books such as ‘The Bible for Dummies’. I have collected many introductory books as I assumed that people would use my library as a resource. Only about forty people have borrowed books from the library since I became Rector. I now publicly invite anyone who would like to look at the library or seek advice on selecting a book to please contact me and arrange a time to come over, have a cup of tea and find something suitable for you to borrow to read or study.
I have also spent time collecting movies and documentaries to form a good video and DVD library. It might be a good idea to form a group of movie watchers to view and discuss various movies with theological themes. Perhaps we could choose one film a month to watch as a group? I include a selection of titles on a separate page for you to peruse. I will even provide popcorn! If a group does not form, people could borrow these films for their own viewing.
Perhaps we could start a monthly book group to read modern novels that have theological themes. This is easy because good novels always have a theological theme. There is also the monthly Church Time’s Book Club to consider. Yet another possibility is to use the book Love’s Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness (an anthology of Anglican spiritual writings) as the basis for a discussion group. I have four video & DVD courses to offer. There is: The Arts and Entertainment Network’s eight part (fifty minutes each) series on the History of Christianity; the Arts and Entertainments Network’s two part series on the life of Jesus; the six part (fifty minutes) series ‘Sea of Faith’ about the foundation of the modern theological and philosophical world view; and the six part (sixty minutes) series ‘The Power of Myth’ with Joseph Campbell. I am open to other suggestions for Christian education that you might come up with. If a few people are willing to give it a try I certainly will.
Perhaps one of the reasons people are reluctant to join an education group is that they think a certain level of knowledge is necessary and they are afraid they do not possess it. This is not true at all. Another reason might be that people think that if they join they must come to all the meetings of the group. This is also not true. You can come as often as you are able. The idea is that you will not want to miss a meeting! If time is an issue I am happy to find convenient times that will suit different groups.
Regardless of what we do to learn about God and his world and our place in it, the most important thing is that we do it together. The purpose is not for me to teach groups like a class. The idea is for us to come together to explore as a community and in so doing to grow closer to one another as people who seek to love God and to love our neighbour and oneself.
May God give you the will and strength to walk the way of the cross with Him this Holy Week, the courage to stay with Him on Good Friday, and the grace to be raised to new life with Him on the day of the Resurrection.
Yours in Christ,
Edward OGS
If you wish to give flowers in memory of a loved one for Easter this year please contact Ann Allen on 834 5112 at your earliest convenience. The flowers for Easter are Easter Lilies.
Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, in the Church Hall with the Blessing of Palms, and continues with services at 12pm on Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday. On Wednesday evening at 7pm is the service of Tenebrae, a service of shadows and readings in anticipation of the three great days that follow. On Maundy Thursday there will be the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral at 12pm. We will celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the washing of feet, the stripping of the altars and the vigil in the garden starting at 7pm the same night. The ecumenical walk on Good Friday begins at the Roman Catholic church at 9am. Our own liturgy for Good Friday is at 2pm. In the evening at 7pm there will be a short service commemorating the Harrowing of Hell. The Easter Vigil, the most solemn and important service in the church’s year, begins at 10pm on Saturday evening. The Easter morning Eucharist is at the normal time of 10:30.