In this third week of our Anglican Advent Calendar, we’ll continue to celebrate mission and ministry within our beloved church, delighting in a daily treat as we count our way through Advent.
SUNDAY 16 Dec.: The Anglican Military Ordinariate
This unique ministry initiative comprises all Anglicans serving in the Canadian Forces. Blessed with the episcopal leadership of the Rt. Rev. Peter Coffin, Anglican chaplains make up more than 20% of the military chaplains, with 35 regular force and 45 reserve personnel. Military chaplaincy has a long history within the Anglican church; it is a difficult and rewarding ministry; chaplains are called to serve at home and abroad, working with all faiths and in all situations. The chaplaincy is, in Bp. Coffin’s words, “a close-knit community that works with dedication and professionalism in the cause of establishing peace and justice in the world in which these things are elusive.” (see http://www.anglican.ca/amo/)
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz December 17, 2012 - 3:45 pm
MONDAY, 17 Dec.: Occasional Celebrations
This book, first published in1992 with updates in1995 and 2001 was developed to help provide liturgical resources for events not covered by the BCP and BAS. These include seasons and festivals, liturgies of membership, liturgies relating to marriage, liturgies relating to death and burial, installations and commissioning, and prayers for the created order. Intended to be a guide which allows parishes to celebrate their unique character and creativity, this resource encourages liturgical response to the realities of our world.
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz December 18, 2012 - 1:22 pm
TUESDAY, 18 Dec.: Anglican online presence
There are a lot of ways Anglicans can celebrate community and unity, our online presence is one of them. Aside from our informative websites (including parish, diocesan, provincial, national, and communion-wide) there are discussion fora like The Community, resource providers like Anglicans Online, places for prayer (the C of E’s prayoneforme.org is great). Anglicans are on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Flickr… you get the idea. We’re a solid online presence – you don’t need to look far to find Anglicans in the world – reality or virtual reality.
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz December 19, 2012 - 3:06 pm
WEDNESDAY 19 Dec.: The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund
One of my favourites. PWRDF is the Canadian Anglican response for emergency relief, refugees, development, and justice. PWRDF works in development with 58 partners in 22 countries, in Food Security, Health Care, Poverty reduction, Relief/Refugees, and Human Rights/Peace. PWRDF supports relief efforts in emergencies through partners and alliances. PWRDF engages with Canadian youth, passionate about making the world a better place. PWRDF provides resources for prayer, reflection, education. With one of the lowest administration ratios of any development agency, with most financial support coming from Anglicans like you and I, serving on our behalf as the Anglican church’s outreach arm, the PWRDF truly is a good news story worth sharing. See more at pwrdf.org
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz December 20, 2012 - 4:07 pm
THURSDAY, 20 Dec.: The Altar Guild
“If you ever want to know what’s really going on in a parish, just ask the Altar guild…”
This lovely group of people exercise their ministry by helping prepare the worship space for liturgy. Their duties include keeping Fair Linens clean and pressed, changing the altar hangings depending on the season so the colours are liturgically correct, polishing the accoutrements (I see a LOT of shiny brass and silver in churches – emphasis on the ‘shiny’ because of these folks!). They help set the elements and vessels for the Eucharist on the credence table and/or altar, they ensure that supplies of bread and wine do not run in short supply, they set flowers appropriately, they maintain the candles. Their work is mostly unseen, but greatly appreciated. They are a great help to the liturgy and a gem to the church.
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz December 21, 2012 - 3:20 pm
FRIDAY, 21 Dec.: Music
As Anglicans we love our music. Our music may come from the bells, handbells, an organ, a piano, a guitar, a full-out praise band, or children (and child-at-hearts) holding shakers. We have large choirs, small choirs, childrens’ choirs, no choirs. We have people who write music, people who play music, people who sing beautifully, people whose singing is a joyful noise made to God, people who goldfish (open and close mouths in time with the music, but no sound comes out). There are anthems, antiphons, hymns, sung services, sung liturgies. We have the ‘new’ (1998) blue Common Praise hymnal, we have the red hymnal, we have the ‘old’ blue hymnal, we have home-made song booklets, we have overhead projectors.
Point being, we love our music. And it’s a gem of who we are as Anglicans, and how we express our delight in the Lord.
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz December 22, 2012 - 4:23 pm
SATURDAY 22 Dec.: Administrators
Thanks be to God for the folks behind the scenes who handle the administrivia. Staff or volunteer, for individual committees or the whole parish, these are saints. There are any number of tasks: keeping the books, doing the banking, answering phones, setting meeting agendas, preparing bulletins, scheduling appointments, tracking down the clergy, scheduling meeting times and locations, coordinating service times, organising prayer meetings, assisting committees in their work, the list goes on. There’s a lot of work that is done by a lot of people; today we celebrate this ministry.