My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This is my note to you for April to bring you up to date with some of the “happenings” around here, at St. George’s.

Easter Celebrations

Wow! Easter Day was amazing, thanks to the hard work of some many volunteers here. From the flowers to the music, everything was awesome on Easter. 210 folks celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord at St. George’s over our three services. Also powerful were our services in Holy Week. Maundy Thursday’s potluck/worship (held jointly with St. John’s and St. Paul’s) in our hall was a great success. Good Friday’s service was solemn and prayerful, and the joint Easter Vigil held at St. John’s was also a joy. I must say, though, I was truly beat by the end of it!

ALS Walk

On March 29th, Melanie Frank and Darlene Sutherland spoke to us about the planned June 6th “Walk for ALS.” I encourage you to become a part of this effort and support our Church’s team, the “Saint George’s Saints“. (Check out the photo’s from the “Kick off” night on our church website.) Terry and Sandra Whalen are our team leaders and they can be contacted for more information about how you too can participate or you can click here to go to our team’s web page to track our progress or make an online donation. Certainly since becoming aware of Jeff’s diagnosis with ALS, many of us have prayed for a way to help him and his family, and supporting this Walk is one important way that we can do just that.

“Community Unity” Event

This is the second annual event held by a collection of almost every Christian church in our community. The purpose is to celebrate our shared faith in Christ with a chance to express our faith in action and to have fun together in fellowship. The main event is Community Unity Day on May 2nd. Expressing our faith in action this year includes the return of the Yard Clean Teams in the morning and then a free BBQ with fun, music, and fellowship at Cedarvale Park beginning at noon. This year we have added a “Free 4 All” on April the 25th. It’s like a garage sale, but everything is free. We have worked together with some of the local helping agencies to ensure that people and families in our community that need this help the most will be primary recipients of all donations , but the event, held in the Georgetown District Christian School, will also open to the public. If you are interested in making a donation vist the Community Unity web site for more information or contact Jan Lehman, Karen Gibson or Joan Hyde.

STEAM

STEAM stands for “Serving Together – Enhancing and Expanding Anglican Ministries” and it is the name we have given to the work that the five local Anglican parishes are beginning to do together. It started with the warden’s and clergy just getting together to talk about the common challenges we each face in our community and also how we might work together to better present the Anglican approach to the Christian faith here. We have already done some joint services and the “Why Church?” study in Lent, but we are looking forward to more opportunities. You will definitely be hearing more about “STEAM powered” events, in fact I am helping to coordinate a social event in late May that I hope will help bring us all together in a fun and relaxed way.

Separate, but dove-tailing with the locally-initiated conversation that has produced STEAM, is the new appointment by the Bishop of The Rev’d Canon Dr. Margaret Murray as rector of St. Shephen’s, Hornby and “Missioner of Halton Hills and Milton with responsibilities that will include providing leadership in the development of a ministry plan for the entire area” (Bishop’s Letter to St. George’s, April 5, 2009). I am very excited by this announcement, and excited to work with Margaret in both her roles.

Your Support

Important to our continuing mission as a Christian Church and in our ministry to those in need financially, pastorally, and spiritually, is your support. Please keep St. George’s in your prayers. Pray for the Rev’d Nancy Rowe and her work with the young families in our community who she prepares for baptism and nurtures through the “First Steps” program. Pray for Carol O’Leary, our church school teachers, and the children of our K’NeCT Kids program.

Thanks for your prayers and thank you to those that are able to support our ministry through your gifts and donations.

Peace,
Rob