Our Diocesan Vision Statement: To be a church that is inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit; a church that reflects the virtue and grace of Jesus; a church reaching out to proclaim God's love to a broken world. 

 "...I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."  John 8: 12

The season of Epiphany presents the story of the Wise Men, drawn by the light of a star towards the Christ Child.  In today's Gospel reading, Jesus declares to the Pharisees, "I am the light of the world."  Like the Wise Men of old, we are called to follow the light, and to share that light with those around us.  In this winter season of cold and darkness, it is so important to bring the message of the love that Jesus has for each and every person.  In what ways are you able to shine the light of Christ?

March 7     Calgary,  Good Shepherd Church 

March 14   Red Deer,   St. Luke's Church

March 28   Lethbridge, St. Augustine's Church

This year's conference will take place May 4-7, at Waterton Lakes Lodge.

Our guest speaker is The Rev. Dr. John Stafford.

Town Halls in March:

We will again be having our Town Hall meetings. This year we are excited to come and bring some of our Missional Coaches who will share their newly acquired training in mission in six different areas. 

March 7     Calgary,  Good Shepherd Church 

March 14   Red Deer,   St. Luke's Church

March 28   Lethbridge, St. Augustine's Church

Clergy Conference:

Clergy Movements:

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce the appointment of The Rev. Gordon Pontifex as Incumbent (part-time) for the parish of St. Luke, Calgary, as of January 1, 2020.  Please pray for Gordon as he begins this new ministry. The Induction for Rev. Gordon will be held at St. Luke, Calgary on Saturday, January 25 at 10:00 am. 

The ordination service for Seth Enriquez, planned for February 2, has been postponed.  We will let you know the new date once it has been decided.

Sabbatical:

Archbishop Greg is on Sabbatical until March 31.  Part of that time, he will be attending an Ignatian Silent Retreat at St. Beuno's Retreat Centre in Wales.  We pray that Archbishop Greg's time away will be filled with refreshment and blessing.  

Commissary for the Archbishop:

While the Archbishop is away from the Diocese, his Commissary is The Very Rev. Leighton Lee, Dean of The Cathedral.  The Dean asks that emails which require his attention in his capacity as Commissary be sent to llee@calgary.anglican.ca

78th Convention of Synod:

Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson along with the Diocesan Council has announced that the 78th Convention of Synod has been called for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 5, 6 and 7, 2020. 

It is with sadness that the Diocese Office announces the sudden death of Ali McCormack, wife of priest and brother-in-Christ, the Rev. Jerrod McCormack.

Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

A Memorial Service will take place on Friday, January 10th at 10:00 am at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Calgary (1121 – 14th Street SW).

Archbishop Greg is on Sabbatical until March 31.  Part of that time, he will be attending an Ignatian Silent Retreat at St. Beuno's Retreat Centre in Wales.  We pray that Archbishop Greg's time away will be filled with refreshment and blessing.  

The Missional Footprint is on the website under “Resources | Documents  | Downloads”.  In the Missional Footprint, each Parish is invited to highlight their activities. The template has been updated and the format is much easier to fill out and to work through.

The Annual Returns can also be accessed here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Tuesday, January 14 - Synod Steering Committee, 10:00 am

Tuesday, January 14 - Mission Action Plan Committee, 12:00 noon

Wednesday, January 15 - Property Committee, 3:00 pm

Thursday, January 16 - Chaplains for Ordained Ministry, 10:00 am

Saturday, January 18 - Diocesan Council, 10:00 am, Holy Cross

St. Stephen, Calgary: Incumbent, full time; Job Posting here, Parish Profile here

Holy Trinity, Calgary: Pastor of Youth Ministries, part-time

For more information on these positions, please contact pgateman@calgary.anglican.ca

In 2020, there will be a pilgrimage from Calgary to Taizé and Paris for young adults aged 18-35 from June 26 to July 10, 2020.   Taizé is a wonderful place for young adults to explore their faith, meet other young people from all around the world, and discover more about themselves. After a week in Taize, we'll spend 5 days in Paris. If you have young people in your congregation or in your wider connections, please help spread word of this opportunity. Here are four tools: 1) attached is a powerpoint slide to include in your announcements on a Sunday morning 2 3) also attached are two graphic options for posting on your social media sites or email bulletin found here  4) we have made a 1-minute promo video (see below) - it would be great if you could show this at a suitable time in your services or programs, include in your email bulletins, post on your website and link in your social media: https://youtu.be/3nNZOL84K6E We are producing hard-copy postcards in the near future.  If you'd like postcards delivered or mailed to your church, let me know how many. If there are other resources you'd find helpful, let me know! A few FAQs: - If you register before January 24, the early bird price is $2,400; then until February 28 the price is $3,000 (because of changing airline prices). Details of what these fees include are listed on JourneyToTaize.eventbrite.ca  Registration opens on December 15. There's a $250 deposit to register. 

This free educational two-session gathering at The Cathedral is designed for anyone looking to more fully understand what trauma is, how it impacts us as individuals and as communities, and the role of spirituality in living with and through trauma.  Resources for further use will be made available.

St. Peter, Okotoks:

Anglican Renewal Ministries meeting
Thursday, January 9, 7:00 p.m. at St. Peter’s Church, 31 Riverside Way, Okotoks

Holy Cross, Calgary:

Lectio Divina: All are invited to an evening of silence, prayer and biblical meditation.   An Evening of Lectio Divina is held on the second Tuesday of every month, starting at 6:30 pm, next on January 14.  Everyone is welcome. 

St. James, Calgary: 

Steve Bell Concert, 7:00 pm.  An evening of tunes and tales from Steve Bell's journey.  Tickets are available on Steve's website, or at the church.  Phone toll-free for tickets at 1 (800) 854-3499.  This is Steve's first official 2020 concert.  He has loads of stories and songs to share!

St. Edmund, Calgary:

St. Edmunds sends a huge Thank You to our Anglican Community!  Last fall we put out an appeal for food and funds to support our Food Bank and then an extra Appeal to help us with the increased costs for our participation in Spinz Around (one of our grocery suppliers)  The response has been amazing!  Thanks to a couple of anonymous donors, we have reached our goal to pay for the 2020 Spinz Around fee as well as transportation costs. A number of parishes did food drives for us as well as passing along financial donations from their parish members.  This influx of generosity has helped us to provide 139 Christmas hampers to over 400 people including children, and has left us stocked up for at least the month of January. 

We have said it before but it bears saying again – we cannot fulfill our mission “Serving Christ and Community” without your help!  Thank you for supporting us, and by extension, hundreds of people in need!  We also do appreciate your ongoing support throughout the year and not just at Christmas time.  If you are interested in doing a drive for us or volunteering in the Food Bank itself, please give us a call at (403) 288-6330 or email us at email@stedmundscalgary.org.  

Looking to get rid of Christmas ‘Stuff’?  St. Edmunds is now collecting gently used Christmas decorations, household décor, giftware, toys, etc.  Christmas items are sorted and stored until our Christmas Bazaar (November 14 this year) and other household items are set aside for our June Garage Sale (June 20th).  If it’s clean and in good condition, we’ll take it! (no furniture or clothing please).  We are open for drop off during Food Bank hours of Mondays and Thursdays 9:00-11:30 or by appointment (call (403) 288-6330).  By the way – did you know that we also accept donations of vintage, antiques, and collectibles?? We advertise and sell these special items on Kijiji and raise funds for the upkeep of Critchley Mission Hall which houses our Food Bank and Christmas Hamper program area.  Donations of these types of special items are very much appreciated!    

The 2020 Diocesan Choirs’ Festival will take place at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer on Saturday, February 1, 2020, at 4.30 pm.

The deadline for Music Directors to submit a proposal is Friday, January 24, 2020

Following a new format for the event, this year we invite choirs from across the diocese to propose works to perform on their own during a service that will not follow a specific liturgical model. Our wish is to highlight and celebrate the different styles of music enhancing worship in our various communities. In addition to these choral solo performances, we will invite all singers present to join together in the performance of a choral work with the full combined forces.

Neil Cockburn will perform a one-hour solo organ programme featuring the new continuo (chamber) organ, as well as the main Casavant organ at The Cathedral of The Redeemer.

   The Refugee Support Group is looking for sponsors to help with the following refugee family.  

Family size: 3,  Country of Origin: Iraq,   language(s) spoken: Kurdish  

A 37-year-old Iraqi mother and her two children arrived in early 2019 in Calgary accompanied by her brother and his family. Due to her traumatic background, and because she is a single parent in a new and unfamiliar environment, the mother struggles with raising her children. The mother is highly dependent on her brother for emotional support as he is the only male in the household. The mother also worries for the well-being of family members they were forced to leave behind in Iraq.

A sponsor could provide the family with the assistance they need to reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness. The sponsor could assist the mother in accessing resources in the community which will increase her overall independence and confidence. 

For more information on sponsorship contact the refugee support group by email at anglicancalgaryrefugee@gmail.com  

Andre Visscher, Refugee Ministry Coordinator of the Anglican Diocese of Calgary  

This is the fourth year for Anglicans on the Move participating in the walk to raise funds for Feed the Hungry and Kairos low-income housing in Calgary. The date is February 22, and the Anglicans on the Move team will be joining hundreds of other walkers in Calgary and thousands of Canadians across the country to support and serve hungry, homeless, and hurting people and families in our community.

The Cursillo Community is reminded that the Annual General Meeting is scheduled for January 10, at 7:30 pm at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Calgary.  Please plan to attend.

BCP Calendars

Eight copies of the BCP Calendar are available for sale.  Each month depicts a watercolour image, and the days of the week are shown in liturgical colors.  Cost is $8 each.  Click here to purchase.

Matthew Fox, January 17-19 is sold out.  Matthew is a spiritual theologian, an Episcopal/Anglican priest and an activist for gender justice and eco-justice.  Author of 37 books, he is one of the most important theologians of our time, and it is a real coup that we have persuaded him to come to Calgary. 

Friday, January 17, 7:00 pm Public Lecture: Awe and Wonder in a Secular World;

Saturday, January 18, 9:30 am to 3:00 pm Workshop: Mystical Activism; Sunday,

January 19, 10:00 am, Matthew will preach at St. Laurence Anglican Church.

More info on Matthew can be found here.  More info on Matthew's events at St. Laurence can be found here. 

Save the dates:

Dave Hines, March 6-8: Wayfinding as Life: Disorientation and Reorientation.

Matthew Wright, May 5-8: Four-day Retreat at Kingsfold Retreat Centre

Pip Nicolls, September 17-20: Three-day Retreat at Kingsfold Retreat Centre

For more information on the Wisdom Centre, click here.

The All Saints Family Centre Society is a registered non-profit society connected to All Saints Anglican Church in Cochrane, providing community outreach.  We offer a variety of courses, workshops and retreats, as well as space for rent for courses, speakers and retreat days.  For more information or a tour of the facility, please contact Elizabeth Short at (403) 660-5636, or email Karen and Elizabeth at allsaintsretreatcentre@outlook.com

What's Happening Next Door at the Retreat Centre?: 

Sacred Space CoWorking: We have opened an ecumenical sacred co-working space for those who need a professional work setting free of distractions. The start date for our free pilot project has begun, with the space opening up for a fee starting in January.  If you are interested or would like a tour of the facility, please contact Elizabeth Short at (403) 660-5636 or send an email to allsaintsretreatcentre@outlook.com. You can also click here for more detailed information, pictures and pricing.

Spiritual Direction: We are excited to introduce Karen Wold who is a Spiritual Director and part of the Ministry Team for All Saints Retreat Centre.  For more information on what she has to offer or to get her contact information, please click here.

For more information, click here.

Rev. Larry Keddie asks our prayers for ongoing and challenging medical issues.

Please remember in your prayers:

- Archbishop Greg, during this time of sabbatical;

- those who are sick or suffering;

- those who have died and those who mourn, remembering especially today the family of Ali McCormack, and those whose lives were lost in the downing of Flight PS752, and those affected by this tragedy; 

- the victims of the violence and natural disasters, remembering those affected by the wildfires of Australia, and the earthquake in Puerto Rico;   

- our Companion Diocese of the Windward Islands, and their Bishop Leopold Friday.

Request a prayer:

Send prayer requests to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca to let us know how we can pray for you.  We will only use first names which will be removed after two or three weeks.  We will also pray for you during our regular Chapel services each week.  Please ensure that you have permission from those whose names you are submitting for prayer, and that they understand their name will be made public to all who subscribe to the Newsletter.

We are interested in what is happening in your parish and would love to highlight those events and news in our newsfeed.

We look forward to your contributions - feel free to forward your event announcements, your parish news, your stories.  Send in your details and pictures to communications@calgary.anglican.ca.