On behalf of the Staff at the Diocese Office, may 2023 be a year of blessings, joy, good health and a closer walk with our Lord.  We thank you for allowing us to support your ministries. We consider it a privilege.

Often in a New Year we are bombarded with messages about goals and intentions for the coming year. Many of them may very well be good for us and even improve our lives.

But how many of us follow through on them?

And then we feel terrible.

I wonder what would happen if we committed to something that, on the surface, might seem simpler but I would argue has much deeper effect?

Fred Buechner once said, “What is perhaps the central paradox of our condition – is that what we hunger for more than anything else, is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else.”

What if, this year, we worked on knowing ourselves the way God knows us? What if we spent time getting to know others as God’s beloved?

There is a tenderness in being known and knowing another. It is a tenderness that the God who is love, is expecting to share with us. We are, after all, simply sharing what we know of God, in ourselves when we are being ‘missional’.

So how do we do this?

One simple way is to use a tool like the Examen. It is a practice made famous by St. Ignatius of Loyola. It is a kind of review of the day and only takes about 10-15 minutes. It includes 5 simple steps:

1. Becoming aware of God’s presence

2. Reviewing the day with gratitude

3. Paying attention to emotions

4. Choosing one feature of the day and praying from it

5. Looking forward to tomorrow

If you would like to know more, you can visit www.ignatianspirituality.com or you can join us in the Examen workshop coming soon (see poster below).  

The Diocese of Calgary is hosting the national General Synod this coming June. We are in need of one more Volunteer Coordinator for the following:  

Transportation Coordinator: This person will arrange for buses to bring delegates to the Uof C on day of arrival and take them back to the airport on day of departure.  

If you are willing, or know of someone that might be a good fit, please contact The Ven. Dr. Pilar Gateman. 

Induction:

Archbishop Greg will, God willing, conduct a Service of Induction for Rev. Chris Dowdeswell as Incumbent of The Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Calgary, on Sunday afternoon, January 8, at 4:00 pm. Clergy are asked to attend to support their brother in his ministry.  Color is White.  

Ordinations: 

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce that, God willing, he will ordain to the Diaconate Margaret Hogarth of The Church of the Good Shepherd, Calgary.  She will be a Transitional Deacon.  The Service of Ordination will take place at Good Shepherd, Calgary, on Wednesday, January 18 at 4:00 pm.  Please pray for Margaret as she prepares for her new ministry.  Color is White.

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce that, God willing, he will ordain to the Priesthood The Rev. Deacon Brent Schulze, of St. George, Stettler.  The Service of Ordination will take place at St. George, Stettler, on Wednesday, January 25 at 6:00 pm.  Please pray for Brent as he prepares for this new ministry.  Color for this event will be White.

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce that, God willing, he will ordain to the Priesthood The Rev. Deacon Adam Bedford.  The Service of Ordination will take place at Christ Church, Calgary, on Sunday, Febuary 5 at 4:30 pm.  Please pray for Adam as he prepares for this new ministry.  Color for this event will be White.

January 7: Anglican Fellowship of Prayer Day of Prayer, Holy Cross, 9:30 - 3:30

January 8: Bishop's Visit to St. Andrew, Calgary, 10:30 am

January 8: Installation of The Rev. Chris Dowdeswell, The Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, 4:00 pm

January 10: High River Deanery Clergy Lunch

January 18: Ordination of Transitional Deacon Margaret Hogarth, The Church of the Good Shepherd, 4:00 pm

January 21: Theology of Worship Course via Zoom

January 22: Bishop's Visit to St. John the Evangelist, Claresholm

January 25: Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Brent Schulze, St. George, Stettler, 6:00 pm

January 28: Diocesan Council meeting

February 5: Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Adam Bedford, Christ Church, Calgary, 4:30 pm

The Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Calgary, is seeking a well-organized and computer literate Office Administrator to work closely with our new Incumbent, ministry teams, and parishioners as we envision our future.

Please find information on our website (Resources/Job Postings).

Application deadline is January 9, 2023.

The Anglican Fellowship of Prayer of the Diocese of Calgary invites you to join Jesus on his journey from Galilee to the Jordan River.

Please save the date for Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at 6:30 pm, for the first session of an eight-week series attempting to bring tangible and practical ideas to a much-misunderstood topic.  Together we will be meeting at the St. Luke Church Hall in Red Deer to explore how we can move closer to God and enjoy a more abundant life through developing a better understanding of our emotions.  

God gave us our emotions and yet many of us struggle to accept them, understand them, or use them to make better choices.  As well, we are often paralyzed when bad emotions persist, leading us to believe we have done something wrong or that God has abandoned us.

As we work through some concepts in psychology, we will also be reading through the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.  Ven. Noel Wygiera will be augmenting our discussion with his own reflections.

For further information, please call Phil at (403) 598-1792.

Our January Book Study will be from Do I Stay Christian?  A Guide for the Doubter, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned by Brian McLaren.  This online study in three parts will be led by The Rev. Christine Conkin, and go from 7:30 pm until 9:00 pm MT.

January 11: Introduction & Part 1 - "No"

January 18: Part 2 - "Yes"

January 25: Part 3 - "How?"

To register, click this link.

The Diocese of Calgary Anglican Cursillo Annual Meeting (AGM) will be held at St. Barnabas Church in Calgary at 7:30 PM on Friday, 13 January 2023. Cursillistas are encouraged to attend either live or via Zoom. Login details to follow with the on-line option. 

Open Chair positions for this AGM are: Secretary Chair, Communications Chair, and Pre-Cursillo Chair.

Please let the Secretary, Stew Perram, (stewp@telus.net) know if you have any nominations to put forward. There will also be the opportunity to nominate from the floor.    Brief descriptions of the roles for the various Chair positions can be found on the Calgary Cursillo Movement's website.   

One of the agenda items for the meeting will be to seek community approval of the Calgary Anglican Cursillo By-laws which have been updated recently. The document will be made available via the website for your review prior to the meeting.    

The Calgary School of Discipleship is pleased to announce the Theology of Worship Course will take place on Saturday, January 21 from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm, and will be led by Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson.

Do you have an interest, calling or are just curious about Pastoral Care? Maybe you want to be better equipped to support your church community, friends or your own family. We are all called to care and care deeply, with and for one another. Maybe this is a “brush up” opportunity or time for skill refreshing. Please consider this is an invitation to join us. Together we will reflect on who we are as pastoral caregivers and how we can use what we have to perhaps lessen the burden or another. Pastoral care is in part about intentional listening, reflecting and the ministry of presence, rooted in our love for each other and our faith in Jesus.  

In this course, there will be a bit reading and/or reflecting as preparation for each of the evenings. There will be learning through new information, sharing, wondering and skill development. A pastoral community will form on its own.  

I am extending this opportunity on Tuesdays in February and March 2023. This is a Zoom class.  

Dates are: Pastoral Care Course 2023: Tuesdays – February 14, 21, 28, March 7, 14, 21, 28. The time is 6:30 pm – 8:45 pm. 

Deadline to register will be February 3 or a full class.    

There will be a minimum of 6 people and a maximum of 15.      

Please register with Rev. Tracey at pastoralcare@calgary.anglican.ca. Questions are also welcome. This course has some space available and a waiting list will be offered. 

Are you looking to form a parish Pastoral Care Team, or have one and want to learn from others?  If so, I would invite a member or two-ish from each parish to join us.  

Working with your parish leadership to form, reform or enhance your parish pastoral ministry, we will look to explore some growth and learning areas. Some of our areas of discussion will be around:

~ Assessing your parish needs in a manageable way

~ Team ministry – different models

~ Pastoral responsibilities

~ Working with members of the parish who want to be part of a ministry team

~ Training and mentoring

~ Addressing confidentiality and privacy  

We will have opportunity to learn from each other around the diocese and form a larger pastoral care community. There will be some guest speakers and group discussions.  

When and How: Invitation is to join by Zoom on Saturday, February 11 from 9:30-11:30 am.  

If you are interested, please email The Rev. Tracey Stagg to register and receive a zoom link. Questions are also encouraged. Registration Deadline is February 8, 2023. 

On behalf of the 2023 Images Planning Committee, this is your invitation to the 33rd Annual Images of Spirituality gathering (in-person again).  Come and join with other women to celebrate God's great gift of a creative spirit within each of us.

Friday, March 31 to Sunday, April 2, 2023 at the Entheos Retreat Centre

Please watch for more details, as we are in the process of developing the theme and other details.

As a follow-up to the End of Life/MAiD Conference held last September, we would like to direct interested folk to a Roman Catholic program entitled Horizons of Hope.  Registration can be found here.

Leadership Transformations Inc. is providing workshops in January and early February which are nourishing to the soul.

Please consider enrolling in one or more, by clicking this link.

The former custodian at St. James Anglican Church in Ranchlands has some cleaning equipment available to a good home.  These items include mop buckets and handles.  These are free to another congregation who might like them.

Fraser's ad on the Kijiji website can be found here, or he can be contacted at (587) 433-3208, or email him here.

The Director of Music will be a change leader.  VAPC is embarking on a period of transition as we seek to implement our "Guiding Principles for Worship and Music" and the vision being developed by the Session and ministry team.

The Director of Music will support Sunday worship services with music that is diverse, multi-generational, multi-cultural, inclusive, affirming, and which is consistent with our theological stance.  

This position is part-time permanent with flexibility, reporting to the Minister.

For the complete job description sheet, and information on submitting a letter of interest and resume, please contact the Diocese Office.

Please remember in your prayers:

- those who are sick, suffering, fearful or in need, remembering those suffering from COVID-19 and their caregivers, those feeling isolated and those who are vulnerable;  

- for peace within our country, and in the world, remembering the countries of Ukraine and Iran; we pray for areas of unrest and riots, asking for wise discernment in our leaders;

- for Monica, Howard, Terry, Janet, Victoria, Rick and Deb, Donna, Don, Adrian, Caroline, Barbara and Elizabeth;

- for those who have died and those who mourn;

- for the poor, the homeless, and the needy in our communities;

- the victims of violence and natural disasters;

- our Indigenous brothers and sisters, and their new leaders in our diocese and country; 

- refugees, remembering those fleeing the Taliban regime, and those fleeing war in the Ukraine.

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 ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca.