Burying Time Capsule

Burying Time Capsule
1859 - 150th Anniversary of Parish - 2009 (photo by Scott & Debbie Travers )

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Easter Blessings

An Easter Prayer
Of all of God's gifts
Easter shows us our fate
Forgiven we will rise
And pass through Heaven's gate

This Easter remember
The sacrifice of a Son
And through His resurrection
Eternal life we have won

This Easter I pray
That the love of God
Is resurrected
Reborn, renewed
Inside your heart
God Bless You!

~anonymous~

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Room for more With Hope in Mind participants

     This article appeared in the Journal-Pioneer newspaper on March 25, 2013 - http://www.journalpioneer.com/News/Local/2013-03-25/article-3207259/Room-for-more-With-Hope-in-Mind-participants/1
    With Hope in Mind programs underway Alberton facilitators for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s With Hope in Mind program, Janet Mortimer, left, and Jacquie Lidstone, review the outline for the program’s eight sessions. There is room for more participants in the Tuesday program in Summerside and the Wednesday night program in Alberton. The free program is designed for family members of people living with mental illness. Eric McCarthy/Journal Pioneer
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     ALBERTON – Family members helping a loved one cope with mental illness should never lose sight of their need for self-care, Janet Mortimer and Jacquie Lidstone stress. They are the Alberton facilitators for With Hope in Mind, a program directed at family members of people living with mental illness.

Programs run one night a week for eight weeks, and different topics are covered each week.
“It’s a family to family educational program with trained facilitators,” explained Les Wagner, CMHA regional director for Prince County.
“The goal of this program is to make people aware that self-care is very important,” Lidstone said.
Family members of a person with mental illness “can have a very positive impact on the kind of life their relative has, if they have these coping skills,” Lidstone explained, “and you can have a very positive impact on your own stress level when you’re involved with the types of communication skills, and just knowing the information, the expectations of someone with a particular illness.”
Mortimer took the program several years ago and described it as a lifeline.“You’re not alone,” Mortimer said. “You’re with other people. You can share your experience without being judged, because everybody knows, more or less, what you’re talking about.
“There’s part of the program that says you didn’t cause the mental illness, you can’t control it and you can’t cure it,” Mortimer said.
Participants gain a better understanding of mental illness and acquire coping skills that enable them to be more help to the person with mental illness and to other family members.
There is also a support group atmosphere to the confidential sessions, Lidstone said, indicating participants share only if they feel comfortable doing so.
The Canadian Mental Health Association currently has two programs underway in Prince County, Tuesdays in Summerside and Wednesdays in Alberton, from 7 to 9 p.m. Anyone interested in joining a program should phone 436-7399 or 853-4180 for details. There is no cost to join.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

PWRDF Lent Resource: Lent 5 Poverty

PWRDF Lent Resource: Lent 5 Poverty John 12: 1-8
     We are reminded that the poor will always be with us - and that as much as we do, there will always be more work.  We are challenged to be generous but also to acknowledge our own needs and to do so without guilt.
image cf. http://www.layeducation.org/

     This week we will consider how poverty impacts what we eat - our ability to grow or purchase food, the quality of what food we eat, and how much we are consuming.
     Mon: We Want - Health.  Is your spiritual life healthy through diverse practices or does it need new variety?
     Tues: We Don't Want - Inequality.  Is your spiritual food worth fighting for?
     Wed: Mix it up - Consumption.  Is the time you spend in spiritual development carefully budgeted or is it time spent in a luxuriously impulsive way?
     Thurs:  In the Garden - Environment.  What are the pests that have impacted your spiritual growth in the past?  What action are you taking to prevent future repetitions?
     Fri: Going Back to the Source - Access.  Do we recognize those areas in our own lives where we are spiritually poor?  How do we interact with those around us whose spiritually poverty we recognize?
     Sat:  The Process - Production. How much would you labour to receive spiritual nourishment?

     The following photos were taken at this morning's service at St. Peter's Church, Alberton.
     Above: the choir sings the recessional hymn.  Below: Rev. Andrew and Lay-Reader Jan at the closing of the Morning Prayer Service.
Below: parishioners happily greeting one another.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Palms are here!


Hi Friends,
     The palms are here. I am happy to make all the crosses for Palm Sunday - but I don't want to deprive others of the fun and pleasure of it if they want to make crosses.
     I am suggesting a get together on Wed March 20 at 10:30 am in St. Peter's Hall for palm cross making.  And I thought I might have palms available for cross making on Friday at Games Night too. I could give a lesson on making the crosses in church this Sunday and also supply palms and instructions to anyone who wants to try making a few at home. 
     The St. Luke's Sunday School will make some crosses this Sunday. I will reserve some palms for church decorating as well. We have a smaller bunch of palms this year than last year. Please spread the word to those who don't have email. Thanks!  
-  Janet (and Rev. Andrew)
 These are photos from Palm Sunday last year - 2012

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Impossible Made Possible

From Melba Anderson’s Windows of Worth
When I say, “I can’t,”
God says,” I can.”
When I say, “I’m not,”
God says, “I am.”
When I say, “I won’t,”
God says, “I will.”
When I say, “I’m empty,”
God says, “I’ll fill.”
When I say, “I’m weary,”
God says, “I’m rest.”
When I say, “I’ll surrender,”
God says, “I’ll do the rest.”
“For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1: 37 KJV)


PWRDF Lent Resource: Lent 4 Generosity


PWRDF Lent Resource: Lent 4 Generosity Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
     In this fourth week of Lent we are considering what it means to be generous. As we are considering those things that others do without, we are becoming more aware of those things that we have to share. We are called to recognize opportunities to reach out, and to do so with joy in our hearts. We are challenged to focus on the benefits of giving to enhance the wider community, rather than the disappointment that can be felt at perceived personal deprivation.
cf. http://hipsterchurch.blogspot.ca/2011/10/does-it-pay-to-be-generous.html
     This week we will reflect on the role of generosity and sharing within our food system.
     Mon: We want – Health. Does your faith benefit from both short and long-term sustenance? 
     Tues: We Don’t Want Inequality. Do you hoard the blessings in your life or do you celebrate them in community? 
     Wed: Mix it Up- Consumption. We all work better when we are not hungry; is your faith at its top potential or does it need to be fed? 
     Thurs: In the Garden – Environment. Is there sufficient room in your faith to continue growth, or do you need to seek out creative new spaces? 
     Fri: Going Back to the Source – Access. Do you provide for your spiritual development as frequently and as cleanly as you provide your body’s water needs? 
     Sat: The Process – Production. How accessible is your spiritual home? How often do you visit?
cf. Parish Bulletin - March 10, 2013

Saturday, March 2, 2013

World Day of Prayer, March 1

     This year the service for World Day of Prayer is held at the Church of the Nazarene, Elmsdale, P.E.I.
     Here's some information about the day - cf. http://www.wicc.org/history-prayer/

The History of the World Day of Prayer
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER >>HISTORY OF THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
The origins of World Day of Prayer date back to the 19th century when Christian women of the United States and Canada initiated a variety of cooperative activities in support of women’s involvement in mission at home and in other parts of the world. These activities related to the following areas:
Concern for women and children
Women had a strong sense of identification with the needs of women and children and searched out ways to provide appropriate support. In spite of strong resistance from all-male mission boards, in 1861 and the following years, women founded numerous and effective women’s boards for foreign and home missions whereby they could work directly with and for women and children.
The role of prayer in mission work
Since 1812 women encouraged one another to engage in personal prayer and take leadership in communal prayer within their mission auxiliaries and associations. This emphasis on prayer led to annual days and weeks of prayer. In 1887 Presbyterian women called for a Day of Prayer for Home Missions and Methodist women called for a Week of Prayer and Self-Denial for Foreign Missions. A Baptist Day of Prayer for foreign missions began in 1891. In 1895, a day of corporate intercessions for mission was initiated by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Anglican Church of Canada.
Women had a vision of Christian unityThat was seen as essential to their exercise of mission. By 1897 the women of six denominations formed a joint committee for a united day of prayer for home missions. In 1912 the Woman’s Boards of Foreign Missions called for a united day of prayer for foreign missions
Study was everyone’s responsibility
Following the Ecumenical Missionary Conference in New York City in 1900, women organized an inter-denominational Central Committee for United Study that prepared publications, summer conferences, study days and courses so that women could become informed about the lives of women in other parts of the world and could study biblical foundations and issues related to mission work.
Women organized interdenominational structures
That were effective and cooperative. For example, in 1908 women founded the Council of Women for Home Missions that took responsibility for joint work with immigrants and other social issues and for preparation of the joint day of prayer.
Women celebrated their commitment
In 1910-1911 women celebrated the 50th Anniversary or Jubilee of women’s missionary activity by organizing a series of speaking engagements across the United States that provided women with a powerful experience of what they had achieved in ecumenical cooperation, in local and global linkage, in prayer and information sharing, and in biblical reflection. All of this had been in the hands of women. Out of this experience many local interdenominational women’s groups were formed.
Women linked world peace with world mission
After the devastation of World War I, women incorporated the conviction that world peace was intrinsically tied to world mission. Therefore, women renewed their efforts for unity.
In Canada
Presbyterian women called together representatives of women’s missionary societies from five denominations in 1918 for united prayer and action. This committee, which now has expanded into the ecumenical Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada, organized the first national Day of Prayer in Canada on January 9, 1920.
In the United States, the first Friday of Lent was established as a joint day of prayer for missions, beginning on February 20, 1920. Due to the enthusiastic facilitation of local denominational and interdenominational women’s groups, the day of prayer spread rapidly throughout the USA. Canadian women took up the same date in 1922.’
World Day of Prayer comes into being
In the second half of 1926 the women of North America distributed the worship service to many countries and partners in mission. The response worldwide was enthusiastic. By the beginning of 1927 the call to prayer that was issued was for a World Day of Prayer for Missions.
In 1928 this statement came from the World Day of Prayer Committee:
It is with deep gratitude that we recognize the growing power inherent in our World Day of Prayer. The circle of prayer has expanded literally around the world. We have learned the great lesson of praying with, rather than for, our sisters of other races and nations, thus enriching our experience and releasing the power which must be ours if we are to accomplish tasks entrusted to us.
In 1928 during the International Missionary Conference in Jerusalem, women delegates from many countries agreed that worldwide participation would be a bond of unity among women. Helen Kim of Korea was chosen to be the first woman outside of the United States to write the order of worship for the World Day of Prayer in 1930.In 1930 The Federation of Women’s Boards of Foreign Missions of North America coopted ten women from all over the world as corresponding members. Plans for a world committee for WDP were proposed for 1932, but depressed economic conditions prevented its implementation.
In 1941 the coordination of World Day of Prayer within the United States became the responsibility of an interdenominational movement now known as Church Women United. Coordination with other countries was carried out by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America.
In 1969 The World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations decided to change their international day of prayer from March to May in order to take part in the World Day of Prayer.
It is from these roots that World Day of Prayer has taken its present shape. World Day of Prayer has moved with women wherever their lives have taken them.
For information on World Day of Prayer goals and the international executive committee, click here.