Mother’s Day! Confirmation! Easter! (Wow!)
Dear St. Stephen’s church family,
Blessings and grace and peace be to all of you!
A few things of note:
1. Gift Basket Assembly for Women’s Shelters—
Thursday at 1 pm.
All welcome to come and prepare these signs of God’s love and care.
2. ConfirmMitzvah
Saturday, May 11th at 5 pm.
All welcome to attend this special parish wide event celebrating the confirmation candidates in their journey of faith. Bishop Chris Harper will be our honoured guest! The evening begins at 5, supper at 5:30, presentation of each candidate and then a social time including a square dance with caller. $5 donation gladly accepted to help cover costs. If you are planning to attend and haven’t signed up, please send us an email so we have an idea of numbers.
3. Confirmation
Sunday, May 12th at 10:30 am
Presided by Bishop Chris Harper. As if this wasn’t special enough, it’s also Mother’s Day! Cake and coffee following the service.
4. Vestry Meeting
Thursday, May 16th at 7 pm
Parish Cycle of Prayer:
We hold Confirmation candidates Garen, Quinlyn, Nathan, Henry, Josh, Kaiden and Rachel in our prayers.
We pray for Ted and Jeannette, and for Kathleen M and their families.
As many of you know, Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, died on Tuesday morning. He continues to be an inspiration to me (and Wyndham! 😊) and has deeply impacted my Christian faith. Jean listened to God and responded, by initially inviting 2 men from an institution to live with him, sharing life together. This simple but profound embracing of those who had been rejected by society, led to a deep joy and discovery of his own vulnerability and brokenness and the gifts of those whom had disabilities, not to mention the birth of many L’Arche communities all over the world. The following is a small example of the many gems of lived spiritual wisdom Jean will continue to share with the world. May he rest in peace and rise in glory!
Communion did not come easily to me. I had to change and to change quite radically. When you have been taught from an early age to be first, to win, and then suddenly you sense that you are being called by Jesus to go down the ladder and to share your life with those who have little culture, who are poor and marginalized, a real struggle breaks out within oneself. As I began living with people like Raphael and Philip, I began to see all the hardness of my heart. It is painful to discover the hardness in one’s own heart. Raphael and others were crying out simply for friendship and I did not quite know how to respond because of the other forces within me, pulling me to go up the ladder. But over the years, the people I live with in L’Arche have been teaching and healing me.