• Those who are sick, suffering, or in need: Sharon, Elizabeth, Julianna, Chris, Eleanor, Fred, Raymond, Gail, and Dorothy.
• Those who have died and those who mourn.
• Health care workers, school staff, church leaders, and the many in various situations navigating the ending of provincial COVID-19 restrictions.
• Organizers and Delegates of Rupert's Land Provincial Synod taking place this week in Prince Albert, SK.
• Archbishop Sixbert and the Diocese of Buyé (Updated list of Twinned Parishes).  
• Our relations in Christ from Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 First Nations, from the Métis Nation of Alberta, and from the Métis Settlements in Alberta.
• Click here if you would like someone's name included in this prayer list. We will use first names only. Names are kept on the list for two weeks unless intentionally renewed.

MAY to AUGUST Diocese of Edmonton Prayer Cycle:  PDF  /  WORD

*Content note: sexual misconduct

A pastoral response to the announcement last week of the resignation of former National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Mark MacDonald, due to acknowledged sexual misconduct.

Pastoral letter to the Edmonton diocese: PDF

Read about the organised efforts of rural communities in the Edmonton diocese who are helping Ukrainians in the May 2022 edition of The Messenger.

On the evening of Wednesday, April 20, the Living Spirit United Church in partnership with All Saints’ Anglican Church offered the Blanket Exercise to the Drayton Valley community. Twenty-six people participated in the interactive educational program to learn the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada. It was an exercise many said they would not forget. Participants explored the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, how this relationship has been damaged over the years, and what can be done to work towards reconciliation.

Bishop Stephen London invites your interaction on the theme Together on the Way, which will guide discussions at the 68th Synod of the Diocese of Edmonton, Oct 21-22, 2022. Please read through the document and/or the summary of the document that the Bishop has prepared. Click on the button below to share your response. Thank you for being part of this discussion as the Diocese of Edmonton discerns and navigates The Way from Here.

Bishop Stephen looks ahead to Rupert's Land Provincial Synod in Prince Albert, SK. He also encourages parish participation in "Daring to Share" - an Ecumenical Shared Ministry workshop to be offered on Zoom by Canon Dr. Scott Sharman. 

In getting to know the diocese, Bishop Stephen London continues to travel to parish communities, meeting and praying with as many people as possible. He is also scheduled to attend provincial and national episcopal gatherings this spring:

• April 27: Deconsecration of St. John the Baptist, St. Paul
• April 28 to May 1: Provincial Synod, Prince Alberta, SK
• May 4: Ask the Bishop Zoom Conversations
• May 8: St. Matthias, Edmonton
• May 15- 20: Living Our Vows Bishop's School, Virginia
• May 22: St. David’s, Edmonton
• May 29: Confirmation, St. Paul’s, Edmonton 

Following are opportunities to support Ukraine financially:

• Vegreville and Area Stands With Ukraine
• PWRDF Funds for Ukraine
• Canadian Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal
• Canada-Ukraine Foundation

The Remembering the Children diocesan weaving project is at St. Luke's Anglican Church, 8424–95 Avenue, Edmonton, until May 8. The project began at Christ Church on Ash Wednesday, facilitated by members of the diocesan Indigenous Ministries Team and lay evangelist Alison Hurlburt, a weaver. 

Edmonton Cursillo is a very active group! They are currently looking for a secretary, a treasurer and a music coordinator to round out the leadership team. Can you spare a couple of hours each month? No experience needed! Contact cursilloedmonton@gmail.com for more information.

Join us for the return of the Huge Spring Rummage Sale - a tradition in Old Strathcona, Edmonton for 50 years! POSTER

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 101 Street & 84 Avenue NW
*Friday, April 29, 12:00 – 9:00 pm
*Saturday, April 30, 9:30am – 3:00 pm  

Donated items will be accepted from Sunday, April 24 to noon on Wednesday, April 27. Masks are encouraged. Thank you! 

The Cursillo Community will help serve a dinner at St. Faith's Anglican Church on April 29 and we would love for you to join us. We will meet at 4:00pm to help with set-up and get prepared to serve the supper meal. We will also be involved in the clean up and should be finished by 8:00pm. Get in touch at cursilloedmonton@gmail.com if you have any questions.

An informal Zoom gathering to hear Bishop Stephen London speak about what's been happening at the national, provincial and local church levels, and answer your questions. Wednesday, May 4, 12 pm  /  Wednesday, May 4, 7 pm

Please join All Saints' Cathedral in honouring and remembering missing and murdered Indigenous people on May 5, Red Dress Day. Prayers will be held at 9 am, followed at 10 am by a march at Churchill Square. All are welcome. Please wear red.

St. Thomas's Anglican Church in Sherwood Park is hosting a reconciliation event on Saturday, May 7 from 2:00-4:00pm. Join us for a fun and interactive conversation around reconciliation through smudge, prayer, stories and crafts as we dream together about reconciliation and how we can actively participate in this important work. Bring the whole family! All are welcome and encouraged to attend. We look forward to seeing you there! POSTER

The ACW Diocesan Annual Meeting will be held on May 7, from 9:30 am to 3 pm, in-person* at St. Matthias Church & Parish Hall,  6210 188 St NW Edmonton. All are welcome to attend the eucharist, and a presentation by keynote speaker Margaret Warwick, National President. The meeting will also feature reports on parish activities, followed by lunch. The cost is $20. For more info, please call Elaine 780-967-4836 or email acw.dioceseofedmonton@gmail.com . Physical distancing and masks are encouraged. 

St. Augustine’s Parkland Anglican Church, 131 Church Road, Spruce Grove, will hold its annual Plant Sale in time for Mother's Day on Saturday, May 7, from 10 am -1 pm. This sale features hanging baskets, a variety of planters and individual geraniums, dahlias, begonias, and may also include some of the new, colour-changing marigolds.

POSTER

The Church of God endures from generation to generation. However, what it means to be the local church in any given place and time is always changing. That is no different today. In a former age, when church attendance was high, and funding plentiful, it may not have seemed unreasonable for every urban neighbourhood or rural town to have six or seven different churches of varying denominations all within the space of a few blocks. Today, however, with shrinking church communities and declining resources being the more norm, it is no longer a matter of preserving the local Anglican, Lutheran, United, or Presbyterian church on a given street, but rather of trying to figure out how to maintain a vibrant Christian ministry presence at all. Ecumenical Shared Ministries (ESMs) represents a way of moving forward. Please join us for this workshop and discussion! POSTER

The Anglican Diocese of Edmonton and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Synod of Alberta and the Territories will host this celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Waterloo Declaration: the decision by the two denominations to enter into full communion with one another. Co-sponsored by the Anglican dioceses of Athabasca, Calgary and Yukon, the service will be held Sunday, May 15, 7:00 pm, in person at Hosanna Lutheran Church, 9009 163 ST NW, Edmonton and live-streamed online. POSTER

This year's Marriage Enrichment Weekend will include a series of live presentations online via Zoom, each followed by private writing and discussions offline. POSTER
**Friday, May 13, 7:00-8:30pm  
**Saturday, May 14, 8:00am-5:00pm  
**Sunday, May 15, 8:00am-1:30pm
Testimonial: "We decided to do a Virtual Weekend last year. We found the sessions & pace very good and we loved the discussions it prompted between us.  It definitely brought us closer together, we’d certainly recommend it to other couples. It has has lasting effects.” 

"Religious Dimensions of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict": You are invited to join Heather Coleman, Professor of History at the University of Alberta, specializing in Russian, Ukrainian, and modern European religious history, for the next Holy Trinity Speaker Series presentation on May 14,  11 AM, in the Upper Hall.

The Anglican Foundation of Canada has launched its 2022 Say Yes! to Kids fundraising campaign, which has two main goals: 

• Encourage parishes and dioceses in their efforts to reach and support youth, especially in a post-pandemic environment
• Move away from an unpredictable year-to-year grant application model to a more sustainable fundraising model 

20 teams throughout the country (parishes and dioceses) have joined, but there is room for more! The campaign runs until the end of June. The application deadline has been extended to May 3. Click below to watch the 8-minute campaign launch.

St. Augustine's of Canterbury, 6110 Fulton Rd, Edmonton, invites you to "Rewilding - an afternoon of shared learning, engaging speakers, a community tree-planting challenge, beer garden and local music. Entertainment starts at 3:30 pm. Discover local initiatives in permaculture, soil science, native plants and our local aspen parkland biome. POSTER

Registration is now open for Base Camp 2022, set to take place at Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park from July 3-8. Diocesan Camp Director, Dr. Mark Armstrong, is hopeful that Base Camp can go ahead after being postponed two years in a row because of the pandemic. For continued safe-guarding, all junior high aged teens who have had two COVID-19 vaccinations are invited to sign up to come and enjoy some summer fun.

St. Margaret's, 12603 Ellerslie Rd SW Edmonton, is in need of an Administrative Assistant. The position is available as of July 1, 2022, but the parish is open to filling it earlier. This is a 12-hour/week position; pre-Covid the hours were Tuesday to Friday. For more information, please see attached Job Profile or email the Rev. Tim Chesterton at stmrector@gmail.com

The Anglican Parish of Christ Church in Edmonton is a vibrant and growing city church, seeking an associate priest to join the team and share in supporting ongoing and emerging ministries. For more information, please see the job description. 

St. Mary's Anglican Church in Ponoka is seeking a new rector. This full-time position will combine .75 time with St. Mary's and .25 time with the Church of the Epiphany in Rimbey, a half-hour drive away. This arrangement has been made with the Anglican Diocese of Calgary, of which the Church of the Epiphany is part. The two parish profiles are combined here.

"Team Anglican" met and exceeded its goal of 100 donations of blood and/or plasma in 2021. For 2022, the bar is set higher, at 120. For privacy reasons, the diocese doesn't know exactly how much each person donates, but we currently have 42 donors on the team. 35 are listed as "active" and 12 of those have appointments to donate at some point in the future. 

Anyone who is able to offer this gift of life is encouraged to do so. If you'd like to join the team, Click here and enter our Partner ID: ANGL696986. To donate blood, call: 1-888-236-6283 or visit Canadian Blood Services.

Click on the button below to see a listing of online resources, including Sunday services and weekly prayer live-streams and videos, online study, music and children's ministry links. We continue to update this list, so please share your creative ways of being church at home! Send your ideas to churched@edmonton.anglican.ca

This year sees a convergence of holy days and seasons among the Abrahamic faiths during the month of April: Passover for Jews, Lent and Easter for Christians, and Ramadan for Muslims. As faith communities, these overlapping holy days afford us an opportunity to foster mutual understanding and celebrate our shared humanity while helping those who may not have enough in our society. And so, from April 15 - 30, parishes and parishioners have the opportunity to make a contribution to their local foodbank at www.give30.org/donate. Let's be generous, kind, and compassionate to the friend and the stranger alike and respond to selfishness with generosity, division with social solidarity, and meanness with compassion and kindness.

We are excited to announce the return of our in-person fabric sale, raising funds in support of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of The Stephen Lewis Foundation . Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 30, from 9 am to 3 pm, to peruse thousands of metres of fabric ($2-5/metre), yarn, notions, craft supplies and dress patterns. The sale will be held at Strathearn United Church, 8510 95 Avenue, Edmonton. Admission charge of $2 (cash only). Payment for fabric, etc. by cash or credit card. Masks required. Get up to date information on Facebook  or on our website 

Kokopelli Choir Association is thrilled to bring back its annual children’s choir showcase after a three-year absence. Song Quest returns to St. Andrew’s United Church (9915 148 Street NW) Saturday, April 30 at 1:00pm.

“We’re so proud of our three youngest choirs,” says Kokopelli artistic director Scott Leithead. “Years ago, we started including a concert just for them. Of course, that’s all been on hold for the past couple of years—so, for some of these singers, it will be their first time ever in front of a live audience.”

For details and tickets, visit kokopellichoirs.com/performances/upcoming-events. Attendance will be limited to allow adequate distancing, and masks will be required. For more information contact Tammy-Jo Mortensen, Operations Manager by email at tammy-jo@kokopellichoirs.comor by phone at 780-977-7295.

Food & Faith: Cultivating an Appetite for Change is the final public lecture in our Climate Hope Speaker Series. The Bible is a book about food; come discover a robust food ethic in scripture. Join Roy Berkenbosch, founding director of the Micah Centre at The King’s University, for an in-person or online evening on April 30 at 7 pm. Open to the public by donation. Phone 780-459-5511 or register at www.starofthenorth.ca/climate-hope 

Caring for others, responding to others, and coping with conflict and change on a continual basis is always part of the ministry of clergy. It can take its toll - especially in the context of a pandemic that has resulted in isolation, grief and loss, financial stress, and for some, despair. We believe that resilience arises and develops when self-awareness, self-care, and community and spiritual renewal are actively engaged. This 3-day workshop, to be held May 1-4, will provide a resilience development program with opportunity to reflect, interact with others, and to be seen, heard, and understood. The retreat is led by three skilled professionals: Marv Westwood, David Kuhl and Lin Langley. 

Registration is now open for the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Society of Scholar-Priests, in Denver, CO, June 9-10. Proposals for papers on Theology and the Parish are due by May 5.

Get all the details about the conference, including recommendations for lodging, at the Annual Meeting page on the SSP website. Or for questions about the society, contact locally the Rev. Dr. Myron Penner, rector at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Edmonton, who is Secretary of the society. St. Paul's phone: 780-455-0771.

The CRA Policy workshop will outline the obligations of parishes with registered charity status. It will be offered on Tuesday, May 17, from 12 pm to 1:30 pm. Topics covered include resources for charitable purposes and activities; maintaining adequate books; filing T3010 Annual Information Return; receipting of gifts; fundraising/allowable business activities. The presentation will be delivered via Zoom. Attendance will be limited to 15 people to allow for participant engagement and interaction. The cost to register is $50/person or $25 with multiple participants from the Edmonton diocese. To register or for more information, please email: david@oylerconsulting.ca 

Apply now for this paid internship. Participants will receive a stipend of $5,000 for this nine-week program as they hone their leadership skills, working with a service organization in Montreal, and respond to some of the most pressing issues of our time. POSTER 

The College of Emmanuel & St. Chad, the Lutheran Theological Seminary, and St. Thomas More College, all based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, invite you to this conference June 13 -16, 2022. The conference will be held entirely online and is the first annual summer learning event co-sponsored by the three schools of the Saskatoon Theological Union in partnership with St. Thomas More College. See the POSTER for more information.

Is your family looking to get away this summer to a place where the sun shines, children play freely and adults find soulful nourishment with others who are also looking for meaningful experiences? Find a program for you and your family at Sorrento Centre. Click here to take a look at the variety of courses and leaders who bring rich and dynamic programming.   

Providence Renewal Centre will offer the Presence program starting this fall. Applications are open now!

This two-year training program focuses on spiritual growth and faith development of participants, along with growth in prayer and discernment as crucial elements in spiritual direction training. A mix of  in-person and online learning, this two-year program runs 2022-2024. Visit the website for more information & registration documents, or call 780-701-1852 for more information. POSTER

In September 2022, the Anglican monastic community of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine will begin the fifth year of the Companions Program. This is an opportunity for women ages 21 and up to join the Sisters for 11 months either as a residential or online Companion. See attached POSTER for more info.