• Those who are sick, suffering, or in need: Evelyn, Anne, Roger, Rhea, Jen, Dan, Bob, Madison, Sharon, 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

Bishop Stephen London is pleased to appoint the Rev. Clare Stewart as Rector of the parish of St. Timothy's, Edmonton.

Bishop Stephen London is pleased to appoint the Rev. Philip Penrod as Interim Pastor-in-Charge of the Parish of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Edmonton, from May 5 to July 27, 2022.

The 50th Session of Synod of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert’s Land convened on Thursday evening, April 28, when delegates from the 10 dioceses gathered for opening worship at St. Alban’s Cathedral in Prince Albert. Beginning with Indigenous drumming and song, followed by a sermon from the Rt. Rev. Sydney Black, the tone was set for the gathering, which had as its theme, ‘Truth and Reconciliation: Our Journey Toward Freedom in Christ.’

In his message, Black, who is the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) interim national Indigenous bishop, said he senses that something is about to happen. There are “exciting days ahead.” He warned, however, against changes in the church that are merely “cosmetic.” 

“What is needed in our times,” he said, “is authenticity; not just numerical growth, but growth in spiritual depth… Let us re-imagine social, political and religious structures so they may generate relationships.”

Representing the Edmonton diocese at the 50th Rupert's Land provincial synod were, l to r: Shelly King (media), Archdeacon Richard King, Cathy Armstrong, Bishop Stephen London, Canon Chelsy Bouwman, Ian Bowden, Shelby Cook.

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 Steve invites you to join him on Wednesday for an informal Bishop's forum on Zoom, where he'll talk about what's going on in the diocese, Ecclesiastical province and the national church. He'll take questions about anything that's on your mind. You're encouraged to attend a prayer service at All Saints' Cathedral on Thursday morning, the national day of awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Everyone is also welcome to join the bishop for the opening eucharist of the ACW Annual Meeting on Saturday morning at St. Matthias.

Bishop Stephen London led a service for the deconsecration of St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in St. Paul on April 27. London described his first deconsecration of a parish as "an emotional service but also beautiful. It was profound to hear people come to the front and tell stories of what the parish meant to them. That will stay with me." You can read a story about the "little church with a big heart," by Clare Gauvreau, publisher of the St. Paul Journal, here. Photos: St. Paul Journal

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:

• May 7: ACW Annual, St. Matthias
• 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 

Bishop Stephen London, the Rev. Stephanie London, Jennifer Alexander (bishop's executive assistant), and Margaret Glidden (diocesan communications) recently visited Jonathan Havelock's photography gallery in downtown Edmonton to hear about his vision for a "Tree of Life" project - a multi-branch “trunk tree” comprising of trunks photographed by members of the interfaith community. Jon and Neris Havelock offered hospitality while describing their recent "The Forest: Common Ground" national unity project to engage people 42,000 kms across Canada. Stay tuned for more news about this exciting project!

Bishop Stephen London led the Cursillo Community in a commissioning service for our Cursillo Secretariat on Friday, April 22. He shared an awesome and very inspiring talk. Thirty-eight people joined us for the service at St. Timothy's Anglican Church in Edmonton. It was great to have so many come and support the commissioning service.

Women wore red ribbon skirts made at a workshop at All Saints' Cathedral to a prayer service on May 5, the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Joanne Jones led a smudge and prayer for the circle of people gathered in the chapel including members of the Edmonton diocese's Indigenous Ministries Team, Bishop Stephen London and community members who lit candles to honour and remember loved ones. The group then walked to Churchill Square to join the awareness march through downtown Edmonton.

"The words of our church are only as valuable as the actions of all of us. Thank you all for being here. We'll pray together and we'll walk together," said the Very Rev. Alex Meek, rector of All Saints' and Dean of Edmonton.  

Led by Gloria Rogers, a member of the Immanuel, Wetaskiwin Reconciliation Team, a group of parishioners gathered in Jubilee Park to hang red dresses to remember the Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit folk who are missing or who have been murdered. The red dresses are to raise awareness in both the city of Wetaskiwin and the four First Nations of Maskwacis, by breaking the silence about this important issue. On May 5, the National Day for Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, the reconciliation team held a memorial at the Wetaskiwin Peace Cairn. Together we will not forget, nor will we be silent. Submitted by Fiona Brownlee, Diocese of Edmonton Aboriginal and Rural Churches Liaison   

The Remembering the Children diocesan weaving project is on the road again! The travelling loom will end its visit at St. Luke's Anglican Church (8424–95 Avenue, Edmonton) with a final session on May 8, moving to All Saints' Cathedral for May 10-21. 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. 

St. Thomas's Anglican Church in Sherwood Park is hosting a reconciliation event on Saturday, May 7, from 2:00-4:00 pm. 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 Rev. Hugh Matheson, rector of Immanuel Anglican Church in Wetaskiwin, has shared a "Blessing for Mother's Day." Click here to read the blessing.

Summer activities for children have been around for a long time! Nowadays one may have choices between computer camps, soccer camps, day camps, vacation bible camps… but for many, the idea of summer camp brings back memories of campfires and being outdoors - often in proximity to a lake. It’s a time when kids can get away from the city, make new friends, and come home with memories that last a lifetime!   Diocesan Base Camp is being planned for the first week in July following a two-year hiatus, a time when we have all been living through a pandemic and life has been severely constricted. Camp is a chance to connect with the outdoors and with each other again.                     

Base Camp is an intense one-week experience for young adults who come on as volunteers. Training is provided to our volunteers to equip them for living in the wilderness (a provincial campground group site) with a pack of junior high students. There are opportunities to develop leadership skills: helping others, leading songs and skits, washing dishes, serving food, organising games, and managing conflict, all while being part of a close-knit community. 

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.

Novelists Tim Chesterton and Norma Gutteridge, of St. Margaret's Edmonton, invite you to join them for the launch of their Meadowvale and All Change series. The event will be held Thursday, May 19, 7:30-9 pm, at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church, 12603 Ellerslie Road SW Edmonton. The evening will feature interviews with the authors, a Q and A session, book readings, sales and signings, live music and refreshments. Please RSVP to tim.chesterton@gmail.com

POSTER

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

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.

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

Edmonton Cursillo would like to thank Cathy Ponech and Jenny Stuart for joining our Secretariat (leadership team). Cathy is coming on as Music Director and Jenny as Registrar/Treasurer. We are still looking for a secretary! No experience needed. Contact cursilloedmonton@gmail.com for more information.

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 is a series of outdoor urban gardening evenings with Clinton Porritt, combining ritual and reflection with hands-on good gardening practices and education around issues such as creation care and food security. 8 Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, May 4 to June 22. Cost: $120. Phone 780-459-5511 or register at www.starofthenorth.ca/holy-ground

Join Wanda Lehman in a safe environment for those who are bereaved; to share stories, gain support through one another, and learn strategies to assist with issues with your personal grief journey. 8 Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:00 pm, May 10 to June 28. Cost: $120. Phone 780-459-5511 or register at www.starofthenorth.ca/bereavement .

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 

Registration is now open for the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Society of Scholar-Priests, in Denver, CO, June 9-10. 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.

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.   

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.

A dinner for the Ven. Canon Terry Leer, who will retire as Executive Archdeacon for the Diocese of Athabasca at the end of June, is planned for Saturday, July 2, at the Belle Petroleum Centre, 9403 94 Street, in Peace River. During 40 years of ministry, Leer served in the Edmonton diocese, and most recently in the Athabasca diocese at All Saints’ Church, Ft. McMurray; Christ Church, Grande Prairie; and the Synod Office in Peace River as Archdeacon for Mission Development and now Executive Archdeacon. To attend, please contact Benita at the Synod Office at 780-624-2767, or email dioath@telusplanet.net. The cost is $35 per person. Please book early. 

The Studion School for Spiritual Direction offers a two-year program that combines teaching on topics relevant to the practice of spiritual direction with significant time spent in guided retreat and spiritual formation. The program is administered through The King's University in Edmonton and gatherings are held at Star of the North Retreat Centre in St. Albert. The next cohort is set to begin in January 2023. Please visit the thestudionschool.com for program details and to apply online.