• Those who are sick or suffering: Amy, Elsie, Norman, Stephanie.
• Those who have died and those who mourn.
• Our brothers and sisters in Christ from Treaty Six and Treaty Eight First Nations.
• Bishop Sixbert and the Diocese of Buyé (List of Twinned Parishes).
• Request a prayer Click here to email the Synod Office and let us know what you would like 'pray-ers' in the diocese to pray for. We will use first names only for personal prayer requests.

Special events commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation brought Edmonton Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics together in a renewed spirit of ecumenism. Inspired by these gatherings, members of Ascension Lutheran Church began talking about ways they could continue connecting. On Saturday evening, March 3, they welcomed leaders from the local ecumenical community and 60 of their friends for an Ecumenical Meatball Cook-off.  

The ecumenical panel of judges sampled seven different meatball dishes and, after much deliberation (by candlelight), awarded first, second and third prizes. 

Gathering to celebrate the 7th Annual Interfaith-Habitat Works project on February 27, were representatives of many faith traditions, including: Anglican, Christian Reformed, Jewish, Mennonite, Mormon, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Sikh. After a warm welcome to all, Harold Roscher, Edmonton Native Healing Centre Director, shared a Cree blessing and prayer. 

“Heavenly Father, bless this work done together by the interfaith community on Habitat for Humanity’s housing project with gifts of strength, courage, wisdom, compassion and love as we seek to bless our neighbours and friends with a new home."

The decision between paying the ever increasing rent or providing enough food for one's family is the dilemma facing too many hardworking families. By participating in the Interfaith-Habitat Works project, you can change people’s lives by helping Habitat for Humanity provide affordable housing to families in need.

This spring faith communities will be volunteering at the Carter Place and Fort Saskatchewan projects to build a total of 74 affordable homes. The project hopes to engage 500 volunteers!

For more information, go to https://www.hfh.org/ or email volunteer@hfh.org or 780-451-3416, ext. 237.

How can people in your congregation get involved? Please see attached POSTER for details and check out the Recruiters' Package to sign up. It is that easy. No experience necessary. Volunteers are also needed to provide lunch for the crews. You decide which volunteer opportunity best suits your congregation. 

Here is a video (just under 2 minutes) that you can show at your place of worship: https://youtu.be/6lCmOZ3RpiA

Please share this Flyer in your church bulletins.

The Neighbourly is a monthly publication of the Capital Region Interfaith Housing Initiative, of which the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton is a founding and active member.

It is our pleasure to announce that Bishop Jane Alexander intends, God willing, to ordain the Rev. Ruth Bott, Curate, St. Mary's, Edmonton; the Rev. Andreas Sigrist, Curate, St. Luke's, Edmonton; the Rev. Christopher Cook, Deacon-in-Charge, St. John the Baptist, St. Paul; and the Rev. Billy Isenor, Assistant Curate, St. Augustine's Parkland, Spruce Grove; to the priesthood on March 21, 2018, 7:00 pm, at All Saints' Anglican Cathedral, Edmonton. Your prayers and presence are requested. Clergy are invited to vest. The colour is white.

Our Bishop is always on the move! Here are some of the events which Bishop Jane will be attending over the next few months: 

• Mar 15: Speaker for U of A Faculty Women’s Club

• Mar 29: Maundy Thursday 10:00am service for clergy, All Saints' Cathedral, Edmonton

• Apr 8: St. Luke's Edmonton, commissioning Pastoral Visiting Team

• Apr 9-13: House of Bishop’s Meeting

• Apr 18-23: Michael Harvey visiting the Diocese* revised dates

  Are you hoping Bishop Jane will attend your event or visit your parish? Fill out the Parish Visit Form or contact Jennifer at assistant@edmonton.anglican.ca

Please join us on March 16 at our monthly Ultreya, a gathering open to all seeking encouragement and inspiration for their Christian walk. Enjoy live music and healthy (ahem) treats. This month's speaker will describe the peace God offers in any storm and explain how we can accept and share that peace. There will be thought-provoking conversation, laughter, song, fun and fellowship. Please contact our Fourth Day Chair at ted@iwonder.ca if you need more information or help with car-pooling.

You are invited to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Inner City Pastoral Ministry (ICPM) at a dessert & coffee evening and Annual General Meeting. The Guest Speaker will be Harold Robinson, who adjudicated Indian Residential School claims for many years. Harold will speak on reconciliation issues and the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). For more info, see attached POSTER

This is an interfaith education and prayer gathering during Christian Holy Week to reflect on and pray for our work together as communities, and as a city, to address homelessness. The Interfaith Housing Initiative will offer three reflections on our work together past, present and future. 

Please note: The annual Education Chaplaincy Dinner is earlier than usual this year and at a new location! The dinner is an important fundraiser for the diocese's Anglican Student Ministries. Tax receipts are issued for a portion the cost of the ticket and all additional donations received. The theme this year is "Gracious Speech" with guest speakers Andrew Murtagh and Adam Lee, authors of Meta: On God, the Big Questions, and the Just City (an Uncommon Exchange).

Please print off this 11x17 POSTER to display in your church!

The Anglican Educational Chaplaincy has a new email address. You can now reach the university chaplain by emailing: Anglicanstudentministry@edmonton.anglican.ca 

All women in the diocese are invited to the ACW Annual Meeting. A time of worship, fellowship and reflection on the call God has over the work and witness of the ACW centered on the theme “The Love of Jesus Calls Us,” will feature guest speaker the Ven. Richard King, Archdeacon for Mission and Discipleship.  Invitations and registration forms are in the mail to each parish and to all Life Members. Watch for their arrival. Please share the info with others and return registrations before April 15. For more info, see attached LETTER

Bishop Jane Alexander will help lead a Women of the Bible pilgrimage in Jerusalem, from June 5-14, 2018. The 10-day course, offered by St. George's College, tells the ancient stories of women in the Bible and their struggle, joy and tragedy. The itinerary will take participants from Jerusalem to Galilee, then back through the Jezreel valley and Samaria.

St. George's new promotional video features a member of our diocese. Halcyon Clark of St. Andrew's, Camrose travelled to the Holy Land in celebration of her 50th birthday last Easter. She highly recommends the pilgrimage through St. Georges. 

Base Camp heads north this summer! Save the week of July 14-20 for a fun-filled adventure on the shores of Lesser Slave Lake. Watch for details and registration early this spring.

Contact: 

The Ven. Travis Enright, Archdeacon for Indigenous Ministry: rev.enright@gmail.com / 780-477-5931

Fiona Brownlee, Aboriginal and Rural Communities Liaison: f.brownlee@edmonton.anglican.ca / 780-312-9070

Resources: Please see the Indigenous Ministries section of the diocesan website for leaflets, web links and other resources to help you pray and act for reconciliation. Please see the City of Edmonton Indigenous Relations Office to subscribe to their Community Bulletin.

The "Indigenous People and the Christian Faith: A New Way Forward" Conference, hosted by the Canadian Centre for Scholarship and the Christian Faith, will feature keynote speaker Dr. Cheryl Bear, an award-winning musician and faculty associate with Regent College in Vancouver from the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation in British Columbia. She and her family, in a camper, have visited over 600 indigenous communities in both the USA and Canada.

The conference will also feature the artwork of many indigenous artists, including Alexander Angnaluak, whose colourful artwork is displayed on the conference poster. Alex is Inuit and the Governor General of Canada’s recipient for the National Aboriginal Role Model award. 

Register on eventbrite. Included in registration fee are snacks, lunch, banquet and parking. 

There are a limited number of Clergy Grants to attend free, and Student Grants. POSTER / INFO

All of us in the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton — Indigenous and non-Indigenous — can be ambassadors for change and further reconciliation and healing by actively seeking opportunities to learn. By taking the #Next150 Challenge via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you can join others from across Canada in discovering new books, music, movies and art.

St. Stephen the Martyr, 11725-93 St, Edmonton:

Bible Study - Tuesdays during Lent (February 20 – March 20) at 7:00 pm

In keeping with the Immanuel Anglican Church Women of Wetaskiwin's annual goal of contributing to needs of our community, several of the ACW group, as well as seniors of two local residences, took out their knitting and crocheting needles to produce Comfort Cuffs for dementia patients. Once the cuffs were completed, we joined together as a group to decorate the cuffs with "fiddle" items such as buttons, lace, ribbons, and pompons.

Dementia patients can often be anxious and confused and they tend to fiddle. With the cuffs, they can put their hands inside or just on top and use the items that are sewn on to provide comfort and to keep their hands busy. The cuffs provide visual, sensory and tactile stimulation. Twenty-four cuffs were donated to two local dementia units. Submitted by Sheila Kluczny, Immanuel, Wetaskiwin

March 7: “Baroque Meditation” Josephine van Lier – Baroque Cello, with special guests

March 14: “Reflections” Music by Handel, Debussy, Schubert and more – Nansee Hughes, Soprano with Spencer Kryzanowski, piano

Please join us for an exciting and enlightening lecture-discussion series on monthly Saturday mornings at Holy Trinity. A 30-minute lecture is followed by 30 minutes of discussion. Refreshments provided. 11am to 12pm in the Upper Hall.  

**April 7 – Nathan Kowalsky: “Evil, nature, and God”
**May 5 – Mildred Thill: "Forgiveness in the Bible and What it Means to us Today"

For more info: 780-433-5530 or church.office@holytrinity.ab.ca

St. Matthew's, St. Albert parishioners engage in a Lenten discipline of daily prayer and meditation entitled "Come to the Desert." In the Gospels, Jesus often urged His followers to make the effort to periodically withdraw from life in order to have special time with God. Jesus Himself made it a habit, prior to major teachings or miracles, to withdraw to a quiet, lonely place in order to draw strength in prayer from His heavenly Father. So, with thanks to Carolyn Dunlop and her artistic ability to create a desert wilderness within our Sanctuary, we offer daily times of mediation and silent prayer each Lenten Monday-Thursday, from noon-1:00 pm. As well, during our Tuesday evening Lenten Eucharists at 7:00 pm, we incorporate time in prayer in our Desert, for those unable to meet during the day.

Nearing the midpoint in our journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter, you are invited to join us and come away to a quiet place to check in with your spirit and with God. For more info, see attached POSTER.

ST. STEPHEN THE MARTYR ACW is hosting an Irish Stew Dinner in celebration of St. Patrick. Please join us. Admission is $10 (free for children 6 and under). A Vegan Alternative will also be offered. POSTER

POSTER

Please join us at St. Aidan and St. Hilda, Rexboro (Highway 16, seven kms west of Wabamun overpass) for our Easter Sunday service of Holy Communion (BCP), to be followed by lunch and Easter treats. Please don your most creative Easter bonnet and join in a good, old-fashioned Easter parade!

Mental Health in Congregations: Edmonton City Chaplain John Dowds will be presenting on this important topic at an ELCiC Congregational Life Event on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 40 Holmes St, Red Deer, AB T4N 6L6. 

Exploring Death, Grief, And Mourning: An evening with Dr. Alan Wolfelt to discuss a compassionate program providing support in your personal grief experience will be held Tuesday, March 13, from 7 to 9 pm, (doors open and book sales available at 6:15 PM) at the Westin Hotel, 10135-100 Street. There is no fee to attend, but seating is limited. To register, call Park Memorial Funeral Home at 780-426-0050 or online. BROCHURE

The Art Of Companioning The Mourner - Caring Versus Curing - A Complimentary Seminar For Caregivers: This informative workshop, anchored in Dr. Alan Wolfelt's "companioning" model of grief care, will help enhance your knowledge and skills related to supporting people experiencing grief and loss. It will be held Wednesday, March 14, from 9 am to 12 noon (doors open and book sales available at 8:15 AM) at the Westin Hotel, 10135 - 100 Street. There is no fee to attend, but seating is limited. To register call Park Memorial Funeral Home at 780-426-0050 or online. WORKSHOP BROCHURE

Workshop 1 in the Healing the Healers Series
April 6-7, 2018 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm each day) Focusing on forgiveness, relatedness, meaning and hope, this workshop addresses how "leaning into" or facing spiritual pain has a profound impact on those receiving and giving care. Tools will be provided for detecting and alleviating spiritual and emotional distress in times of loss, transition, illness, and at the end of life. $475 includes refreshments, lunch, a manual, and an opportunity for monthly support between workshops. Those in a care-giving profession may consider this an opportunity for professional development. There will be a registration discount of $100/person for groups of 5+ people. POSTER

Slow Down: Retreat Days with Sandy Prather: from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm March 15 and April 19. A Slow Down Day is your opportunity to rest your body and refresh your spirit. Each day consists of thought-provoking presentations and time for personal reflection and prayer; small group faith sharing is an option. $40 per day

There are lots of opportunities this spring for relaxation, recreation and renewal at Kuriakos on Sylvan Lake. POSTER
**Youth Retreat (March 23-25) Don't wait for summer! Youth ages 13-18 welcome.
**Renew Retreat (April 6-8) A women's retreat led by guest speaker Terrie Coombs.
**Family May Days (May 18-20, FREE) Come help at our annual Work Weekend. 

Vacant Lot Cultivation Pilot Project: The City of Edmonton will be offering new opportunities to garden on City land for the 2018 growing season. They are looking for conscientious gardeners who want to cultivate food or flowers on municipal land, between April 1 to October 31, 2018. Apply online until April 15, 2018.        

The King’s University with Christian Stewardship Services are hosting a free clinic on creating an effective will and estate plan that is tax-smart, protects your family, and uses current and future gifts to impact charities that are important to you. The clinic takes place Thursday, March 22 at The King’s University, 9125 50 St NW, Edmonton. Come for 12:00 pm in room N-101. Lunch is included. Lawyer Andrew Geisterfer has donated a 50% discount coupon for his services to attendees who want to have their will done within six months of the clinic. To RSVP, email development@kingsu.ca or call 780-465-8314.

The Faith, Worship and Ministry Committee of General Synod calls for nominations to the Companion of the Worship Arts 2018. Please see attached Nominations Form. The honour will be conferred at the ELCIC/ACC National Worship Conference, Responding to Disaster: Prayer, Song, Presence, July 16-19 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia.   

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden will discuss research security and the social impacts of cyber surveillance via livestream in two physical locations: University of Alberta North Campus, Edmonton, (Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science CCIS 1-430); Augustana Campus, Camrose, (Lougheed Performing Arts Centre). This event is free to attend and open to the public, but a ticket is required. Tickets can be ordered online at a limit of two per person. RSVP online here. Larger groups of tickets for the Augustana Campus location can be reserved through the Lougheed Performing Arts Centre box office (780-608-2922 / boxoffice@camroselive.ca).   

The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) seeks new member nominations for the PWRDF Board of Directors: The Board attempts to reflect the diversity, gender and geographical balance of Canada. This year we would particularly encourage the nomination of lay people. Terms are for three years. Besides attending Board meetings in April and September, Board members engage in committee work between Board meetings. Nominees should be comfortable sharing responsibility for developing policy. 

If you identify suitable candidates, please encourage them to stand for election. Fill out the attached FORM with the nominee. Signatures are required from both the nominator and the nominee. Please email to Michelle Frost: mfrost@pwrdf.org; or FAX: 416-924-3483; or mail to: 80 Hayden Street, Toronto ON, M4Y 3G2, no later than Palm Sunday, March 25. Elections will be held at the Annual General Meeting on September 28. For more info, see attached LETTER

The 38th annual Outdoor Way of the Cross invites people to think about the relevance and importance of the Gospel message in our world today, around the theme of “Speaking Truth to Power.” Each station offers a reflection on an aspect of the overall theme that highlights both a challenge and a source of hope, woven together with music. POSTER

Prepare for spring and the opportunity to grow produce for Edmonton's Food Bank by attending the Gardening 101 talk by Jim Hole. Reserve you seat by registering at Eventbrite: Gardening 101 with Jim Hole. For more info, email Judy Yawney: foodhub@edmontonsfoodbank.com POSTER

This September, 2018, the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine in Toronto will begin the third year of its Companions program. It is a FREE opportunity for women aged 21 and up to spend a year living alongside the Sisters – building community, learning from a healthy traditional community, and developing spiritual disciplines that they can take out into their future lives. For more information, or if you would like a Sister to come to your parish to speak about the program, you can email Sr. Constance Joanna Gefvert, Companions Coordinator at: cj@ssjd.ca  Applications accepted until June 15, 2018. BROCHURE / POSTER

Edmonton Chamber of Volunteer Organizations (ECVO) has started volunteerconnector.org, an online database for Edmonton non-profits to advertise volunteer opportunities. Interested in posting your volunteer opportunities? Fill out this short form.

We in the Synod Office would like to check in and find out how well the Synod Scene is serving you. Click below to give us your opinion or, if you're not online, call Margaret or Shelly at 780-439-7344 and we'll take your ideas over the phone.