May 16th, 2009
Dear Colleagues,
Last Wednesday, at our Annual General Meeting, at St.
George’s Church, Place du Canada, I was struck by the spirit
of gladness as we greeted one another. This past year we
have come to know one another in new ways. We have enjoyed
learning together at our Study Day, at Saturday workshops
and during our retreat at the beginning of April.
We have experienced
moments of profound and personal sharing and have received
support from one another and from our Pastor Tim Smart.
When I attended the PWRDF Annual Meeting on Thursday, May
14th, I counted 11 Lay Readers there. We share a passion for
Mission as part of our ministry. Lay Readers always seem to
find the time to support Diocesan initiatives. We want to
learn and we enjoy the fellowship we share every time we
meet.
This is my first message to you as your new president. I am
so grateful for the strength of our executive, and I know
that many others of you are prepared to assist in so many
ways, according to your skills and interests. We will
certainly be calling on you, and the coordinators will
invite you to be part of a team.
We have a number of new French Lay Readers. Some I have not
even met. I hope that we can support them better in the year
ahead. Yolande Ferron and Constance Middleton-Hope have
offered to invite them to meet at the Cathedral from time to
time, to get to know them, to share the news of our
Association, and to offer support for their ministry.
I am hoping that a number of you will take the time to write
brief anecdotes about your experiences as Lay Readers. We
would love to include these stories in our Newsletters and
on our website. Just email them to me at
swinn2006@sympatico.ca
I hope you will all enjoy some time of rest over the summer
months. The Fall will be a busy time of Diocesan
celebrations, a Conference Synod, a Study Day on November
28th with the Right Reverend Dennis Drainville, Bishop of
Quebec, and our own Bishop Barry, and a Spring Retreat,
April 30th to May 2nd with Patricia Bays, well-known author
of books for Anglicans in ministry. In addition we will
enjoy monthly workshops and service to our churches. We have
so much to look forward to.
In closing I share with you a prayer used in a Bible Study
at the Anglican Consultative Council in Jamaica this month.
I find it very compelling.
“God of passion and
power,
Insistent and immediate,
Challenging, compelling us with your story’s breathless
beginning,
Walk with us into the wilderness
To hear your voice where silence reigns.
Give us insight, the wisdom beyond all seeing.
So may we look upon heavens torn open
And know that the time of good news for all creation
Is always now.”
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