News
CLWR Appeal – BC Flood
Massive floods and landslides have devastated parts of British Columbia, destroying roads and leaving several mountain towns isolated. At least three people are missing, some 18,000 people are displaced and authorities expect death tolls to rise.
CLWR invites you to pray for the people of British Columbia, and to consider making a gift to support recovery efforts. As we move to quickly identify partners well-positioned to respond effectively, your gift will provide emergency support and hope for recovery.
CLWR is accepting donations now on its website at clwr.org/BCfloods .
Donations can also be made by phoning our office at 1.800.661.2597 (Monday to Thursday, 9:00 – 16:00 CDT) or by mailing a cheque to 600-177 Lombard Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 0W5.
Thank you for responding in love to this emergency.
Blessings,
Karin Achtelstetter – Executive Director
Canadian Lutheran World Relief
New Life at Edgewood Farm
| An Update from Edgewood Farm: Camp Edgewood is now home to ecologically grown produce! Jones Family Greens, the new owners, (www.jonesfamilygreens.ca/) are farming approximately 2 acres of what once was the sports field (area near the pool and cabins). Matt Jones is lead farmer, and is generously sharing the farm’s news with the Eastern Synod, but is also asking that people not visit the farm directly unless they have made arrangements in advance with him (email jones_matt@rogers.com). Produce is currently available on Wednesdays at the Rockwood Farmers’ Market (4-7pm) and Saturday at Waterdown Farmers’ Market (8am-1pm). Crops include many different organic/heritage varieties of lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli, fennel, tomatoes, beets, winter squash, cucumbers, parsley, onions, and cilantro. Future plans include a wash station at the in-line Cabin, a large greenhouse in the center of the old sports field, and a Farm Store in Berner Hall. Currently the family uses the old Chapel for COVID safe family gatherings and drying of garlic. In addition to the 12 acre farm property including the majority of the camp buildings, the Director’s house & picnic shelter are home to a lovely family of five. Cedar Lodge is being demolished to make room for a new home for a family of four from Guelph. The 38 acres of wetlands, woods, creek and trails transferred to rare Charitable Research Reserve and are under their stewardship. Parking for the trails is at Memorial Park and access is near the end of Park Street. All three families tapped the maple trees this spring for maple syrup. Keeping some traditions alive! The Jones’ are offering two crosses from the Chapel at Edgewood. If someone would like one please contact Matt at jones_matt@rogers.com. |
Staff Changes at the Synod Office
This summer has seen some changes to our Eastern Synod office team. Sue Heimpel, who has been the Synod’s Accounting Assistant for almost nine years, is retiring. Sue has been a great support and delight to work with over these past years and we will be sad to see her go. As we wish Sue a very happy retirement, we welcome a new member to our team.
Danielle Arsenault is the new kid on the block and we welcome her as the new Accounting Assistant. Danielle comes with over 15 years financial experience in a variety of different areas. She is married with a young son and hails from St. George. Danielle is bilingual and is sharing her language skills with her son. She enjoys board and card games and is an avid hockey fan. As well, she is a die hard Gilmore Girls fan, which some of you may recall as a fan favourite. Danielle can be contacted at darsenault@elcic.ca and at extension 217. Please join me us welcoming Danielle to our team.
Best Practices for the Safe Resumption of In-Person Worship
Dear Colleagues,
Grace and peace be with you!
Attached, please find a document outlining my office’s recommended Best Practices for the Safe Resumption of In-Person Worship. We have created this document in response to the many inquiries we have received these past few weeks from rostered ministers and congregational leaders who are contemplating a resumption of in-person worship.
I recognize that some will receive these recommendations as being unduly restrictive or not restrictive enough. This is understandable given the broad geographical expanse of our synod. I do believe, however, that they are appropriate and responsible.
Read more →All About Relationship
For most of my time in ordained ministry, I have been privileged to participate in efforts to build and nurture our Full Communion relationship with the Anglican Church of Canada. Through this work I have been blessed beyond measure!
During my term as co-chair of the Anglican Lutheran International Coordinating Committee I was privileged to experience how Lutheran-Anglican partnerships were, or were not, being lived out around the globe. And I can say, with more than a little pride, that our international partners consistently marveled at the scope and breadth of how Full Communion was being lived out here in Canada. Joint National Assemblies. Full recognition and transmutability between traditions for orders of ministry. Joint Lutheran Anglican congregations. They wondered how any of this was possible. In response I would say that anything we’d accomplished was fully dependent on the depth of our lived relationships.
Our 2001 Full Communion declaration did not fall out of the sky “fait accompli”. It was proceeded by an 18-year process of careful and conscientious relationship building across various expressions of our respective churches.
In 1988 Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Burlington, Ontario, where I then served as pastor, was one of dozens of Lutheran and Anglican congregations across Canada that were asked to engage a designated local partner. In our case, we were partnered with St. Luke’s Anglican Church and thus began a wonderful and enlightening series of shared worship, learning and fellowship gatherings. Neighbourly relationships were established.
In 1989 our respective churches chose to enter into an experience of interim eucharistic sharing; wisely recognizing that unity at the Lord’s table would be the means, rather than the end, of experiencing deeper unity. And so, across the nation, Lutherans and Anglicans gathered at one another’s altars to share Christ’s body and blood. Sacred relationships were nurtured.
In 1991 National Bishop Telmor Sartison and Primate Michael Peers made a commitment to hosting an annual gathering of our church’s bishops in a retreat setting for the next ten years. Telmor and Michael knew that if full communion were to become a lived reality it would all depend on having established real person to person relationships with one another. Collegial and trusting relationships were forged.
By 2001, all that remained was for our two churches to publicly acknowledge what we had already experienced in relationship; that we, in fact, were churches whose relationship was one of Full Communion in Christ. And so that relationship continues to grow and deepen today.
As I reflect upon my own experience working with the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission, it is not the countless conversations, papers, negotiations and meetings that stand out for me. Rather, it is the deep friendships that were established and nurtured; relationships whose strength provided the means by which we were able to engage the important work that our churches had set before us. Like most everything in life and discipleship, it’s really all about the relationships. And how could it be otherwise?
From left: Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Very Rev. Peter Wall, Bishop Michael Pryse and National Bishop Susan Johnson at tree planting to commemorate 10 years of Full communion in 2011.