The Arcadia Trio

Tickets are $ 15.00 and available through the Parish office at St Paul’s 905 871-6704 or at the door.

I met Brittney Hebbourn a while back through her guitar teacher Jim Yorfido of Fort Erie, Ontario. She is SO talented. Aside from her good looks and beautiful voice, she has an energy about her that is very contagious.”
John La Mond , Country 106.5 WYRK Radio, January 7, 2011
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Net proceeds to support the ministry of St. Paul’s
St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 32 Idylewylde Street, Fort Erie, ON

For Tickets please phone: 905-871-6704

Tours of the Church & Cemetery will be available along with a brief historical overview of the St Paul’s.

Raffle prize draw – craft table – jewellery table – bake table – penny sale

For Tickets call 905 871-6704

Saturday April 7th at 7:00 p.m.

 Tickets are $ 20.00 per person

Phone the Church Office at 905-871-6704 to purchase

St. Paul’s, 32 Idylewylde Street, Fort Erie, ON

Elton’s last concert at St. Paul’s was a SELL OUT so order your tickets early!

When I thought of Jesus and his 40 days in the wilderness I was humbled by his willingness to enter into silence for such a long period of time. I’ve practiced meditation since long before I was ordained. And now after 17 years of being a priest I find myself having to re-commit to the practice of the presence of God in mediation. Like so many of us I’ve used the excuse that I’m too busy to put in the time I know I need in silent prayer.

Well it’s the season of Lent a time to prepare, to renew and recharge in expectation of Easter. And so for me it’s time to enter the wilderness of my own heart and soul through silence. My plan is 40 minutes a day ( you can guess where I got that number from ) 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening.
What are you doing for Lent to prepare for the great joy of Easter?

Fr. Mark

Can you put yourself in that crowd? It’s tempting to imagine a great sea of people like you see gathered in an arena for a concert. This is a far more humble gathering. The room is small, smaller than most of our living rooms. The gathering takes place in the lakeside village of Capernaum. Think about August in Fort Erie, feel the heat, and the humidity, and maybe there are 30 or 40 of us jammed into a tiny room, no windows, no air conditioning. Sure the front door hangs open but there is a crowd crushed against it straining to hear the man speak.

Jesus wasn’t like the prophets before him in how he spoke. Elijah called down a ball of fire from God on a mountain top to make his point. And who can shake the image of Charlton Heston playing Moses, never mind that the Moses we meet in the pages of the Bible bears no resemblance. He still looms bigger than life. Of Jesus it’s been said his reserve set him apart from these prophets before him. In Jesus, they say God spoke so softly that not everyone heard.

So this soft spoken man is holding court in a tiny house, the poor folks of Capernaum have gathered and in their midst some Scribes found their way in. What are they doing here? Respectable, religious men – risking all sorts of uncleanness by hanging out with these people. Obviously they’d heard of Jesus and came to see for themselves. It’s not hard to imagine them, arms crossed, tight lines on their faces, sitting erect not wanting to hear, not wanting to see, pushed up against the back wall of the room, outsiders, on the fringe of the action.

And then the dirt starts to fall from ceiling, bits of dust to start, chunks of dried mud soon follow. What in God’s name is happening? In our heady and lofty intellectual culture, it is all too easy to assume that Jesus, the incarnate God is wafting above us. Religion is lived in the head and not the heart. And now we know where we likely sit in this gospel – along the back wall with the scribes. It’s an uncomfortable place – but here we are. And if this story is to be lived in our lives, it might be true that to get to Jesus we might have to dig some, there may be some dirt and mud to be removed from the story of our lives,
Jesus might equally be below us as above. The miracle of the roof diggers in Capernaum is a story of dirt and depth, and not a lofty intellectual flight of the mind. And we’re no more comfortable with that thought than the Scribes were.

But this story is about more than just you and I. The bed hits the dirt floor, bodies leap out of the way, the dust rises and fills the room yet again. And the preacher just smiles. It’s been said that real life is lived in our interruptions. That couldn’t be more true in this hot lakeside room.

Did you hear him, did he really say it ? …… “Child, your sins are forgiven.” ……..What are we going to do with that? We like to think we’ve grown in our understanding of sickness since that hot night in Capernaum, that we’ve got our heads right about all that. Intellectually maybe we’ve broken the iron chain between sickness and sin. It all works in theory till a disease comes along we’ve never heard of – and some folks get sick – and it’s got to be their fault. The decade of secrecy and shame that surrounded the AID’s epidemic, and that still lingers amongst some good religious folks, exposes just how quick we’ll revert to that hot night in Capernaum, and link the iron chain again between sin and sickness. But not the preacher that night – he’s never shared our thinking on sickness and sin.

One of the last centuries great Christian thinkers pointed out that Jesus wasn’t actually forgiving the sins of that man on the mat that hot night by the Lake, he was simply proclaiming that in the sight of God the man was sinless. God wasn’t offended by the man on the mat’s humanity, by his rude intrusion into the room that night.

What Jesus saw, was a man in need of freedom. This nameless man on the mat was socially and physically chained to his sickness. On that hot night all we saw was a man with physical defect and if one of us though “there but for the grace of God go I,” a line that bears the weight of scripture – but that you won’t find in the Bible we wouldn’t have thought it strange or impolite. But what Jesus saw was a man in need of compassion…….“Child, your sins are forgiven,”

And once again God did a new thing. And it’s a mystery why it always comes as a surprise when God forgives. It was at least two thousand, five hundred years ago that the writer of our passage from Isaiah wrote these words from God:
“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? . . . . . . . .
I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins.”

And yet we sit with the Scribes arms crossed, tight lines on our faces, sitting erect not wanting to hear, not wanting to see the freedom that is in Christ for all of humanity. St. Paul struggled with our attitudes. To the good church folk of Corinth he wrote ; “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you . . . . . was not ‘Yes and No’; but in him it is always ‘Yes.’ For in him every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes.’

What is it in you and I that always wants to qualify that yes with a ‘but’ – what is it in our makeup that continues to take delight in placing obstacles to freedom in other folks paths through life? Why was it that we were so surprised that hot night by the lake in Capernaum when the man got up, and immediately walked out? Could it be that we’re paralysed by our fears?

I remember, another hot summer day. I was in a hospital hallway. On my way to get a coffee. I was walking and talking to the woman who was in charge of pastoral care at the hospital. And I’ll be honest she scared the living daylights out of me. She could look through all your pretension and fears and pull out the secret you didn’t want to share with anyone. And she frequently did just that to her students. I imagine that the young man in that hot lake side room in Capernaum had that gift to and likely he’d shared it with her.
Well as we walked down the hall a young man fell to the floor gripped in some kind of seizure – and the hall way froze in time. Doctors, nurses, visitors, theology student – we all just froze and watched.

And then she jumped on the floor with him and held him and kept him from doing serious harm to himself and she began yelling orders and the room came back to life and the young man was attended to. How is it that she alone had the freedom to come to that young man’s aid? She didn’t think – “there but for the grace of God go I” She was moved to compassion, moved to act. What did she posses that I didn’t?

That was 18 years ago and I’ve thought about that moment a lot over those years and I think she wasn’t afraid of life. I think she knew God loved that young man on the floor racked with pain. I think she didn’t care what anyone but God thought of her.

And so this morning as I think of her, and I think of that hot night by the lake in Capernaum and the young man and his quiet words of forgiveness and healing I wonder; Isn’t it time we blew the roof of the lie that God is deeply offended with any of his children, isn’t it long past time that we make ourselves feel good by feeling bad about other people who we can define as less than us in some foolish way. I wonder when the preacher is done venting his spleen at God’s enemy of the week – alchohol, drugs, the lottery, gay people, Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, liberals, conservatives and the like have we any freedom left in us to share the Good News of the gospel with God’s people?

I wonder and I dream of a God and a people who can dare to do a new thing; Who will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert of this modern life for others; who will give water to all of God’s people, the great multi coloured diverse sea of people whom God formed for herself so that they to might declare God’s goodness in their lives.

I thirst for a community that believes and lives out the ancient truth that Isaiah preached and Jesus lived that God, really is the One who blots out our transgressions and who does so for God’s own sake, a God who will set us free and not remember our sins. And I thirst for a people who desire to do the same for one another and for their neighbour.

And I wonder – can we leave that hot room on the lakeside in Capernaum and live the freedom God offered us all that night? Can we pick up our mats and walk into God’s great glorious new day of freedom, compassion and love for all. I pray to God that one Sunday soon I’ll have that freedom for compassion and love in my life – and in the mean time I’ll keep coming back Sunday by Sunday – until I do. And I pray you will to. Amen.

Services during holy week at St Paul's Anglican Church

Services during Holy Week at St Paul’s Anglican Church

Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Dinner invitation

The Parish of St Paul’s celebrates Shrove Tuesday, February 21st with a Pancake Dinner in the Parish Centre Hall from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Dinner for Adults – $ 8.00 / Children under 12 $ 4.00. All are invited and welcome to come and share a meal together.

I recently read that Churches should include on their web sites some helpful suggestions for those who might be considering attending worship for the first time.  So here goes my attempt.

It is a bit strange but the back door at St. Paul’s is really the front door.  So if you’re on Niagara Blvd turn up Gilmore Road and turn left at Idylewylde Street which is your first opportunity to turn.

This will bring you to the back of St. Paul’s and our parking lot

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And I have good news for you; we have a parking spot just for you!

 Just look for the green cross – your space is reserved.

                 The red doors are you way into our parish centre – no steps just walk right in.

 Once inside you’ve got a bit of walk down the hall towards the church

Notice the washrooms on your right and the coat room just before you turn right into

The church entrance or Narthex as we like to call it.

If you brought food for the food bank we have a shopping cart here for you to drop it off in.  And on your right just at the church doors is a lectern where you can add names to our prayer list for the week.

Now you’ve arrived at our worship space.  You came in the back door but it lands you at the front of the church, I know it’s backwards, but this way you didn’t have to walk up any steps!

 The choir normally sits in the pews behind the digital piano so other than that pick a pew you like – none of them are reserved for anybody other than you! 

Well I hope that helps you find your way into St. Paul’s for Sunday Worship.  There will be folks to help you out if you have any questions and there are lots of signs.   So please, we’d love to see you any Sunday at either 8:00 am or 10:00 am.

Fr. Mark Gladding

Cameron during service on January 29 2012

Cameron and Congregation members are always ready to welcome visitors to St. Paul’s, not only in months that have 5 Sundays, but every Sunday.

Stop in any Sunday and be sure to say ‘hello’ to Cameron.

May that Silence & Center find you this Christmas!

Fr. Mark+

St Pauls cat gets into Christmas Spirit a picture with Santa Claus

The S.P.C.A. of Fort Erie held a fundraising photo opportunity for residents of Fort Erie and Area to have their pets picture taken with Santa or Christmas attire December 17 at St Paul’s Anglican Church.

Wendy, Manager of the SPCA said, “It was very successful and well received day with lots of photos taken by Chris of Lakeshore Photography. Our appreciation goes to the people of St Paul’s for hosting us for this event, this venue worked very well.”

Cameron – the Parish Cat – was adopted by the Parish from the S.P.C.A. approximately three years ago.
The S.P.C.A. website can be found here: http://www.forteriespca.ca/

St. Nick's Day Publicity

The St Nicks Ladies of St Paul’s Anglican Church host a shopping day for children on the first Saturday in December. This event is greatly anticipated every year, with this year topping 175 shoppers. Items are priced between .05 cents to $ 5.00 and each child is accompanied by a ‘Shepherd’ to help assist with their shopping.

December 18 th
Nine Lessons & Carols – Candlelight Service - 7:00 p.m.

Christmas Eve
4:00 p.m. Children’s Service  - 8:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Christmas Day
9:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist

Christmas at St. John’s Anglican Church

Saturday December 10 th
An Evening of Christmas Music presented by David & Nicholas Coppen-Mawer 7:00 p.m.- $ 10.00 per person.
Light refreshments following the concert

Christmas Eve Worship @ St John’s

Holy Eucharist @ 6:00 p.m.