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THE ANGLICAN PARISH OF ST MARK AND ST PHILIP
MAY NEWSLETTER
TRANSITION UPDATES
Phase 1 of the Transition is coming soon. During the month of May, staff and volunteers will
be working to prepare space for Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut (HMPA) to share building space.
Preliminarily, this means removing all that is in storage in the storage room off the upper hall so that
HMPA will have space to move out of their building those things they wish to bring with them. As
well, the “Assistant’s Office” which Leslie Miles has primarily used, will be vacated so that it can be an
office space for HMPA and Fr. Phillip. Brian, Leslie, and Katherine will begin to share two office spaces
beginning June 1st.
On Saturday, May 9th, we will host a pot-blessing supper so that members from both
congregations may have more opportunity to fellowship together. At 4 PM we will have an “Open
House” so that members of HMPA who have not been in the building can become familiar with it and
we can together set up for the pot-blessing supper so we can begin eating at 5 PM. Following supper
and clean-up, HMPA will hold their regular Great Vespers Service at 6:30 PM in our worship space,
creating an opportunity for members of SMSP to experience a form of Orthodox worship.
On Sunday May 31st, we will celebrate our last Sunday in the worship space before significant
changes occur. We encourage you to bring your cameras to take pictures of the space (particularly the
chancel area) before furnishings are removed. At the end of the 10:30 AM service, we will move some
articles which adorn the chancel to the nave where that part of our liturgical practice will continue.
Following the 10:30 AM service, there will be a luncheon in the Lower Hall provided by the Parish
Council from funds set aside for this purpose.
Beginning Monday, June 1st, the pews in the chancel and the first six pews on each side of the
nave will be removed to storage along with the chancel screen and altar rail, and some other pews in
storage in the building. Memorial Plaques have been or will be removed from these articles and a
new plaque made which will display all these memorials. Some pews will be repositioned in the nave
along the north and south walls. HMPA is working on the possibility that their Iconostasis can be
moved and if it can, it would be mounted at the top of our chancel steps (where our present chancel
screen is). At the end of the week, Saturday, June 6 th, HMPA will hold their Saturday Vespers service in
our worship space at 6:30 PM. They plan to meet at their building at 6 PM and bring (parade) the
numerous icons which adorn their church down to our church for that service. Any from our
congregation who would like to join in this are welcome.
Beginning Sunday, June 7th, our worship times and space will change. The service and
fellowship schedule will be as follows:
8:00 AM
Holy Communion – said Book of Common Prayer (the former 8:30 service) will be held
in the nave in the first pews on the south side of the building (close to the stained glass windows).
The Altar will be placed in front of that side of pews. This service will be followed by the usual
fellowship time in the Fellowship Room.
11:00 AM
Fellowship Time – Coffee time – prior to the 12 PM service.
12:00 PM
Holy Communion (alternating between the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of
Alternative Services) in the Nave of the church. The Altar will be between the chancel steps and the
first pews in the centre of the space.
At both services, people will be invited to come forward to receive communion standing.
We may find this change unsettling and strange to begin with – we will need to grow into a
new space for our worship with the primary difference that we will not have access to the chancel
area. I anticipate that as we worship together in this new way we will discover new opportunities and
ways in which to worship God afresh , and welcome your comments and suggestions as we discover
together the way to make our praises to God in an altered space.
Parking has been a big concern (as reflected in the last survey to the congregation). The
Transition Team is requesting of both congregations to use the parking lot to the west of the building
as “Barrier-free” parking. This means that those stalls are reserved for persons with mobility issues
who need to park near the church but who may not have a parking placard for persons with
disabilities.
Many more administrative details continue to be worked out through the Transition Teams in
conversation with Parish Council, the Corporation and the Diocese. This process will continue on for
the foreseeable future as we continue to work out how to live together in one building.
I continue to ask for your prayers as the transition begins. During the months of June, July and
August, we will get used to living together in one building, sharing space and fellowship together.
During these three months, I expect much to shift and change as both congregations move toward
September when church programming tends to begin (there will be no Sunday school for either
congregation during these first three months).
I am thankful for the input people have given through the surveys that congregants have filled
out on various Sundays. This has been of much help to the Transition Team and the Parish Council. I
invite you to continue to express your concerns and ideas as we move forward on this new venture.
Rev. Brian D. Way, Part-time Incumbent
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - MAY 2015
We have had a amazing year, this year. We are coming to the last few Sunday
school classes. Sunday, May 3, 2015, will be our last official class for this season.
Sunday, May 17, 2015 will be our last class and we will have a party.
I realize that I haven't reported on the Calgary Drop In Centre "Frosty Bites" program. We
collected 5 1/2 boxes full of stuff. Donations collected were $164.77. I
used this money to purchase needed items such as socks, underwear, undershirts,
Chapstick, deodorant, feminine products, Depends, etc. Thank you to everyone - even
with our small numbers we have made a great difference in others' lives.
I realize that there is uncertainty about how things will change in the next few
months and years in the church. I had a discussion with the children about this. I told them we have to
look at the change like Easter. Yes, what we know will change and in some ways die, like Jesus did on
the cross. It is okay to have feelings of sadness and despair, like the disciples did, not knowing what
was to come. It's okay to feel empty like the tomb, but need to see the miracle that the rock has been
moved. I think the rock represents the
obstacles that we have faced as a whole church for quite some time; with this change we can find
relief. Then we come to the wonderful day of RESURRECTION. We will be REBORN - yes , we may not
know into what, or what it will look like. I think we need to have blind FAITH that GOD has us in His
hands and knows what He is doing. God loves each and every one of us - please have BLIND FAITH, we
will make it to our resurrection day.
Thank you to everyone that has helped build the faith in our children. You
are their village, and are all very important to them.
Blessings to all, Stephanie Daye
ST MARK & ST PHILIP - GIANT GARAGE SALE
Back by popular demand! Our Gigantic Garage Sale will be held on Saturday, July 18th from
9:30 am – 12:30 pm. We will again have an Estate Sale section for jewellery, antique and estate items.
Donations:
Please bring your donations beginning Sunday, June 21st. We have no storage space available
before this date. If possible, please keep your items for the “Estate Sale” section until the week before
the sale. Check your Sunday leaflet in June for weekday times when the church will be open for
donation drop off.
We will happily accept any clean items – books, jewellery, linens, household items, small
appliances, garden, toys, baby and children’s clothes up to size 6, tools, sports equipment, albums,
CD’s & DVDs, video games. EXCEPTIONS: No adult clothing, major appliances, sofas, encyclopedias,
magazines, broken or dirty items, or anything that takes more than 2 people to carry.
If you would like your items picked up please contact Marilyn Croot (403-239-4253). I will be
available to pickup evenings, weekends and some weekdays.
Volunteers: We will be needing volunteers to help sort and display the items before the sale,
help on the day of the sale, and to clean up afterward. If you can donate some time please let Sharen
or Marilyn know. Thanks, everyone!
Marilyn Croot & Sharen Stevenson, Garage Sale Committee
SPRING
I always look to nature for solace and spirituality in spring, because it is a time of activity, the
new leaves are fresh yet soothing, and the sounds and sights of wildlife returning are received with
anticipation. Gardening at the church this time of year is also a joyful prospect. I was delighted when
Ted Smith brought in the first violet at Easter to show us, and again, when 50 new tulip bulbs began
blooming this week. Well, not quite 50, as the rabbits and squirrels had eaten a few bulbs and shoots
over the winter,and I sheared off a couple more stems with the Weedeater. But for the most part, I can
now look forward to splashes of colour on the front lawn at SMSP over the next few months, and
hopefully, to another display of Katherine Hippe’s gorgeous petunias.
Springtime coincides with Eastertime, and like its' spiritual counterpart, offers us the gift of
hope, and rebirth. Sometimes, however, we choose to walk right past the tulips, to not stop and see
how precious each little bloom really is, to miss the chickadee collecting moss in its' beak for its' nest,
and we are deaf to the chatter of squirrels zigzagging madly about.
Spring also coincides with a personal loss for me, as a few years back, I lost my mom just
before Eastertime. I grieved deeply and wondered how I could carry on without her. But two weeks
later on Easter Sunday, everything changed as I bent over weeding in my backyard. I heard a whir of
wings, and looked up expecting to see a skein of geese. Instead, there were twelve large white swans,
silently coming in low and fast just above treeline, headed for the Glenmore Dam where they stage on
migration each spring. I suddenly imagined them to be the twelve disciples, and it was a symbol so
powerful, that tears welled in my eyes, then I began to smile. It was as if my mom was saying that
everything was OK, she was happy, and that each day forward would be better than the last. It was
enough to start the healing process in my heart, and became especially poignant the following year,
when almost to the day, I was outside again in the yard, and not twelve, but thirteen, swans flew over.
I felt then, that God had truly sent me a sign, that my mother was flying with the swans, and that all
was right again in my world.
Many of us at SMSP right now are feeling the grief and pain of our own personal loss, as the
church goes through transition to a new phase. We are seeking our own signs and symbols that will
reassure us that all will be reborn, renewed, and right again in our future. But we currently feel
distress and upheaval at the unknown. ‘What will my life be like without my mother?’ I once asked. ‘
What will life be like after transition?’, you now say. I hear fear in the voices of some, resistance in
others at the idea of change, and in others yet, pain and a sense of loss for what was, and cannot be
again. I have also seen those who wish to turn back the clock of time, and in so doing, lash out at the
very people who are trying to make this change as smooth and acceptable as possible, given the set of
parameters within which they must work.
We often carry on in our own lives, oblivious to the smell of flowers. Worse, we ignore simple
truths, we try to stop things from happening that we don’t like, we grumble under our breaths, or we
try to impede the progress of those stepping forward in uncertain shoes. Like the transformation that
spring brings to our gardens and wilderness areas, transition at SMSP is a complex process. It will take
time - everything evolves at its own pace, perhaps not as fast as we’d like, or in the direction we wish
for. But stop for a moment and look at the greater picture, understand that like the natural world
around us, all things on earth are dynamic. Nothing is static, why should it be so in our artificially
created world either? When the first survey went out to parishioners asking their opinion on various
issues, the response back was varied and everyone had a seemingly different picture of what things
should look like after transition. One comment that really hit home for me, however, was a message
simply stated … ‘I don’t mind where we worship, as long as we are all together.”
Right now, we need together-ness. We need unity, not dissension; positive thoughts, not
negativity; a ‘springing’ or leap of faith forward, not a wallowing in self-pity. Stop the rumours that
SMSP is falling apart, that if only we had done this…or hadn’t done that...that everything would be
fine.
As a person who has worked in the ever-changing natural world all my life as a biologist, I see
change … and springtime … and Easter as all being about new beginnings. I look forward to each, for
what they bring. I try to embrace new ideas, or at least not shut them out without trying them first.
Change can bring good things, if we let it. And if we don’t change some of our attitudes, SMSP will
surely fail. The church is on the cusp of change, and we are being given an opportunity to make a fresh
start. It does not matter where we worship, or what physical changes occur to the building that
surrounds us, as long as we are all together – in our thoughts, in what we say, and in our actions. The
service will not change, hymn songs will continue, communion will be served, and God will be with us
every step of the way.
Perhaps more change will come. Maybe a different location, or time of service will work best
for us. We won’t know until we try it first. But these are minor concerns, when we sit down and assess
why we are really here. As Rev. Way said last week, put your trust in God. There is a reason for every
experience in life, this is just another challenge to meet head on and embrace with love, not anger. I
am definitely putting my trust in Him, and I ask that you try to put your differences and fears aside,
and do the same. Oh, and just for fun, while you’re at it… stop and smell the roses, won’t you? They
may have thorns, but aren’t they also masterpieces of beauty and complexity, ephemeral and long-
lived at the same time, with a heavenly scent, and always able to bring a smile to our lips? Happy
spring everyone.
Submitted by Joan Williams
COFFEE & FELLOWSHIP TIME
As of June 7th, our Fellowship Time will start at 11 AM, before the 12 noon service, rather than after.
Choir members will have to leave coffee time at 11:30 AM, but all other parishioners are invited to
stay longer and enjoy a good visit and some snacks before the service.
FOOD BANK UPDATE
Joan Williams kindly took our collective Food Bank Donations to the Calgary Food Bank recently, and
wanted parishioners to know that we collected 59 lbs/26.7 Kg. of food. Well done!
PARISH OFFICERS
Part-time Incumbent: Rev. Brian D. Way
Parish Officers:
Incumbent's Warden: Mary Smith
People’s Warden: Andrew Daye
Treasurer: Harold Hippe
Envelope Secretary: Andrew Daye
Organist: Mary Ross
Sunday School Coordinator: Stephanie Daye
ACW Joyce Setters
Prayer Partnership: Joan Kendrick.
Altar Guild: Neila Russell
Parish Council: Sam Bird, Harold Hippe, Sharen Stevenson,
Leslie Miles, Joan Williams
Lay Delegates to Synod: Nina Chiba, Leslie Miles
Church Address: 1802 - 33 Ave. SW, Calgary, AB T2T 1Y9
Phone; (403) 244-0198
Fax: (403) 245-5065
Email: [email protected]
GOING INTO HOSPITAL??
If you are, it is helpful for the parish and clergy to know so that you can be remembered in prayer and
visited. If you can’t send a message yourself – let a family member, friend, or a member of the nursing
staff know that your faith family is important to you and get them to phone and leave a message at
the church: (403) 244-0198.
Don't forget- Automatic Debit is now available for your offerings. Please let Andrew Daye know if you
wish to set up this automatic service.
The deadline for submissions for the June issue of the newsletter is May 24/15.
submission box outside the church office, or you can e-mail your submissions to
[email protected] - (subject line: "SMSP Newsletter"). Thank you!
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