Greetings friends and family of St. Giles,

The week leading into the 3rd Sunday of Pentecost has been a busy one in the Presbyterian Church in Canada!

This week, the General Assembly (the highest decision-making body of The Presbyterian Church in Canada), was attended by ministers and elders commissioned by presbyteries to represent the entire church. The Assembly votes on matters of theology and polity that affect the whole denomination.  This year, I was blessed to attend as a commissioner and participate in this court on behalf of the Presbytery of Calgary-Macleod.  Also in attendance from our Presbytery was Mary Lil Rosza de Coquet, Rev. Laurie McKay, Cathy Gale, Darrell Risk, Rev. Christian Persaud, Cindy Stephenson, Rev. Bartholomew Alexander, and Shirley Walker.  Please visit the national website to learn more.

https://presbyterian.ca/gao/ga2026

Also hard at work this week were the active elders on session and Presbytery representatives assigned to support St. Giles and Knox as they continued to prepare a draft amalgamation plan for the congregations.  Updates will be provided on the plan and process at the service this week by Elder Sandra Cameron Evans and Elder Moira Brownlee.  The amalgamation plan will be completed over the summer months and presented to Presbytery for consideration in September.  

Beginning July 5, Knox and St. Giles will proceed to weekly worship together on an ongoing basis.  A new committee, is in the process of being formed to guide weekly worship.  Please pray and ask God if you are called to participate on the new committee.  Please speak with your elder, myself, Rev. Terry Fach (General Presbyter), or Rev. Chris Joiner (Interim Moderator, Knox) to learn more, provide  feedback, or make suggestions for worship or the amalgamation plan.  

Our service this week, as you will see from the bulletin attached, will focus on Christ’s teaching that we pray to the Lord for more workers in God’s Kingdom (Matthew 9:35-38).  And we will also be honoured by the privilege of participating in a baptism for Weston Dansereau.  By the waters of baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit, God claims us and calls each person by name.  God unites us to Christ in his death and resurrection and grafts us into the body of Christ as members of the church.  And as disciples we are commissioned to make more disciples and to participate in the work of the Kingdom.

As you prepare for worship this weekend, please take time to reflect on the ways you have been gifted and commissioned to serve our Saviour.  Pray about the work you see around you that needs to be done in Christ’s name.  And know that you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in newness of life as people of the Word through your own baptism.  “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

So go in faith into whatever the weekend ahead may hold, sure that Christ walks with you.  And may your prayers and actions continue to align with God’s will for your life and God’s church.

Blessings,

Chandra

Greetings friends and family of St. Giles,

This weekend is the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost.  This Sunday marks the transition into ‘Ordinary Time’ in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.  It is a time of growth as disciples embrace new learnings from the Word and focus on the mission of God in the world.

The scriptures for the service on June 7th point us to God’s call on our lives using the examples of unlikely people in scripture.  Abram – a childless man of 75 – was called out of his home country to follow God to new land.  His decision to follow in faith would bless the whole world.  The Apostle Matthew was called to follow Jesus from his seat in the tax booth.  And the whole world benefited from him following in faith when he shared the story of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew.

Selim Sfeir, the Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus, writes that “we call ourselves disciples of the 21st century, and so we are.  We go through moments of doubt, like the disciples went through doubts – in the presence of Jesus.  But Jesus is not going to dwell on the doubts of some of his disciples; if he has gathered them together, it is for a much more important task.”

What is the task of which this Cyprean Archbishop speaks?  How does it relate to your specific calling in the Kingdom of God and your work in the church?  You will have doubts.  And we encourage you to discuss them with elders, Rev. Chandra, and each other.  But please balance these struggles in discernement with a focus on who you are as a disciple, and what you are asked to do by God as a faithful follower.  You are a beloved child of God called to share the gospel message of Christ in the world.

Rev. Terry Fach, our General Presbyter at the Presbytery of Calgary-Macleod, will be preaching this weekend as we prepare for our next steps in the amalgamation process with Knox.  He will also encourage focus on next steps in your personal walk with Christ.  And Esther Woelfle, our former choir director, will lead the choir in hymns of praise to God.  

May your worship this week be filled with faith as you continue to glorify God through trust in God’s promises.

Blessings,

Chandra

“Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God was able to do what he had promised”  

– Romans 4:20

Greetings friends and family of St. Giles!  
This weekend we celebrate Trinity Sunday.  An excerpt from the Companion to the Book of Common Worship (Geneva Press, 2003, 149-150) about this weekend reads as follows:”Unlike other festivals in the church’s liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday centers on a doctrine of the church, rather than an event. It celebrates the unfathomable mystery of God’s being as Holy Trinity. It is a day of adoration and praise of the one, eternal, incomprehensible God.  Trinity Sunday, in a sense, synthesizes all we have celebrated over the past months which have centered on God’s mighty acts:  Christmas-Epiphany celebrating God’s taking flesh and dwelling among us in Jesus Christ; Easter celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection for us; Pentecost celebrating God the Holy Spirit becoming our Sanctifier, Guide, and Teacher. It is, therefore, a fitting transition to that part of the year when Sunday by Sunday the work of God among us is unfolded in a more general way.”

As we enter into Trinity Sunday marking the beginning of the general season of teaching, we remember the majesty of God, the beauty of creation, and our role in the Kingdom of God.  We celebrate being the people of God through music and mission, fellowship and ministry, prayer and study.  And as mentioned in Psalm 8, we embrace the blessing and responsibility of caring for God’s people and God’s creation.  It is a perfect time to remember the mission of St. Giles:

To nurture a vibrant Christian life;

To seek to grow in our relationship with God;

To care for the community;

To dare to follow Christ into the world

Below please find the bulletin for this week’s service, including all of the various activities in which to participate as God’s people at St. Giles.  Please join us on Sunday at 10 am to worship God, embracing the mystery of the Trinity and our true identity as God’s people.  And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:13).

Blessings,

Rev. Chandra Mannix