Good afternoon!

The church is alive this week with activity at the Labyrinth Cafe, the choirs, the children’s group (Nature Play), the Vine Church, and reorganizing cupboards and closets and shelves!  Our new sign for the week is up, and flowers are bursting forth on the southeast corner.  Our neighbours have been sharing our parking lot and many people have been walking the Labyrinth.  

The busyness of spring brings the joys of time together for freshening and planning, for events and time together… and for intentionality in our Christian journey.  Taking time to discern where God is calling each of us personally, as well as communally, can happen in conversations over tea and buscuits, or on walks, or in quiet prayer moments with God.  

Ask God where you are called to serve and support.  Ask your brothers and sisters in the faith their thoughts about your gifts.  We are all needed for the community to be whole… you are an integral part of the plan for unity!

This week in worship at St. Giles, I will be preaching on Ezekial 34 and what it means to participate in community in ways that are pleasing to God.  We will welcome Knox Presbyterian for our now-regular 2nd Sunday joint worship.  And we will hopefully all stay to listen to Liam speak about refugee ministry at St. Giles, followed by a picnic in the backyard with The Vine Church (our newest covenant partner at St. Giles)!

The bulletin for the service – with the announcements for the week – is attached.  Please consider downloading and printing the bulletin if there appears to be formatting issues on screen.

I look forward to being with you all on Sunday, and I pray that your studies, ministries, fellowship, and quiet worship moments this last week has fed your souls and the souls of others around you.  Thank you for all you each do to let your lives reflect Christ, our resurrected Lord.

Blessings,

Rev. Chandra Mannix

“The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” 

– John 14:21

While Easter itself has come and gone, the season of Easter lasts until Pentecost (May 24th) for the purpose of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We are still in that season of Easter to embrace joy in Christ’s victory over sin and death.  We are still remembering anew our life in Christ in the promise of eternal life.  This season is one of renewal and hope.

Like new flowers well rooted and bursting expectantly from the soil, at St. Giles we are celebrating new life through various events, including the Walk for Housing, the Labyrinth Cafe, the monthly Speaker Series and the St. Giles Orchestra.  We celebrate life by welcoming new people to our community, and we share our joy with neighbours through our front sign, our 24 hour accessible Labyrinth, and various ministries to the community such as Inn From the Cold.  We are blessed to share God’s light with the world.

We welcome ‘The Vine Church’ led by Pastor James Cho on Sunday afternoons, ‘Wellbriety’ led by Willy Anderson on Saturday afternoons, and Kaiden Reding in the office (Tuesday-Friday, 9-2) to our community.  We are grateful that God has led all of these people to St. Giles, and look forward to sharing our space, our walk, our work, and our lives with them!  We are all God’s people called to bless each other with the joy and peace of fellowship that emanates from St. Giles.

This week in worship at St. Giles, we are grateful for the leadership of Rev. Bruce Clendening from the Presbytery of Calgary-Macleod.  He will be helping us lean into Christ’s reassurance of “Do not let your hearts be troubled” from John 14, and inviting us to dive deeper into what it means to follow ‘the way, the truth and the life.’  The bulletin for the service – with the announcements for the week – is attached.  Please consider downloading and printing the bulletin if there appears to be formatting issues on screen.

On a personal note, I look forward to returning from holidays!  You are all deeply missed, and I pray that your studies, ministries, fellowship and worship has fed your souls and fed the souls of others.  Thank you for all you each do to let your lives reflect Christ, our resurrected Lord!  See you next week!

As we approach the third Sunday of Easter, we can consider God’s promises to us.  God has promised to be faithful to us and we can respond by seeking to live out our faith and love one another as God loves us.

Here’s some additional information to the attached bulletin:

Walk for Housing: Saturday May 2 at 3:30.

Join us in our “Spring Walk for Housing” in support of Home Space Society to raise critical funds to create and maintain safe, affordable homes for families who need them most. You can join the St. Giles team or donate by clicking this link.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/team/st-giles-team-2

You can also donate through St. Giles by e-transfer or in the offering plate. Please clearly note that the funds are to be designated for the Walk for Housing campaign.

Bring a Friend Tea:  Friday, May 8 @ St. Giles 1:00-3:00 pm. Mark your calendars for this annual event. Ticket sales begin after church today.

St Giles Orchestra:  Lift Your Soul Beyond the Ordinary!  May 23@ 7 pm.

The St. Giles Orchestra will showcase the visiting Korean violinist, Donghwi Kim, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, in its upcoming performance on May 23.  We are looking for a host family for Donghwi during his stay in Calgary May 18-24.  If you are able to help out in this regard (even a couple of nights) please be in touch with Jeongmin Park, the conductor of the St. Giles Orchestra.  Please email him at [email protected].

Prayers, please:  We ask for prayers for our friend Fiona Swanson as she faces surgery this week.

Please note: Rev. Chandra will be on holidays until May 4.

“Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”  – 1 Peter 1:22-23