Archdeacon Bryan is a local legend, who has ministered to the Coast for 43 years. His love of the coast and her people helped him initiate the Quebec-Labrador Foundation as well as bring many young American student to the Lower North Shore to assist in building up the community. His generosity has no bounds and many local youth, now in their 40's and 50's, benefited from an education seldom offered in those days. Lives have been saved through his ministry, very sick people who needed to be airvac'd out. Whenever this plane is seen over the Coast, God is praised for the work done, and the man from the States who continues to care.
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Archdeacon Bob Bryan, the Rev'd Douglas Painter and Mr. Len Thomas (Pippa's Godfather and longtime former warden) today just after Bob+ flew in.
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The Rev'd Douglas, Easter Day, on the Polar Bear island.
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Bear Later that Day... I took this shot!
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Polar Easter-Bear

This is a comment on the picture below.

I often minimize how far North we actually are, but today I guess even Sherry and I have to admit" WOW! We are far north!

This picture was taken by my friend Reese Bilodeau who took me out on the skidoo after the Easter Celebration. There was a polar bear who was in a crag out on one of the islands. After a 10 minute ride, strait out toward the sea, we reached the island and there s/he was, laying down, occasionally raising up and looking about. After a few minutes we went to the other side of the island and went up the hill. From that vantage point we were above the bear by around 15-20 feet; this is how we came by this picture.

I can't impress too much how privilaged we were to have this shot. The bear was awake, and it was dangerous, but lets face it people pay upwards of $3000-5000 to take a look outside of a bus window to get this close. We just got off our skidoos and clicked away.

I have just come back from takeing Sherry, who didn't know what I was to show her.

One thing that needs to be said is that this is rare on the Coast. We seem to get one per year, but people have never been so close. The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!!!

Easter-Bear
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The Passion: the Movie

Unlike many, I did not see the “Passion of the Christ” when it was popular last year. I decided to wait until Good Friday.

After the Maundy Thursday service at St. Paul’s we held a vigil throughout the night. When it was my hour to spend in the church (3:00) I decided to something different, I brought my laptop and watched the first hour of the movie I had heard so much about. The next day, after the early morning "scriptural" Stations of the Cross, I returned to St. Paul’s and watched thirty more minutes of this very moving film. Once again after my 10:00 AM service in Old Fort I returned to St. Paul’s and finished watching. The family then watched it together that evening.

Certainly nothing can be a true representation and nothing but Scripture can truly present the Word, yet this is close: very close.

Yes, it is an uncomfortable experience, the Scripture tells us as much. The beating and blood is, in my opinion, probably quite close to the reality of the situation, as is the crucifixion. I was particularly moved by the flash back scenes, especially the one where Mary recalls Jesus as a child.

No, not all is from the Gospels, there is a reference to Veronica, the woman who in great charity wipes the Lord’s face. This is an odd choice as the Lord meeting the Women of Jerusalem is left out; and that is scriptural. But what I do want to emphasize is the icon that this movie is, it shows a very harsh reality of the death of Christ and forces us to no longer sugar coat the event.

As I’ve implied above, an icon is only a dim mirror and not to be made into something it is not. What we should take from it is the vast amount of suffering the Lord did for us that Good day. It is a gut wrenching emotional reaction. This is not a movie about rational discourse nor signs and wonders, it is simply a most probable reflection on the last 12 hours of the Lord’s Passion.

Bear the gore, flinch at the flogging and watch this film today. If you can not get a hold of it before Easter Sunday, then wait until next Lent, for the impact can only fully be realized in the context of the Church year.

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John 13:18 ff: Love, Just Love

The issue at hand is that we are, as the Anglican Church of Canada, facing schism over the issue of same sex unions (blessings) and homosexuality.

Today in our Eucharistic Gospel we are faced with John asking Jesus who will betray the Lord. Jesus points to Judas through the giving of both wine and bread, in a similar fashion to communion. John and the disciples are completely unaware of Judas’ deceit.

I said today in my sermon, Judas is often made out to be the villain from the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry (most modern movies and art throughout the ages), but here those who know him the most are unaware and obviously enjoying his company. He is not evil incarnate, he for the moment allows Satan to corrupt him and sells out. Jesus knows that he is the one to betray him, yet he is still welcome at the table. He is a member of the body, he is still open to being received. Judas’ response after the betrayal is to take his life, but would not the Lord receive him just as he received Peter, who denied him 3 times?

Why preface this reflection with our current 21^st century problem? Can anything be worse than denying the Lord? It is a sin of the Spirit! Peter denying Jesus is very much a denial of the Christ, yet still he is received into Christ’s loving arms after the resurrection. Is homosexuality comparable? No, in no way. It is not a matter of the spirit but of the flesh; that which we are forgiven for, as did Jesus with the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery. We are all sinners of the flesh. Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied Jesus, Homosexual Christians do neither, apart from what any person does in our current redeemed yet sinful nature.

The point is that at the end of this Gospel pericope, the Lord tells the community to love their neighbor. That the true mark of Christ: Love. By our love we are then really ambassadors of Christ, and seen to be as such. So to place it in perspective here we have the story of betrayal, the ultimate betrayal, and it is followed by receiving all as loved and welcome. Judas receives communion, the image for John’s community at the turn of the century when this Gospel was written would clearly indicate a Eucharistic experience in the reception of bread and wine. Thus no matter the sin, nor the separation, receiving the Eucharist, being part of the Body of Christ, is more important than the sin: all are welcome equally (see 1 Cor. for problems with Christian hierarchy). The person is more important than the "falling short".

In our church we are casting off people as sinful, a particular people without pointing our fingers at others, and thus we disenfranchise them from the Body of Christ. That has to be worse when examining Jesus’ demand in this particular reading, with the image of ultimate sin. We must mark ourselves as lovers of the sinful, all sinners; while of course hating Satan’s grip which leads us astray… the acts of sin, as happened with Judas and Peter. Judas could not believe in redemption or forgiveness, the other, though devastated, ran to the empty tomb to greet his Lord. Peter knew he would be received, Judas was filled with doubt and shame... exactly what Satan wants us to feel about ourselves!!!

If we say the mark of Christ is love then we must name sin, yet not force sinners to choose Judas’ way (whether real or metaphorical). Our church must be open and accepting, of course we still need to name sin and call it out, but breaking communion and the bond of love is worse, for we place stumbling blocks before others (Matt 16:23; Rom 14:13; 1 Cor 8:9 & 2 Cor 6:3).

I am mortified by the actions of some of our Communion’s Primates during their recent meeting where they broke communion by not attending the Eucharist: (http://www.toronto.anglican.ca/index.asp?navid=78&fid3=368&layid=18&fid2=-88).

Jesus says,
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
(niv, John 13:34-35)

Breaking away from receiving the sacrament, together as the Body of Christ, especially the leaders of the church, is horrific and has nothing to do with this direction Christ gives us at the very moments he deals with those who will deny him. We can not ignore it, withdrawl from the Lord's Table, is just as bad as what Judas did, and denying a person from the Lord's Table is worse for the one who denys others.

This should make us think; this should make us pray!

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For You For Me

I have just returned from St. Peter’s, Old Fort Bay, where we celebrated this sacred day with the blessings of the palms and the Eucharist. The focus of my reflection, which followed the narrative Passion from St. Mark’s Gospel, was, “he did it for me.”

Some tend to distance themselves from fact that Christ died for us personally: “for me.” I believe that we “think” that we do, but if teased out we load so much built up guilt, angst and shame that we fail to let the reality that Christ did suffer and die for us… for “you.” On top of it all society doesn’t help us recognize the personal nature of this act. Society, and age, moves us from innocence to experience, and that experience often gives us a combination of arrogance and disillusionment. We become cynical and distanced from our need for redemption.

I have a theory that by saying he died for the world, at this time in the calendar, for “us,” it places too much distance and feeds into our desensitization; of course we can thus feel glib about the passion of Christ, for we fail to connect each wound, each bruise, each insult, as being taken for “me.” It becomes all too universal, we can't see the individual tree from the forrest.

The upshot is that Christ Jesus took on all the passion because of his love for you. From the beginning of time, the Word knew you, knew who you would be, knew your sins and your strengths. The Lord of Life thus died for you, for not only did he know you from your mother’s womb, but from the dawn of time.

We can not think that this act of love was for all, but for you and me. How then do you feel? If you’re like most, when it really hits, it is most humbling. It is wonderful, and it is love.

PS: look up the Hymn, "My Song is Love Unknown" and pray through it, with thought and intent. You'll be surprized.... it's all been done for you.

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Be Prepared

These next 8 days make up the holiest time in the yearly cycle of the Church. During this time I will be following a rule of devotion, fasting and a daily celebration of the Lord’s Supper (refraining on Good Friday), included is of course much pastoral opportunity.

“Be prepared” is a phrase from Advent but it is equally appropriate for Holy Week as we uncomfortably wait and watch with Christ in the Garden for the painfully “Good” day, and then the Glorious day, when all are born anew though the Resurrection.

In St. Clement's East the Holy Week schedule is as follows:

Sunday 10:00 AM St. Paul’s Palm/Passion Sunday Eucharist

Sunday 7:00 PM St. Peter’s Palm/Passion Sunday Eucharist

Monday 7:00 PM St. Christopher’s Palm/Passion Sunday Eucharist

Tuesday 12:00 Noon St. Paul’s Eucharist

Wednesday 12:00 Noon St. Peter’s Eucharist

MAUNDY THURSDAY:

5:00 PM St. Peter’s OFB: Diner, Foot-washing, Eucharist, and Stripping of the Altar
Please bring a non-red meat casserole; nothing fancy; no desert.

7:00 PM St. Paul’s Eucharist followed by the Stripping of the Altar

8:00 PM to 8:00 AM The VIGIL: St. Paul’s:

A Sign-Up list is provided this week for you to take on 1 hour of prayer in the middle of the night between those 12 hours. Every hour was prayed last year by at least two.

GOOD FRIDAY:

8:00 AM St. Paul’s Stations

10:00 AM St. Peter’s

2:00 PM St. Christopher’s

St. Paul’s 7:00 PM Tenebrae

HOLY SATURDAY 7:00 PM The Great Vigil: 1st EASTER Celebration; St. Paul’s

EASTER SUNDAY 10:00 AM St. Peter’s Old Fort

EASTER MONDAY 7:00 PM: St. Christopher’s Brador

Luck O'da Irish

Well I have none, but Sherry has some, Pippa seems to have it all.

Yesterday she not only crawled, more like leaped, out of her crib, she also learnt how to open the door, all on St. Patrick's Day. What fun mommy and daddy had.

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Prayers for The Archbishop

I urge you to read this fully with all it's implications and with all prayer and thought of what the Lord has called us to be as Anglicans:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1427629,00.html

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Lucky Seven

Lucky Seven is a bingo term for a jackpot of money won when a player who has bingo after only seven numbers are called… bingo is big here on the Coast. How big? Very! Travel hundreds of kilometers on skidoo to some big bingos is the norm for many; so very much bigger than one humble priest who sees the inherent evil of this form of so-called stewardship.

In St. Paul’s River both the Roman and Anglican churches have weekly bingo to raise stipend, the local youth programs hold them and yes even the schools dabble to raise funds; children even have it as well. This week our church’s lucky seven is at $2000 with well over 70 people attending… I might even venture to say 100. It took a fair number of weeks to get to this stage as the pot is raised each week it isn’t won by around $100. When it's low, like around $300, only the few regulars show up and each church makes a little more than it spends. At present it is pulling in close to $800 per night.

Our congregation Sunday morning was seven, not our usual 35. In Old Fort this evening only seven people came out for service as well… not their 27: what a lucky seven indeed!!!

I preached on Bishop Hockin’s recent article in this month’s Anglican Journal where he shows the discrepancy between daily faith and commitment to Christ… how wonderful that this service was prepared for the day we were down in our congregations by over 70%.

My sermons are always dynamic, at least I try, but this day was special considering the circumstances. I wondered aloud if I offered a lucky seven after communion if I could get the numbers bingo does. Now to be fair there was a dart tournament this weekend, which ran well into the late hours of the night, the Lord forbid we should get up for a 10:00Am and 7:00Pm service, and of course we had some rain which made the driving a bit slippy… though this has never deterred the dart or bingo crowd.

What is the worth of our saviour who died for us? Does our faith in the resurrection, our future resurrection, truly turn us to a daily relationship with our God? How sad that Anglicans here, and apparently throughout Canada, don’t seem to have a daily relationship with their Lord and take for granted the sacrifice for them.

But with all that said, the “lucky seven” were the ones in church yesterday, for each heard the message of the resurrection of Lazarus and of the story of the dry bones in Ezekiel coming back to life (NRCL).

Though we are having a rough time in our church, and like the Lord in front of the tomb of Lazarus, we too have shed many tears, we are a church bound not to tradition, reason, or scripture alone, but to our Lord Jesus Christ and we shall raise him up on the last day. I think the most appropriate response to this sadness of so few being in church this past Sunday, and to the whole problem seen in the organized church these past decades, is to quote Shakespeare in “Henry the Fifth;” “We few, we happy few, we band of bothers [and of course sisters]….”

It is a privilege to be called to weep at the tomb, but even moreso to see the resurrection! Trust that God has called this very church, embattled and limping, to greater works of glory for his Name: this is our Grace, this is our Hope, this is his Body.

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BCP Lectionary Fans

Though I encourage the use of the New Revised Common Lectionary, mainly since this is being used by the Roman, Presbyteran (at least some), United, Lutheran and most Anglican churches uniting the readings each week, I do recognize the importance of the historic lectionary. If your church uses the BCP lectionary this is a wonderful site:

http://www.parishalive.ca/lections.html

Pastor or Parson ?

... Well not all questions on my site are rhetorical. Should my site be Pastor or Parson Painter's Page?

The original choice for "pastor" had to do with the Waterloo Statement and our close relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Obviously the close association with sheperd is apropriate, but it is not a traditional Anglican term. I simply liked the aliteration.

Parson is a much more historically Anglican term but is quite antiquated as well as being a Church of England term. It is defined by Websters as:

1. (Eng. Eccl. Law) A person who represents a parish in its
ecclesiastical and corporate capacities; hence, the rector
or incumbent of a parochial church, who has full
possession of all the rights thereof, with the cure of
souls.

2. Any clergyman having ecclesiastical preferment; one who is
in orders, or is licensed to preach; a preacher.

Pastor is:

1. A shepherd; one who has the care of flocks and herds.

2. A guardian; a keeper; specifically (Eccl.), a minister
having the charge of a church and parish.

So I'll give anyone a say... Pastor Painter's Page or Parson Painter'Page? Vote as you will.

I think this has worked :-
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Games & Design

So Sherry, the family and I are moving in 3 months and though it seems as if we have all the time in the world the fact is that we have an entire house to turn into a home. Having no furniture of our own means starting fresh, and starting fresh means both excitement and decisions. Well we had wonderful drawings, with detailed measurements, of our soon-to-be new rectory and became busy at drawing conceptual drawings of each room.

Now Andrew and Cameron have been playing a computer game called “The Sims 2,” in which one plays a family or individual in a community making homes for the characters and simulating life. The thought was bantered around if we could place all this detailed information on the actual rectory and translate it into this game. Andrew got to work and the results are stunning; check out the picture below.

If you are interested in a home design program you obviously don’t need to spend a fortune on a CAD program…. Buy the Sims 2, have fun, and get designing.

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Andrew's Handy-Work 

Using One's Head

Yesterday I planned to go to St. Augustine on skidoo. It was a good day, weather was fine with bright sun and a warm -7C temperature. The next few days “spoke” for bad weather as two lows would be coming down our way and which might have prevented Randy, our postulant, from beginning his ministry up the coast. So the decision was made and we hastily got all our stuff together for this 110km trip in complete isolation.

Now the night before had been quite amazing with a surprise blizzard dumping enough snow to cover the skidoo. A few days earlier a temperature change froze the skidoo in place. After digging and pushing the machine out of the ice it became apparent that there were some problems. The skidoo simply didn’t sound right. It was as if it was skipping. But we in our haste went about our preparations to leave.

Sherry took our departing picture, as we usually do for guests to the coast, and I started the machine. Problem was it wouldn’t idle. It is here where I get to my point …

Any time on the coast when you have a feeling to stop and think, do so! There is never a time to be brave and stoic, taking major risks. Not many years ago a teacher went for a walk in Old Fort and got caught in a storm where he died. Many stories of people going through the ice and getting stuck for hours, and in rare occasions days. Even though spring-break is on and many people are on the trail you simply don’t go out on a chance that you’ll get there. My rule of thumb is 10% chance of problems is way too high of a risk. It’s simply not smart to ruin your day, someone else’s day (who’ll feel responsible for the fools), and maybe even spoil your life.

Well back to the story…. I called a great friend, godfather to Pippa, and he took a few spins and agreed it was skipping. We examined the belt and it was ripped up with chunks out of it... probably a combination of the ice and pushing it out while throttling full force. I had a spare and he inserted it. There was still a problem with the idle and I asked if I should take the risk: "no!" I always take the advise of locals whom I trust. Randy ended up on a plane 2 hours later and arrived in St. Augustine none the worse.

It’s a pity he didn’t have the wonderful experience of traveling on the “Route Blanche Neige” in the wild of northern Quebec. But when in such a hostile environment safety comes first.