St. John in the Wilderness Brights Grove Ontario

We are journeying through Holy Week together.  The Reverend Amanda Longmoore+ has thoughtfully put three unique virtual Zoom services together: 

• Maundy Thursday, April 1 – At 6:00 pm we will share a simple meal together over Zoom to focus on the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples.  See below for more info on what Amanda has in mind for us in worship and preparation for the meal. 
• Good Friday, April 2 – At 10:00 am we will have a service involving about 10 readers from our parish; all reading from their homes via Zoom, including 3 youth from our parish.  Reverend Amanda will preside from the church.
• Easter Sunday, April 4 – We will celebrate Easter with a Zoom service that has some virtual music from our church!   Brenden Fraser, Susan Halliday and Ken Walker will be in the church building celebrating with music and song, along with Bob Halliday reading and Reverend Amanda presiding.

Debbie will issue Zoom invitations to the parish list and on Facebook for each service on Wednesday or Thursday for Maundy Thursday;  Thursday night for Good Friday; and Friday or Saturday for Easter Sunday.

If you have people you would like on the Prayers of the People list, or an anniversary/birthday wish you would like announced with joy at the start of our Easter Sunday service, please hit “Reply” to this email by Wednesday evening to send the information to the church email.  Be sure to indicate something like “Prayers of People”, “Birthday”, and/or “Anniversary” next to the names of the people you list. Heather Holbrook will look at the church email on Thursday and gather the names to be added to the lists which will be read Sunday.

By Monday, April 5, we will also post the sermon and readings recorded during the service on our toll-free phone line for prayer. Just dial 1-888-229 5422 and listen to the prompts to get to St. John in the Wilderness’s line.  We will email you a video of the service as well…we use the Spotlight mode of Zoom mainly during the service…so during the service and the video of the service you see the service in writing on the screen as well as Amanda presiding…but everyone maintains some privacy since we minimize use of Gallery mode in the video portion (ie you don’t see a screen of 35+ parishioners faces on a computer screen).

We are varying the way we offer church services to both keep people safe and to try to reach you, our parishioners, in a way you find meaningful and joyous.

Please come join us in worship.

Yours in Faith,

Rev Amanda Longmoore, Peter Langille, Deb Walker and Heather Holbrook

Interim Priest, Wardens and Secretary

alongmoore@gmail.com (Amanda), Langille5@bell.net (Peter), debwalker@cogeco.ca (Deb)

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Each year, Maundy Thursday focuses on the night that Jesus shares his final meal with the disciples, known to us as The Last Supper. In a “normal” year we would mark the day by celebrating Eucharist together, and many churches include foot washing to recall Jesus’s act of washing the disciples’ feet, and stripping the altar and removing all the hangings in the church building at the end of the service as we remember Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane as he was arrested later that same night.

Because we’re not able to be together in person this year, I thought we could recognize this night in a slightly different way. If you’ve seen the worship schedule for April, you may have noticed that our Maundy Thursday service is scheduled for 6pm, and is described as a “shared meal with prayers”. Since this is different from the usual, I thought I’d take some time to describe what I have in mind.

The basis of our time together is exactly what it says — a shared meal. Each of us is invited to prepare our meal and have it ready and in front of us when we join Zoom that evening. I would encourage you to eat either at your kitchen or dining room table, I’ll be in my apartment at my dining room table. There will be a prayer, a hymn, and a scripture reading before we start to eat, so it might be best to choose food that won’t be ruined by getting cold before you eat it. I would encourage you to prepare simple food, like a sandwich, a basic salad, bread / cheese / veggies, etc. Near the end of our meal, I’ll offer a second scripture reading, and we’ll finish with prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, and a third scripture reading. Our service will end the way it would if we were in the church building, without a blessing or dismissal, and we’ll leave in silence.

Once you’ve left Zoom, I would encourage you to clear your table in the same way as we would remove the hangings in the church building. Take some time in silence to remove your dishes, your tablecloth or placemat, anything you had on the table for your meal. It’s a chance for us to acknowledge the heaviness of the night. As much as possible, you might like to leave that space empty until Easter morning, representing this time of waiting with Jesus in the tomb.

it’s my sincere hope that this service will be meaningful for each of us. If you have any questions, feel free to call / text / email and ask — especially if you’ve never attended a Maundy Thursday service before but would like to come and you’re nervous about what to expect.

Grace and peace,
Amanda

Reader’s list for April 2021

St. John in the Wilderness Bright's Grove supports Bill C6 banning conversion therapy. For more information click here. 

Church Facebook Group: St John in the Wilderness Anglican Church, Bright's
Grove, ON


Church E-transfer E-Mail:  <mailto:stjohnitwdonation@cogeco.net>
stjohnitwdonation@cogeco.net

Church Telephone: 519-869-2403

Reverend Amanda Longmoore: alongmoore@gmail.com