The REDEEMER

REVIEWGDecember

{ PARISH CALENDAR }

Rule of FaithBY REV CRAIG VANCE

{ FROM THE RECTOR }

he Book of Common Prayer

has a piece of great wisdom

that I have been drawn to

lately. It is found on page 555 in the

red prayer book and is part of the

catechism where it says:

Every Christian man or woman

should from time to time frame for

himself a Rule of Life in accor-

dance with the precepts of the

Gospel and the faith and order of

the Church; wherein he may con-

sider the following:

• The regularity of his atten-

dance at public worship and

especially at holy Communion.

• The practice of private prayer,

Bible-reading, and self-

discipline.

• Bringing the teaching and exam-

ple of Christ into his everyday

life.

• The boldness of his spoken wit-

ness to his faith in Christ.

• His personal service to the

Church and the community.

• The offering of money according

to his means for the support of

the work of the Church at home and overseas.

! The English reformation essentially had a vision of taking the spiri-

tuality of the monastery out of the monastery and into the world. It was

monks and nuns who adopted a “rule of life” that they sought to live out

of. Many of the great monastic movements resulted in the writing of a

“rule of life” for those who chose to live a monastic life. (continued on page 2)

T

Benedict of Nursia (above) was the first

Christian to write a rule of life (called The

Rule of St Benedict, 6th c.) for monastics.

Today, his rule remains the model for many

monastic and non-monastic Christian com-

munities and of course, the well-known

Benediction religious order.PAINTING by FRA ANGELICO

A PUBLICATION of CHRIST the REDEEMER ANGLICAN CHURCH | WINTER 2010

The English reformation es-sentially had a vision of

taking the spirituality of the monastery out of the monas-

tery and into the world.

G WINTER 2010 | 1

19 Rector’s Open House

Please see the back page for a list

of our Christmas events!

{ IN THIS ISSUE }

Baptism & Confirmation

Lent & Easter are the next ma-

jor season in the Church year.

During Easter and Pentecost,

baptisms and confirmations are

conducted. Please see pg. 3 for

more information.

New Website

Have you been to

www.ctrchurch.com recently? If

not, do so and turn to pg. 5 to

find out more! You can also read

the Fall 2010 issue online too.

Christmas Events

The Christmas season is here

and things are going to get

mighty busy around the church!

Turn to pg. 6 to find out more

about all the various events that

are going on!

5 Cloverdale Santa Parade.

Come meet at the church at

4:30 pm to prepare our

float! We need lots of ac-

tors to help us out!

Letter from the Far East

Janelle Weibalzahl, a former

parishioner sends us an update

from Japan! See pg. 4.

Rule of Faith

{ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 }

2 | WINTER 2010 G

There is thus the Rule of St. Benedict that the Bene-

dictines abide by, that of St. Francis for the Francis-

cans, the Rule of St. Dominic for the Dominicans.

! Unfortunately, though, the English Reforma-

tion resulted in the suppression of the monasteries, as

it usually referred to. In more plain English it means

that the King stole all of the monasteries and their

land and sold or gave them to aristocratic friends as

rewards or to buy loyalty. England is dotted with

homes of the aristocracy saying “such and such Ab-

bey”, which points to its previous existence as a mon-

astery before the crown and aristocrats stole them….

But I digress!

! But there is an Anglican thread to this as well.

As I am writing (December 1st) it is the feast day of

Nicholas Ferrar. Ferrar established a religious com-

munity in Little Gidding, England in 1625. There

they built a simple chapel and with members of his

family and community they adopted a rule of life to

observe morning prayer and evensong from the Book

of Common Prayer and essentially formed an Angli-

can monastic community. The members of the

community included families with children, not just

celibate males or females. T. S. Elliott wrote one of

his finest poems about the community: “Little Gid-

ding” from the Four Quartets. (for information on

Little Gidding see: http://www.tiny.cc/jb90v)

" In the Anglo Catholic revival monasticism

was revived in the Anglican church with numerous

male and female orders being formed. These com-

munities were patterned after catholic communities

where permanent vows of poverty, chastity and obe-

dience were taken. We do not have any such com-

munities in our diocese, but the Sisterhood of St.

John the Divine has a house in Victoria and a much

larger convent in Toronto that was founded in 1884.

There is a complete list of Anglican religious orders

on Anglicans Online: http://www.tiny.cc/makl5

" In addition, there are what is known as Third

Order Franciscans, who go through a discernment

and formation process to become Franciscans,

though continuing to live in the world, single or mar-

ried, lay, or clergy: http://www.tiny.cc/u6dgh. There

are also Anglican Benedictine communities. In the

order of St. Benedict, each house is independent,

with the vows being to the house rather than the or-

der, and so

it has been a form that is well adapted to non-Roman

Catholic monasticism. There is in our world a deep

longing for spirituality which is showing up in the self

description of “spiritual, not religious”. It is our

greatest challenge to live and demonstrate a faith

which rediscovers what it means to be ‘spiritual and

religious”. Finding our own “rule of faith” is the be-

ginning. The second is the realization that we cannot

live a rule of faith well by ourselves, that we are

called to the life of prayer together, which is indeed

the vision of the Book of Common Prayer. G

{ YOU ALSO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN }

Westminster AbbeyA Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery in Mission.

Visit: http://www.westminsterabbey.ca/

Anglican Religious Life YearbookA directory of various Anglican religious orders.

Visit: http://www.tiny.cc/iq6fg

Sisters of St Clare Daily OfficePray the Daily Office with the Sisters of St Clare

Visit: http:/www.missionstclare.com

NICHOLAS FERRAR(CORNELIUS JANSEN)

!

astoral Care serves our congregation in a variety of ways. Under

the leadership of Craig, there is a Pastoral Care team of two co-

ordinated by Soji Perinbam.

! Pastoral Care Ministry within Christ the Redeemer includes

administering the Eucharist to seniors who are no longer able to regu-

larly worship with us. Eucharist services, including prayers, hymns,

scripture readings and a brief homily, occur the 2nd Tuesday of every

month at Fleetwood Villa, the home of several Christ Church and

Christ the Redeemer parishioners. The Eucharist is followed by fel-

lowship and story-telling over coffee and baked goodies. This is often

an entertaining hour as the history of Christ Church is passed along to

us ‘young-ones’ and many lifetime memories are revisited. Alternate

months, Craig and his guitar lead a hymn sing at Zion Park Manor on

a Sunday afternoon.

" Soji co-ordinates home visits to shut-in seniors, and to others

experiencing major life transitions; illness, aging, care-giving and be-

reavement. A listening ear is provided with prayers (upon request) to

comfort and small actions of support are offered during these times.

! Although a Pastoral Care Team exists, a pastoral care attitude

percolates throughout our whole church. We are a community with a

natural abundance of warmth and caring. And it shows. Many in-

formal and seemingly simple things show thoughtful con-

cern and consideration: the altar flowers donated to the

Sunday worship are on occasion delivered to someone in

distress, along with a good wishes visit. Cards are sent and/

or delivered on behalf of the congregation to parishioners

and/or their families when there is illness, bereavement, or

a major transition. During times of crisis, sadness or joy,

soup and/or meals are delivered to those who are tempo-

rarily unable to cook for themselves. Parishioner’s vehicles

are sometimes called upon to enable seniors to attend serv-

ices, events or activities held at our church. The many sim-

ple deeds of kindness bubble through everywhere. We as a

family care for one another. G

Serving in our community.BY PAM MOORE

{ PASTORAL CARE MINISTRY }

Baptism & ConfirmationBY REV CRAIG VANCE

{ SACRAMENTAL LIFE }

he next major event in the

life of the church is the cy-

cle of Lent and Holy Week.

That also means that we will be

inviting those who want to con-

sider baptism to present them-

selves as candidates. Baptism will

be at the Easter Vigil, which from

the time of the ancient church

was when baptisms took place.

! Confirmations will also be

taking place after Easter. Confir-

mation is for those who have

been baptized who wish to

deepen their faith and publicly

affirm the faith of their baptism.

Additionally, if you have been

confirmed in another church, you

may be received into the Angli-

can Communion.

! Craig will be holding

“Christianity for Not So Dum-

mies” for those considering bap-

tism and “Anglicanism for Not

So Dummies” for those interested

in confirmation during Lent. And

of course, everyone is welcome to

attend!

! If you would like more

information please contact Janet

in the church office. G

T

P

G WINTER 2010 | 3

From the WildernessBY JANELLE WEIBELZAHL

{ A NOTE FROM THE FAR EAST }

hen most people think of Japan, the first thought

through their mind is likely not wilderness. Maybe it’s

the bright lights of Tokyo, the gastronomical delights

of Japanese foods, or the colourful characters and giant eyes of

the animation industry. But wilderness?

! Japan is a land where robots can play the violin, toilets

don’t flush so much as give you a spa-like experience, and peo-

ple bow to you in traffic instead of giving you the finger. Jor-

dan and I have lived in Japan for just shy of four months now.

We live in a decent-sized industrial city called Yokkaichi, in

Mie prefecture on the eastern side of Japan. We’re within a

few hours of several major cities, including Tokyo. We have

easy access to most basic amenities… from maple syrup to toi-

letries to the all-important video game stores. If I were going

to be picky I’d bring up the fact that we lack a couch, central

heating, and a decent kitchen, but all things considered we live

quite comfortably.

! We are surrounded by people on a daily basis. Both

of us work in high schools as English teachers – or English

performers, depending on the day. Jordan is even treated

like a rock star by his students, complete with screams at his

arrival and regular professions of undying love. For myself,

being female and working at an almost-all girls school (out

of 280 first year students I teach less than 20 boys) doesn’t

garnish me quite the same reactions from students most times, but I have been explicitly told by other teachers

that I am a Very Important Person, and am usually treated as such. There are also a lot of other foreigners

(mainly other English teachers) living near us, so we can get our non-Japanese (aka. Gaijin) fix on the weekends.

! The dictionary definition of “wilderness” is “an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region.”

How can the Japan I’ve just described be the wilderness I’m writing from? Simple: try being a Christian. Since

coming to Mie I have met exactly one other Christian that I’m aware of, a fellow foreigner. I have met zero

Japanese Christians, although I have met a few people of other “Western” beliefs – the first time I saw someone

reading a Bible in public, I got so excited I went over and struck up a (very limited Japanese-English) conversa-

tion, and then I found myself with a Watchtower Society web address and instructions to read the Bible there in

English.

! There are a few Christian churches to service the 1% of Japanese Christians here, including an Anglican

one, but the services are all in Japanese, which doesn’t really help us at this stage in our Japanese proficiency. So

our church consists of doing the weekly Anglican Eucharistic readings together in our living room after break-

fast. It’s great, but, as the Christmas season approaches, I can’t help wishing for a little more company.

! In the wilderness it’s easy to feel lonely and directionless, but I know we’re not the only ones who’ve been

here. Many Christian and biblical figures, including Christ himself, have spent time in the wilderness only to

come out stronger in their faith. So as we camp out in the wilderness here, and eat our pre-ordered KFC for

Christmas, hopefully we’ll learn a few things by following in their footsteps, in a sense. And once we learn a little

more Japanese, we can attempt to emerge from the wilderness. G

"

Janelle and her husband Jordan attended Christ the Redeemer during their tenures at Trinity Western University. They recently left

the Lower Mainland to pursue teaching opportunities in Japan. Visit their blog: thejwsdojapan.wordpress.com

How can the Japan I’ve just described be the wilderness I’m writing from? Simple:

try being a Christian.

W

4 | WINTER 2010 G

Contributions continue to trickle into the fireside room penny jar. A further $45.00 was counted early in November and desig-nated towards Sunday School/Messy Church activities.! In the year-and-a-bit since the penny jar first took its place on the fireside hearth $195.00 has been counted, rolled, and supplemented ei-ther coffee hour sup-plies or Sunday School/Messy Church activities. All contributions gratefully accepted. G

The Pielicious Piemakers are taking orders for

Blackberry and Apple PiesAlso available, enticing and rich with flavour:

Apple, Blueberry, Bumbleberry, and Strawberry rhubarb

Pies are made from scratch with lard-free, egg-free, preservative-free,

pastry dough. Complete with easy baking instructions

PRICES

• Family-size frozen pies $7/ea

• Generous single-serving frozen pies $3/ea

• Limited supply made with sugar substitute Splenda ($8 for full pie ; $3.50 for single-serving)

TO ORDER

• Available after church each Sunday, or, leave a message on the pie order phone line: (604) 836-0455

A little bit goes a long way!BY PAM MOORE

{ CALLING ALL COPPER QUEENS }

G WINTER 2010 | 5

ue to a generous donation of $400 by Christ Church Ladies Guild, the final ‘dollop’ owed on the kitchen fridge was repaid in September, 4 months earlier than

planned. So with many thanks to the Ladies Guild, all pro-ceeds from pie sales can now be focused entirely on saving for new floor coverings for upstairs in Christ the Redeemer. A challenging goal, but with God’s guidance and your sup-port, anything is possible.! Our rhubarb pies next year will be even more deli-cious with the availability of our very own home-grown in-gredient. Our rhubarb garden is thriving! The 20 or so plants have grown at such a pace and with such strength this year, several will require transplanting next spring. Don Alger, whose instigation and construction skills gave us the raised garden, had also the foresight to create a second raised bed in the same building marathon. Access to a 2nd bed ensures transplanting will be a simple process. Thanks again Don, your effort and hard work is constantly appre-ciated. " The fun and fellowship of piemaking continues. We meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesday morning of every month in the church kitchen. We’re a diverse group, some of us are CTR parishioners, some are not. Some speak only Eng-lish, some attend to practice their English conversation skills with us. If you’re tempted to come and see what we’re all about, we’d love to see you. Feel free to drop in for coffee and a slice of fresh baked pie. G

Fridge payed off !FROM THE PIELICIOUS PIEMAKERS

{ NEWS FROM THE KITCHEN }

D

Our WebsiteBY RYAN SCHUTT

{ 21ST CENTURY CHURCH }

erhaps you have noticed that in recent months, the church website has under-gone some pretty significant changes. I’ve

had the pleasure and privilege of taking on the task of doing various design projects for the church (including this issue of the Redeemer Review) and the website is just one of many things that I am taking care of !! I want to say thank you to those who provided feedback on the website and I look forward to continuing to make the website more user friendly, both for our parishioners and people interested in our parish." After the busy Christmas season is over, I hope to begin the process of creating a new logo for the church that can be used on future publications. It is important for our parish to have a “brand identity” that we can be known by in the wider community.! If you have any comments, sugges-tions, questions, or concerns, please e-mail me at rjschutt@gmail.com. G

P

TheREDEEMER

REVIEW

is the quarterly newsletter ofCHRIST the REDEEMERANGLICAN CHURCH

in the DIOCESE of NEW WESTMINSTER

ADDRESS

16613 Bell RoadSurrey, BCV3S 1H7

ctrchurch.com

(604) 576-2216

RECTOR

Rev Craig Vance

(604) 881-4492

priest@ctrchurch.com

ADMINISTRATOR

Janet Mackie

(604) 576-2216

admin@ctrchurch.com

REVIEW EDITOR

Ryan Schuttrjschutt@gmail.com

(778) 241-5197

For comments, suggestions, ques-tions, ideas for articles, or sub-

missions, please e-mail the newsletter editor.

DISCLAIMER

The opinions expressed in this publication belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the members or staff

of CHRIST the REDEEMER

ANGLICAN CHURCH.

PICTURE CREDITSpg. 1, Wikipedia; pg. 2, Wikipedia; pg. 3, Microsoft Clipart, Craig Vance; pg.

4, Jordan Weibelzahl; pg. 5, Wikipedia.com; pg. 6, Wikipedia.com

6 | WINTER 2010 G

MESSY CHURCH

Saturday, December 4th at 4:30-6:30 pm

at Christ the RedeemerJoin us for a fun-filled family evening including dinner

and an Advent wreath craft.

LESSONS & CAROLS

Sunday, December 12th at 10 am

at Christ ChurchA classic Christmas season service in the historic Angli-

can church (1882) of Christ Church (across the street

from CTR)

SENIORS’ CAROL SING & TEA

Wednesday, December 15th at 1:30 pm

FAMILY CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE

Friday, December 24th at 6:00 pm

at Christ the RedeemerCelebrate Christmas Eve with your whole family. Chil-

dren should arrive 10 minutes early to prepare for our

“instant pageant.”

MIDNIGHT MASS

Friday, December 24th at 11:00 pm

at Christ the RedeemerJoin us as we welcome Christmas morning!

CHRISTMAS MORNING SERVICE

Saturday, December 25th at 10:00 am

at Christ ChurchAn intimate Christmas morning service in Christ Church

(across the street from CTR)

BOXING DAY SERVICE

Sunday, December 26th at 10 am

at Christ ChurchLessons & carols along with a cookie offering in Christ

Church (across the street from CTR).

ChristmasAT CHRIST THE REDEEMER