Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian & St. Paul’s United
From the desk of Rev. Michelle…
We are just over one week away from Holy Week. How fast this Lenten season has gone. I wanted to take a moment to provide you with some information about Palm Sunday (April 13) and Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, we have decided to forgo palm leaves in favor of local branches. Please note that we will be using cedar branches instead. Our Palm Sunday will also be a special service of word and music adapted from a service suggested by Dr. Sharon Pond. This service will take us on a reflective journey starting with Palm Sunday as we journey towards the cross. Our other Holy Week services are jointly held with Wilmot United. On Maundy Thursday (April 17), there is a potluck dinner at 5:30 pm in the hall, followed by a sanctuary service at 6:45 pm in our sanctuary. On Good Friday (April 18), we head to Wilmot (473 King Street) at 11 am for worship. We will not be having an Easter Sunrise Service by the river, however, if you wish to worship with the dawn, an ecumenical service will be taking place at Killarney Lake Beach at 6:30 am. Our Easter communion service is at our regular worship time of 10:30 am, followed by a special fellowship time.
With these future dates noted, let us now turn our attention towards our continued exploration of the ways our faith is lived. As we pull up a chair at the Spiritual table, we find ourselves at the table with the most diverse terrain of lived faith practices. It is so diverse that at times, spirituals do not always recognize each other. What draws the Spirituals together is a faith lived in reverence and wonder, and a profound sense of trust in the sacred nature of reality. For the spirituals, the creative heart of the divine can be intimately connected with, and they sense God’s presence as tangible in creation.
They are pilgrims in the sense that spiritual seeking is at the heart of their practice. They have an openness to the unknown. In their pursuit of spiritual wisdom, they employ a wide range of practices, from the most ancient to the most modern. For them, the Christian life is about awakening to our lives in God. They are also much more likely to explore practices from other traditions, because they can see and experience God as one with creation and the divine thread that joins us all together. The people at this table are connected to the deep and ancient roots of Christianity, while also opening the door wide to spiritual seekers. It is through this table that people with no church experience are often introduced to the Christian spiritual life.
Spirituals, according to Janet Gear in her book Undivided Love, are those who are implicitly or explicitly attuned to encountering the spirit in all things. They experience and view the world as holy ground and have a profound reverence which might be expressed as inquiry, curiosity, creativity or silence. Seated at the Spirituals table, you find contemplatives, artists, explorers, and scientists. They are the people who are more likely to pick up a book on Christian mystics or Celtic prayer than church growth, and when reading the bible, they are drawn to Lectio Divina rather than historical-critical methods.
For some Spirituals, poetry, art, and music are important expressions of faith and a path to the divine life. Within the beauty of creative arts, the Spirituals see the hand of God at work. Others experience God profoundly in the natural world, drawing them in reverence; for them, creation itself awakens deep wonder and awe. Be it kayaking on the river or plunging into the mysteries through scientific study, the more they engage deeply with the earth, the more they give to it, the more they sense belonging to God.
Spirituals see the oneness and connection of everything and God. Healing touch, and healing prayer are practices related to this stream’s embrace of the mysterious connection of body-mind-spirit. For the Spirituals, self-knowledge is vital for guarding against self-deception, which Christianity recognizes as the root of harm. Their faith and insights are born of much time spent exploring their own stories of faith and, in so doing, seeing the deep interconnectedness of all things. Navigating the psycho-spiritual landscape is integral to their spiritual reflection and transformation as they seek the path of self-emptying, to loosen their grip on the “I” and become at one with all things at the heart of God. For them, sin is manifested as the disintegration of what was created in oneness.
They tend to be cosmopolitan and pluralistic in their language. It may sound to others at the banquet that they are stepping away from the church, as opposed to bringing other disciplines and perspectives into it through themselves. Spirituals deepen their faith as they engage with people who have similar sentimentality across all disciplines but continue to bring their learning back to their understanding of the Divine life found in the mysteries of our faith. They are rigorous and deliberate in their practice, as they seek to let go of ego-driven life.
For the Spirituals, the church is here to serve people in awakening to holy wisdom while travelling the spiritual path to union with all life in God. This is why the spiritual faith resonates with that of a pilgrim. They are often found in places of unknowing, diving into that which they cannot prove. The Spirituals resonate with scripture that portrays seeking and wrestling with God for holy revelation and transformation, such as Genesis 32:22-31. They love the fact that in scripture, Jesus asks so many questions, leaving them space to explore and dig deeper into their responses. There is also an affinity to following the self-emptying way of Christ highlighted in Philippians 2:7-8.
Spirituals are often focused more on transformation-centred Christianity than belief-centred Christianity. When talking about their theology, they talk more about God’s creativity than God’s control. When you listen to them pray, the Holy Spirit is often invoked.
Spirituals are not identified by what they do, but by how they do it. While they can be found in all church activities, unlike other tables, the spirituals serve not because they meet God in a particular way, but because of the deep connection with God that they already experience. It is the deep resonance with God, the letting go of exceptionalism and locating themselves humbly as part of the web of life and the deep interconnectedness that they know exists among all created things that drives their service. Encountering the sacred in the ordinary is commonplace for the spiritual lived faith. They respond and stay motivated because of greater and greater love within and outside of themselves that is revealed through communion with God, others and the world. A hymn that speaks to this deep connection is found in Voices United # 402 We Are One.
Spirituals bring the gift of discipline, non-judgment, curiosity, open-mindedness, self-awareness, attentiveness and concern for the common good. Their path leads them to self-effacing generosity, acceptance and joy. They are skilled at helping draw people together as they can see and navigate the connections between things that seem distant. They are self-aware and disciplined, they understand what it means to have and invite others into regular spiritual practice. Spirituals are skilled at the practice of setting things down and letting go, so that they can embrace what the spirit brings their way.
Like all of the streams of lived faith, the Spiritual faith expression has its own particular shadow. For the spiritual, one of the dangers is that their pursuit of spiritual wisdom can morph from divine revelation to striving for the next new experience or discovery. When this happens, the Spiritual can easily get caught up in the individualism and consumerism of our wider culture and enter into the cycle of always “needing” the next thing to be happy.
The Spirituals’ shadow is also manifested when the Spirituals’ pursuit of self-awareness for the sake of harmonious relationships and spiritual insight becomes self-inflation and self-aggrandizement. When this happens, there is a shift from self-emptying and understanding the deep connection of all things to narcissism and greed.
Thankfully, like the other streams we have explored, the antidote for the Spiritual isolation and internal focus can be found at another of our banquet tables. In this case, it is the Ecclesials and their focus on the community and common life, which reminds the spiritual of our deep connection with each other and God.
Thanks be to God for the diversity of faith expressions that we find in this church of ours. This Sunday, we will explore the 5th and final table. So, as we go into this weekend, let us pray,
Holy Spirit,
Remind us again that you are as near to us as our very breath.
We give thanks today for all the ways, O God, we come to know you.
You are found every day
in our neighbours and friends,
in music, dance and art,
through the glory of creation,
in the deep silence and our noisy questions.
We see you at work, fostering life and abundance for all.
We pray this day for the places where there is tension and disunity,
where your vision and hope for our world is distorted.
Into these places send your profound wisdom and insight,
so that hearts turn yet again to each other,
and know that in and through you, we are all one.
This we pray in the name of Christ,
who emptied himself, even to death,
so that we might see and be saved through his great love. Amen.
Featured In This April 4th eNews Edition
Worship This Sunday April 6th
Worship Committee Needs You!
Spring Yard Sale
St. Paul’s Pantry Program
Brown Bag Lunch Program
Upcoming Dates To Remember
Free Income Tax Clinic
Beef Stew Take Out
Ongoing Church Activities
Connecting With Rev. Michelle
Bulletin & eNews Submissions
Worship This Sunday April 6th
Please join Rev. Michelle for service this Sunday at 10:30am.
To view the bulletin in advance click here!
Can’t make it in person, join via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83673756287 Passcode: 2023
View anytime on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@st.paulsunitedchurch984/videos
Worship Committee Needs You!
The Ecclesial Assembly is working at strengthening our worship committee and seeking nominations for this important work. If you know of someone who would be a good member or you yourself would like to sit on this committee, please let either co-chair Mary Charters or Roger Millar or Rev. Michelle know. Thank you ~ Rev. Michelle
Spring Yard Sale
The Tuesday AM Ladies’ Group, their numbers now increased by their newest members (the St. Paul’s ladies) announce their Spring Yard Sale to be held on Friday, May 2nd from 3-7pm and Saturday, May 3rd from 9-Noon. Donations of items are encouraged to make for an interesting and bountiful inventory for our dedicated regular shoppers and first-time visitors. We are still working on a plan for dropping off your items. Keep tuned for our drop-off plans.
St. Paul’s Pantry Program
For the month of April, the Pantry will focus on receiving donations of 1L vinegar and ketchup. Other items of need are flour, puddings, pancake mix, syrup, cereal, granola bars, cookies, mayo, salt, tin foil, plastic wrap, and dish & laundry detergent. Thank you for your ongoing and generous support!
Brown Bag Lunch Program
The Brown Bag Lunch program needs canned proteins with pull tops (such as flakes of meat, Chef Boyardee, chili, sardines), chicken salad & crackers, juice boxes, pudding cups, fruit cups, and small, sweet treats such as mini chocolate bars. Thank you for your generosity.
Upcoming Dates To Remember
April 6th ~ Service at 10:30 ~ Fellowship hosted by Rose Caroyln Smith & Tammy Coughlan
April 13th ~ Palm Sunday Service at 10:30 ~ Fellowship hosted by Beth & Shawn Meister & Kim Keetch
April 17th ~ DTU Maundy Thursday Potluck at 5:30pm
April 17th ~ DTU Maundy Thursday Service here at 7pm
April 18th ~ DTU Good Friday Service at Wilmot at 11am
April 18th ~ Good Friday STAT Holiday – Offices Closed
April 20th ~ Easter Sunday Service with Communion at 10:30 ~ Fellowship hosted by the Worship Committee
April 21st ~ Easter Monday STAT Holiday – Offices Closed
April 27th ~ Service at 10:30 ~ Fellowship hosted by Debbie West
Free Income Tax Clinic
Forest Hill United Church is hosting free income tax clinics on Friday March 28th, April 4th, 11th, and 25th from 9:30am to 1pm. You qualify for this service if you are 65 or older, housing insecure, a student, a person with disabilities, or have a modest income. To see if you qualify or for more information, please call 506-455-0988 or email foresth.office@bellaliant.com
Beef Stew Take Out
The Nashwaaksis United Church is hosting a Beef Stew Takeout on Friday, April 11th, 4–5:30pm. The menu includes Beef Stew, Roll and Carrot Cake for $15. Please reserve your order by Wednesday, April 9th at 2pm, by calling the church office at 506-458-9452 or by email: admin@nashwaaksisunited.ca
Ongoing Church Activities
Monday – Friday ~ Community Outreach ~ Brown Bag Lunch Program in St. Paul’s Office
Tuesdays ~ Tuesday Morning Ladies Group at 9:30am ~ All are welcome!
Tuesdays & Thursdays ~ Quilting from 1-4pm ~ All are welcome!
Wednesdays ~ Community Outreach ~ Pantry Program from 9-11am
Thursdays ~ Bible Study from 6-7pm ~ All are Welcome!
Thursdays ~ Choir Practice from 7-8pm ~ All are welcome!
Fridays ~ Community Outreach ~ Breakfast 2 Go from 8:30-10am
Connecting With Rev. Michelle
Rev. Michelle can be reached on the main office phone lines, her office directly at 506-455-0639, by text or call to her cell at 506-259-7602 or via email at michellenarmstrong@hotmail.com. Drop-in office hours are Sundays and Mondays from 1-2:30pm. Appointments are preferred to ensure the time you need to connect.
Bulletin & eNews Submissions
Please send announcements to Meghan at stpaulsoffice224@gmail.com by noon Wednesday.
Contact Information
Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian & St. Paul’s United
512 Charlotte Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 1M2
Saint Andrew’s: Tel: 506.455.8220 | Email: sapcfred@gmail.com |Website: https://sapc.ca/
Office Administrator: Joanna Price |Office Hours: Monday-Friday 2pm-6pm
St. Paul’s: Tel: 506.458.1183 | E-mail: stpaulsoffice224@gmail.com|Website: www.stpaulsunited.ca
Office Administrator/Bookkeeper: Meghan Roebuck |Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 8am-3pm & Friday 8am-12pm
Minister: Rev. Michelle Armstrong |Organist: Dr. Sharon Pond
Custodian: Doug Newman |Ministers Emeriti: Rev. Doug Blaikie & Rev. Dr. Basil Lowery