The seasonal Ember Days are not included in the calendar of the Anglican Church of Canada but MacCausland’s Divine Order of Service notes that there seems to be "renewed interest" in their observance in recent years. The Prayer Book of 1962 provides propers for Ember Days which it says may be used on the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays on specified days of the four seasons.
According to the Farmers' Almanac, the English word “ember” is probably a corruption of the Latin “quatuor tempora” which means four times or four seasons.
“There are a total of 12 Ember Days each year, observed on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday (Pentecost), the Feast of the Holy Cross, and the Feast of St. Lucy (Lucia?). While the first Sunday in Lent and Whitsunday-Pentecost change each year based on Easter, the Feast of the Holy Cross and the Feast of St. Lucy are fixed dates, on September 14 and December 13, respectively.
Ember Day observances date back to the 5th century, when observers would thank God for the gifts of nature, embrace those gifts in moderation, and assist the needy.
Ember Days began in Rome with fasts in June, September, and December, but the days were not fixed. The fourth set of days were added near the end of the 5th century. At that time, the conferring of ordinations was permitted on ember Saturdays, while previously, the practice was ordinations only at Easter.
It is said that Ember Days may have been created in response to the excessive celebrations that surrounded the pagan festivals in Rome."
Superstitions abound including, that the weather on ember days somehow predicts future weather, sounding a lot like how we still fun about with Ground Hog Day superstition.
An old English rhyme helped people to remember the occurrence of Ember Days four times throughout the year:
Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.
Lent, Whitsunday, Holy Cross (11 September), St. Lucie (13 December)
St. Lucie, Lucy or Lucia (the Saint of light, light being the origin of the name) has been mostly a Scandinavian celebration and the festival day has not been included in North American Anglican calenders. It is still December 13th as it has been for centuries in the calender of the Church of England. See Saint Lucy’s Day on the Anglican Compass.
Do you and your spouse feel like a team? Or does it seem like something is getting in the way of that lately? It’s not unusual to go through periods where things are just out of sync between you. It can feel like you’re constantly at odds or working against each other, even if it’s not intentional. What’s going wrong?
His first service as organist was Oct. 21, 2021. Since then he’s been taking weekly lessons from Thomas Gonder, Christ Church Cathedral’s organist. “He’s a phenomenal organist,” said Christian of Thomas. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s played all over Canada. He’s shown me techniques I never knew.”
When Sandra Gereau moved to Prince Edward Island, St. Peter’s in Fredericton was left without an organist. So the former rector, Canon Ross Hebb, began asking around.
“Jokingly, Ross Hebb asked my dad if he could play the organ. He said ‘No, but my son does,’” said Christian Vanicek.
The joke was on Christian, because he’d never played an organ in his life. He was, however, an accomplished pianist.
“I had no experience, but I was willing to learn. Sandy gave me a few lessons to show me how it worked,” he said.
BECOMING AN ORGANIST
His first service as organist was Oct. 21, 2021. Since then he’s been taking weekly lessons from Thomas Gonder, Christ Church Cathedral’s organist.
“He’s a phenomenal organist,” said Christian of Thomas. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s played all over Canada. He’s shown me techniques I never knew.”
The organ lessons are in addition to his piano lessons, Grade 12 studies, and soccer playing. The 17-year-old is a busy guy, just finished his first semester high school exams and about to sit for his Grade 10 piano exam with the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Despite all this, he is keen on playing the organ to the best of his ability.
“This is a great organ for someone just starting out,” he said of the Tracker organ whose beginnings date back to 1835.
“This is considered an original instrument,” said Sandra in a story from 2016. “It means it’s in its original state. The mechanisms are pretty basic — wood, tin pipes, reeds, leather connectors and wire holding the parts together.
“It also means this type of organ will last a long time. There is very little to go wrong on it.”
For Christian, it’s all about the sounds he can produce.
“It allows me to be creative,” he said. “I’m somewhat limited on piano, but this is expressive, loud. I’m making music the way I see it.”
He finds a big difference between the organ he plays every Sunday morning and the Cathedral’s organ.
“The Cathedral’s has four keyboards. There must be at least eight times as many stops compared to the one,” he said. “The Cathedral’s is nice and grand, but I like the simplicity and how this one feels to play.”
FUTURE PLANS
Despite coming from a musical family, playing the piano since the age of 4 and now playing the organ, Christian is not planning a musical career. He has been accepted into the foundations program at the University of Kings College in Halifax, where the Rev. Ranall Ingalls (former rector in Sackville) is the chaplain.
“There’s an organ in the chapel there, and I hope to help out in some capacity,” he said.
Christian hopes to pursue a degree in history, and then he has his mind on law school.
History, he says, is where his heart is.
“There’s so much to learn,” said Christian. “It helps to know where we come from to give us a better perspective of who we are.”
Christian is the youngest child of Filip and Marianne Vanicek. His brother, Sebastian, 22, is in medical school in Scotland, and his sister, Caroline, 20, is at UNB studying math and physics.
ST. PETER’S
The Rev. Canon Elaine Hamilton is thrilled to have Christian among her congregants at St. Peter’s.
“With his great skill at the organ, and the choir at St. Peter's, the music each Sunday elevates our worship,” she said. “When starting to fill in at St. Peter's Church one-and-a-half years ago, I was thrilled and impressed to find such an accomplished teenager at the organ bench.
“Christian is a lovely, quiet, unassuming and wonderfully talented young man, which bodes well for his future.
“He graduates this year from high school and will be off to university. I know he will succeed and wish him well as he traverses university life and beyond. We will miss him immensely.”
THOMAS
When Christian leaves for university in the fall, Thomas will be missing more than just giving lessons.
“He’s by far the best student I’ve ever had,” said Thomas. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime student, and I am going to miss him terribly.
“He’s a nice person to be around. He has a startling lack of arrogance. He’s very humble and I think that makes a person a better musician.”
Christian is a Cathedral Organ Scholar, a title granted to a deserving student which comes with the opportunity to play on occasion.
Because he’s at St. Peter’s on Sunday mornings, he plays for the monthly Evensong at the Cathedral. He’s also played in the summer recital series in 2022 and 2023.
“He brought in more donations than any other series, and probably more people as well,” said Thomas. “I think he broke attendance records for the summer series.”
About his playing, Thomas has seen vast improvement over two-and-a-half years of lessons.
“He’s come a long, long way,” he said. “He’s naturally gifted. His organ lesson on Friday night is the highlight of my week.”
While Thomas wholeheartedly agrees that Christian could have a career in music, it’s not the easiest to forge, he said. It seems Christian knows that as well.
“Even though I’ve been playing music my whole life, I’ve never wanted it as a career,” said Christian. “But wherever I settle, I’ll always be open to helping out at a church, playing or whatever.”
Best wishes and blessings to Christian from the Diocesan Synod.
Jesus’s last instruction to his apprentices is often known as the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples.” But what if we translated that into the language of the trade school?
New episodes of Season 4 will be showing in movie theatres throughout February ahead of their television broadcast and availability through the show’s dedicated streaming site and app.
Euthanasia is the deliberate killing of someone by action or omission, with or without that person’s consent, for what are claimed to be compassionate reasons.
Assisted suicide is counselling, abetting, or an act of aiding someone to kill himself or herself.
Members of the Coalition believe that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be treated as murder/homicide, irrespctive of whether the person killed has consented to be killed.
Purpose
To preserve and enforce legal prohibitions and ethical guidelines prohibiting “mercy killing.”
To increase public awareness of hospice/palliative care.
To promote improvement in the quality and availability of hospice/palliative care, and effective methods of controlling pain and suffering.
To educate the public on the harm and risks associated with the promotion of euthanasia and assisted suicide through the use of pamphlets, information seminars, media campaigns and research articles.
To co-ordinate and disseminate research and information on issues related to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
To represent the vulnerable and, where appropriate, advocate before the courts on issues related to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Faith is a way of life that acquires its layers and contours incrementally, often imperceptibly.
Jason and I retreated to the ICU waiting room to talk about his mother’s precipitous decline. Moments earlier the attending physician had spoken of her imminent death. “Six to 12 hours—maybe,” he said. I wanted to chat with Jason.
Marie is very familiar to me from our congregation; her son far less so. A well-employed 44-year-old techie, he doesn’t take to religion. Best I can tell, it feels superfluous to his larger contentment in life. Because he looked uncomfortable with what was going on that day, I asked him if he was. “Yeah, I am. I don’t wanna be here.” Continue reading ...
Bishop and Chapter met on 16 January 2024 with 8 of 12 members and one guest. Minutes of the 11 December 2023 meeting were adopted. J. Yeamans was elected meeting chair. The Chapter briefly discussed the article “7 Trends for Church Leadership in 2024" (Lewis Centre for Church Leadership). Worthwhile to compare challenges and successes with the wider church.
FROM THE DEAN
Cathedral
• 2 care facility Communions; 1 funeral; 4 staff meetings; dinner for staff 02 January; 3 committee / group meetings; 8 home/hospital visits; Christmas attendance 297/80/98/38; New Year’s Day
• Home Communion - that the Dean request permission for Doreen Smith to administer Home Communion
• Bookkeeper - that we increase the per hour rate being paid
• Budget - acceptance of the 2024 Budget as modified for presentation
• Annual - meeting 1:00 p.m. 18 February 2024 following a light lunch at the Cathedral. Snow date 25 February
• Repairs - that the Property Committee proceed with repairs of Cathedral furnace motor (est $2500) and replacement of Cathedral chimney cap (est $5500). 2024 maintenance budget has been increased
• 2023 Financial review - Bringloe Feeney appears to be unable to provide a review engagement. The Dean and Treasurer will attempt to engage 2 competent individuals to review 2023 financials
REPORTS
Treasurer - December ended with a 2023 deficit of about $20,000 (2023 offering was $46,033 below budgeted - see bulletin offering budget summary)
Nominating - continues to meet. Three nominations have been secured. One member of Chapter needed (Communications Committee chair?)
Buildings and Property - Interim chair R. Crowe reported on current active items including: Cathedral furnace pump; Cathedral chimney cover removed by wind; consideration of now inoperable platform lift at Memorial Hall. Programable thermostat installations at the Hall complete. 2 additional inside security cameras (1 hall/one church) complete. Garda Security contract for the Hall has been cancelled.
Finance and Administration - finishing up work on staff policy handbook; application for 2024 tour guide funding made; statistics on 2023 summer visitors reported; Safe Church Committee to meet to consider implementation strategy
Health / Pastoral Care - chair for Health Ministries needed. 2 new hospital visitors. 2 new administrators of home communion. Cathedral Visitors made visits at Christmas. Hospital Visitors met January 9th. Ongoing consideration of possible ministries with available volunteers
Mission / Outreach - Benevolence policy form used once at Christmas. Giving Tuesday campaign exceeded $2000 to Montgomery Street School project. $1000 support to St. Hilda’s, Belize sent at the end of the year
Worship - a youth choir sang on Christmas Eve at 4:00 p.m. Recognize need to reestablish a server’s guild and train new servers
UPCOMING
• Annual reports due 31 January
• 14 February 2024 Ash Wednesday
• Annual Congregational Meeting 18 February, 1:00 p.m.
• Next meeting - 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, 06 February teleconference
Jake McGlothin says it’s only logical that the two most important social institutions in our society should work together. He outlines what churches can share with schools as well as how engagement with schools can positively impact a congregation.
We miss it again and again, year after year. Christmas is well on its way now. Even though the retail sector has been cranked up for weeks with non-stop Christmas tunes in the background, we still miss it.
In the beginning, perhaps the first Christmas, or in the very beginning when everything was made, the glory of God was revealed and we missed it. A late night comedian recently suggested it was high time we got Christ out of Christmas since we’ve shown over and over, year after year, that we don’t really intend to follow him. We love to have the baby Jesus in a manger because he hasn’t said anything yet. Once he does begin to speak he causes nothing but upset. Get Christ out of Christmas so we can have the best party ever – the one that we all deserve.
The first chapter of the Gospel of John curiously contains logically contradictory words. “The true light ... was coming ...” (v. 9) John says. “We have seen his glory (v. 14) ... he was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” (vss. 10, 11) How can this be? How does an intelligent human race miss this? It seems we keep doing it everyday.
This Christmas there are folks who will be reunited with family they haven’t seen in months. There will be quiet, cozy Christmas gatherings and celebrations of all that’s good about life. Others will take one more step in suffering because of illness or loss, loneliness or misfortune that makes celebration difficult, if not impossible.
Either way, it’s important that we not miss this. The gift God once gave, and continues to give to the world, which is Christmas, is “grace upon grace.” He is “the one true light.” Of all of the other lights in our lives, this light “shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (vs. 5) Whatever our circumstance, the message of Christmas is “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace,” (v. 16) perhaps especially those who need it most. Christmas light shines for all.
For those of us who have somehow come to understand that we own the light, we best be reminded that we miss it regularly. Light shines where it wills. Nothing prevents the littlest candle lighting the darkest dark. If we’re in the dark we need to look to the Light. But we need to look. It shines for me. It shines for you. Darkness [will] not overcome it. To those who receive, he gives “power to become children of God.” (v. 12)
Join us during the Christmas season to worship the One who is the Light of the World. If you’ve drifted away from a communal expression of gratitude for grace upon grace, why not make a special effort to return to where others share in celebrating the Eternal? A schedule of worship is included here. As I pray that we don’t miss the Light today or in the days of a coming new year, I remain,
The seasonal Ember Days are not included in the calendar of the Anglican Church of Canada but MacCausland’s Divine Order of Service notes that there seems to be "renewed interest" in their observance in recent years. The Prayer Book of 1962 provides propers for Ember Days which it says may be used on the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays on specified days of the four seasons.
