2024 Christmas Pastoral Letter

Posted on December 20, 2024December 21, 2024

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2024 Christmas Worship Schedule

Advent 2024
Fredericton NB

Dear Friends,

As I write, the celebration is already in full swing. Christmas began long before the 1st of December in the retail sector. Many houses on our street were lit inside and out for Christmas back in November. Most “Christmas” parties and concerts have already happened. It’s tempting, especially in a seasonally demanding profession, to feel burnt out even before Christmas begins. You may share those sentiments for your own reasons. If you think you might be the perfect candidate to replace Jim Carey in the next Dr. Seuss movie or would like to audition for the part of Scrooge this year, you're probably not alone. The reality is, all of us have our reasons for not welcoming the coming of what our culture has decided is the biggest festival of the year commercially and otherwise. Rose will be facing her first Christmas without her husband. Gil needs to deal with what losing his job last July will do to Christmas at his house. Dexter will spend Christmas away from home for the first time.

The celebration of Christmas is so often tied to our past and its memories. We have the expectation that this year needs to exceed all the other Christmases put together. That’s seldom, if ever, possible. I wonder if our expectations, and those the culture places on the Season, don't eclipse what the Christian celebration is all about.

Tradition is a wonderful gift. Christmas customs of celebration are valuable and create memories that last forever. However, tradition and custom can also cut us off from the reality of the present, and it may be there we most feel the pain. The coming of our Lord was not meant to cause pain. The message of Christmas is good news of great joy. If the celebration this year is causing you anxiety as the past squeezes you too forcefully into the uncertain future perhaps it’s time to consider again the “reason for the season.”

Jesus comes to bring the assurance that “God is with us.” God knows our pain, not because he has a good imagination but because he ‘shared our human nature.’ The Incarnation reminds us that when we cry, God cries. When we laugh, God laughs too. The true peace of Christmas has to be sought in the present not re-manufactured from the past. I’ll bet this Christmas is going to be different in your household just as it is every year and will be in mine. Recognizing the grace in the present moment will be a key to the celebration. God is with us, even though it’s just not the same this year. The true celebration of Christmas should help us along into the future, not cause us to wallow in the past or be helplessly swallowed up by it.

So celebrate “Christmas Present” this year. Discover again what Cindy Lou and all the little Whos in Who-ville already knew but needed to be reminded. It’s not about stuff. It’s not about the past. It’s all about the “presence.” The Church will gather once again to stand as community in the light of the miracle of the Incarnation. God is with us. The schedule included should be easily posted in a convenient place or shared. If necessary, Communion where you are is as easy as a reply, a message to the Cathedral Office or to me. Have a blessed Christmas.

Or use the envelope in your boxed set

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall (The Very Rev’d)
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

2024 Thanksgiving Pastoral Letter

Posted on October 10, 2024October 24, 2024

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Thanksgiving 2024
Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton NB

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world. I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, and skies and seas,
his hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world – O let me ne’re forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world! The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and heav’n be one.
M.D. Babcock

Dear Friends,

I remember singing those words in my youth. At one time I had named it my favourite hymn. I suppose initially it was the tune that held my attention but the meaning of the words has grown. We live in an awesome world, created by an awesome God. Beauty abounds. Complexity amazes. The glory of God shows through in creation. Recent events have proven some other words of that hymn too. The “wrong seems oft so strong.” We do need to remember, especially during misfortune, uncertain and trying times, “God is the Ruler yet.”

Human nature is such that we often fail to recognize the importance of what we take for granted until it’s removed. It is not until liberty is threatened that we begin to realize what it means to be free. We may not remember how wonderful it is to be fed until we are hungry. When death approaches we see life. The gifts freely given, especially in nature, are among those we too often overlook. It’s the purpose of celebrations of harvest and the Christian prayers which “round us ring” at this time of year that urge us to be mindful of just how glorious those gifts really are. God’s heart is pleased to hear expressions of thanksgiving in the midst of the bountiful creation.

The hymn also reminds me of just how in touch with reality our Christian practices of worship are when we celebrate the sacraments. All of the human senses are employed as the sacraments point to the most basic of God’s gifts, especially those we take most for granted. Water in baptism conveys the refreshing cleansing of the grace of God; bread and wine in the eucharist remind us of the nourishment which sustains; the sign of the cross in absolution should bring to mind the great price paid for us by the Saviour. There’s something very sacramental in sincere words of thanksgiving. Using the very things God has given, the stuff of the earth, we convey by their right and responsible use a kind of appreciation which is both pleasing to God and up-building for the community he calls into his presence.

For many, “Thanksgiving” is a day off work or school. Let the important symbols speak in your life as we gather to celebrate sacramentally the blessing of creation and our place in it. We’ll follow a regular schedule of worship (8 and 10:30 a.m.) on Sunday October 14th set in the context of harvest thanksgiving. You are invited and encouraged to make a special effort to join your church family to sing praises to the Maker of All. As always, if you are unable to be physically present and to make your Communion, remember us in your prayers, and please do not hesitate to contact me or the Cathedral Office to make arrangements to have it brought to wherever you may be.

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall (The Very Rev’d)
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

Reflections on the Second Sunday after Penetecost (Proper 9 Year B)

Posted on June 1, 2024June 10, 2024

1 SAMUEL 3:1-10 (11-20); PSALM 139:1-5, 12-17; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:5-12; MARK 2:23-3:6

“Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10

One might be tempted to identify God himself as the deepest mystery of faith. In our times, being able to hold on to a worldview and way of making sense of reality that includes belief in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, invisible yet revealed may seem increasingly uncommon. But ordering one’s life around love in such a way is no less life-giving than ever.

I entered the room and the lights were low. A voice spoke softly. “Al, I love you.” It was Al and Mary in the room. The doctor had shared with Mary that it would only be a day or two now. The recent period of declining health had brought Al into Hospice care. “Al, I love you,” Mary said again, quietly.

This couple had been married for over five decades. When they married Al worked a construction job. Mary was the homemaker who enjoyed giving attention to the small but important details. It was the 1960's and life seemed simple enough. Soon came the announcement that a baby was on the way. Their first daughter was born. Life changed. Mary and Al had to give up the freedom they enjoyed as newlyweds. They had new responsibilities, and they seemed to be the perfect little family. A couple of years went by and another announcement – a second girl. Resources were tight enough but so wasn’t the family. Some necessary adjustments and sacrifice and they were four. Another year and number three, a boy was more of a challenge. How would a three-bedroom, post-war bungalow accommodate? But dreams of a back porch combined with a new bedroom came to be, and then there were five.
The oldest had just graduated from high school when the diagnosis came. Al had multiple sclerosis. He would begin several decades with the disease that slowly chipped away at his physical abilities. Mary had gone to work for the first time since high school and loved it. But becoming the breadwinner wasn’t without its challenges. A colleague asked her one day if it was what she had signed up for. Her answer: “I do whatever I need to do.”

“Al, I love you.” When Mary and Al had stood in the little church back home and answered the question “Will you?” with “I will,” neither of them knew what would come. The commitment they made to one another was for a lifetime. Our most important commitments are like that. Love is like that.

When the boy Samuel heard the voice in the night call to him, “Samuel, Samuel,” he first thought it was his mentor. Old Eli told Samuel that when you hear this again, say “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” The message was for Eli and for the house of Israel – a word of harsh judgment. A word of challenge. God was about to punish Eli and the nation for their misdeeds, their blaspheming, their iniquity, wickedness, sin. Samuel was learning early that loving is seldom easy. Even though it may begin with hopeful excitement and joyful expectation, it would require something of him too.

The disciples were walking through the grainfield. We’re not told if they casually and unintentionally brushed the heads of wheat that day, grabbing a snack to curb the hunger of the moment. But it was the Sabbath. Pharisees looked on and immediately saw a violation of the age-old law.

We often find it easy to criticize the Pharisees. We blame them for their legalism and nitpicking the letter of the Law. But maybe we shouldn’t judge them just yet. It’s early in the Gospel of Mark. The Pharisees loved God. They had learned through years of study and service – sacrifice, that the way to love the Lord our God was to do as God commands. The law as it was revealed and delivered was complicated and extensive. Ten Commandments only hit the highlights. What about the Sabbath? To rest from work is a commandment. It includes instruction about the what and when to be sure but more importantly, like every rule, behind it is a good reason why. We are commanded to rest because we need it. But it's more than that. It’s also family time, a time to restore relationships, and do that which revives both body and soul. These days stores are open 24/7, hockey tournaments are strategically scheduled on Sundays, mobile phones dinging and danging at all hours of the day and night, and most weeks are packed full of trying to do it all. Sabbath convenience for us means work for someone else. The jury is still out. There’s a cost we haven’t yet counted. Pharisees loved God and they showed it by doing what God commanded.

Jesus was not about redefining the Law. He came not to abolish but to fulfill.

Jesus was not about redefining the Law. He came not to abolish but to fulfill. But he did bring a needed emphasis to the why. He upheld the importance of the spirit of the Law not just its letter. A re-focus on the why of a commitment may mean adjustment, change, reorientation, and almost always, sacrifice.

“Al, I love you.” Mary was there to the very end. Her words were perhaps the last Al heard before his eyes closed for the final time. They were far from empty. In them was the why of the commitments by which they both lived their lives. The commitments we make to love God, the commitments we make to love one another require sacrifice. They require adaptation, change, and giving. The commitments are not about us, they are almost always about the other and the greatest mystery may be, that we are the better for them. “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Congregational Meeting

Posted on May 23, 2024June 18, 2024

The Dean has called a congregational meeting on Sunday, 16 June 2024 following 10:30 a.m. worship.

Find details of a report to Bishop and Chapter from representatives of the group investigating a public foundation option in the May 2024 Bishop and Chapter News.

The agenda will address a request from the Restoration Trust Fund Committee to amend the Restoration Trust Fund By-Law to make funds available to the Bishop for use by a new Fredericton Cathedral Foundation.

Section 4 reads: "It is declared that the Fund is a trust of which the Chapter is the trustee, the income and capital of which is to be used only to maintain, repair or restore the Fabric."

The proposed amendment will cause Section 4 to read: "It is declared that the Fund is a trust of which the Chapter is the trustee, the income and capital of which is to be used only to [, or make possible to,] maintain, repair or restore the Fabric."

A Different World – Reflections on the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Posted on May 3, 2024May 21, 2024

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you ... John 15:12

The words of the gospel on the Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year B) finish up what was begun a week ago. You might remember that Jesus was on about vines and branches, abiding, pruning and fruit-bearing. All were images he used to help the disciple see their relationships in concrete ways. He was illustrating how they were to continue to abide with him ... even after they would no longer be able to see him, and how they were to treat one another (“... they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love”). And a week before that, Jesus compared the shepherd who loves the sheep to the hired hand who high tails it out of there at the first sign of trouble.

In this season, following the events of Easter, we see a kaleidoscope of images that provide commentary for us about the kind of life Jesus came to show us to live. We like to joke a bit about how the disciples never seem to get the point. We recount their all too human, fickle ways. Thomas couldn’t first bring himself to believe. Peter denied even knowing Jesus multiple times. In the emotional trauma of the whole scene, Judas committed suicide. I think we enjoy remembering all these less-than-heroic examples of the characters who were closest to the Son of God. And I think we are smugly far too certain that we are nothing like them.

Someone once said it’s impossible to see clearly with much understanding until you can see from 20,000 feet. That is to say, so often our perspective is encumbered with so much intricacy, that it’s limited in all sorts of complicated ways. Our self-interest is most often in the way of our perception. Unless we can see the way whatever might be happening right under our nose impacts us personally and directly, regardless of its import, we don’t really pay very much attention at all.

I’ve been slowly making my way around to Cathedral groups to gently suggest, recommend, (sometimes beg) that we give attention to acquiring the training prescribed under the Safe Church protocols the Anglican Church has been working to implement for over a decade. What’s interesting is, that most of us, when the suggestion is first made, can’t seem to see how it has anything to do with them. We either have a ridiculously narrow concept of what being safe in the church means, we can’t see how it could be of any benefit to us personally, we’re 100% certain that we’re guilty of nothing, or we can’t imagine how we could be part of making Christ Church Cathedral a place where everyone feels safe. That’s funny, since you and I are Christ Church Cathedral. Most eyebrows go up when there’s suggestion that safe church protocols have little, if anything to do with clergy abusing children. It could but it thoroughly misses the point.

But I digress. While we’re so busy musing over the stupidity of 2000-year-old disciples, from where hindsight is 20/20, maybe from 20,000 feet on a cloudless day, we still surprisingly often just don’t get it. Jesus uses simple, straightforward, concrete illustrations to make certain he is understood. The logic he uses is not complicated. Still, what he has to say is a foreign language to us. The reality out of which Jesus speaks is not our reality. – Exactly! It’s not our reality. And that’s our problem.

... it’s important that we all do something right

Why is this even important to us? Because the way we live now is a mirror of the way we will live in eternity. The way we acquire assurance of where we will be is by the way we are now. “Abide in me ... bear fruit, fruit that will last.” St. Paul said “we look as in a mirror dimly, then we will see face to face ... there is “a more excellent way,” he said. And that way is love. And Paul did not spare the specifics:

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you ...” It can’t get much simpler than that. It’s not about thoughtless, unquestioned obedience to some completely irrelevant purpose. It’s about joining in on the larger purpose of the creator of the universe. We do that through his Son who was sent to show us in concrete ways to show us "the Way." He is the way, truth and the life.

Why are prisons full? Why are there homeless people on the streets? Why does law enforcement receive crisis calls at all times of the day and night about domestic violence. This is, unfortunately, not the mirror of eternity. This is not the world God would have it be. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you ...” As a human race, as Canadians, New Brunswickers, Frederictonians, and as citizens, I’m afraid we still just don’t get it.

Learning how to love is our homework and it never ends. We can always do it better. Learning about safe church protocols is for my own good and yours. Not because you’ve done something wrong but because it’s important that we all do something right. It’s because we care about the community – the family to which we belong and of which we want to actively a part. It's important to be assured that we’re all aware of what makes this place as safe as it can be.

GMH
03 May 2024

Congregational Meeting with the Bishop

Posted on April 18, 2024April 26, 2024

2024 Easter Pastoral Letter

Posted on March 21, 2024April 11, 2024

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Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton NB Holy Week / Easter 2024

Dear Friends,

This year on Sundays we’re reading predominantly from the Gospel of Mark. If you are as all Christians need to be at some level a student of the Bible, you may know that Mark is unique. Being the earliest and the shortest of the four gospel accounts, scholars believe that all of the other gospel writers were aware of and, sometimes even relied on, the text of Mark’s gospel in the creation of their own – the majority of its words can be identified, sometimes verbatim, especially in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. But Mark had his own reasons for penning an account of the One who was born, suffered, died and rose again and how those events impacted those who belonged to “The Way” – the first Christians. (See Acts 9:1-2)

Among the most notable of the unique characteristics of the Markan text occurs near its end, including questions about when it actually ends. A couple of lines of text following Mark 16:8 is known as the “shorter” ending and Mark 16:9-19 is the “longer” version. Either of those endings make one thing very clear – the whole of the gospel culminates here. The reason Mark wrote this gospel was the shock, bewilderment, confusion, amazement and joy that set in on the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Mark’s reasons may have been many and scholars have deduced some of them from the cultural context and his words affirming the reality in which he and his contemporaries lived. The Gospel of Mark was written during very troubled times. His were times of political instability, religious conflict, violence, terrorism, war, persecution and bloodshed. Mark’s time was full of doubt, disillusionment and insecurity. Does this sound at all familiar?

For Mark the struggle for believers was to commit to Jesus and his Good News in the face of only Bad News. The unmistakable character of the times was the struggle to believe in the face of suffering, loss and death. We don't need to look too far beyond our own backyard for a description of Mark’s times to be one also of ours. There was need for reassurance and faith where there was only doubt and witness to the truth that in the end good triumphs over evil.

The Good News is the same for us as it was for Mark. Jesus met darkness head on, died so that we need not die eternally and, is the Light that continues to shine even though a cold dark tomb once held him. Our reaction to this news can only mirror that of the author of Mark and rightly so: shock, bewilderment, confusion, amazement and joy. The Easter proclamation is “Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!” God has spoken and the Word is Life.

Blessings to you during this Holy Week and Eastertide. The Holy Week and Easter schedule is included here.

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

2023 Christmas Pastoral Letter

Posted on December 21, 2023January 8, 2024

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Advent 2023

Dear Friends,

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,

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

Congregational meeting with the Bishop

Posted on November 17, 2023May 2, 2024

In 2022, the contracted firm of Heritage Standing delivered a comprehensive report on the significant costs of the maintenance issues facing the Cathedral.

Earlier this year the Cathedral and Synod contracted with Source Alliance to undertake a study on the feasibility of funding required renovations. Approximately 45 individuals/couples were interviewed and a report was produced. Bishop and Chapter have reviewed the report.

The dean is calling a congregational meeting to share the recommendations and propose possible next steps.

All are encouraged to attend on 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, 21 November in Cathedral Memorial Hall. Refreshments will be served.

* * * * *

UPDATE: Minutes from the meeting can be found in your 2024 Annual Report (for 2023).

2023 Thanksgiving Pastoral

Posted on October 5, 2023October 16, 2023

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Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton Thanksgiving 2023

Dear Friends,

At Thanksgiving this year we’ll be reading one of the more familiar gospel texts about gratitude from Luke 17. It might be called, “The Nine Guys Who Forgot;” instead, some biblical translations title it “Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers.” While some suggest the latter simply reflects a “glass half full” optimistic description, the text itself may reveal Jesus’ real concern. When only one leper returned, Jesus asks,

‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?’

“But the other nine, where are they?” Jesus’ question conveys with some degree of certainty something of his minimal expectations.

In an age with widespread attitudes of entitlement, pure gift is taken very much for granted. Comparing our good fortune with that of others helps us be assured we have far less than many. Twenty-first century western culture suffers from a memory too short to enliven the kind of gratitude Jesus expected from the lepers or of us. That’s probably why Luke told the story. One would expect a miracle such as this to cause over-the-top thanksgiving. Did the nine just forget? Can we accept the real meaning of the story may be the less optimistic “glass-ninety-percent-empty?” Are we more like the nine or the one? What are the signs?

When I was growing up my parents were constantly prompting me: “What do you say?” The “thank you” that would follow I uttered maybe just to avoid the question being asked but eventually, it came naturally. If I still say it often out of habit there’s little harm in that. Gratitude is what we feel. Thanksgiving is what we do. Peace and happiness are wishful thinking without thanksgiving shaped by an attitude of gratitude.

“If there was ever a secret for unleashing God’s powerful peace in a situation, it’s developing a heart of true thanksgiving,” says author Lysa Terkeurst.

One effects the other this Thanksgiving and every day. Making gratitude concrete by returning to give thanks pleases God. Giving thanks has the power to encourage inward gratitude important to the healthy Christian spirit.

If there was ever a secret for unleashing God’s powerful peace in a situation, it’s developing a heart of true thanksgiving.

I pray you are enriched by whatever customs are yours at this time of year. We’ll be expressing gratitude and giving thanks at Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, October 8th at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. and I pray we’ll also see you there.

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall (The Very Rev’d)
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

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