Category Archives: Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Letters from the Dean

2024 Christmas Pastoral Letter

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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.

Give a festival offering

Or use the envelope in your boxed set

Yours sincerely,

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

 

2024 Thanksgiving Pastoral Letter

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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,

Give Now

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

 

2024 Easter Pastoral Letter

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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.

Give onlineYours sincerely,

Geoffrey signature

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

 

2023 Christmas Pastoral Letter

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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

2023 Thanksgiving Pastoral

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Thanksgiving

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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.

Give an offeringYours sincerely,

Geoffrey

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

 

 

2023 Easter Pastoral

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Fredericton NB
Lent 2023

Dear Friends,

Between now and Easter Day we who begin the final leg of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem will take what is the most intense of Christian seasonal journeys. As the images go by we continue on our own personal ones. While some are celebrating new life or relationships, others are recovering from illness or have recently experienced losing a close friend, family member or spouse. Many struggle with the stress of work life that unrelentingly demands time and attention while others are learning about retirement. Students prepare for exams. While we’re all in different places and walk our own road we’re also invited each year to walk with Jesus to the cross.

At the beginning of the road we were invited to observe a holy Lent. “I invite you, in the name of the Lord,” were the words, “... to observe a holy Lent by self-examination, penitence, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and by reading and meditating on the word of God.” Many of us have done that this year. A variety of worship, devotional and study opportunities have created possibilities for self-discipline or to focus for a time on something new to deepen our own spiritual life ourselves or with others.

The seasonal journey now comes closer to an important conclusion. It calls us to push pause on our own personal trek—and maybe even our troubles—long enough to look one more time upon the road of suffering and sacrifice taken by the one called Messiah. Joining him, we should expect it to be different each time we experience it. We hear in gospel texts that Jesus performed miracles. The most significant of all may be the choice made by this man, who was also God, to walk willingly into pain, suffering and even death for the sake of all who love him throughout time. He walked this road for us. His journey gives ours meaning as we rest on his promises.

At the first glimmer of Easter light angelic words made announcement to first witnesses. He was supposed to be in the grave, but “He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.” At the end of Jesus’ journey was light and life. In retrospect, because of who he is, could it have been any other way? He walked the painful way so as to enter as completely as possible into ours. He knows the drill. At the end of our journeys we can know that with faith, after bearing the burdens, there is light and life for us too. In the words of the Book of Common Prayer we pray that we might “be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,” “entering with them into the fullness of God’s unending joy.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Join us as we walk with him liturgically and symbolically in worship through the week to come: Palm Sunday, weekdays in Holy Week, to the Upper Room and the hill at Golgotha, meeting on the other side at a tomb now empty. The schedule of worship follows. Please don’t hesitate to make contact if you need to schedule a home Communion. Extending blessing for the Season, I remain,

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

View or download the 2023 Holy Week-Easter Worship Schedule

2022 Christmas Pastoral

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Advent 2022
Fredericton NB

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Dear Friends,

Once the lights are connected and the musical favourites begin to play, many again will get that warm holiday feeling and snuggle in for yet another Christmas. Memories of Christmas past may help to enhance those positive vibes while for others, there’s much well worth forgetting. Either way, Christmas comes once more.

The difficulty with this time of year is that it can sometimes only magnify what already has been. If we’ve had a year to remember, Christmas easily becomes a time to do the same. Still others have encountered once only life occurrences which have changed lives forever and looking back to happier times doesn’t necessarily facilitate Christmas cheer. But there is a way to assure that Christmas is all it can and should be and it has to do with avoiding being caught up in all that surrounds it. We need go deeper to what is sometimes called “the reason for the season.”

The problem for me is that I’ve gazed upon this familiar scene at the manger so long that I’ve become numb to it. I’ve heard the story so often that I’ve stopped thinking about it. But when I do think about it I begin to realize again that this is no ordinary story. The “scene” that is Christmas is not a card, a present wrapped in bright red, a lighted tree or even a particular song. It’s the announcement of the entrance of the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all-righteous, all-holy, and glorious God into our world in a physical, tangible, yet entirely unexpected way. Four words in the story of the first Christmas should challenge us, regardless of our circumstance, to see through the trappings to the real Christmas. “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Lying in a manger!

No fancy lights, dinners, candies or parties to be seen. A little child lying in a dirty manger is where the God of the ages chooses to reveal himself. God entered into all of our misfortune to transform it and herald hope even in the midst of it. Jesus not only defeated darkness and death on the Cross but also in the manger, by entering into human struggle and sharing human pain. If we listen carefully to the Christmas carols, songs and hymns in a fresh way, that’s the message we’ll find there, over and over again. Sharing the hope makes us more hopeful. The true gift is often found in giving.

Whatever your situation this year, may you take the time to listen again to the messages of Christmas and find in them Christmas joy both in the midst of the celebration of blessings as well as in the misfortunes. The hope in the Saviour is that the day is surely coming when all will be made right in the world – a time when heaven and nature will be singing the same song. Emmanuel, God with us, is what Christmas is about. May you experience the true blessing of, and reason for, the season. I remain,

Or use the envelope in your boxed set

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

Worship Schedule

8:45 a.m. Morning Prayer; 4:45 p.m. Evening Prayer (Monday to Friday)
Except civic holidays

The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Sunday, 18 December 2022)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)
10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)
4:00 p.m. Christmas Lessons and Carols

Wednesday (Wednesday, 21 December 2022)
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)

The Eve of Christmas (Saturday, 24 December 2022)
4:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist (Contemporary)
8:00 p.m. Come Worship Eucharist (Informal)
11:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist (Traditional / Book of Common Prayer)

Christmas Day (Sunday, 25 December 2022)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)

Wednesday (Wednesday, 28 December 2022)
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)

New Year’s Day / The Naming of Jesus (Sunday, 01 January 2023)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)
10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Alternative Services with our Bishop’s New Year Reception)

The Epiphany of the Lord (Wednesday, 04 January 2023)
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)

First Sunday after Epiphany - The Baptism of the Lord (Sunday, 08 January 2023)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (with the Renewal of Baptism Vows)
10:30 a.m. Come Worship Eucharist (with the Renewal of Baptism Vows)
4:00 p.m. Choral Evensong (Book of Common Prayer) 09 December 2022

Visit our YouTube Channel for Live Streams and video-recorded worship

Contact us

 

 

2022 Thanksgiving Pastoral Letter

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22 Thanksgiving Pastoral

22 Thanksgiving Pastoral

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Dear Friends,

Thanksgiving 2022

This time of year offers a particularly noticeable display of the handiwork of God. As leaves turn brilliant, even as lush greens turn to earth tones, we’re reminded that we’ve come to another end of the growing season and that it’s time to capture as much of God’s goodness as possible as winter marches ever closer.

Those capturings by making pickles, bagging potatoes, freezing tomatoes and grabbing a hamper of squash for later have all become habits for many of us and, at least some of them have been woven into family custom and tradition. The year just isn’t the same without them!

It’s helpful habits that assure healthy life-giving attitudes. Habits help bolster those “steadfast wills” spoken of in the collect for Harvest Thanksgiving. We’re living in a culture where the familiar customs and once taken for granted emphases are falling by the wayside. As church attendance continues its decline so doesn’t participation in community service organizations. In the church we sometimes feel as if its only the Christian body of the faithful being impacted by the changes afoot. In fact, it’s far bigger and reaches far beyond just the Church. Our culture is transforming before our eyes. It’s no surprise that those of us who have lived it longest are the first to detect the danger that lurks in the sometimes gradual, sometimes speedier, habitual change.

With the loss of focus and even, disturbing to those who believe, the growing lack of belief in God at all, what is lost is far from only where we may happen to be on Sunday mornings. Sadly, the tides of faithfulness are receding. With them is the maintenance of age-old commitments to worship God as the Body of his Son in the Spirit. That retreat is evidence of a far greater loss for everybody – what we’ve come to take for granted may one day be no more. There is a false promise of abundance in a world without God. It requires no thanksgiving since it is no more than what we deserve. It requires no acknowledgment of the Source of it all. It mocks the reality of grace and perhaps even denies life itself.

You’re invited to join the Cathedral congregation as we continue the tradition of thankfulness on October 9th, 2022, 8:00 or 10:30 a.m. when we gather around the table of Christian thanksgiving. If the pandemic or a distraction has prevented you from being in community over the last several months, know that regardless of any of that, your friends will be ever so pleased to see you. If you’re unable to be present but would like to make your Communion, please contact the Cathedral Office and an appointment to visit can be arranged.

Yours most sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

 

2022 Easter Pastoral Letter

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Holy Week 2022
Fredericton NB

THE Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus is firmly rooted in historical events to which Christians have given witness throughout the centuries. The biblical witness is familiar to us. The historian Josephus writes in the first century about “all these things,” interestingly specifically, from an historical perspective not one of faith. The Early Church Fathers bore witness, arguing fiercely as the fundamentals of Christian faith were being drawn together and as the catholic creeds came into existence. Since those early days, many have died for Jesus but, far more have begun to live for him.

Christian faith is nothing to take lightly. The world continues to claim the great unlikelihood of gospel truth and perhaps more so the improbable validity of its tenants even if recorded in history. Yet holding or upholding a Christian perspective on the world is far more than simply agreeing with some historical facts. Confessing Christian faith is also taking a stand and holding a unique perspective on life and the meaning of it. To be Christian is to choose life even in the midst of the death all around us. St. Paul said that Christians are “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible ...” 2 Corinthians 4:10

By the power of God, Jesus rose from the cold dark reality of death. When the Gospel is proclaimed, it is not complete without the shouts of Alleluia! that confirm his final victory of Jesus. When we submit ourselves to a God who has the power to overcome death itself we obtain the promise of the realm of that same God’s eternity forever. When we truly lean into the fullness God intends and live like it’s true we make a difference.

Close to home and on the world stage, fear and death are all around. We’re gripped as we watch the horrors of war, now in 4k video. Having been through times of pandemic isolation, we’re still seeing its effects even now that it has ceased to be the death sentence it once was. Considerable uncertainty about the stability of our world, its politics and its economy continues. The need to witness to the power of life and the fact of Resurrection is as great now as it ever was. Alleluia! Christ is risen. Death does not have the final word.

Join us this season as we walk the way of the Cross through Holy Week, as we watch for the first glimmer of Paschal Light on the Eve of Easter and as we listen again to familiar words on Easter Day. In-person, if possible, but be reminded that a live stream and podcasts will be available for most of our worship events, your visible witness marked and of value even as a virtual attendee.

If you are unable to make your Easter Communion in person, contact the Cathedral Office to make an appointment for a home visit. We have a Team of administrators eager to respond to such requests. A schedule of our Holy Week and Easter worship follows. Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Yours sincerely,Give a festival offering

Geoffrey Hall, Dean of Fredericton
GMH

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Holy Week and Easter 2022

Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton NB

Monday - Thursday: 8:45 a.m. Morning Prayer and 4:45 p.m. Evening Prayer

The Holy Eucharist on 16 April is the first of Easter

 

Passion/Palm Sunday
(10 April 2022)
8:00 a.m. Liturgy of the Palms and Holy Eucharist
10:30 a.m. Liturgy of the Palms, Dramatic Passion and Holy Eucharist

Monday
5:15 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Tuesday
5:15 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Wednesday
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
5:15 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Maundy Thursday
7:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist and Stripping of the Sanctuary

Good Friday
10:00 a.m. Celebration of the Lord's Passion

Easter Eve
(16 April 2022)
8:00 p.m. The Great Vigil of Easter, Renewal of Baptism and Eucharist

Easter Day
(17 April 2022)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
11:45 a.m. Come Worship Eucharist

Christmas Pastoral 2021

Posted on

The light shines

Advent 2021
Fredericton NB

Dear Friends,

On a dark night, long, long ago, a little light shone from a place of humble beginning. A baby was born on the outskirts of a small, unimportant town, on the margins of society – in a feeding trough of stable animals. As the story goes, his bed was a manger because there was no room in the inn. From there shone a little light.

Perhaps this year, unlike many we have known, the message of a little light shining in the darkness will mean more because of where we have been. Some are finding darkness to be an apt description of the uncertainty and even the isolation that pandemic has forced upon us. Still, even in the darkness, the power and penetrability of even a little light makes it an effective metaphor for the message of the Christmas narrative.

In our context, whether it’s feeling loneliness or isolation, frustration or fear, annoyance or even just inconvenience, a little light can make all the difference. Light, especially in the darkness, as it pierces with precision, cuts through stark shadow, divides even black obscurity, reminds once again that there is hope, life. It’s not by chance that late December was chosen long ago as an ideal time to celebrate one of the best known of Christian messages: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5

As cattle were lowing, meanwhile outside, an angel announced to shepherds: "Do not be afraid; for see, I am bringing you good news ... And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host." Many would come, from shepherd (the poorest), to Magi (the richest), to find the one born Messiah.

For the foreseeable future we’ll no doubt continue to live with some extent of uncertainty. If we’ve learned one thing, perhaps it’s the difficult lesson of vulnerability. It will be necessary to continue our watchfulness and to take action to be and to keep others as safe as possible. I fully expect we’ll have more decisions to make, some needed quickly, others difficult, as we continue to navigate this thing called pandemic. But in the midst, we can be assured that whoever and wherever we are, there is a little light shining to remind of the hope that is ours. God’s will it is to reach graciously in our direction and to bring us closer to him forever.

We’ll continue through Christmastide to video stream and podcast as much of our worship as possible with the hope that those still unable to be with us in person can share at least a part of our Christmas celebration. We hope precautions and restrictions in place then will continue to bring some assurance of safety, not regarded as unnecessary barriers and help facilitate in-person worship for as many as are able. You’ll find a schedule for Christmastide on the back or the next page. Home Communion is available where permitted. Please contact the Cathedral Office if you would like to make a request or arrangements.

May peace and joy be yours as this year ends. May God’s gracious favour be upon you and yours as yet another begins. May we know more and more: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Hall
Dean of Fredericton
GMH

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Christmas Worship 2021

Fourth Sunday of Advent (19 December)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (BCP)
10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist (BAS)
4:00 p.m. Christmas Lessons and Carols

Christmas Eve (24 December)
4:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist(contemporary / family)
8:00 p.m. Eucharist (come worship)
11:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist(BCP)

Christmas Day (25 December)
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (BAS)

First Sunday after Christmas (26 December)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (BCP)
10:30 a.m. Carols for Christmastide

New Years Day (01 January)
11:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (BAS)

Please contact the Cathedral Office (506) 450 8500
to schedule a Home Communion.