Please check the following websites for regular updates on information related to the COVID 19 pandemic:

• ascensionnl.ca/covid19/
• anglicanenl.net (You will find the most recent weekly letter from our Bishop under our Bishop’s Writings)
• anglicanenl.net/home/covid19/
• mountpearl.ca
• who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/

• Public Worship at the Ascension: Church of the Ascension has commenced public worship. Service will be at 11 a.m. each Sunday. You will need to complete a Covid-19 Screening Questionnaire as part of the registration. You can also forward the completed form via email (office email: [email protected])or you may come in to the office to fill one out Monday to Wednesday each week, between 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
  • Preregistration will be required in order to attend services
  • The questionnaires must be returned to the office no later than Wednesday each week.
  • Masks are required upon entering the building.
  • Everyone must enter and exit through the main doors of the church to attend services.
  • Please have your own hand sanitizer in the event you feel the need to sanitize your hands after you have been seated.
  • If you would like to use a cushion in your seat, please bring along your own as we are not able to supply one at this time.
  • Due to Covid 19 guidelines, doors and windows may be open during service so you are reminded to wear warm clothes.

As we progress further into autumn we will be enabling worship to be live-streamed from the parish. Please check the website weekly for updates. If you have any questions, please contact Peggy at [email protected] or 368 – 5693.

• Guidelines For Singing In Church:
  • Singing is not permitted during the full service with an exception for the final hymn;
  • Congregation members may hum during the hymns;
  • Hymns may be sung by one single singer or a small group of singers physically distanced from the congregation;
  • Singers must wear well-fitting masks while singing indoors and face forward;
  • Physical distancing is maintained;
  • Papers are to be removed by each individual participant;
  • If you feel faint or overcome, please refrain from singing.

• Wednesday Prayers:  If you would like to join us each Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. for prayers, you may do so through our YouTube channel at youtube.com/watch?v=PFTWiZ0P0K8 or call the office for a Zoom link.
• Thursdays in Black: We will not be hosting ‘Thursdays in Black’ this week due to other commitments. However, we will resume next week.
• Ride for Refuge: On October 3, I will be joining thousands of other riders, walkers and volunteers across Canada to help raise $2,500,000 for some of the most marginalized people in our world. The RIDE supports hundreds of local charities. I have been cycling the Ride for Refuge every year since 2014, and together, the Anglican East NL team has raised over $25,000 in that time, which has been matched by the federal government. This year, a number of friends and I will be cycling, running, or walking from Cape Spear to the Anglican Cathedral in support of the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (pwrdf.org). The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) is the Anglican Church of Canada's agency for sustainable development, relief, refugees, and global justice. This year PWRDF is supporting the St. Jude Family Project that works with smallholder farmers in rural Uganda.  St. Jude's has an agricultural school that integrates environmental protection, gender empowerment and income generating projects connected to farming. The project will aim to train local families in environmentally friendly fertilizing techniques such as worm composting and manure teas, and do their part to fight climate change by planting 80,000 multi-purpose trees that will benefit the local population.  Click on the link below to visit our Team Page - register and help us fundraise. Or, email me back and we can chat more about the RIDE. Our team page: secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=925018&langPref=en-CA My personal page: secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=4778336&langPref=en-CA Thanks for your support! It will be worth it! David
• Daily Devotionals Books/Prayer Books: The following publications are available for pick up at the side entrance of the church:  Our Daily Bread; Forward Day by Day; and weekly edition of the Chimes (Chimes available each Friday afternoon). Should you wish to stop by to pick these up, please use the buzzer at the side entrance.  Publications will be left on the bench for your convenience. Also, the following books are available to be signed out:  Book of Alternative Services (BAS); Book of Common Prayer; and Common Praise. If you are interested in signing any of these out, please contact the office by email at [email protected] or call 368-5693 from Monday to Friday between 9 and 12.
• Outreach: This is a time for our faith community to come together to uplift each other. Please don’t forget to regularly check on your family, friends and neighbors. If you are in need of pastoral contact, or if you know of anyone who is struggling at this stressful time, please let one of the clergy know.
• Clergy Contact During the COVID-19 Pandemic: As you are well aware, the church building has been closed for several months due to COVID-19. Beginning this week we have opened the office on an as-need basis, for parishioners to drop off or receive items such as prayer books, hymnbooks, chimes or parish envelopes. If you need to come to the parish office, please call ahead. Bring your mask with you, and ring the buzzer at the side entrance. The office will be open between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday. For the past six months the clergy has aimed to make contact with parishioners by way of e-mail or a phone call. Now, if you would like to receive a physically distanced visit from Reverend David or Reverend Lynn, please call the office or contact the clergy via email. Could you please ask them to call the church office to give their contact information as well.
• Transmission Notices: Please check out thetransmission.ca for weekly updates for our online Wednesday worship, ongoing prayers, Bible Study and more! In particular of note this week:
  • After the pandemic shutdown, bible study will be starting up again next Tuesday, September 22. We will still meet on Tuesday mornings from 10:30 – 11:30, but we will be gathering online instead of in person. Rather than our long-run ‘serial’ style bible study that moved sequentially through a book at a time, we will take a thematic approach using The Bible Project’s Church at Home series to explore themes, such as generosity, Sabbath, justice, peace and more. Please contact The Reverend Jonathan Rowe for more information.
  • Beginning this week, on Wednesdays, the Clergy of the Transfiguration Mission invite you to attend weekly Morning Prayer online. Each week we will lead in prayer at 10:00 am on Wednesdays from the Book of Alternative Services. Parishioners from all four parishes are invited to join us on Zoom and participate in the worship, or to watch the online worship through the Youtube channel youtube.com/channel/UCXLtEbY_PpEd_fmNuKuD6sg which can be found on the thetransmission.ca website. If you would like to participate through Zoom for these prayers, please contact your parish priest and they will provide the particular login information.
  • For the next six weeks, until October 28, we will be leading worship as each of our parishes transition from our regular online Sunday streaming worship to live-streaming our public worship in each of our parish churches. During this time we will have weekly reflections, and be exploring how the transmission might provide additional learning and fellowship for the online community further into the fall.

• Food First NL: Food First NL works with communities in Newfoundland & Labrador to ensure everyone has access to affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food. Please visit their website at foodfirstnl.ca/covid19 to find updates to NL Community Food Programs.
• CLB News:
  • Recruitment: Join the fun! Join the CLB! Membership for the Mount Pearl Company #4507 of CLB is now open to all youth. The CLB is divided into five age groups:
    • Little Training Corps (LTC) - Grades K and 1
    • Young Training Corps (YTC) - Grades 2 to 4
    • Junior Training Corps (JTC) - Grades 5 to 7
    • Senior Corps (SC) - Grades 8 to 12
    • Officers - age 19+

If you know a child or adult that may be interested in joining our company, please contact Company Commander Capt. Jamie Hill at [email protected] or 699-3388 or Company Adjutant Cindy Onyia at [email protected] or 691-2069. For more information, please call or refer to the CLB website at https://theclb.ca/.

• • Friday Dinner Take-out/Pick Up: Each Friday, the CLB will be offering dinner take-out (curbside pickup), or delivery on five or more dinners ordered. Curbside pickup from CLB Armoury, 82 Harvey Road available on Friday from 12:00-1:30. To pre-order, you can call 722-1737. Order cutoff is 4:00 p.m. Wednesdays. Gluten-Free option is available. Please advise us of any Allergies or Dietary Restrictions.
  • Halloween Chips: Mount Pearl CLB #4507 will be selling Old Dutch Halloween Chips and Cheesies again this year! The box contains 24 bags and the cost is $6.50 per box. Strict COVID-19 protocols will be followed. If you would like to support our CLB by purchasing a box, please contact Company Commanding Officer Jamie Hill at [email protected] or 699-3388 or Company Adjutant Cindy Onyia at [email protected] or 691-2069.

This week in the life of the parish we are celebrating Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist, the two primary sacraments of the church. In Anglican understanding, a sacrament is an outward form of an inward, spiritual grace. In other words, as Baptism and Eucharist are celebrated, we acknowledge the presence of the Holy One within our midst, specifically in the act of immersing an individual in water, and in the act of consuming bread and wine.

For me, in these two acts I experience the Holy One, and I pray with the whole church – the people gathered, the people who cannot be present, as well as those who have long since died, and those who are yet to be born. For me, in the celebration of the sacraments, all time stands still, and we commune with the Holy One.

This week is a special week in the life of the parish, as we celebrate Baptism for the first time in a long while. Summer Lynn is celebrating with us, and is taking a first step with her family to enter into covenant with the Holy One as she journeys through life. She is linked with all those who have gone before, and all those who will come after, as well as we who will be present with her and others throughout the world that hold in prayer with the family of those who follow Jesus.

We do all this in a different time and pattern, for our lives within the Covid19 pandemic isolation have changed and transformed our way of being. The entire world is finding ways to adjust to the new reality, and find new patterns, new customs, new rhythms to mark life. This includes the acts of Baptism and Eucharist, as well as all other acts and movements in life. In so many ways, the challenge of the ‘difference’ of this times brings with it pain and grief, compliance and defiance, fear and confusion. Baptism and Eucharist are not the same as before March of this year, just as everything is not quite the same.

This brings me to the Scripture for today. In the book of Exodus, the Israelite people continue their sojourn in the wilderness, and continue patterns of quarrelling and complaining with Moses their leader. They do this because of their impatience, fear, and lack of perseverance in times of challenge. When things get tough, they abandon the Holy One and long for the old ways. As they quarrel and test both Moses and the Holy One, the steadfast love and compassion of the Holy One is seen, as their needs are provided, and they receive water for their parched thirst.

How often have I been impatient, fearful, and lack perseverance in this pandemic time? How often to I challenge and quarrel in my prayer as I hope for life to change? I am thankful for the steadfast love of the Holy One in all this – for even when I change, the Holy One stays true. This is what I hold on to in these times of uncertainty, even as the love of parents for child reminds me of the steadfast love. As the Holy One cradles all the world in compassion and steadfast love, so parents hold a child this day, full of compassion and love.

As we see things in the world, let us be reminded of their deeper truth, their deeper reality. Let us rejoice in the things that offer life, love and justice; let us grieve and act in the things that lead to death, prevent love, and deny justice.

Peace,

• Donations to Ministry: If you are interested in continuing to donate to the parish ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a variety of ways for you to do so.
  • Church Envelopes: You may still use your envelopes during this time. You may drop them in the mailbox at the main entrance of the church or you can put your givings in the mail.
  • Pre-authorized Givings: You can have your givings automatically deducted on a schedule that works for you. If you are interested in setting up pre-authorized givings, please contact the church office at 368-5693.
  • Canada Helps: You can sign up to make donations to Canada Helps through our parish website.
  • Food Bank Donations: The need for food donations is still great. If you are able to donate to the food bank, we ask that you drop your donation directly to St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank at either St. Peter’s Parish Hall on Ashford Drive or Mary Queen of the World on Topsail Road. All donations are gratefully appreciated.

Jesus, Thou Joy Of Loving Hearts

Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

O Lord, be Thou our strength and stay!
Make all our moments calm and bright,
Chase all dark thoughts of sin away,
Shed o’er us here Thy holy light.

Child Of Blessing, Child Of Promise

Child of blessing, child of promise,
Baptised with the Spirit’s sign:
With this water God has sealed you
Unto love and grace divine.

Child of God, the loving parent,
Learn to know whose child you are.
Grow and laugh and sing and worship,
Trust and love God more than all.

From the Slave Pens of the Delta

From the slave pens of the Delta, from the ghettos of the Nile,
Let my people seek their freedom in the wilderness awhile:
So God spoke out of Sinai, so God spoke and it was done,
And the people cross the waters toward the rising of the sun.

In the maelstrom of the nations, in the journey into space,
in the clash of generations, in the hungering for grace,
In our agony and glory, we are called to newer ways
By the Lord of our tomorrows and the God of earth’s todays.

Jesus Shall Reign Where’er The Sun

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run;
His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud Amen.