Church of the Advent | Anglican Church in Colwood

This Sunday, we celebrate the Ascension of Christ, a feast we traditionally transfer from Thursday. It is also the Sunday in the Anglican Church of Canada Calendar on which we focus on Jerusalem and the Holy Land. This year, the focus is particularly urgent.

The intentional death and starvation of everyday people in Gaza is not something from which we can or should avert our eyes. Our own Acting Primate the Most Rev. Anne Germond, together with Rev. Susan Johnson, the National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, have written a joint letter to our Prime Minister, expresssing outrage regarding Israel’s ongoing attacks on the Palestinian people and to call on the government of Canada to use all diplomatic tools to push for an immediate flow of life-saving food, water, aid, fuel and humanitarian assistance.

"Beyond the devastating effects of ongoing missile attacks, Israel has now prevented humanitarian aid from entering Gaza for more than two months. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned of acute malnutrition worsening among children in Gaza. The Gaza government’s media office recently said that famine is no longer a looming threat but is becoming a reality, adding that 52 people, including 50 children, have died due to hunger and malnutrition since the blockade was imposed. In a report in late April, the OCHA said it has identified about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children across Gaza, including 1,600 cases of severe acute malnutrition, since the start of 2025. It is hard to put into words how cruel and deadly it is to be blocking humanitarian assistance."

According to UNICEF, more than 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. 25,000 children have been injured: Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world. 17,000 children have been separated from their parents as a result of the conflict, or find themselves unaccompanied following the death of their parents. Over a million children have been displaced. (Report to UN Security Council January 2025.)

To call for the leadership of a nation to end inhuman practices can never be an excuse for the hatred of the people of that nation. To call for the government of Israel to have compassion on fellow human beings is not antisemitic, nor is it an excuse for a hatred of Jewish people.

Ubuntu says that we exist because of other people. The suffering of the people of Gaza affects all of humanity. We cannot look away.

Bishop Logan today shared a Facebook post from Bronagh Vos, whose words really resonated with me: "I haven’t posted much about Gaza. Not because I don’t care but because I care deeply. But I’ve struggled with what good it really does to rant online while people are being starved and bombed. I believe that real resistance, and real solidarity, often happens behind the scenes: in what we say, what we support, how we educate, who we stand with, and where we refuse to stay silent."

Pray and stand for justice and speak the truth clearly.

in love,

Sister Ingrid

The 7 Experiment: Staging Your Own Mutiny Against Excess

Jen Hatmaker

In 2010, in Austin Texas, the Hatmaker family decided to explore excess in their typical middle-class American lives. They chose 7 areas in which to try to cut back: food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress. They focused on each area for a month, with a week or so between areas: in the food phase, they ate only 7 different foods and drank only water; in the clothing phase, they wore the same 7 pieces of clothing for a month (yes, they did get laundered!), and so on. They reflected on what they learned and how they grew closer to God, and what they saved to share with others. Their experiences became a book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. After the original was pulled from stores by the original publisher because of Jen Hatmaker’s pro-LGTBQ stance, it was retitled and reissued in 2017 as Simple and Free: 7 Experiments Against Excess, with additional comments by the author.

This is neither of those versions. Rather, it is a reshaping of the material as a nine-week group Bible study with week-long options to replace the original experiments, and extensive quotes from the earlier publication. It can also be read by individuals, and is suitable for use in Lent. The videos that once accompanied it are no longer available, but the book works fine by itself.

Jen Hatmaker’s books contain serious reflections, but they are also often hilarious, and this is no exception.

The 7 Experiment was first published in 2012, and has been catalogued in the Christian Life section at CHLF HAT2. Simple and Free is available at the GVPL, as are print and audio version of 7 Days of Christmas: A Season of Generosity, which is the application of 7’s principles to the Christmas season.

To borrow any book, please fill out a green loan slip from the small bookcase in the narthex, and put it in the pink box labelled “Library.” If you have a book due for return, please fill out a yellow return slip instead, and leave your book beside the box. Thank you.

Jerusalem and the Holy Land Sunday 1st June

Sunday School Parish Picnic

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How to avoid contempt in our social interactions - the Dignity Index

Community Coffee Social

Victoria Pride Parade

West Shore Grief & Loss Peer Support Group

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Faith Tides: May 2025

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