Join us for a lively and joyful Eucharist service in Spanish followed by a delicious potluck meal - often with a band accompanying the meal.

This week, we continue with our study of Bishop Budde's book How we Learn to be Brave. The Book Study comprises 7 sessions, and will be held on Tuesday evenings, from 7pm - 8 pm, in the St John's room on the following dates:

April  1, 8, 22, 29
May 6

To attend online, please use this link: https://bc-anglican-ca.zoom.us/j/86314562121 

Don't be concerned if you cannot attend every session - read the book and attend the sessions you can.

Connection Point Resource Centre in Langford on Goldstream Avenue opened in 2021, and is a welcoming landing place where people feel safe and can find encouragement, hope, and love, regardless of where they may be on their spiritual journey.

The centre offers a bread shelf, a free fridge, and access to case workers for anyone in the community. During the freezing temperatures we recently experienced, Connection Point opened as a warming Centre.

This is the last Sunday we will be collecting hamper items for the Centre. Thank you for your support.

Our annual Garage Sale is happening soon, on Saturday, May 3^rd.  This has always been a major event in the life of our church family and our Westshore community and, as in the past, we’ll need lots of donated items as well as “all hands on deck” to make it make it run smoothly this year. 

Please remember the Garage Sale when you’re doing your spring cleaning and sorting.  Note that we are not accepting clothing, TVs, computers, large furniture, mattresses, carpets, travel mugs and water bottles or books, records and movies (you can save these last three for the Book Sale in October).  Please ensure that everything electrical or mechanical is in good working order. 

There are posters on the entranceway table; please take some and note on the accompanying sheet where you plan to post them.  Watch for sign-up sheets next week where you can indicate how you can help at the sale. 

Thank you for all the ways you’re able to assist and contribute to make this a great event in our parish family and our community. Any questions? Contact Linda or Bill Van Sickle at 778 265 5347, or lindavs51@gmail.com.

Does your family know your wishes for your funeral? Will your wishes be honoured after you have passed?

We don't often like to talk about the "last things" -  advance directives, funerals, legacies. Lent is an ideal time for us to stop and to plan ahead. 

Join Sr. Ingrid, Diocesan Chancellor (lawyer) Isabel Weeks and Diocesan Treasurer Joel Hefty, as they talk about the realities of advance directives, the tax implications of how your will is set up, and how to support the ministry of our church community for the future.

Sister Ingrid encourages you to take some times to plan the funeral service that YOU would like, so that we can celebrate your life in a way that you choose. It makes it easier for your family when that time comes.

Please sign up in the Narthex, or at the link below.

Easter is just around the corner! As you have noticed, our little flower envelopes are out again. As you are aware, your Altar Guild receives no money for flowers except from YOU, our wonderful parishioners. We ask for your support in purchasing flowers for Easter. We are asking only for a small contribution of whatever you have in your pockets! Please help us with this special ministry. Thank you so much.

Photo by Sheelah Brennan on Unsplash

We are very excited to announce that we will be starting a brand-new monthly event called "Community Coffee Social."

The Coffee Social will be held the second Wednesday of each month from 9:30 to 11 am in the hall and is for anyone from the community and parish to gather socially. We recognize a real need within the community for more opportunities to connect with one another. Our Compassion in Action liaison, Jeannine, is working with Joan Hoffman and Shaena Wallace to launch this ministry. We warmly welcome you to come and spend some time in a relaxing and social environment. Bring your friends too! Our first Community Coffee Social begins on April 9th. Hope to see you there!

Readings for this Sunday's services:

JOSHUA 5:9-12

PSALM 32; 2

CORINTHIANS 5:16-21

LUKE 15:1-3, 11B-32

Read Sunday's readings online:
1. Go to https://lectionary.anglican.ca/  
2. Select next Sunday's date in the space at the bottom.
3. Click "Link to full text for this day".

Pride Puppy!

On the Top Shelf this week are still more books about timely social justice topics.

2SLGBTQIA

David Gushee. Changing Our Mind: Definitive Edition of the Landmark Call for Inclusion of LGBT Christians with Response to Critics.

   A lucid defence of the inclusion of LGBT Christians by an American evangelical scholar and professor of Christian ethics who has suffered both personally and professionally for his pro-LGBT stance.

Climate Change

Eduardo Garcia. Things You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste.

   A short, illustrated explanation of climate science, followed by practical steps that everyone can take to be responsible stewards of their environment.

Displacement (Refugees)

Malala Yousafzai. We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World.

   The Nobel Peace Prize winner’s own story of displacement, and those of eleven other girls, with suggestions for how to help people like them.

Oppression

Howard Thurman. Jesus and the Disinherited.

   An exploration of what the religion of Jesus has to offer oppressed and marginalized people. First published in 1949, this books is a classic and remains profoundly relevant.

Censorship

**NEW**   Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin. Pride Puppy!

   An alphabet board book for very young children, about a dog that gets lost during a Pride parade.

Written and published in Victoria, it is the focus of a U.S. lawsuit about parents’ rights over what their children read:  see Victoria’s Capital Daily for 22 February 2025 at https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/victoria-childrens-book-publisher-says-censorship-on-the-rise. The case will now be going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

To borrow a 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.

Read more for details.

All are welcome to join us on Thursdays for our relaxed and interesting Zoom online Bible Study, to look at the readings for the following Sunday. No experience or prior knowledge is needed.

Time: 10 AM - 11 AM.

Zoom Link:  

https://bc-anglican-ca.zoom.us/j/88378461340?pwd=cU9wSUNEZG02M3h3bGVrUmpyMjRNZz09

Meeting ID: 883 7846 1340
Passcode: 4743031

This Thursday, we will be discussing the third chapter of the Kitteredge Book on John.

Mar 29 Spanish Service, 6 PM

Mar 30 8:30 Breakfast

Apr 5 Taize Service, 5 PM

Apr 9 Community Coffee Social, Hall, 9:30-11 AM

           Ladies Guild Mtg, 1:30 pm

Apr 12 Death & Taxes Workshop, Chapel, 10 am-noon

Holy Week:

                Apr 13 Palm Sunday

                Mon, Tues, Wed Evening prayer, 6 PM

                Apr 17 Agape Meal & Maundy Thursday

                Apr 18 Good Friday Service, 10 AM

Easter:

                Apr 19 Easter Vigil Service, 6 PM

                Apr 20 Easter Sunrise Service, 6 am at Esquimalt Lagoon

                Apr 21 Easter Sunday, 8:30 & 10 am Services

Apr 23 Ladies Guild Lunch, Noon

Apr 26 Messy Church, 10 am

             Spring Potluck, 6:30 pm

Apr 29-30 Garage Sale Prep Week

May 3 Garage Sale Day

Lent is the season of 40 days leading up to Easter. This season is a time of intentional reflection when we make space in our lives for God to change our hearts in preparation for the new life that awaits us in the resurrection.

Click the link below to watch the third video in our lenten series, Staying Grounded in Times of Chaos. A new video will be released every Wednesday between now and Holy Week. In this series, voices from across our diocese will share practices from our tradition that help us live out our faith when the world feels crazy.

In this week's video, Jenny Replogle (Canon for Lay-led Parishes and Parishes-in-Transition) speaks about the Daily Office, a core practice of the Anglican tradition. One great tool for praying the Daily Office is the Venite app which is available for mobile devices or at www.venite.app/home.

To watch this week's video, please click on the link below.

The next installment of the John Albert Hall Lecture Series is Where We Live: Critical Perspectives on our Built and Natural Environments. This event is taking place on Saturday, April 26, 2025 at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, and will include two sessions.

During Session One: The Natural Environment (9:30 am - 12 pm) Catherine Keller, professor of Constructure Theology at Drew University, and Mari Joerstad, associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Vancouver School of Theology, will discuss the most current thinking on how Christians do, can, and must connect their faith lives with the plight of our global climate. 

Session Two: The Built Environment (1 - 3 pm) is a panel discussion moderated by CBC radio host Gregor Craigie. Among the panelists will be diocesan executive director Brendon Neilson. 

To register for this event, click the link below, or click READ MORE.

Sunday
 8:30 AM - Traditional Eucharist, Book of Common Prayer
(no choir) Chapel

10:00 AM - Contemporary Eucharist, Book of Alternative Services,
with choir 

First Saturday of the Month
5:00 PM - Taize service with singing  Chapel (except August and January)

Fourth Saturday of the Month
6 PM - Spanish Language Anglican Eucharist Service  

Office hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays

from 9 am until noon.