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St Paul's Journal

Halifax, Nova Scotia Epiphany 1999

ß Celebrating 250 years of service in the name of Christ ß

Our 250th Anniversary Celebrations

Don Lordly

There will be:

· Anniversary opening services on June 20, 1999 with Bishop Peter Mason

· Sarah Emsley's book St Paul's on the Grand Parade launching on June 21 in the Grand Parade

· a Strawberry Tea on July 1the only event of our Summer Fair planned for this year

· an historical play, depicting the life of St Paul's in the community from the very beginnings

· 15 performances planned: five at end of July 1999, five in October 1999 and five in spring of 2000

· Homecoming Weekend on July 30 to August 1, 1999, including:

­ a picnic in the Grand Parade

­ the play

­ special services with former rector, Archdeacon Harry Hilchey

­ a festive banquet at King's College

· a seminar in spring 2000 ­ a series of lectures covering:

­ the life and teachings of St Paul

­ the architecture of St Paul's Church

­ the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

­ Charles Inglis

­ the Old Burying Ground

­ "find your St Paul's ancestor"

­ the new book St Paul's in the Grand Parade

­ the history of St Matthew's vis-à-vis St Paul's

· a series of special services over the 15 months with guest clergy and dignitaries commemorating such things as:

­ the arrival of the first settlers

­ cornerstone laying on 13 June 1750

­ first Sunday school in North America

­ first service in the new building on 3 September 1750

Invitees for these special services include members of the Royal Family; the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Primate of All Canada; the Archbishop of Nova Scotia; and former clergy of St Paul's.

· special musical concerts by prominent musicians

· a major outreach project: we are participating in the Habitat for Humanity Ed Schreyer Work Project in the Halifax­ Dartmouth area on July 11-16, 1999. Everyone is invited to help with hammer and saw.

· memorabilia: a number of quality commemorative items will be available during the celebrations

· miscellaneous: a display of archival material at back of church

· a Sunday school colouring book

· a celebration "250 Years" banner on north face of church

It is hoped that all parishioners will join in this venture to the fullest. Getting ready for it will involve a lot of work. All of these things need help from you, particularly the Homecoming Weekend.

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Wardens' Corner

Patrick Hartling

As this note is being prepared, we are completing our preparations for the Annual Parish Meeting on February 15, 1999. This year, as in the past few years, our meeting will commence at 7:30p.m. at St Matthew's United Church Hall. Once again we are preparing a light meal, beginning at 6:30p.m.

What is an annual meeting? In a sense, it is a form of punctuation to our worship (and business) cycle. The meeting marks not a full stop, but is instead an opportunity to pause and reflect on what we have done together as a community in the past, where we are now, and where we want to go. Clearly such an assessment must be considered in light of what we believe as Christians and as members of the Anglican tradition and community.

To prepare for this meeting, a variety of volunteers and staff of St Paul's go to a great deal of work. And in a very real sense, the minute one annual meeting is complete, we as a community are beginning to prepare for the next one. Beyond a collective opportunity for reflection, the annual meeting reports are also an opportunity for communication. As an executive, part of our role is to support opportunities for communication and involvement.

There is one other noteworthy point about St Paul's Annual meeting. On several occasions I have heard the question, "Does God come to meetings or committees?" My belief is yesif only we ask him, and only if we remain open to his Spirit and his leadership. All of our preparations and plans will be for naught if we do not approach the exercise from that perspective.

The agenda for this meeting will be to consider our preparations for the 250th celebration, our progress towards the 21st century project, and to hear from several staff on important work that they support. There are also reports from the various committees, including Spiritual Development, Outreach and Mission, Finance, Property and others.

I invite you to take some time to read the report, which will summarize many of our activities and plans as well as chart our progress. I hope also that you are able to find the time to join us on the 15th of February at St Matthew's Hall.

Since this will be the last "Wardens' Corner" I prepare for St Paul's Journal during my term as warden, I want to thank all the members of St Paul's for your participation, interest and support in the last year. May God bless each of you, and the community of St Paul's.

Annual Parish Meeting

Monday, 15 February

St Matthew's United Church Hall
1479 Barrington Street

You are invited to a light chowder supper at 6:30p.m., followed by the meeting at 7:30p.m.

Items on the agenda:

· 21st Century facilities update

· 250th Anniversary celebration plans

· Habitat for Humanity project

250th Anniversary (continued)

As many as possible former parishioners around the globe should be contacted through all the means available: newspapers, church journals and magazines, radio, TV, e-mail, the Net, and, above all, personal contact. We want to fill that Banquet Hall on July 31 and the church on Sunday!

It's not too soon to help. The planning must be completed by the end of February. Watch for more details at the Annual Parish Meeting!

Epiphany 1999 page

From the Rector

John Newton

Someone has said (as though we need to be told!) that if you want to stir up trouble in a church, try introducing a new service book or hymn book. The fact that the Book of Alternative Services is still a subject of heated debate in some circles is a case in point. So I ask myself, what am I doing introducing Common Praise, the new hymn book of the Anglican Church of Canada, published late last year?

From all that I had heard about Common Praise before its publication I was prepared not to be impressed. There had been rumours about the omission of "Onward, Christian soldiers" and hymns with military imagery; radical surgery to others such as "Amazing grace" to make them more suitable to contemporary sensibilities; and the inclusion of still other hymns of rather questionable theology. In fact, when I began to look at Common Praise, I was pleasantly surprised. Let me tell you what I found.

First of all, "Onward, Christian soldiers" was there. And so was "Stand up, stand up for Jesus", although Charles Wesley's "Soldiers of Christ arise" did get the chop. In fact, from what I can see, almost every popular hymn has been included, with the curious exception of "This is my Father's world". There are fine selections of evening and seasonal hymns, with the possible exception of lenten and penitential hymns. And by the way, "Amazing grace" escaped surgery!

One of the strong features of the book, however, is not the selection of hymns, but the fact that at last we have a hymn book with the words sensibly printed between the musical staves. This means that even someone like myself who does not read music can at least see when the notes "go up

and down" and when there are quarter-notes and half-notes, making it much easier to follow the tunes.

Another welcome addition is the fine indexes, particularly the excellent and very complete index of biblical references. This may not appear to be an advantage for the average person in the pew. However, for those who must select hymns for worship Sunday by Sunday, this is a marvellous resource.

If there is an annoying feature of the new book, however, it is the way in which many, perhaps most, of the old hymns of the faith from previous centuries have been altered. For the most part this has been done to replace the old-fashioned "thou" with the contemporary "you" and to accommodate inclusive language. Somehow, though, "Dear God, compassionate and kind" fails to fill the shoes of John Greenleaf Whittier's "Dear Lord and Father of mankind". And it does seem obsessive to change John Milton's "Let us with a gladsome mind/ praise the Lord, for he is kind" to "praise the Lord, forever kind". Gifted though the compilers of the new book may be, it seems presumptuous to think of "improving" the words of incomparable poets such as these.

And yes, some of those loopy hymns that we were warned about have made their way into the book. I won't tell you which ones I include in this category or where to find them. You can look for them yourself. But I take comfort in the knowledge that every hymn book has its collection of losers. "God of concrete, God of steel" is an example from the 1970 book, and if you want one from the 1938 book, try on "Into the woods my Master went" for size.

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Singing His Praise

Jonathan Eayrs

We've all been invited to get to know for ourselves what's in the newly-published Anglican hymnal Common Praise. And we'll have a further opportunity to review our heritage of hymns in the evening series planned for this Lent.

Since we're looking at hymns old and new it seems timely to think about why we sing at all.

Why sing? Because praise needs to be sung. When we truly admire someone, when we really appreciate them, we don't just talk about them, we "sing their praises". It comes easily; in fact, it's the most natural thing in the world. When you're introducing your betrothed to your family, when you're sharing photos of your newborn or your grandchild or your newly graduated niece or nephew, when anyone we are close to does something wonderful, we don't just pay them a polite compliment, we sing their praise and share our joy in who they are and what they've done. That's it, isn't it? It's the joy we feel that flows out spontaneously in praise. It's joy that breaks down the sound barriers, refusing to be kept silent or in solitude; for the more who share it, the greater joy becomes.

So our singing doesn't really come from

having a special talent for it; our singing comes from enjoying God, delighting in him, discovering that in his Son God delights and joys in us. Here's something we've never dreamed of or deserved, but that happens all the same: that Lord puts a song in our souls and enables us to share it, to sing as Paul puts it, with his grace in our hearts.

This means that none of us should be shuffling our feet, feeling embarrassed when it comes to singing God's praise. Are we afraid, perhaps, of drawing attention to ourselves? But that's not what our singing is about. We're not trying to get anyone to notice; not our neighbour beside us, we're not even trying to get God to notice either. That's not what our worship is about. Worship is about our coming to attention before God; our coming to a renewed awareness of the Lord's beauty and majesty, of his mercy in Jesus, and letting all that sink in and begin to change us. And one of the main changes is to be released from fixating on ourselves, free now to sing the praises of the one who blesses us.

So whatever hymnal we may use, farewell to mumbling God's praise. Sing lustily and with good courage the new song the Lord gives us to share.

From the Rector (continued)

At the same time let it be said that the book includes a large number of excellent new hymns written in the last sixty years. Timothy Dudley-Smith's "Tell out, my soul", Herbert O'Driscoll's "From the slave pens of the Delta", Graham Kendrick's "Lord, the light of your love is shining" and Natalie Sleeth's "Praise the Lord with the sound of trumpet" are all examples of what I mean.

Having said all of this, I am prepared to commend the new book for use at St Paul's.

Twenty-five copies have already been purchased and are available for you to borrow and study. Then on Thursday evenings in Lent Paul Hutten will lead us through a series of evenings focussing on "Our Hymn Heritage", looking at selections from Common Praise. Do come along. And may you "be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord " (Ephesians 5:18,19).

Epiphany 1999 page

Pastoral Outreach and World Mission

Sandra MacLennan

Hurricane Mitch could have been just another headline, the kind that bombards us for a few days and is then gone. We seldom get to put a face on these headlines.

At the same time of these headlines the Pastoral Outreach Committee was reviewing our budget allocations for 1999.

We had received reports full of wonderful news about several missions. Especially pleasing was the news of the Rev. and Mrs Roger Hurtubise who have committed ten years to mission work in central Honduras. This couple has developed a program and trained over 15 lay pastors, all of them spreading God's word.

A later report told us that "Mitch" had destroyed the home and office of the Hurtubises leaving them with three suitcases only. The hurricane also destroyed equipment and supplies for all of the lay pastors. This vital mission is in disarray. The headline has become reality for us.

St Paul's responded to the rector's appeal, and the Pastoral Outreach and World Mission Committee supported our parishioners' donations, all for total of $9,010 for the Primate's Fund Hurricane Mitch relief effort.

The committee has also increased our donation to the South American Missionary Society in Canada from $3,000 to $4,000 with the extra $1,000 going directly to the Hurtubises for renewing their home and office.

Hurricane Mitch has a face for St Paul's and we are privileged to be able to respond.

In Partnership with Habitat For Humanity

Dennis & Peggy Pilkey

"Habitat for Humanity is an independent, non-profit Christian housing ministry dedicated to the elimination of poverty housing by building affordable homes in partnership with families in need."

Articles describing the activities of this organization have appeared in our newspapers from time to time, and many of us have come to admire those who have participated in the actual construction of houses, including "celebrity" hammer wielders such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. Although we may not be able to think of anyone with that same degree of celebrity status here in Halifax, three families living in Habitat-for-Humanity-built homes in our area could very well name someone we know who is just as important to them.

These families have experienced first-hand the support of Barbara Patton, a member of our own congregation. During her four years on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity Halifax­ Dartmouth, Barbara worked untiringly on both family selection and site selection committees. In the year prior to her leaving the board, our former associate rector, Stephen Peake, also volunteered his personal time to it. Now, rather than reading about or talking about what others are doing to provide housing for people living in poverty, we have an exciting opportunity as a congregation to get directly involved.

In July 1999, Habitat for Humanity Halifax­ Dartmouth in partnership with Habi

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Habitat for Humanity (continued)

tat for Humanity Canada will build ten houses in five days as an integral part of the 250th Anniversary celebrations of Halifax City, St Paul's Church and St Matthew's United Church. This worldwide Christian ministry has built over 75,000 homes in 60 countries for families in need, and has been open to people from all religious and ethnic backgrounds.

At the Parish Council meeting of January 18th, St Paul's Church reaffirmed its commitment to the project in the following ways:

· To contribute $25,000 towards the cost of the house

· To participate in all aspects of the planning, building and family nurturing related to our sponsored home

· To provide support and help to the overall project

Besides our own involvement in the "build" and that of other sponsors, it is expected that several hundred volunteers from all over Canada and the United States will be joining us in this work being carried out under the annual Ed Schreyer Work Project. This will be the seventh year that the Rt Hon. Edward Schreyer and his wife Lily Schreyer have volunteered their time to live with and work with other volunteers in the building of these homes.

Although Habitat for Humanity Canada provides professional and overall direction to the project, its success is based on a lot of willing hands to help with a wide variety of tasks such as transportation, food preparation and serving, answering phones, building assistants, and couriers.

Thus far, Habitat for Humanity Halifax-Dartmouth has completed these arrangements:

· Ed Schreyer Work Project confirmed for Halifax for July 11-16, 1999

· Provincial donation of land in the Forest Hills area of Halifax Regional Municipality (Dartmouth)

· Nova Scotia Home Builders' Association endorsement of project and provision of site and house project management and supervision

· Sponsorships secured to date:

3 Habitat for Humanity Canada (3)

3 Halifax/Dartmouth Habitat

3 St Paul's Church

3 St Matthew's United Church

3 Building Depot

3 Dow Chemical

3 Royal Building Services

With energy and enthusiasm, we can build a home for a needy family in our community and contribute to making the overall Ed Schreyer Work Project a success!

For more information or to offer your support, contact: Dennis Pilkey 464-8877 (H)
e-mail: pilkeydw@gov.ns.ca

When we are sick

When we are sick we have:
Time to think.
Opportunity to evaluate life.
Development of sympathy for others.
A chance to rest.
Knowledge that the world can keep on going without us.
A wholesome sense of humility.
A greater appreciation of God's gift of health.
A realization of the value of purposeful daily living.
A sense of dependence upon others.
Gratitude for the achievements of modern medicine.

God hath not promised:
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.

But God hath promised:
Strength ­ rest ­ light ­ help ­ love.

Author unknownsubmitted by Phyllis Redman

Epiphany 1999 page

Kyiv Chronicles

Jamie, Christy & Alexander MacArthur

Happy Old New Year!

The doorbell rang. Strange, it was only 7:30 a.m., a highly unusual time for visitors in this late to bed and late to rise culture. Jamie answered the door. A youngish girl looked at him and said something. Jamie thought a second and replied that he hadn't understood. "You know," she said, and motioned with her hands as though she were sowing seed. Puzzled, Jamie said, "No, thank you," and shut the door.

Later, as he recounted the incident to me, we remembered that it was Old New Year (January 14, New Year's Day according to the old calendar). On this day, we learned, children knock on doors and then throw some seed into your apartment, blessing you with abundance in the coming year. You reward their efforts with a little money or some candy. We had inadvertently refused to be blessed. Oh well, there is always next year!

Through the eyes of a child

Alexander has a backpack that some friends lent us. It has been great to carry him on our backs when the snow is too deep for his stroller or the roads are slushy and wet. He is a sight to behold, all bundled in his snowsuit, and attracts a lot of attention. I sometimes wonder what goes through his mind as he watches somber people trudging in the snow, the trees bleak in their winter bareness, sellers stamping their feet to keep warm at the outdoor market.

It is amazing how a little child can overcome barriers between people. Scowls turn to smiles and snickers as we walk by. Sellers ask how old our child is or is he comfortable in that thing? Older women smile, call him sonitchka (sunshine) and bless him.

Somehow or other the sight of a little rosy-cheeked child going around town in a turquoise and purple backpack manages to brighten a few people's day. Obviously Alexander has ministry of his own here in Ukraine!

Autumn

Last autumn was a tough time for us. We were new to Kyiv and to parenthood, which created some challenges. Christy admits to struggling with loneliness and some depression as the beautiful summer turned to winter very suddenly in early November.

Jamie faced a large learning curve as he adjusted to his new responsibilities. He did enjoy a couple of trips around Ukraine visiting staff and meeting students. While visiting the staff team in Donetsk (eastern Ukraine), Jamie was asked to give his testimony at a seekers' discussion group. One of the students who attended became a Christian the following week. Exciting! Jamie was also privileged to do some Bible teaching at our December staff conference.

Coming Up

This term, among other things, we are planning to host a bi-monthly meeting for student couples. This will be a chance for couples to meet and to encourage one another. Jamie will continue to help oversee the student work. On a more personal note, we are hoping to do some re-wallpapering in our apartment so it will feel a bit more homey.

Thank you to all of you who sent Christmas cards. Our colleagues here were impressed and the cards made us feel special. We wish all of you a very blessed year (but we won't throw any seeds at you!). With love and thanks for your partnership.

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FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD...

Denise G. McKay

Of all the spoken words we use and hear throughout our lives,
'Love' surely must be used the most by parents, husbands, wives,
And everyone, at some point, (or even every day,)
Has said about an item, 'I love that,' in an eager way.
It's just our human nature that this word's so often used,
Ascribed to many things in life, and many times abused.
But for all its use or misuse, or the way it's spoken of,
We can never match agape, our Father God's pure love.
His love is unconditional, too great to comprehend,
Our finite mind is filled with awe, in Christ, our dearest friend.
The heart and soul are humbled by God's love for you and me;
Who sacrificed his Son for us, by his death on Calvary.
We'll never know his agony, or what he then endured,
We only understand this much: salvation is procured
For all who truly turn to him, in repentance and in love,
And seek to follow Jesus and worship God above.
Our Father God is perfect, he's steadfast, stays the same,
God loves us unconditionally, he knows us each by name,
He wants his children with him, for all eternity,
In fellowship with Christ our King, including you and me!

Written and composed with God's help.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 (King James Version)

St Paul's Journal is published by

St Paul's Church

1749 Argyle Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K4

Telephone: (902) 429-2240
Facsimile: (902) 429-8230
E-mail: stpauls@chebucto.ns.ca
Home Page:
www.chebucto.ns.ca/Religion/StPauls

John Newton, Rector
Jonathan Eayrs, Associate Rector

Patrick Hartling, Senior Warden
Jane Bureau, Junior Warden
Bill Day, Deputy Warden


Paul Hutten
Director of Music Ministries
Leonard Bednar & Jane Turcot
Directors of Youth & Children's Ministries
Marina Chapoval
Parish Administrative Secretary

Submissions to St Paul's Journal are always welcome. The deadline for the next issue is 5 March 1999.

Epiphany 1999 page

Greetings
from Nigeria

Taba Cookey

I very much appreciate your faithfulness in continuing to send me the St Paul's Journal all these years. Next year will be 10 years since I left Halifax but I still feel so much a part of what's going on in the church, thanks to you. I received your Thanksgiving edition recently and was interested to read about your new staff, and plans for the 250th anniversary. I was also uplifted as usual by Denise's poetry. I could almost feel the activity as the church springs back into top gear after the summer. No doubt plans are also on for marking the millennium at St Paul's. It is indeed a great outreach opportunity for us as Christians.. As I heard someone say recently, the year 2000 has little significance without being related to Christ's birth.

Christmas has come round once again and I'm looking forward to two-week holiday. I hope 1999 will bring with it the opportunity to be in Canada once again, a place I remember with great fondness. I would appreciate your prayers for Nigeria. After a most trying 5 years, there is light at the end of the tunnel as the military prepare to disengage from power next May. The first round of elections have been held, and they do seem sincere this time around. However an incoming civilian administration will inherit a myriad of social and economic problems which need great wisdom, integrity and courage to handle.

A wonderful New Year to all of you at St Paul's.

Anglican Growth Worldwide

Ed Hird

Canon Michael Green, an Adviser in Evangelism to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, caught my attention when he commented in the excellent pre-Lambeth book, Grace and Truth in the Secular Age, "There are, for example, more Anglicans in Nigeria than in the whole of Europe and North America combined." Perhaps Michael was comparing the Sunday attendance figures or the active membership figures for Nigeria, relative to Europe and North America.

In Grace and Truth I found some key information on estimated Anglican church growth from the year 1960 to 2010, by Dr Peter Brierley, the executive director of Christian Research, and editor of the World Churches Handbook (1997, page 25):

"In the 1990s the Anglican Communion worldwide was growing at the rate of 900 people per day, just under two percent or one fiftieth of the total growth of Christianity. The worldwide communion figure in 1960 was 41 million, and it is estimated it will grow to 58 million by the year 2010, a growth of forty-two percent. This may seem small compared with other denominations, but at least it is growth, unlike the Lutheran Church which actually declines in numerical terms in this period (from 82 million to 80 million). It is also a greater growth than the Methodist Church which grows eighteen percent in this period (from 23 million in 1960 to 27 million in 2010)."

"It is, however, a smaller growth rate than was seen by the other denominationsthe Orthodox grew fifty percent, the Presbyterians seventy-six percent, the Catholics eighty-eight percent, the Baptists 123%, while the 'other churches' grew four-fold (442%), the

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On being fishers of men (& women)

Dyson Hague

During the first three Sundays of July I was spending a very pleasant vacation in Newfoundland with my good friend Mr John Y. Payzant, who instructed me in the mysteries of that king of sports, salmon fishing. Every clergyman should be a fisherman. I got a great deal of light of Matthew 4:19, as I stood hour after hour, casting the line into the pool in which the salmon lay.

Unfortunately, Mr Payzant met with an accident the third day we were in camp, having sprained his knee, but caught and played while sitting in a chair near shore with his leg bound up.

Our Sundays were very quiet. We used to have service in the tent. Mr Payzant read the lessons and I the prayers. Never did the grand old Te Deum seem so precious as we sang it there one Sunday with the canopy of heaven for our temple dome, and the overhanging trees for our cathedral walls.

Newfoundland is a country of magnificent scenery, and fine agricultural possibilities. The people too were simple and quiet in their ways, honest and God-fearing.

Dyson Hague was rector of St Paul's Church from 1890 to 1897. This article was excerpted by Tinker McKay from the "Rector's Notes" in the St Paul's Church Parish and Home, July 1893.

Anglican Growth (continued)

indigenous churches six fold (592%), and the Pentecostals twelve fold (1,162%) in this fifty-year period..."

It was also interesting to discover from Dr Brierley's article in Grace & Truth that there are 80,300 Anglican churches, making up 4% of the total of 2,271,600 Christian churches in the world. Of our 80,300 churches, 53% (42,500 churches) are in Africa, 24% (19,500 churches) are in Europe/U.K., 15% (12,300 churches) are in North America, 5% (4,200 churches) are in Oceania, 2% (1,200 churches) are in Asia, and 1% (600 churches) are in South America.

Of the 58 million Anglicans estimated for 2010, 84% live in one of the seven following countries: England (23.9 million, 41%), Nigeria (7.8 million, 14%), Uganda (6.6 million, 11%) , Australia (3.7 million, 6%), South Africa (2.7 million, 5%), Kenya (2.2 million, 4%), and the U.S.A. (1.9 million, 3%).

Anglicans/Episcopalians in North America will have shrunk by 2010 from 5.1 million in 1960 to 3.1 million. This breaks down into a projected drop in the U.S. from 3.1 million to 1.9 million, and a projected drop in Canada from 1.3 million to 600,000 Anglicans. We lost almost a quarter of our Canadian Anglican community in the 1980s.

Hopefully we North American Anglicans, at the close of the Decade of Evangelism, will be willing to learn from other world Anglicans about why they are so effective in reaching the lost for Christ.

Ed Hird is rector of St Simon's Church, Vancouver.

Epiphany 1999 page

The Annual Church Picnic

Dyson Hague

As we are caught in the icy grip of winter, here is an excerpt from the "Rector's Notes" in St Paul's Parish Magazine, July 1895, to remind us that better weather awaits us, and perhaps to offer some ideas for our anniverasry picnic on 1 August!

The sun shone brightly as the wondering crowds that gathered at the street corners watched the long procession of St Paul's teachers and scholars on their way to the Queen's Wharf on the morning of Thursday, July 25th. First the infantrythe little men and women of the primary class under Mrs Wallace and Mrs Fenerty, and Miss Woodling, and then the girls, and then the boys, walking in orderly array, the teachers like the officers at the side, about 500 strong.

It was a beautiful sail to the Prince's Lodge, and soon all were enjoying themselves in true picnic style. Here boys were bathing, and girls swinging, and some lay beneath the trees upon the emerald turf, while the boys and the rector played a warmly contested game of baseball. Meanwhile the ladies turned in and worked like beavers at the tables preparing for the great family that had soon to be fed.

At about 12:15 the dinner was announced, and then one and all thronged to the pavilion. There was no noise; no shouting; no bad manners of any kind. First the little ones entered by the east door, and not a boy or girl entered till they were all seated. Then the girls came in, and not till they were all accommodated, did the hungry boys come in. All hats were taken off as they entered, and there they sat, four hundred and more before the snow-white cloth-covered tables until the rector stood up and gave out the doxology for grace. Then they all began in earnest.

At 2 o'clock the boats with the congregation left the wharf, the two boats being filled, and by three o'clock there must have been 1000 people on the groundsall St Paul's people with a few exceptions. At 4:15 the scholars again were fed, and soon after five the great mass of people.

The day was perfect. All seemed merry. The boys and girls ran in the races, Mr Perry cleared the course, and gave the prizes with Mr Schaeffer while Mr Payzant, and Mr MacKinlay, and Mr Pembleton (of the Magicienne, who very kindly came to help in place of Mr Curtis who was one of the officers of the day on duty and couldn't come), started them off. Then there was scrambling for the bags of candies, and cricket, and teeter-tauter, and wheel-barrow races, and all sorts of things.

Soon the happy hours fled by. At 6:20 the first boat left for home, an hour after the second, and then at about a quarter past eight the last boat steamed away, and as the lovely new moon went softly up the sky with a star or two beside, we sang the dear old songs so welcome to all Christians ears: Sun of my soul ­ Rock of Ages ­ Nearer my God to thee ­ Jesus lover of my soul ­ Now the day is over ­ Onward, Christian Soldiers, and Sweet bye and bye. As we passed the warships three cheers for the Red, White and Blue was lustily given, and soon after God save the Queen, all landing safely thank God, after a very happy day.

And now as we look back what are our thoughts and conclusions?

First, one of deep gratitude to Almighty God for his loving kindness, in sparing all our lives, keeping us from accidents or jarring events, and giving us such a lovely day.

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Church Picnic (continued)

Second. A proud feeling of pleasure in the grand spirit of free and hearty generosity displayed by the people. Without any begging, or nagging, or personal dunning, it is simply grand to think that sufficient provisions to feed so many hundreds and have enough to spare to give a summer treat to a poor Mission Sunday School in the country was freely, and cheerfully sent in.

And third, a deep conviction that ours is the best way to conduct church picnics, and indeed church festivals of all kinds. Not only was everything free, and in abundance, not only was there another absence of that detestable "basket system" when a number of children of God in one church go off by themselves, the rich with their big basket to the fine place, and the poor with their lean basket to some poor place, or of the equally detestable system, where you have got to present your quarter before you can get your

meal, and the children are half-starved in order that the visitors who have paid may get their money's worth (a fact!) not only did every one share and share alike, the same food, dishes, and seats, but there was also an order, and a harmony, and common feeling of interest and pleasure that is only possible where the end sought is not the public's money, but the people's pleasure, and the children's happiness.

Plenty was sent, plenty was enjoyed. Freely we received, freely we gave, and we are sure it was the Lord's blessing added that crowned it all.

I cannot close this without adding one word with regard to the ladies who did so much. Too great praise could not be given them for their splendid work. They certainly deserve a free picnic for themselves some day. Free, I mean, from anxiety, and toil, and untiring exertions.

250th Anniversary Book

An illustrated history of the life of St Paul's from 1749 to 1999 by Sarah Emsley has been in preparation for nearly a year and will be published in June. To pre-order you copy, please contact the church office or fill out this form and send it in. (There is no need to prepay.)

Yes, please reserve for me:

copy/ies of the special limited cloth-covered edition ($34.95)

copy/ies of the paperback edition ($16.95)

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Lent at St Paul's

Ash Wednesday, 17 February

11:00 a.m. Holy Communion in the Chapel

5:00 p.m. Holy Communion in the Chapel

"Our Hymn Heritage"

7:30 p.m. in the Chancel every Thursday, 17 February­ 24March

Join us as we examine and sing many of the great hymns of the faith!

Lenten Quiet Morning

9 a.m.­ 12 noon, Saturday, 27 February

The Rev. Jonathan Eayrs will lead us in "Prayer and the Psalms".