By REV. MOLLY FINLAY
In case anyone was checking, it’s been a crazy couple of years for everyone—but try shifting an institution that is thousands of years old into the 21st Century! No wonder your ministers, imams, rabbis and priests look like Lloyd Christmas after he’s gone through the wind tunnel in Dumb and Dumber.
Sometimes, as an Anglican Priest myself, I scratch my head and say to myself: “Whelp, that sure was a thing!”
We are all pooped. But we need each other—in community, more than ever!
And we need to be growing spiritually and sharing acts of peace, love, and justice with each other more than ever!
In my context, I have had more conversations with folks about their deepest spiritual questions in the last two years than I’ve ever had before.
We weren’t able to avoid coming to terms with these great questions—including the purpose of life and our mortality, during all those months of lockdown.
Beautiful things started happening in the last couple of years too.
We knew that lots of people were hurting and hungry, and so lots of churches and houses of worship started doing more outreach. One place I know nearby launched an extra weekly meal program to meet the needs of folks who need the help.
Here at St. John’s Norway, our people opened a simple Food Pantry which is still going strong—and we are so grateful to be able to get to know and serve our neighbours in this way.
The other thing that we are learning is that our parish is really called to be an inside-out kind of place. Sure, we have a gorgeous historic building, but we are spending lots of time in our parking lot welcoming neighbours to BBQs and other special events. We are experiencing a lot of joy doing it!
And this summer, we continue to open our doors on Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon for “Open for Prayer” where anyone is welcome to come and have a bit of peace and quiet in the middle of the busyness of life.
You are also welcome to drop by any morning of the week to enjoy the space.
And if you’d like to donate or help out at our Food Pantry, give us a call at 416-691-4560 or by email at: admin@stjohnsnorway.com
It’s so good to be part of this incredible neighbourhood—and we look forward to welcoming you at St. John’s—whether it is inside or out of our Woodbine Avenue and Kingston Road address.
With blessings from all of the people of St. John’s.
— The Reverend Molly Finlay is Rector, at St. John the Baptist Norway Anglican Church at Woodbine Avenue and Kingston Road.
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