February 1, 2009 Announcements
Parish Events
Nutrition Bingo: 20 people are needed to give $10.00 each towards the purchase of ingredients for the St. Matthew's-Maryland Community Ministry Nutrition Bingo kits. The money is needed by February 15th. The sign up sheet is in the coffee area. Please see Margaret Jones or Barbara Bater.
Sideperson Co-coordinator Needed: If anyone is interested in this ministry, please see Eleanor Henderson at church or give her a call at 255-4259 and she will be glad to assist in anyway she can. (The Roster is complete until the end of June).
Annual General Meeting (AGM) - February 22, 2009. For information, talk to your Wardens. A reminder to all ministry leaders: reports for the AGM are due three weeks ahead, on February 1st.
Interested in planning worship for Lent and Holy Week? Come to a special planning meeting on Thursday evening, February 12th, at 7pm, in the Conference Room.
Reminder - if you have changed your pledge for the coming year, and use direct deposit, please see Doreen about making the necessary adjustments.
Church calendars available $8. See Mary Valentine and Hilda Rudnicki.
Penny Jar. For many years there has been a Penny Jar at St. Mary Magdalene on Sundays and funds raised have gone to various causes. At the last Vestry meeting, it was agreed to begin to raise funds for an outdoor bench to be placed in the Sage Creek area suitably labelled so as to indicate presence and an invitation to join us for worship. Please contribute your spare change to the jar for this great cause.
Lent is approaching quickly! Ash Wednesday is February 25th, and we will worship at 7:30pm.
We are excited to welcome the Rev. Collis Machoko and his family, here for worship on February 8th, in recognition of Black History Month. Collis is a Zimbabwean, and an Anglican priest. He will preach during worship and give a presentation on Christianity in Africa after the service. Lunch is provided.
The Magdala News Deadline is February 15, 2009.
Our very own Karen Sunabacka is this year's winner of the Canadian Music Centre's Emerging Composer prize! The winning piece will be performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on February 2nd as part of the New Music Festival. The concert is at Centennial Concert Hall at 7:30pm, with a pre-concert talk at 6:30pm.
We're going Fair Trade for 30 Days! It’s that time again when our parish joins Manitobans in supporting fair trade for the One-Month Challenge! We've pledged to have only fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate for 30 days, starting on Valentine’s Day. Look for more info next week.
Church Office - 253-0555. You can leave messages for the office, or press 1 to leave messages for The Reverend Preston Parsons. Preston’s office hours are Tues. & Wed. from 9 – noon. Preston checks his office voicemail regularly each day, except for Mondays. If the matter is urgent, or in the case of an emergency, you may reach Preston at home at 489-2574. Secretary’s hours are 9 am – noon, Mon. to Fri. (break time 10:30 – 10:45 am).
Diocesan and other Events
Food, Faith, & Rural Community: The Saskatoon Theological Union is offering this course in distance education format: 3 Fri-Sat periods (Feb 6-7; Mar 13-14; Apr 10-11, 2009). The course looks at the social, spiritual, biblical & economic implications of producing & eating food. Contact Colleen Walker at colleen.walker@usask.ca or 306-975-1558 to register.
Mission Workshop: "Churches Starting Churches - What does this Mean?"
Dr. Keith Zeh, mission director in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for Minnesota and the Dakotas, will be addressing the very practical issues of how "giving birth" and "starting new churches", rather than taking away from existing ministries and congregations, can actually breathe new life and purpose into existing congregations. He has had much experience with this in the past five years. He will share various models of churches starting churches, some traditional and some very new models, and we will have the opportunity to ask our questions. This workshop will be held on Saturday, February 28 from 9 am to noon at Faith Lutheran Church, 1311 Dakota St., Winnipeg. Workshop cost is $10 per person, with a maximum of $50 per congregation, if more than five people attend from one congregation.
Emergency situation in Gaza: PWRDF has provided $20,000 for the current crisis response - this will hopefully increase as the donations from parishes and dioceses are received. As you know, the needs are and will be enormous. PWRDF responds to emergencies through Action by Churches Together (ACT) International of which the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) is a member, and it is coordinating the response at the field level. We suggest that the Anglicans in Canada respond to this crisis through PWRDF. Donations can be done by calling our office 416-924-9199 ext 355; online by visiting
Lenten Quiet Day, St. John's Cathedral, Sat. Feb. 28 from 9 am to 4 pm with The Rev. Helen Manfield as the retreat leader. See poster or Heather Birtles for more info.
