St. Mary's Regina

The First Sunday in Lent 

March 9, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

The Gospel lesson for the First Sunday in Lent tells the story of how it was that Jesus, following His baptism,  was drven into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Lent is for us a kind of desert. We too will face our temptations and must overcome them at the point of our temptations. But what are these temptations? And how shall  they be overcome? Today Christ shows us. In today’s Epistle lesson St. Paul provides us with a colour commentary for what that actually looks like in terms of day to day life.

THE LESSON : 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 

Continue reading “Lent 1 – March 9, 2025 – Bulletin”

QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

March 2, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

Today is the  last Sunday in the season of pre-Lent, where in today’s Gospel lesson we are given an image of Lent  as  a spiritual journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. What is the character of this journey? It is fundamentally a journey of healing- the healing of the blindness of our hearts as illustrated by the healing of the blind man at Jericho. After he was healed, followed Jesus on the road to Jerusalem, and would see with his own eyes, physical and spiritual,  what would happen there. In our epistle lesson St. Paul describes for us what the goal of our journey is: maturity in Christ that is the perfection of love, both our love for God and God’s love for us.

THE LESSON : 1 Corinthians 13. 1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

THE GOSPEL: Luke 18.31-43

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him,  “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

PARISH LIFE NOTES

TODAY there will be a single service of Morning Prayer and Holy Baptism at 10.30 a.m. followed by lunch in the parish hall. Please bring sandwiches and finger food to share.Join us as Anthony, Nora, Rufus, and Williams are grafted into Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic  Church.  

2025 LENTEN MISSION  with Revd. Howard Thorton will take place March 21-23 with addresses on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 10.30 a.m. Please mark your calendars! ( Link )

ASH WEDNESDAY is a major  fasting day in our liturgical calendar to be broken with a light meal after the Evening Service. Please note schedule of services below. 

RECTOR’S PRAYER RETREAT AND STUDY LEAVE: Revd. Claude will be away from the parish from March 7-19. For pastoral emergencies contact Deacon Susan Page at 306- 775-7584.

HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM SALE: March 29, 2-4pm. Please contact Katie or Alanna if you have educational materials or books to donate. We are also looking for a couple of volunteers to serve coffee and cake.

85^th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DON. For anyone who knew Don from his days at St. Mary’s with his wife Gail, or his parents Reg and Daisy (now that’s way back!) – this is your invitation! He would so appreciate catching up with a blast from the past. Come celebrate with us: Friday, March 7, 2025 at St. Mary’s from 2-4 PM

WORSHIP THIS WEEK

Tuesday to Friday

• Morning Prayer at 8.30 a.m.

Ash Wednesday

• Morning Prayer and Litany at 8.30 a.m.
• Penitential Service, Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion at 5.30 p.m.

with the

REV. HOWARD THORNTON

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 at 7:00 p.m.
SATURDAY, MARCH 22 at 7.00 p.m.
SUNDAY, MARCH 23 at 10.30 a.m.

In a chaotic, ever-changing, unstable, anxiety producing world, what are the fixed points by which to navigate life? St. Paul writes,

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor.13.13)

Howard Thornton grew up in the small town of Bowness, Alberta (now part of Calgary). He studied Broadcasting at SAIT and for more than 25 years was a news, weather and current affairs presenter for CBC Television in Saskatchewan. Howard did graduate studies at Canadian Theological Seminary in Regina, and the University of Oxford. He served as university chaplain, as well as vicar of two parishes in the UK, and is recently retired parish priest of St. Michael and All Angels, in Canmore, and St. George’s in the Pines, Banff Alberta. Howard and his wife Carol have five children and three grand-children.

SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

February 23, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

The three Sundays before Lent, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima  Sunday (from the Latin meaning  “70 ”, “60” and “50”)  are designed to help us prepare for the spiritual undertaking which lies before us during the 40 days of Lent. Lent, as the lessons on these Sundays show us, is understood to be both a spiritual labour, and a spiritual pilgrimage or journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, where, sharing in His death and resurrection, we are united to Christ in a communion of perfect love.  In the Gospel lesson today Jesus tells the “Parable of the Sower” which is perhaps better titled, “The Parable of the Soils” which points us to the discipline of prayer and meditation  which must accompany our fasting and self- discipline in Lent. In our Epistle lesson today St. Paul, speaking from personal experience, identifies the difficulties we will encounter enroute and which will detract us from our goal: both outwardly difficult circumstances and our own inner, personal weakness, teaching us that this not a journey of “success” , “self-improvement”, or “progress” but rather union with Christ in His Cross. 

THE LESSON : 2 Corinthians 11:21-29

Continue reading “Sexagesima – February 23, 2025 – Bulletin”

SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

February 16, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

It all  begins today, that is to say the countdown to Lent, and to Easter, begins today. Septuagesima, which is Latin for 70, marks the beginning of a season of preparation for the 40 days of Lent, in which through the recovery of the disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving we begin to earnestly prepare  to celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord in Holy Week and Easter, and our own death and resurrection in Him. In our Gospel lesson today Jesus tells the parable of the workers of the vineyard, which comes to us an image of the spiritual labour of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving we are about to enter into in Lent. In today’s epistle lesson, St. Paul gives us another image of Lent: that of athletic training in preparation for receiving a crown of glory that does not fade away.

THE LESSON : 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Continue reading “Septuagesima – February 16, 2025 – Bulletin”

THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

February 9, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

Today marks the end for us of the season of Epiphany, which is manifestation of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But there is so much in the world, in the Church, and in ourselves that denies, darkens, and obscures the Light. How are we to account for this, and more importantly, what are we to do about it?  In today’s Gospel Jesus tells the parable in which “ an enemy” sows weeds in the midst of the field that has been sown with wheat, and where the householder advises the slaves to let them both grow together until the harvest, when the separation of the good from the evil will take place. Today’s Epistle lesson complements and illustrates the Gospel where St. Paul exhorts us recognize the limitations of our judgements, and to practice forgiveness and mutual forbearance towards  one another.

THE LESSON : Colossians 3:12-17

Continue reading “Epiphany 5 February 9, 2025 Bulletin”