The foodbank is open Tuesdays and Fridays, 10am-1pm

Drop off food bank donations on
Saturday, May 17, 1-3pm
in the parking lot north of the church on Centre St.
(Please note Centre Street is one-way southbound.)

All Saints’ Deacon’s Cupboard ministry is a source of food for members of our community.  It is our way of being church and showing the love of God to our neighbours so that everyone can have their daily bread and know of the provision of the Lord.

Food can be dropped off at the church parking lot between 1- 3 PM on the third Saturday of every month. We will have volunteers unloading your car and taking the food supplies into the Deacon’s Cupboard space at the church.

The food bank is currently in need of gently used egg cartons.

Donations of the following items are in demand:

canned pasta, canned soups, cereal, Saltine crackers, cookies, canned tuna fish, canned sardines, canned tomatoes, instant coffee, canned kidney beans, Kraft Dinner, peanut butter and personal hygiene products for men and women (e.g., soap, shampoo, razors, deodorant and, toilet paper)

All Saints’ is a member of Feed the Need in Durham (FTND). Weekly orders from FTND help sustain and further develop our food supply for those who come in increasing numbers to the Deacon’s Cupboard each week.

To learn more about the Deacons’ Cupboard (food bank), please contact office@nullallsaintswhitby.org or priest@nullallsaintswhitby.org

Thought and Prayer of the Day
by Deacon Gary Gannon

April 10, 2025

In February, my wife and I took our first Caribbean cruise – Debbie had been to the Bahamas with her family before we were married, but for me it was my first trip to a region I had avoided, not being a fan of very hot and humid weather and strong sun. I found throughout this ten-day experience, that it was not too hot, nor humid, but I still had to watch my time in the sun – getting a sunburn on my face on the very first day! I will also remember this trip for three “jewels” found along the way.

Being accomplished sea cruisers, Debbie and I have long since preferred a room with a balcony. This not only permits us to retreat from the madding crowd that inevitably gets to one on a large cruise ship, but for me it provided the first jewel on our voyage – an unobstructed, quiet view of the ocean. We also now book our room to be about one-third of the way from the front of the ship. This allows the sea to be displaced during sailing to create that lovely, gently-breaking wave sound right outside our balcony door. I woke up early one morning and went out on our balcony to observe the sunrise and a distant band of showers gently falling near the coast of our next destination. The breaking light of day, the distant rain shower and a relatively calm sea reminded me of the opening verses in Genesis, as the gathered waters revealed approaching dry land and just as God did, I looked out at the scene before my eyes – and said to myself that it was good.

In planning this trip, Debbie told me we must take time looking around the shops in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We purposely did not book shore excursions on this vacation to avoid the hustle and bustle of getting on and off tour shuttle boats and coaches. But shopping? Really; I thought!  Her motivation to go shopping, which is a very rare occurrence, was driven by a desire to visit jewellery stores where prices were reportedly a good buy.  My dear wife’s quest focused on a present for me to buy for her in recognition of our upcoming 50^th wedding anniversary later this spring. While I was a bit hesitant about this plan, thinking it would take several hours and visits to many jewellery stores, I was surprised that the first shop we entered had a very knowledgeable salesman, a well-stocked display case of diamond rings, and a sharp-eyed woman who knows what she likes. I barely had warmed up the chair I was relegated to for waiting purposes when the perfect ring had been viewed, sized and selected in about twenty minutes! We exited the shop with the second jewel of the trip – (actually several diamonds on the chosen ring) – placed on Debbie’s finger along with a satisfied smile on her face.

Our final visited island was Antigua, and its capital city St. John’s. From where our ship docked, we could see a very large white church set on a raised hill in the downtown. We had decided to visit it on our own. It turned out to be my third jewel on the trip. The church’s formal name is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Many of you will immediately recognize the connection here, in name only, to the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, a religious community of Anglican nuns founded in Toronto in 1884. The present cathedral, with its imposing two white towers, was built on a fossilized reef in 1845, and is now in its third incarnation, as earthquakes in 1683 and 1745 destroyed the previous structures. Debbie and I climbed up the hill to the cathedral, and then way up a long flight of steps to the church entrance to be greeted by welcoming volunteers. The cathedral is a two-story structure. The pulpit is much, much higher than the one at All Saints’ as it must afford all worshippers, gathered on the main and second floors of the nave, a view of the preacher. The entire interior of the church is made of dark wooden timbers that had a very calming effect on me. Our half-hour visit allowed me to light a candle for my mother and offer a prayer of thanks to God for a safe and wonderful trip, filled with calming seas, great weather, very good food plus a chance to refresh and recharge ourselves after a very busy year.

You may look at the Cathedral’s website, noting that references and photos to do with “recent” renovations have now been mostly completed.

A Lenten Prayer
I will lean in, retreat from the pressures I face,
and move closer and deeper into your love.
I will breathe out, refrain from the distractions I seek,
and become open and receiving of your grace.
I will linger, encircled by the depth of your care,
and receive the endless nature of your mercy.  Amen.

from  Living Prayers. Contemporary Prayers for Today.  www.living-prayers.com

 

Thought and Prayer of the Day
by Arleane Ralph

April 3, 2025

The Transforming Questions group met for the penultimate time this week, and it’s been a remarkable 10 weeks, exploring some of the fundamental questions of a life of faith. It’s been a real privilege and joy to journey with the same group each Tuesday, sharing a meal and sharing our thoughts and experiences.

This week’s question was: “What is the church for?” You’ll be relieved to now we came up with an answer.

But as with many of the weekly sessions, we found we had to reframe the question … to transform it.

You probably have all encountered non-churchgoers who will tell you that they are “spiritual, but not religious.” Or that they consider themselves to be “a person of deep faith although they don’t go to church.” I try not to judge, but I always want to respond with something like: “Yes, and I consider myself an Olympic sprinter, but I don’t run. It’s not for me. It’s hard to find time to fit in all the running. But apart from that, I am a devote sprinter.”

Of course, everyone has their seasons of busy-ness or disinterest or even distrust in church. There are ebbs and flows in our involvement, but can we do without organized Church and really be effective, intentional Christians?

The answer to “What is the church for?” begins somewhat counterintuitively with defining what it’s not. It’s not just a pretty brick-and-mortar building. It’s not just a weekly worship service. And it’s not just about us or even strictly for us.

Anglican Archbishop William Temple famously stated that the Church is “the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members.”

Being a churchgoer is a habit and a commitment. As the TQ presenter said at our Tuesday session, “for the watching world,” when we participate in Church, “we ourselves offer up proof that God is alive. We form the visible shape of what God is like.”

The church is not perfect. And it’s not necessarily easy. Brené Brown, an American writer-researcher and podcaster, put it like this once:

“I always say I go to church for three reasons: To sing with strangers; to pass the peace with people I normally would not like or I’d want to punch in the face; and to go to the rail and break bread with people that I need to understand better. Those are the three reasons. I’m sure there should be better theological reasons I go to church. But I never thought about, that’s where I find God, in love.”

Even the esteemed C.S. Lewis acknowledged one of the confounding paradoxes of being part of a community of faith, with the much-quoted: “It’s easy to be a Christian until you meet other Christians.”

Brown’s and Lewis’ statements point to the difficulty of living out one’s faith in a community, as opposed to having only a personal and private understanding of it. Church is the source of comfort and strength and unity for all of us while at the same time it forces us to deal with the imperfection and challenges of interaction with its diverse members.

Or, in simpler terms and in the folksy wisdom of the American Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry: “And even when we’re headaches to each other, we’re still better off together than we are apart.” It’s that interaction of all the parts that makes Church work.

Many of the Biblical perspectives of the universal Church recognize the diversity and complexity and necessity of all the parts. I think this is why the metaphor of a family or household of God resonates with most of us.

Church is like a family or household because “it has wildly different people within it who don’t always like each other, who have bad days and bad ways, and yet somehow belong to one another anyway.” And furthermore, “we don’t choose the members. … Some days the only thing that we share in common is that we are all chosen by God.”

Rachel Held Evans referred to Church as: “a bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a table, not because they are rich or worthy or good, but because they are hungry, because they said yes. And there’s always room for more.”

Saint John of the Cross said, “the virtuous soul that is alone … is like the burning coal that is alone. It will grow colder rather than hotter. … Consider how much more can be accomplished by two together than by one alone.”

In the end, the question of “What is the church for?” became “What is our role in the church?” (And here I have to apologize to my Transforming Questions group for my woeful JFK imitation, “Ask not what your church can do for you, but what you can do for church.”)

When two or three or a hundred of us gather together in his name, we are attempting to collectively respond to the world – to the good, the bad and the incomprehensibly ugly—in the same way Jesus would have done. That’s a lot to ask of us, and that’s why it’s hard to be a good practitioner of a Jesus-shaped life.  (Feel free to add your own JFK voice here: “And we do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”)

I will freely admit that on those occasions when I have to get myself to church for a weeknight meeting or I am feeling tired and lazy on a Sunday morning, I wish Jesus had said, “stay at home on your couch in your fleecy pants and cozy sweater with steeped tea and a good book” … but he didn’t say anything like that. (Though I know he understands and forgives me when I occasionally feel the need to do that anyway.)  He also didn’t say, “whatever you do to your own self-interest, reward or glory, you do for me.” Definitely not.

What he did say was, Come together and follow me, and take care of the least of my siblings.

And I honestly can’t think of a better way to do that besides church. From the acts of the apostles to the early Christian communities to churches around the world today, churchgoers come together to visibly and intentionally carry out these commands.

This doesn’t mean it isn’t frustrating sometimes when it’s not all about what we want, or when it’s inconvenient or frustrating or fatiguing. Worshipping is definitely joyous and pleasing and restorative, but the work of “being church” or “doing church” can be demanding.

There’s another Brené Brown quote on her experience of church that sticks with me. In a Ted talk she shared this revelation: “Church wasn’t an epidural, it was a midwife. It just stood next to me and said ‘Push. It’s okay. It’s supposed to hurt a bit.’”

Church asks a lot of us. If it simply numbs and insulates us from the world, we’re probably not doing it right or fully. Church – that great Jesus movement — is meant to entice us to our growth edges. To encourage us to push the envelope, to push out of our comfort zones, to push God’s glory—mediated through worship and fellowship and community service – beyond the walls and out into the world.

And I don’t think we should be surprised if it’s a little uncomfortable and challenging and requires us to navigate sticky relationships and situations. We probably shouldn’t expect anything else from an organization that follows a God who himself hungered, wept, flipped tables, challenged authority, sat down with strangers, wrestled with temptation, and himself cried out in despair.

But amazingly we also follow a God who is always willing to embrace and surround us when we are together, to gather up our efforts into one epic ongoing action of love, and to make that collective into something holy.

See you at the next meeting of God’s beloved oddballs and outcasts!

Prayer for Church

Most gracious God, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy catholic Church. Fill it with all truth; in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where any thing is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in want, furnish it; where it is divided and rent asunder, make it whole again; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer (1962), p. 39