Jacob’s Ladder Michaelmas 2013 Jacob’s Ladder

A newsletter from St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Port Hope

Photo by Anne Oram

It was all smiles at Andrew Teague our Torah stitch-by-stitch. the ribbon cutting new organist in for the parish hall. 1,463 volunteer stitchers residence. from around the world plan Friends and neighbours St. Markers extended a to produce the whole of the joined parishioners at an warm welcome when Mr. five books of Moses to be Open House on September Teague played his first assembled into a Torah scroll 28 in celebration of the service at the harvest festival of 248 columns . completion of the Parish on October 6. Hall project. Page 3 Page 4 Page 8

Jacob’s Ladder Michaelmas 2013 Andrew will be with us for seven Sundays and Incumbent’s Word will then return to England for several weeks to meet commitments there and rejoin us for As the fall season begins we the New Year. Please make him feel welcome take time, both as a here at St. Mark’s and in Port Hope. As we community of faith and as a welcome him we also give thanks for the nation, to give thanks. We musical gifts of Peter Roe who filled in so ably have much to be grateful for over the past nine months or so. and so we come before God in praise and thanksgiving. This is also a time of change in the Deanery We ought to be thankful all of Durham-Northumberland with new priests through the year but it is in Newcastle-Orono, St. John’s, Port Hope, probably a good thing that we call each other to and St. Peter’s, Cobourg. Fr. Ed Cachia of a particular time of gratefulness because some of St. George’s, Grafton, is on medical leave. the news we hear could lead us to despair. But The Incumbent of St. Paul’s, Brighton has we have many blessings, too. announced his retirement, effective November 24. This is a lot of change for a Here at St. Mark’s we have just celebrated with deanery of only eight parishes! friends and neighbours the official opening of our renovated Parish Hall. What a glorious day It hardly seems possible but the Hollyberry it was! This amazing venture is something we Bazaar and Christmas at St. Mark’s are just could hardly have dreamed of a few years ago. around the corner! We are off and running And yet here we are, in the hall, enjoying its for another year of activity with great beauty and its practicality. As we continue to fellowship and a lot of hard work. It takes settle in it will become more familiar to us and many hands to accomplish all that we have truly feel like our ‘home’. planned so consider how you might get involved and make the load lighter for others. But we can’t simply stand in awe of its grandeur. We have a call to serve God’s people in this May God continue to bless us as we celebrate community and so we need to continue to the wonders of God’s love and the beauty of dream, to create visions of what can happen creation. here, what ought to be happening here in response to the amazing blessing this hall is. Scripture tells us that God calls us to offer the first fruits in thanksgiving and so we must be prepared to offer this space that has been created for God’s blessing and for service to many. Together let us listen carefully for God’s call to us for ministry in this place. Please remember that Bishop Linda Nicholls will be with us on the afternoon of November 17 to bless the Parish Hall and to share with us at a Parish Supper. We are also most grateful at this time for our new Organist and Choir Director, Mr. Andrew 2 Teague who arrived in the parish on October 1.

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Meet Andrew Teague, Our New Andrew will be with us for seven weeks but Organist in residence then must go back to England for several weeks to meet commitments there. He then plans to return to Port Hope in the New Year. We are elated to have such an accomplished musician come to St. Mark’s and we look forward with great enthusiasm to his ministry among us. ______

*Tuesday, Tea, and Theology* St. Mark's Book Club

After a lengthy search St. Mark’s has a new Schedule for 2013/2014 Organist in residence. He is Andrew Teague, 3 to 4:30, somewhere in the Parish Hall who played his first service on October 6. He comes to us from having been Organist and Oct. 29 -- John Spong, Reclaiming the Bible, Master of the Choristers at Bradford Cathedral New Testament section in England from 2003 to 2011. He has degrees from both Oxford (Worcester College, M.A., Nov. 26 -- Robert Purdy, Without Guarantee: distinction in organ performance) and the Search for a Vulnerable God (published by Bob Cambridge (St. Catharine's College). He is a Purdy, 2013 ISBN 978-1-61813-088-4) fellow of the Royal College of Organists with Choirtraining diploma. For many years he has Jan. 28 -- Wade, Rowland, Moral In/sanity (in been an examiner for candidates studying Manuscript) under the programs of the Royal School of Music both in the UK and abroad. Feb. 25 -- Bart Ehrman, Peter, Paul and Mary

Besides Bradford, Andrew has held major ***Mar. 25 -- Richard Rohr, Falling Upward church posts in the UK in Nottingham and

Brighton and has run concurrent school music Apr. 29 -- Helen M. Luke, The Laughter at the positions. For five years Andrew was Organist Heart of Things and Choirmaster at St. Matthew's, Ottawa, which has a very strong music program. While May 27 -- Reza Aslan, No God but God there Andrew and his wife took out Canadian citizenship with an eye eventually to moving to

Canada and settling in retirement in one of the ***In place of Roger Scruton, The Face of God lakeshore towns, where he could still keep some involvement as a professional church musician. 3

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Parish Hall Official Opening Some Steps Along the Way September 28 will be remembered as a highlight in St. Mark’s long history. A large crowd of parishioners, friends and neighbours celebrated as the expanded and renovated Parish Hall was officially opened.

Above: Paving the turning circle Below: building the pergola

Former Rector Rev. Paul Walker and Suzanne Lawson, whose father was instrumental in the building of the hall as we have known it.

Below: Marg Tandy, Interim Choir Director

St. Mark’s Quilters show their skills.

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Among Friends Shanly Palk has moved to the new Access house on Roseglen Road. Congratulations to Kaye Torrie who was one of eleven individuals who Bobbye Thorn is leaving us in November for Aurora. received the 2013 Attorney General’s Many thanks for all that you have done for St. Mark’s, Victim Services Award of Distinction, Bobbye. You will be missed! in July. Kaye began working as a child Dorothy Geale’s mother Milly Van Eyk is now witness advocate in 2006. Her work living at Extendicare in Port Hope. involves the support of child victims of crime and family abuse throughout the Betty Walsh is recovering from a broken hip. We Peterborough region of Ontario. Kaye wish her a speedy recovery. is the mother of Ellen Torrie and the daughter of Elemer and the late After almost twenty years Geoff Dale retired from Helen Bogyay. Fare Share in June. Over the years he has given outstanding service to that organization. His Liz Prower, David Brooks and compassion, understanding, encouragement and their son Dougie, now 7, enjoyed an determination in dealing with those who need to use interesting trip to Cape Breton Island the food bank are legendary - and so also his power of in July, where they visited Farley and persuasion. A suitable tribute to Geoff’s yeoman service Claire Mowat at their summer home from us all would be to keep the basket in the narthex in River Bourgeois. full to overflowing! Peter Stokes died in July in Port ______Hope at the age of 87. He was Canada’s foremost restoration Have you ever heard a song and architect, an advisor and an wondered what the words meant? inspiration to the custodians of heritage buildings throughout Canada. There was a woman who spent some months serving He was the author of many books on God in Kenya. On her final visit to a remote township the subject. Peter lived most of his life she attended a medical clinic. As the Maasai women in Niagara-on-the-Lake but when he there began to sing together, she found herself deeply was in his eighties he and his wife moved by their beautiful harmonies. She wanted to moved to Port Hope. The parish always remember this moment and try to share it with consulted him extensively when the friends when she arrived home. church building was last restored and redecorated. From time to time he With tears flowing down her cheeks, she turned to her attended church services here at St. friend and asked, “Can you please tell me the Mark’s. His funeral was September translation of this song?” 26th in St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Her friend looked at her and solemnly replied, “If you Niagara-on-the-Lake. boil the water, you won’t get dysentery.” Pat Goodyear has re-joined the ~Clipped from an English magazine~ Chancel Guild. We are grateful for her service. Submitted by Anne Oram

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Care Bags for Northumberland Hills Hospital I am pleased to tell you that as of the 21st of July 2013,I have delivered 600 care bags to the hospital. These care bags are very much appreciated by the patients and families alike.

FaithWorks – I would like to once again bring to you an appeal to make a donation to FaithWorks for 2013. We had a great response in the spring and to date we have collected $8,120.00 for FaithWorks. However, in 2012 the total amount that St. Markers gave was $16,725.00, and it would be great if we could match or exceed this amount for 2013. I know that some of you prefer to make your donation in the Fall, so now is your chance! Items needed for the care bags are: FaithWorks is the annual appeal of the •toothpaste •toothbrush •comb •emery Diocese which gives all of us the opportunity board •pen notepad •shampoo to help support and serve those in need. •moisturizer •chapstick FaithWorks supports 16 different agencies. These include a wide variety of agencies Once again, thank you for your very kind which help women and children who have support in this endeavour. If anyone would suffered abuse; prisoners and those who are like to donate any of the items or make a homeless; and refugees and immigrants. donation of money, I would be very grateful. FaithWorks also supports the wonderful work being done around the world and in Canada's If you would like any further information, North by the Anglican Church of Canada and please contact me on 905.800.0593/ the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. Each parish is entitled to retain up to Norma Hulme- 15% of the funds it raises to support local ______outreach projects. This year our plan is to use these funds to continue St. Mark’s support of Peter John Stokes the Greenwood Coalition. St. Mark’s has lost a friend indeed with the Thank you to everyone who has already made death of Peter Stokes. As noted in Among a donation to FaithWorks. Your support for Friends, Peter shared his expertise as a this initiative is greatly appreciated. restoration architect with St. Mark’s in both formal and informal ways. Peter restored If you have any questions or want more heritage buildings across the province and information please contact Sue Essig beyond, not least in Victoria College in (telephone – 905-885-9733). Cobourg. 6

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Of his many other restorations the best known include the St. Lawrence Hotel in Port Hope, We need your support to ensure a successful the Grange at the Art Gallery of Ontario in event. Please consider volunteering to help at Toronto, and the Laura Secord House in this important fundraising event. Gwen Duck Queenston. Then, because "I wanted to be back ______on a railway line again," he moved to Port Hope where, with the enthusiastic backing of ACO President Alice King Sculthorpe, he produced Cemetery Board the Heritage District Plan for Walton Street and, At the Sept. 10th meeting the following items with publisher of the Port Hope Evening Guide, were discussed and approved: Peter Schulz, he bought and saved heritage buildings at risk. Adapted from the ACO tribute • Surveying of the original cremated remains plots and future plots by Sylvester-Brown.

King Street Reconstruction The • Correspondence from David Walton-Ball contract for the reconstruction has been awarded seeking approval for the installation of a and it is our understanding the work will begin plaque in the cemetery, in memory of Captain the week of October 7. A community meeting is Nathan Walton. planned for the week of October 1 to discuss the details of the construction plan. The Wardens • Contacting Quicken Brothers to review the aesthetics of several stones. Hollyberry Bazaar Please join us November 2, 11am to 2pm, The Cemetery Board is seeking for the annual bazaar. Lunch $6. Quilt draw new members who would be interested for the king size “Sampler Quilt’ will take place in supporting/administering our historic at 2pm. cemetery and cremated remains plots. It is a small time commitment for a very important The jewellery table is one of part of our church property. Please see Roger the most popular and best Wilson or Gwen Duck if interested. money makers. Please consider donating any If you wish to purchase a plot please contact jewellery and gently used Peter Goering, our Cemetery Manager. handbags/purses. Donations may be left at the Letter to the Editor of Jacob's church office Susan & Mary Symonds Ladder From Tom Lawson Donations of clean, gently used books and How do we, as Christians, respond to the relatively current magazines would be most extraordinary national campaign glorifying welcome for the Book Table. CDs, DVDs, the Military, and vilifying Lester Pearson's children's books and complete jigsaw puzzles will legacy of Canada as a Peacekeeper? also be received. Please no videotapes or 'free' mags (e.g., LCBO) which we cannot price. Books Why did we spend $13 million to send 6000 can be delivered to the Parish Hall during Canadian Teenagers to Vimy Ridge five years regular office hours or brought to church on before the 100th anniversary of that battle? Sunday. Thank you. Anne Oram 7

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Why did we glorify the War of 1812, fought Taizé at St. Mark's for 2013/14: essentially by German mercenaries in British uniforms a generation before Canada even Now at 4:30 in the afternoon! existed? We are trying a new time which we hope will Why have we glorified the carpet bombing of make it possible for more people to take Germany, designed to repeat on a far grander advantage of this quiet and restorative service scale what Hitler attempted over London? Was enriched by readings from the great spiritual its commander "Bomber" Harris (known traditions and by the wonderful and distinctive worldwide as the Butcher of Dresden), a hero? music of Taizé. All are welcome; this is a non- Were the pilots, who executed the obliteration of denominational service. Dresden, heroes? Schedule for 2013/14 The latest is the celebration of the heroism of the October 27 Canadians who fought without support (how November 24 many years ago?) in the Bosnian crisis. When January 26 will we ask ourselves what Jesus would say? Isn't February 23 His message exactly the opposite of the Military March 30 Option? Didn't He teach us that "Peace is not a April 27 Goal; it is The Way"? Has Peace ever come ______through the Barrel of a Gun? Did the 2nd World War bring Peace? (Peace came to Germany and Torah Stitch-By-Stitch Japan after 1945 thanks to the Marshall Plan's massive aid to rebuild those two devastated I have been an avid stitcher for many years now countries). Who benefits from the glorification and, like all stitchers, enjoy a new challenge. of the Militarism....other than the Arms When I heard from a friend about the “Torah Industries? Stitch-By-Stitch” project I was interested enough to get involved.

Editor’s note : I will not take issue with a lot of what The project is being designed and coordinated Tom says, but I cannot let his query as to why Canada sent 6,000 teenagers to Vimy go unanswered. I had the by privilege to visit Vimy last month, and I want to assure Temma Tom and all my fellow parishioners that it was not in the Gentles, a spirit of militarism that I or the students I met (a number well- of them act as guides to the battlefield sites) found known ourselves there. The focus of the site is on the terrible losses (on all sides really - there are German cemeteries textile nearby and French ones and those of other countries). The artist in central figure on the Vimy monument itself is a hugely Toronto. moving statue of a grieving woman, titled “Canada It is open bereft”, her head bowed and a bundle of wilted laurel to people leaves drooping in her right hand. Ordinarily he laurel is the crown of victory but here it is the emblem of defeat, of of any loss and sorrow. As the student guides make plain – as if they had to – there were no winners in that war. It would nationality and religious persuasion who want be hard to imagine a more powerful impetus to peace than “to experience the purpose, rigour and spirit of a visit to Vimy. producing holy texts”, as long as each person respects the holiness of the text. 8

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Temma hopes, with the help of 1,463 volunteer • October 26 - Open House & Raffle: visit stitchers to produce the whole of the five books our new digs at 17 John St and find out what's of Moses – these will then be assembled into a new with Green Wood Coalition. 2-4 p.m. Torah scroll of 248 columns. The finished piece will be 2 metres high and 86 metres long. So far there are 400 people involved from 10 countries. • November 2 - Till Things Are Brighter: There will be a huge challenge ahead in The Songs of Johnny Cash: Our third assembling all the pieces into the finished scroll – annual tribute show featuring the best in never mind where and how to display it. Canadian roots music. Advance tickets $25, available at Ganaraska Art & Framing. Each stitcher receives (along with fabric and thread) the four verses they are to stitch. I have • Greenwood Coalition been assigned part of the story of Lot from the Community Dinner October 28 18th chapter of Genesis. Of course the lettering is in Hebrew so I just follow the instruction chart, The next Coalition Dinner hosted by St. but I am awed by the elegance of the lettering Mark’s will be on Monday, October 28 at and the visual beauty of the text as each line is 6:00 p.m. at the Ruth Clarke Centre. This completed. time we would like to have a “fest of shepherd’s pies”. A sign-up sheet is on the board at the This is a very different stitching project from any back of the church if you can help. Any I have undertaken and I am so glad to be able to questions, please contact Jill Walkingshaw at be a part of it. 905-885-1960. Jill Walkingshaw ------______Wise Words Notes from the Greenwood Coalition During the Queen’s first television broadcast in 1957 she said the following wise words: • The heat of summer is finally giving way to the Trouble is caused by unthinking people who gentle onset of fall, and there couldn't be a better carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they way to celebrate the local harvest than with a were old and outworn machinery. They would gourmet meal cooked by a professional chef in have religion thrown aside, morality in personal your own home. and public life made meaningless, honesty

counted as foolishness and self-interest set up in If you win our raffle, you'll receive dinner for 4, place of self-restraint. Today we need a special prepared by Chef Gary Cole in your home, kind of courage that can withstand the subtle along with wine from Sandbanks Estate, corruption of the cynics so that we can show followed by Harden & Huyse artisanal the world that we are not afraid of the future. It chocolates and Atomic Roasters coffee, with has always been easy to hate and destroy. To flowers provided by Holton Flowers. Menu and build and to cherish is much more difficult. date to be mutually agreed upon ~Snipped from Evergreen magazine~ Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25, available from Kelly Ambrose. Draw on October 26 at Green Submitted by Anne Oram 9 Wood’s Open House, 17 John St.

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Parish Hall Foyer Barb Grandy in her new office

A parish of the Jacob’s Ladder is edited by Ian McDonald and published Diocese of Toronto four times a year (September, December, March and Anglican Church of June) for members and friends of St. Mark’s Anglican Canada Church, Port Hope, Ontario.

JACOB’S LADDER

St. Mark’s Anglican Church 51 King Street, Port Hope, ON L1A 2R6