The program started in December 2022 with $300,000 in funding. It was thought that the funding would last for two years but the program has been so popular that the funds were nearly depleted by the end of the first year, prompting Synod Council to allocate another $300,000 for it. The money will come from the diocese’s Ministry Allocation Fund — $200,000 from its “congregational growth” stream and $100,000 from its “new or innovative forms of ministry” stream.

Nine parishes received grants in the first year, ranging from $18,400 to $40,000. Projects included drama and music ministry, a multicultural children’s drop-in program, pastors for online and community ministries and the start-up of a new dinner church.

All the projects will be reviewed by the diocese’s Project Enabling and Monitoring Group at the end of their funding so that learning can be collected and shared within the diocese. The Cast and Learn grants program gets its name from Cast the Net, the diocese’s strategic visioning process that is based on John 21.

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“Our gospel calls us to pursue the things that make for peace and build up the common life,” says the Rev. Canon Dr. Stephen Fields, sub-dean and vicar of the cathedral. “We encourage people, whether they are Christian or not, to come out and pray for peace, to image what it looks like and feels like, and to empathize with those who are far from it.”

The Very Rev. Robert Willis, dean emeritus of Canterbury Cathedral, will preach at the Evensong service, which begins at 4:30 p.m. Dean Willis gained a worldwide audience during the pandemic when he and his partner, Fletcher Banner, made videos of Morning Prayer from the deanery garden of Canterbury Cathedral.

In addition to preaching at Evensong, Dean Willis will help to set the tone for the prayers and reflections of the vigil, which begins at 6:30 p.m. There will be five stations around the cathedral, each representing a part of the world that is experiencing war or civil unrest. The areas will be the Middle East, southeast Asia, north and central Africa, eastern Europe and the rest of the world. Prayers and reflections will be offered at each station. There will also be lighting of candles and music, both choral and instrumental.

“We welcome everyone to come in and make it a time of community at prayer,” says Canon Fields. For more information, visit the cathedral’s website at www.stjamescathedral.ca.

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When the Church of England suspended public worship due to COVID-19, Dean Robert Willis began to broadcast Morning Prayer from the deanery garden of Canterbury Cathedral. He and his partner, Fletcher Banner, went on to post more than 900 videos, helping people get through the pandemic.

In addition to the videos, Dean Willis, who is now retired, had a distinguished career in the Church. He was the dean of Canterbury Cathedral for 20 years and advised three archbishops of Canterbury. He received numerous honours, including the Cross of St. Augustine, the second highest award within Anglicanism, given to people in recognition of their contributions to the Communion. He and Mr. Banner currently serve as ambassadors for the Church and various worldwide charities.

“He’s one of those true people of God who have been blessed with immense talent and grace,” says Archdeacon Paul Feheley, incumbent of St. Michael and All Angels in Toronto and a longtime friend of Dean Willis.

Dean Willis will lead a Lenten retreat at St. Michael and All Angels on the afternoon of Saturday, March 16. He will give two addresses, and there will be time for questions and answers. The retreat, held from 1-4 p.m., will include quiet time and a chance to meet Dean Willis. The retreat will conclude with Evening Prayer. The church is located at 611 St. Clair Ave. W., and all are invited to attend, either in person or online.

The next day, Sunday, March 17, Dean Willis will preach at St. Michael and All Angels’ morning Eucharist, which begins at 10 a.m. The service will be held in person and online. For details about his visit to St. Michael and All Angels, visit the church’s website, www.stmichaelonstclair.com.

On the afternoon of Sunday, March 17, Dean Willis will be preaching at Evensong at St. James Cathedral, located at Church and King streets in Toronto. The service begins at 4:30 p.m. After Evensong, the cathedral will be holding a vigil for peace and justice in the world, as part of its observation of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The vigil will be held from 6-8 p.m. Dean Willis will take part, helping people to pray and focus on peace in various parts of the world. Both Evensong and the vigil will be held in person and livestreamed. Visit the cathedral’s website, www.stjamescathedral.ca, for more information.

On Monday, March 18 at 1 p.m., Dean Willis will lead a Lenten reflection hosted by the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer. The webinar will be held on Zoom and all are invited to attend. For details, visit www.anglicanprayer.org.

In addition to public events, Dean Willis will meet with the Ontario House of Bishops on March 18 and will attend a dinner for the Primate, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, on March 19. The dinner will be hosted by the Ontario House of Bishops and Provincial Council, the governing body of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario.

Archdeacon Feheley says he is excited about Dean Willis’s visit. “He’s not a person who boasts about his own accomplishments, although there are many, and he’s very humble,” he says. “He did an extraordinary job of leadership at Canterbury Cathedral. He’s a person who has mixed with world leaders and leaders of Christian denominations, and yet once when I was visiting him, he and Fletcher were busy taking a basket of goods and flowers to a needy parishioner. It’s that kind of a person whose done an extraordinary job of prayer and leadership that I think is going to be really welcomed by people in our diocese.”

He says Dean Willis can help Anglicans share their faith. “The beauty of the Garden Congregation and the prayers he offered is to realize that evangelism in its most honest way is very simple and direct. We so often try to get it all complicated, and what we had in the videos was simply a priest sitting in his garden offering Morning Prayer with some thoughts or comments. He also took into consideration who would be watching and praying with him. That’s the remarkable thing about Dean Willis: how powerful the message can be when it’s done in simplicity and beauty.”

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This is an invitation to join a celebration that goes beyond the confines of sport, community and diversity. The organizers extend this invitation not only to seasoned cricket enthusiasts but also to those who are new to the game, encouraging them to explore, learn, try and actively participate in the world’s second most popular game after soccer. The ACCF provides opportunities for Anglicans in the GTA to get to know each other and build relationships, and enjoy food, fun and Christian fellowship.

Last year’s festival was a resounding success. Drawing more than 80 parishioners and friends from six churches in the diocese, the event was a testament to the unifying power of cricket. The Rev. Canon Dr. Stephen Fields, sub-dean and vicar of St. James Cathedral, MPP Charmaine Williams, a parishioner of St. Joseph of Nazareth, and the Rev. Ginnie Wong, interim priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity, Thornhill, inaugurated the tournament with enthusiasm and spirit. The round-robin games culminated in an entertaining final match with St. Bede, Scarborough claiming the title of tournament champion.

The event showcased the talents of all involved, each with varying levels of knowledge and understanding of the game. Ms. Williams, recognizing the significance of the event, presented the organizers with a special award on behalf of the Ontario government. Afterwards, Canon Fields shared his delight as he praised the ACCF for its lively atmosphere, enjoyable activities and sense of community. As a passionate cricket enthusiast hailing from Barbados, he lived up to expectations, by displaying his cricket skills with the distinctive flair of West Indian cricket.

The organizers express their appreciation to all who supported last year’s festival. A special acknowledgment is extended to the Ontario Schools Cricket Association for its ongoing support of the festival, providing equipment and setup materials for the event.

The invitation for this year’s festival on July 13 – a Saturday – extends to all parishes. We urge you to consider fielding a cricket team or encourage individual players to join a combined church cricket team representing your church. The festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Creditview Sandalwood Sports Complex, 10530 Creditview Rd., Brampton.

f you are interested in playing as an individual, as a church team or simply helping out as a volunteer, email Mr. Mendis at rmendis1@gmail.com.

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The liturgies of Holy Week remind us of our Christian identity that is grounded in a particular place and at a particular time in history. And if we are open to it, Holy Week can ground us in creation, the landscape upon which the original story and the places where we are situated today unfold. It presents us with an opportunity to experience creation as an integral part of our life as disciples of Christ.

In his book A Christian Theology of Place, Bishop John Inge defines place as “the seat of relations or the place of meeting and activity in the interaction between God and the world.” He argues that “God relates to people in places, and the places are not irrelevant to that relationship but, rather, are integral to divine human encounter.” Place not only includes relationships with each other, but also with the land and the natural world. The relationships and activities occur in place, which unfolds in creation.

Place is an integral part of Christian discipleship. It is more than the landscape upon which we worship or the neighbourhoods within which we minister. It is both a physical reality and an internal orientation that longs for relationship rooted in God. Unfortunately, many Christians treat worldly and spiritual matters as distinct and separate realities. This has contributed to us treating our relationships with the natural world as separate and distinct from our relationship with God and our neighbourhoods.

Our current liturgical framework for Holy Week has its origin in fourth-century Jerusalem. Called the Great Week, the final days of Jesus’ life were shared and embodied through stational liturgy. Each day worshippers walked from place to place, church to church throughout Jerusalem, marking the moments of Jesus’ final days. On Palm Sunday, worshippers began their day at the Anastasis (the place of the resurrection), moved to the Martyrium (the tomb), returned to the Anastasis, gathered for a vigil at Eleona (Mount of Olives), walked to the Imbomon (the place of the ascension), then walked from the summit of the Mount to the city and from there through the whole city to the Anastasis. On that day alone, worshippers moved between seven places in and around Jerusalem. As they walked, they prayed, sang, fasted, held silence, held all-night vigils, and walked by candlelight. This level of activity reached a climax on Good Friday with 10 stops.

As they walked, worshippers were formed by the story and became physically, emotionally and spiritually connected to the place of the story. In addition to seeing the buildings, markets and people, they became aware of the natural world in which the story unfolded. They walked on rocky and hilly ground, felt the daytime heat and the chill of cold evenings, their eyesight adjusted to the brilliance of the sun and the sparkling of the stars, and they took refuge from the sun under trees and shrubs. The geography of Jerusalem was a formational part of the liturgies of Holy Week.

The Jesus story extends beyond Jerusalem into our places. Our identity as followers of Jesus is deeply connected to the place of Jesus’ life, as well as to place in which we live and move and have our being. Holy Week is an invitation to connect the Jesus story to our experience of God in the places in which we are each situated.

What if we remembered Jesus’ torture, death and resurrection as we walked in our places, while being mindful of our green spaces and their connection (or disconnection) with urban spaces, of the broken and wounded parts of nature and our communities, of those who call our places home?  Perhaps this may help to recapture the significance of place, of the natural world. Perhaps our identity as disciples becomes grounded not only in Jerusalem but also here and now.

This Holy Week, I invite you into a sacred walk. If you can, walk each day of the week. As you walk, recall Jesus’ final days and pay attention to the ground under your feet, to the buildings and roadways, to the trees, the grass (or maybe snow or rain), any creatures, the birdsong, to the people you pass. Notice how this place and the creation upon which it sits connect to the Jesus story. Notice how God is speaking to you in this place.

Blessed walking.

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It’s a question posed in genuine curiosity, but nevertheless it tends to stir up some inner defensiveness in me. I feel a need to explain that our farm staff are still busy; that our labour hours and employment are justified. If I take a step back, however, I realize that this question opens up an interesting space for reflection. The farm in winter offers a precious invitation – the call to rest from productivity. In Toronto, our climate cycles through four seasons. There have been some years when our farm team tried extending the growing season, using hoop tunnels to grow greens into the winter. While this was a worthy experiment, it taught us that just because you can do something doesn’t always mean that you need to. It’s highly unpleasant to harvest kale when ice cements your hoop coverings to the ground, and your fingers freeze as you work! We realized that it was ridiculous to keep pushing, when all around us the trees were bare and insects were hibernating. The land told us it was time to rest.

This time of “not doing” is still full of meaningful being. While our farm looks inactive, underneath the insulating blanket of mulch and snow are worms and microbes who continue to break down organic matter. For some plants, germination is improved by a period of experiencing cold – a process called vernalization. Garlic is a crop that benefits from being planted in the fall, which gives it a head start in establishing. Lying dormant over winter, the garlic is ready for quick growth in the spring. Land, plants and creatures alike are waiting and readying for the next season in different ways. Meaningful work is still happening in winter; it’s just of a different nature from the activity of spring, summer and fall.

For the farm team, the time of “not doing” is also full of meaningful being. We are resting our bodies. By the end of the season, as we rush to finish harvest and close up the farm before the cold hits, we are stretched thin by an accumulative mental and physical exhaustion. Common Table Farm operates on a human scale, striving to grow produce in ecologically sensitive ways. For us, this means extensive manual labour and an avoidance of heavy machinery and products such as pesticides. We lean into the joy and challenge of doing many tasks with simple hand tools and by the sweat of our brows. It might sound idyllic, but it also means aching backs and sore muscles! Our approach requires that we lean into the need for community. Our farm relies on the passion of volunteers, neighbours, groups and youth – together, we manifest the people power needed to grow food in ways that support the health of the soil. In order to sustain this approach from season to season, it is essential to allow for rest and recovery.

Since stepping into the seasonal life of a farmer, I’m struck by how differently I now experience time and work rhythm. Previously, I had been normalized to a round-the-clock work schedule with no significant changes in rhythm. Work weeks simply kept going, aside from vacation and holiday time. Since becoming a farmer, it’s been beautiful to experience a workflow that closely embodies the seasonal time of the region in which I live. I love how this line of work allows me to become more aware of the natural world, with all its transitions in temperature, amount of daylight and weather patterns. I am invited to notice how other living beings respond to these seasonal changes and take my cue accordingly.

As I write this in January, I’m reluctant to begin thinking about the upcoming season. I’m still at the stage where exhaustion leaves me never wanting to see another vegetable again! But something switches around late February and March. Maybe it’s that the daylight hours become noticeably longer. Some uncanny magic happens: there’s an itch to get back outside and an excitement to look through our store of seeds. What could we grow this year? Is there a new crop to try?

In truth, during the winter months we are still quite active. Our farm staff support Flemingdon Park Ministry’s other community programs. We take time to do much needed organizing of our storage space. We work on crop planning, write grant reports and brainstorm for new projects. We collaborate with students and facilitate workshops. In February, we begin seeding leeks and onions. By March, our seedling production begins in earnest. Our “off time” can often feel full of bustling community activity.

But when I return to the farm on a snowy day and stand on the land, I am called back to stillness. The true value of this time is the pause that calms the churning drive for productivity. Our North American culture prides itself in achievement and growth. These are not necessarily bad things. But pursued without balance, the relentless work culture can be soul-crushing. I take in a breath of cold winter air. The land speaks through its muted colours: Hold up. Stand still for once. Breathe in the fullness of all that’s been given in the past season – all that nourishment, hard work and collaboration. Hold that for a while, in rest, before you begin again.

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