Area Day was a day of blessing upon each of us from Ascension that were there. We really did discover more about God’s amazing Kingdom and we experienced new depths of living together as God’s faithful people in His kingdom day by day.
On Sat. April 13/13 ten people from Ascension travelled to St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Coburg to attend Trent Durham Area Day. This is an annual event that’s a great opportunity to study, worship and re-connect with other Anglicans in our area.
St. Peter’s is a lovely old church, with a beautiful worship space. The great thing about it is that it’s HUGE, with plenty of room for the (approximately) 300 people who attended Area Day, and lots of little rooms that were used for the workshops.
This is a wooden cross that was in the hallway near a bulletin board. It looks very similar to the wooden cross we use on the Good Friday Walk in Port Perry, although I think this one might have been just a bit taller than ours. Nearby in the same hallway, St. Thomas Millbrook had set up a book table with lots of interesting books for sale. (St Thomas’ has recently set up a book store and reading room on the main street in Millbrook as an outreach program to the community.)
Upon arrival, we were directed into this big hall to register. The Theme of the day was Hidden Treasure: Discovering God’s Kingdom.
As soon as we received our name tags and registration package, we were offered coffee and goodies.
Rev. John meets up with old friends.
Bev looks over the registration package.
There were 14 different workshops available, with time alloted for each person to attend two workshops. Some examples of workshops are: Justice Camp, The Church as a Praying Community, Godly Play, and The Church Welcomes Everyone. Here, Rev. John and Jan discuss what workshops they’ve signed up for.
Dr Sylvia Keesmat presented a session to everyone in the morning. It was called A Romp Through The Bible. Dr. Sylvia used a series of 13 hand-drawn pictures to take us on an amazing journey through the Bible. Dr Sylvia led a small workshop at Ascension a couple of years ago. That’s when I discovered what an awesome Bible teacher she is. At Area Day, her awesomeness was confirmed yet again. She has a way of bringing the Bible to life that stirs enthusiasm for it in her listeners and makes you want to grab your Bible and start reading!
An interesting way that the schedule for the day was laid out:
We started the day with the beginning of the Communion service. At the point in the service where the sermon would usually take place, we heard from Dr Sylvia (our plenary session) Then we went to our first workshop, followed by lunch, and then our second workshop. At the conclusion of the day, we gathered again in the sanctuary and picked up the Communion service right where we had left off in the morning. This, they told us, was done so that our whole day became a day of worship. Pretty cool, eh? I wonder how we could orchestrate our day at home to reflect it being a whole day of worship without end….
The band was called Wine Before Breakfast. They got there name from the fact that they play on Tuesday mornings at Wycliffe at a Communion service held before breakfast.
Rev. Gary, former incumbent at Ascension, chats up the band.
Kids had their own separate program throughout the day. Here, the kids came up to the front during the closing (part of the ) Eucharist and showed us the treasure boxes they had made to remind them of the parable The Pearl of Great Price.
During the closing Eucharist, Bishop Linda was asked if she would bless the Anglican Rosaries for those participants who had attended the Anglican Rosary workshop. Bishop Linda graciously prayed, asking God to use the Rosaries to draw us closer to the heart of God, and to transform us.