Season of Creation

Friday 20th September, 2024 

Call to Prayer for the 38th Session of Provincial Synod of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and

walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6.16

Dear people of God,

Your prayers are requested for our Provincial Synod gathering which will take place in Sault Ste. Marie from September 24th - 26th. The theme is “Conversations at the Crossroads” because we see ourselves at an important moment in our life as church. 

Bishops and delegates from the seven dioceses in Ontario - Algoma, Huron, Ontario, Moosonee, Niagara, Ottawa, and Toronto will be in attendance, along with our National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop, and several guests including the Executive Directors of the Anglican Foundation of Canada and Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund. We are also welcoming the chair of the Primate’s Commission and engaging in thoughtful discussion on work being undertaken in the National Church which affects us all. 

 The Synod will be joined by the Most Reverend and Rt. Hon. Stephen Cottrell who will serve as keynote speaker. Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York, who, beyond his responsibilities as Archbishop of the Northern Province of the United Kingdom in the Church of England, is a noted commentator, author, speaker and evangelist. He has a deep interest in engagement with the media and culture which the church is called to serve. He would be most familiar as one of the faces of the bishops who assisted at the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II and at the Coronation of King Charles III.

Delegates will hear stories of ministry from across the Ecclesiastical Province and from around the world with particular focus on Vocations and the Formation of Priests as the church discerns a vision and way forward for future ministry in its dioceses and parishes. In the Anglican Church, Synods also attend to regular matters of church governance, finances and necessary constitutional changes. Elections will also be held for the positions of Metropolitan and Prolocutor.

Following the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canda (TRC) in 2015, Anglicans have sought ways to continue the process of truth-telling and healing that began with the TRC. Delegates of the Synod, wearing orange tshirts, will visit Shingwauk Residential School site at Algoma University, now a national historic building that was built by the children and teachers of former Shingwauk Residential School. Delegates will also spend time at the newly constructed Anishinabek Discovery Centre designed to support Shingwauk Kinomaage Gamig, the Indigenous led institute which one day will serve as a repository for Indigenous information, research and scholarship.

A Synod prayer has been prepared  for the 38th Session of Synod and will be prayed by delegates throughout our gathering. It would be appropriate for this prayer to be used in your parishes on Sunday 21st, September.  We pray for travelling mercies for all delegates and that we will all “perceive what is right, have courage to pursue it, and grace to accomplish it.”

Great Spirit, ancient of days yet ever new,

you are the bringer of new life;

the disturber of old paths.

You bear our sorrows, fuel our joy, and inspire us by your promises.

Be with us in ‘Baawaating,’ The Place of the Rapids,

as we take counsel together

for the mission of your church in our Province.

Be our centre as we stand at the crossroads with eagerness and hope.

Guide us along the good way.

Strengthen our resolve to embrace without fear

the birth pangs of the new age,

and give us courage to persevere in speaking

your word of life that overcomes death.

We ask this in the power and name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yours in the joy of Christ,

+Anne