Heidi Jury

May we support each other as women and as leaders of our communities. May we find inspiration from the stories of others who have gone before to find new strength in these challenging times. And may we, during this Season of Creation, and this season of hurricanes, work together to help each other and our planet. https://www.linkedin.com//sixteenth-week-after-pentecost-h

St Peter's has waited anxiously as the NS and PEI Anglican Diocese elects a new Bishop, a leader who will face great challenges in these times of many and complex decisions. We wait with prayer for the new direction that our bishop elect, the Reverend Sandra Fyfe, will provide us with. May we find new ways of working together to make the world as safe as possible for our children, the hope of our future. May we find new strength to support each other through this prolonged period of crisis that is a global pandemic. And may we find ways to take this collective pain and renewed global collaboration and transform it into a new shared focus on caring for creation. https://www.linkedin.com//fifteenth-sunday-after-pentecost

This Sunday is the first official Sunday of The Season of Creation, the month-long celebration of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians coming together to care for our common home - Mother Earth. This Sunday also falls on Labour Day weekend. This year, 2020 - after the first complete lockdown of humanity and the corresponding economic crisis that has resulted - has revealed many labour inequalities in our society. Women especially have been negatively affected in multiple ways -... they are the most likely to hold service jobs and subsequently let go during the COVID crisis - the most likely to be the victims of the rise in domestic abuse - and most likely to be the caregivers that shouldered much of the care for the children when daycares were shut down. During this Season of Creation and on this Labour Day, may we remember those who are the most challenged in this time of global crisis, especially women, those who live in poverty, and all newcomers to our country. May we take action in making the world a fair and just place for each precious soul. And, may we be willing to take all steps, large and small, to help Mother Earth heal and prosper. https://www.linkedin.com//fourteenth-sunday-after-pentecos

As I am on vacation from St Peter's to rest up and prepare for the busiest time of the year, I have had some time to myself for meditation, contemplation, and study. This Thirteenth Sunday is the last before we begin The Season of Creation. We celebrate the ecumenical Season of Creation from September 1 until October 4. May we all be safe as we experience the power of Nature - in hurricane, wildfire, and the tiny virus COVID-19 whose power to kill has changed countless lives around the world. May we work with all people who seem different from us so that we can find alternatives to behaviors that harm Nature. And May we find peace and contentment in enough instead of the most so that all beings may have a chance to live. https://www.linkedin.com//thirteenth-sunday-after-pentecos

We return to St Peter's on this Sunday with the weather cooler, the goldenrod blooming and the crickets singing. All signs that fall is drawing closer. We have only a few weeks left until a return to school and university and preparations for a new school year. It is fitting then that we read about Purpose in our readings for this Sunday. In our first reading, we read about the birth of Moses, the leader that would lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. In the gospel we re...ad about Peter, the apostle that recognized that Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus recognized Peter as the new Moses, the new leader to lead the church out of their adversity into a new Kingdom of God. May we wait in patience as we wait for new beginnings. May our faith be renewed as we face new challenges. And may we journey on wherever the next step may lead with courage and compassion. Amen. https://www.linkedin.com//twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost-h

This Sunday we return to St Peter's in live worship. What fascinates me is that we also still have online worship. This blended worship of both live and recorded worship so that it can be online is our new "normal". It is this new ability to reach out to those that cannot attend our live service that I am filled with gratitude for - a ministry that we would not have considered essential until COVID-19 changed all of our habits so effectively. In this Sunday's gospel read...ing we read about a mother who pleaded on behalf of her daughter regardless of the fact that they were outsiders - Canaanites - who wouldn't have expected to have their needs met. This advocacy is what we are called to in our society in these times - when so many inequalities are being re-examined through new eyes. COVID-19 has opened our eyes to the vulnerabilities of the poor, the homeless, immigrants, and all parents who need childcare in order to make a living. May we deeply consider how we can provide for the needs of all in our world. And may we be fearless in taking action to create The Kingdom of God - giving birth to a refreshed vision of Family - where compassion, courage, and creativity can lead us to a new reality. Amen. https://www.linkedin.com//eleventh-sunday-after-pentecost/

This Sunday we will return to St Peter's live worship for the second time since COVID-19 spread through our little province of Nova Scotia back in March. I am looking forward to this 2nd time as I know what to expect and can visualize in my head where I will be singing and playing and what is expected. It was wonderful to meet last week - an enormous relief - but also a very steep learning curve of all of the new habits required! This Sunday we once again await transformation..., we seek an experience with Jesus, the Son of God. The One whose hand will lift us from our fear to faith, the One who will raise us up from the depths of the ocean to soar in the sky....Like Jesus lifted Peter to be more than he thought he could be, Jesus' love can always lift us to new capabilities and new horizons.... "You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains, You raise me up to walk on stormy seas, I am strong when I am on your shoulders, You raise me up to more than I can be" https://www.linkedin.com//tenth-sunday-after-pentecost-hei

We return to St Peter's as a congregation this Natal Day Weekend. A new birth for us after many weeks of staying at home. A bittersweet time as many changes have happened and will continue to happen as our community deals with the ongoing global pandemic that is COVID-19. This Sunday's service will only have 3 hymns that will all be sung by this humble Music Director. The congregation will be asked to hum along behind the non-medical masks that are now mandatory in all public... places. As St Peter's has always been a congregation that enthusiastically sang along with the choir this will be a significant change. However, this Sunday, we will all make a joyful noise unto the Lord with sounds of trumpet and er.....vibrating mask fibres! May this Natal Day and new return to St Peter's be a new birth for our community. May this worship re-inspire all of us to begin again; may it help us to remember what is most important; and may it help us find the courage to go and do it. Amen. https://www.linkedin.com//natal-day-ninth-sunday-after-pen

This Sunday is our last before our return to St Peter's next week. It is an ending as well as a new beginning. An ending to Sundays worshipping from home. We return to church almost as a harvest like the world in full harvest mode around us. After all of our precautions and preparations we will finally be able to join together.... We hear about another harvest in the Gospel reading this week. The parable of the mustard seed. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that ...someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." Its a one sentence parable, followed by other one sentence parables. The brevity does not compromise the wisdom; sometimes we under estimate something when it is small - yet it may later turn out to be very powerful.... https://www.linkedin.com//eighth-sunday-after-pentecost-h/

Today is the Seventh Sunday After Pentecost. It is the time when our Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia is in harvest mode. Everywhere you turn, you find the results of winter planning and spring planting. In our garden this week, we managed to harvest some of our cherries from our cherry tree before the raccoon and the grackles and blue jays got their share. It felt like quite a triumph! We read in the gospel about another planting - the planting of the seeds and the weeds. The... parable is about the Kingdom secretly alive in the world - surrounded by evil and chaos - still Life and Love lives on. Not as an all powerful Kingdom with armies and warriors. But a secret Kingdom with the type of power of a blade of grass that still courageously grows through concrete. In the end there will be separation. But here on earth, the seeds and the weeds grow together..... https://www.linkedin.com//seventh-sunday-after-pentecost-h

In the Gospel this week we hear the familiar parable of the sower and the seed. As I was raised in the big city, this story of The Kingdom of God told through the lens of a farmer was never one I could imagine myself into. However, I always thought of my grandfather when I heard it as Grandpa was a farmer. Grandpa insisted that my mother get an education and become a teacher so that she wouldn't have to face all of the painful uncertainty of farming. Grandpa knew all too ...well from personal experience that all of the hard work that had to go into farming didn't come with guarantees. All of the harvest could be wiped out by drought, pests, or even one hail storm! Not much different from farming, working with people, like we are called to do in order to build the Kingdom of Heaven, is work that comes with great uncertainty. Regardless of what happens, our efforts on behalf of others is still the most meaningful work that can be found. And the mission that we are called to even now. In the midst of COVID-19 and economic uncertainty, we are once again this week called to the most important work of all - helping people....May it Be! https://www.linkedin.com//sixth-sunday-after-pentecost-hei

This Fifth Sunday After Pentecost is the first Sunday of July and the day after Canada Day and Independence Day in the U.S. Summer is the time of easy hymns at church, when I try to play sing-along hymn favorites that even visitors to the church can sing with us. It is the time of the year when I spend more time in my garden and less time at music or study or work of any kind. May these hymns offer a time of "rest" that Jesus mentions in the gospel. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." https://www.linkedin.com//fifth-sunday-after-pentecost-hei

This Sunday we would usually be at St Peter's celebrating our patronal festival on this last weekend of June. Even though the province of Nova Scotia has lifted the majority of restrictions for church gatherings, our parish needs time time to come up with procedures to keep our congregation safe due to COVID-19. So this will be the first year that we celebrate our patronal festival from afar. The ancient feast of St Peter and St Paul celebrate these early founders and sai...nts that were martyred for their faith. St Peter was the primary apostle to the Jews while St Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, but both of them served key roles in the establishment of the Church. And both of them served a very similar fate to the teacher that they honored. According to tradition, Peter was martyred under Nero, the emperor who reputedly burned Christians as torches at garden parties. One of the early Fathers of the Church, Jerome, wrote that Peter was crucified upside down, "being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high" as he did not feel worthy being crucified in the same manner as his Lord Jesus Christ. https://www.linkedin.com//patronal-feast-st-peter-paul-hei

As the National Indigenous Day of Prayer falls at this time of Summer Solstice, and also falls on Sunday, it is the Feast of Precedence this year. This Sunday we also celebrate Father's Day, on the 3rd Sunday of June. In preparation for this celebration of National Indigenous Day of Prayer, I have been grateful for the Community Sector Council of Nova Scotia's Decolonization Learning Journey. The most recent episode has featured an elder from Cape Breton University that I h...ave studied with before, a professor named Stephen Augustine. I could listen to Stephen Augustine talk about indigenous history all day and in these times when our country struggles with systemic racism, I believe it is crucial to keep learning about our past. Stephen Augustine's stories, including the story of Membertou's generosity to the people at Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1605, help me realize how just how close to home this history is. "This is My Father's World" is the closing hymn this week as I had a request for this hymn for Father's Day. Father's Day is a time of gathering with family, possibly in a restaurant or around the barbeque. I am so grateful that this is actually possible in Nova Scotia after 100 days of isolation; the bubble has finally been "burst" and 10 people can gather without physical distancing. For the Gradual hymn I have chosen "Of the Father's Love Begotten" - one of Anne Ward's favorite hymns. Anne was a special presence at St Peter's, the heart of St Peter's, and she passed away this week after a long struggle with Multiple Sclerosis. Her light and love will be deeply missed. https://www.linkedin.com//national-indigenous-day-prayer-f

Corpus Christi is another liturgy held on a Thursday that can be celebrated on the following Sunday, similar to last month's Feast of the Ascension. The celebration of Corpus Christi was established in the Middle Ages to be held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Because the focus is The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, it parallels Maundy Thursday when Jesus met with his disciples, gave thanks, and instituted The Last Supper; the Eucharist. This Sunday is the Sunday wh...en the Feast of Corpus Christi may be commemorated in the Anglican church although the Second Sunday of Pentecost may also be celebrated. If Corpus Christi is celebrated, then the liturgical color is White. If the 2nd Sunday of Pentecost is celebrated, then the liturgical color is Green. There are a variety of eucharistic theologies in the Anglican church. There are various ways of administering the elements. Not every Sunday is a Communion Sunday in every Anglican Sunday - some parishes may only celebrate the Eucharist monthly and hold a Morning Prayer Service on every other Sunday morning. However the Eucharist may be celebrated in each parish church though, it is always a very important rite in Anglican liturgy. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/corpus-christi-heidi-jury-

In the Anglican tradition, Trinity Sunday is a Principal Feast Day in the company of Christmas, Easter, and the less well known feasts of All Saints, Epiphany, and Ascension Day. Trinity Sunday is celebrated with the liturgical White which is the color of the Holy Trinity and signifies glory, light, and purity. The history of the liturgy celebrating The Holy Trinity goes back many years and we know that it was officially celebrated throughout much of England after Thomas Beck...ett declared it officially in 1162. The day that he chose for the celebration of the Holy Trinity was the Sunday after Pentecost when he was consecrated as the Archbishop of Canterbury. One of the Northumbrian Community's prayers sums up the doctrine of the Trinity as imagined in Celtic Christianity - ‘God is Father, Son and Spirit. Therefore God is Three in One. Therefore God is Community. If we are made in the image of God, Then we will find our fulfilment in Community (in relationships of love).’ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trinity-sunday-heidi-jury-

Happy Pentecost Sunday! In this inspirational message, I speak about the need for the peace and love of the Holy Spirit in diversity. Something we always need, but especially in these times of global crisis.... To read the transcription and hear the hymns we would have sung if we were gathered at St Peter's, click on the link below: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pentecost-heidi-jury-

This Sunday, we celebrate Ascension, on the 7th Sunday of Easter. We choose to celebrate this important feast on Sunday as Ascension is also celebrated on the preceding Thursday - 40 days after Easter. Ascension Day is really Ascension Week - the Rogation Days would have been celebrated on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then Ascension on Thursday. Ascension is a Feast that celebrates Christ's Glory as King. The liturgical colors for the Ascension are white or Gold to ...symbolize the purity and majesty of Christ after a period of preparation and prayer during the Rogation Days. Ascension precedes Pentecost, "Pente" meaning 50 days after Passover and we look forward to this Birthday of the Church next Sunday. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ascension-heidi-jury-

Thinking of Margaret Simmonds' family this week....funerals are even harder without being able to gather to grieve together....hoping this music brings comfort..... https://livestream.com//21/events/9129429/videos/206089540

Already, we find ourselves at the Fifth Sunday of Easter, and with the return of Easter the earth returns to new life with new buds on the trees. Even though we expect new life today, shades of winter remain with the snow all night. This Sunday is also Mother's Day. A special day of love for some but for many also a hard day - for those that have lost children, for those that have lost mothers, for those whose relationships with their mothers are strained.... Our modern conc...ept of Mother's Day was originally an American celebration first held in 1908 in St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Virginia, at the request of Anna Jarvis to commemorate her own mother. Her mother had been a peace activist that helped both sides during the American Civil War. Anna Jarvis wished to celebrate her mother and all mothers as they are the ones "who have done more for you than anyone in the world." https://www.linkedin.com//fifth-sunday-easter-mothers-day-