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evangelistST. JOHN’S ANGLICAN CHURCH PARISH NEWSLETTER

autumn 2014

Gordon & Adele Finney Say GoodbyeKatharine Hooke

In the 16 years that Gordon Finney has been the incum-bent of St. John’s in Peterborough we have been privi-leged  to become his flock as he has taken on several min-istries, not only within the church, but also in the broader community whose needs are serious.

Gordon also cares deeply about our natural landscape, not only its beauty but its necessity for the lives of all God’s creatures great and small. Often in his homilies he helps to draw us closer to our Biblical inheritance.

Gordon grew up in rural Appalachian country in upper New York state near the banks of the Genesee River. Roll-ing fertile farm lands of Amish settlers were part of his childhood landscape.

Gordon and his four brothers enjoyed the out of doors and for years travelled the country by motorcycle.

St John’s parishioners may remember seeing their priest arrive at church professionally attired in proper motor-cycling gear.  Gordon no longer rides a bike but his new snappy little red roadster is a real delight.

He grew up in a devout Wesleyan family. His father held a PhD in music theory and was head of the Fine Arts

department at Houghton College. A few years ago the Houghton choir came to St. John’s while on tour.

In 1972 Gordon concluded his college studies at Hough-ton on a scholarship studying English and Philosophy and receiving a BA Cum Laude.

His postgraduate studies were at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1972-74 and The University of Toronto in 1975 receiving an M.A. in English. In 1972 he married Adele Durkee who was studying English and Psychol-ogy. After graduating, they both joined a theatre company in Toronto.

The next step was Wycliffe College where Gordon re-ceived an M.Div. in 1978. He organized a choir and won prizes in church history and pastoral theology.

He was ordained deacon in 1978 and priest in 1979. He followed the usual route with a curacy at St. Paul’s Bloor Street and a country three-point parish in Elmvale from 1980 to 1982.

As a significant break in his postings, Gordon was offered a lectureship in Malaysia from 1982 to 1987 in pastoral theology and Old Testament. With two young daughters under five it was a fruitful and inspiring challenge as they learned new languages and day-to-day living. Gordon was also Dean of Students.

Back in Canada Gordon became Rector of an old down-town Toronto church, St. Peter’s on Carlton Street. Once an area of fine old houses and wealthy establishments of the late 1890s and early 1900s, this was now a depressed area of impoverished people and crowded living condi-tions. Gordon was involved in more than a dozen agen-cies and relief organizations.

Over their 11 years at St. Peter’s Gordon and Adele brought about many changes both in the church and their own house, the old rectory.

Special Service at St. John’sArchbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of The Anglican Church of Canada, will be preaching and celebrating at the 10 AM service here at St. John’s on November 2, 2014.

Archbishop Hiltz will be here as a part of a national gathering of The Primate’s World Relief and Develop-ment Fund (PWRDF) diocesan representatives (October 31—November 2).  Representing each of the 30 dioceses of The Anglican Church of Canada, the diocesan repre-

sentatives are meeting this year in Peterborough. They will be joined by PWRDF staff and board members.

Adele Finney is the Executive Director of PWRDF, and the Reverend Miriam Stroud is our PWRDF parish rep-resentative. The Diocesan Representative for Toronto is Jenny Formanek who worships at St. James Cathedral. The Reverend Geoff Howson of All Saints Peterborough is on the board of PWRDF.

The purpose of the gathering is so representatives can get to know each other and share stories from each diocese about what works in encouraging Canadian Anglicans to pray, act and give on behalf of PWRDF and its Canadian and global partners. It is also a time to become more famil-iar with PWRDF projects and policies.

PWRDF has projects in 26 countries that include support for Sri Lankan refugees, microfinance in Mozambique and a variety of maternal, newborn and child health projects in Bangladesh, South Africa and Tanzania. PWRDF work fo-cuses in the three areas of food security, preventive health and microfinance.

Food security will be a prominent theme at the conference and that is partly why Peterborough and St. John’s have been chosen. The Reverend Christian Harvey coordinates the food box program here as well as leading cooking classes for youth, some of whom are at risk.  St. John’s is the venue for “Come cook with us”, a program of the Health Unit that teaches how to cook delicious affordable meals. The Lighthouse Community Centre also provides job training for cooks who have gone on to find work in local restaurant kitchens.  The Lighthouse itself has a large number of St. John’s volunteers and is an outgrowth of our Saturday lunch program, providing meals for about 120 people daily. The Peterborough Food Network which seeks to coordinate food programs in the city also meets at St. John’s, under the direction of Medical Officer of Health  Dr. Rosana Pellizzari.

The conference will hear more about the “Fred Says” cam-paign, a three-year campaign that seeks to raise awareness and funding in churches for food security programming. Participants will also preview a new food security resource called “Sharing Bread”.

On Saturday night, November 1, there will be a public meeting with a special guest from the Philippines, Geral-dine (Gigi) Labradores, for those who want to learn more about PWRDF and food security.

In looking back, Gordon notes that three areas of ministry have been important for him: teaching, liturgy, and social justice issues, primarily around food security and afford-able housing.

As the churches look beyond their enclosures to the com-munity at large the latter becomes the soul of the parish, as Gordon so deeply endorses. He is proud of the several parishioners who have offered themselves for ordained ministry while at St. John’s.

The Renewing Spirit, a capital campaign that ran between 2007-2010 to raise money for capital improvements, was an outstanding success. The Saturday Lunch, which wel-comed people from the street into St.John’s, changed the nature of the parish in a profound way. The Lighthouse, its replacement, has provided an opportunity for parish volunteers to participate in a tutoring program. Both Taizé services and the new Open Circle provide alterna-tive forms of worship that have enhanced the parish.

Likewise Gordon has nurtured many ideas and brought them to fruition. The parish wishes him and Adele and family God’s blessings in their third act of life.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz

Financial Update to September 30, 2014Walter Howell, Rector’s Warden

Category Actual Budget % General giving $167,424 $243,000 69.0Land, etc. 109,243 147,000 74.0Interest 23,825 32,500 73.0Total revenue 348,648 495,000 70.0Staff costs 219,749 302,000 73.0Total expenses 370,824 495,000 75.0Actual year completion 9 months 75.0

ALCC Joint ServiceThe covenant amongst Peterborough’s four Anglican parishes along with Christ Lutheran became more real on Sept.21 when nearly 300 people from all five parishes braved heavy rain to attend a joint service at All Saints Parish.

Clergy from all the parishes took part in the service. But the unity envisaged in the covenant was lived out in other ways. As the service began, Archdeacon Gordon Finney invited everyone to greet someone they didn’t know, and soon the church was buzzing with conversation. And as the service ended, most worshippers gathered in the All Saints parish hall for lunch, offering another opportunity to meet people from other parishes.

Another highlight of the service was an account of the biblical story as told in dramatic fashion though a team of biblical storytellers from St. Barnabas, which included both clergy and laypeople.

The covenant was launched in 2012 through an invitation by Bishop Linda Nicholls to explore ways in which local Anglicans could work more effectively together, and find creative ways to face up to the challenges posed by de-clining congregations and financial stresses. Since then, a number of joint activities have been launched, including a Covenant Choir with members from all the parishes, wor-ship and Bible study, as well as combined building main-tenance efforts leading to cost savings.

The covenant involves all four local Anglican parishes - All Saints, St. Barnabas, St. Luke’s and St. John’s- along with Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, which have pledged to work together.  Already a number of things have been done to advance the covenant’s vision of start-ing new and renewed ministries to serve the local commu-nity. These include meetings of clergy involving prayer and discussion, a study group on the Psalms which rotated from church to church, the exploration of a refugee fam-ily sponsorship, including members from St John’s, and combined worship services.

Parishes are also saving money through the covenant, as they combine efforts on practical matters such as ground-skeeping and the inspection of church buildings. 

Blessing of the AnimalsOn October 5, 2014, a blessing of the animals service was held at St. John’s.  Presiding over the service were, Rev. Geoff Howson, Rev. Mary Bell-Plouffe, and Rev. Scott Schellenberger.

Below are some pictures from that service.

Across        4. One of the season’s tasks 7. Flowers do this in autumn 10. Autumn is the season for this fruit 11. A bright colour shining on doorsteps 12. These turn in October 14. Farmers do this 16. Can be found in the morning, sometimes 18. Autumn leaves do this        21. Autumn skies, often 22. This can be caught 23. Helps with the leaves 24. There is a great deal of this in fall

Down 1. It is hoped for a harvest 2. Of both apples and weather 3. These wrap you in warmth 5. Many small towns have one in autumn 6. A weather characteristic, often 8. Once of twice a year 9. A sweet event 13. A type of leaf colour 15. Occurs before the harvest 16. Autumn mornings, sometimes 17. Lots of leftovers 19. A new beginning in fall 20. Grown among the corn

Autumn in CanadaSolution at http://stjohnspeterborough.ca