St. Albans
Spirit-Led. Christ-Centred. Contemporary Urban Church
“Cure the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse the lepers. Cast out demons.”
There’s been a lot of talk this week about reopening churches. The provincial government made an announcement allowing churches to reopen with reduced capacity. Our Anglican bishops in Ontario sent us a pastoral letter advising that “our churches will not be reopening for in-person worship until at least September.”
All of which kind of begs the question: what is the church?
“Whenever I hear Paul’s speech to the people of Athens, I always think about fish. . .
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
What does it mean to have abundant life, and how do we get there?
Well that’s the million dollar question isn’t it? How can I be happy? What does it mean for human beings to flourish? How can we have greater well-being, more life satisfaction, what does it mean to live better, to live more fully? Abundance encompasses all of these notions about what it means to live a good life. It’s bigger than just happiness. One way or another, it’s what all of us want. And it’s also what our faith is all about. Two weeks ago, we read that John concludes his gospel by telling us that whole point of writing it was so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that through believing you may have life. Abundant life. Life to its fullest. This stuff that we’re doing together is meant to be life-giving.
So what is abundant life, and how do we get there?
She’s a student intern helping with St. Albans Young Adult group. She sits on parish council and sometimes sings on Sunday mornings. Juliana Colwell is as involved at St. Albans as you can get.
Juliana found the church through Open Table, a free monthly meal at St. Albans for students hosted by various churches. She was church-shopping at the time, trying out a few different churches in Ottawa but decided to give St. Albans a try one Sunday morning and continued going ever since.
She said she was intrigued by the young adult focus and the large number of students at the Sunday services. Now it’s come full circle as Juliana is the Young Adults group intern where she helps run the Tuesday night discussions on “the questions you can’t ask in church.” These topics have included free will, the concepts of heaven and hell, the importance of silence and how to spread faith without being an asshole. But Juliana said she wants to ensure it’s a group that extends past the weekly meetings.
Meganne Woronchak, a classical pianist all her life, walked into a St. Albans band practice rocking out to Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee and said she felt a bit overwhelmed. She was impressed with the loudness and the progressive sound of the guitars, something she’d never experienced before.
“I was somehow drawn to it,” she said. Since that practice in July 2014, she’s been part of the band. And now she said “they make fun of me and say, not many people come on their first week and just never leave!”
