St. Stephen’s Stories, November 2025

This month, members of Presbytery are gathering at Galilee Retreat Centre in
Arnprior for prayer, learning, and connection with one another. We began these
retreats in 2023 as a way for members to grow closer together as siblings who
follow Jesus. This year, our speaker is Mark Glanville from St. Andrew’s Hall in
Vancouver, and we are reading his book, Improvising Church: Scripture as the
Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul.

In the book, Mark compares our congregational lives to that of jazz music. I love
the way he introduces his book and his choice to include 12 “notes” of faithful
incarnational communities (like the 12 notes in an octave on a piano): “they are my
effort to discern and describe what God is already birthing in real, lived,
incarnational communities…. I have tried to unpack them in a way that is open and
nonprescriptive. Scripture has inspired the imagination of the communities of
which I have been a part, and I want Scripture itself to inspire your imagination” (p.
5). Madilyn is in a jazz band at school, and I have learned that every time they
perform a song, it is different. While the chords and general melody are consistent,
the way they play with the harmonies and rhythms changes every time.

Perhaps this is a helpful way to understand our various church communities. The
chords of God’s goodness, of Jesus’s teaching and sacrifice, of the resurrection
and the presence of the Holy Spirit are present in all of God’s communities of
people. But the harmonies and rhythms of each of our individual congregations is
unique based on our neighbourhood, the gifts found within our people, and a
whole host of other factors.

It can be tempting sometimes to look at other churches and want what they have.
But the truth is that God didn’t give us those gifts. God gave us different gifts. And
so we are invited to use those gifts in our own way, always to God’s glory, but
never quite the same any anyone else.

November will be another fun month at St. Stephen’s! We have Padre In Seob
Won coming to lead us for Remembrance Day! Our art workshop is that same
day in the afternoon of November 9th. Our budget meeting will be November 16 (and I
know you all love budget Sunday!). And then before you know it, the
first Sunday of advent is November 30. I hope to see you soon!

Blessings,

Meg

A Song from my Playlist:

In honour of Improvising Church, I listened to part of a contemporary jazz mass, which includes this lovely version of The Lord’s Prayer arranged by James Tatum and sung by Ursula Walker.

Click below to listen: