On Sunday morning many parishioners of St. Geroge's Lowville gathered together with a large number of Anglicans from other parishes to celebrate the Eucharist. Bishop Michael Bird presided, assisted by parish Administrator The Rev. Susan Wells.

Bishop Bird asked that this not be considered a protest or a statement. He indicated that what were doing here is what is always done here - celebrating the Eucharist and witnessing to the presence of Christ among us.

The church was packed with standing room only.

Following the service, other members of St. George's who have voted to leave the Diocese of Niagara and the Anglican Church of Canada were allowed to have a service at 10:30 presided over by the former rector of St. Georges, The Rev. Charles Masters.

Similar arrangements were made for St. Hilda's parish in Oakville. Admistrator, The Rev. Canon Dr. Brian Ruttan presided at the 9 am service, followed by a service presided over by former rector, The Rev. Paul Charbonneau.

We continue to pray for unity within our church and for fidelity to the mission of our Diocese and National Church, to a world around us that so desperately needs to hear by word and example, the Good News of Christ, risen and alive among us.

Eucharist at St George Lowville

Below is the text of the Bishop's homily at St. George's on this occasion:

LENT 3
February 24, 2008
St. George’s Church, Lowville

As I mentioned in my opening remarks it is a great pleasure and privilege to be here with you today, to join with you in this service of worship and to share in the sacrament of Holy Communion; a sign of our partnership, our shared fellowship in our Diocesan family and more importantly our common membership in the body of Christ.

The Gospel reading this morning that we hear in John’s Gospel provides us with the account of Jesus encounter with the Samaritan women who comes to draw water from Jacob’s well and in the process we find the longest-recorded conversation that Jesus has with any one individual in the scriptures.

In the ancient world, the provision of clean, safe water was a daily issue for survival and so the image and the reference to water in our scripture readings this morning would have held special meaning for the people of Jesus day. In fact that well and the water it provided held the key to life and death. But what I think is even more important for us this morning is the encounter that happens in the course of seeking out this life giving source of water.

It was most often the women of the village who were required to make the long journey to the well each day, usually early in the morning, to get the daily supply of water for the family. Jesus, exhausted from his journey, is sitting by the well alone in the noonday sun. For this Samaritan woman; not the most popular person in her village, this would be a good time to fetch water, since the others would have been there earlier in the day and there was less chance to be confronted by their disdainful stares and gossip that she was so often faced with.

As she approaches to draw her water, our Lord surprises the women by asking her to give him a drink. It is an astonishing request for several reasons: the Jews of Jesus day would have nothing to do with a Samaritan for they were considered heretical and unclean, and besides this men and women in both their societies did not speak to each other in public.

And yet in this gospel reading we have Jesus’ reaching out in love, engaging in dialogue, in this longest of all his recorded conversations. On many counts it seems extraordinary that that encounter should have ever taken place at all: a man and a woman in public; a Jew and a Samaritan; one weighed down by a life of weakness, hopelessness and great challenge, and the other, our Lord, reaching out a hand of compassion and offering living water that springs forth abundant and eternal life.

In the letter that I had hope to have read in this church last Sunday I said the following: “Those of us who have committed our lives to following in the footsteps of Jesus must keep before us the overriding mission of our Lord`s life and work that, above all else, called people into relationship with each other as a sign of the unconditional love of God that is at the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.” In fact he went so far as to call it his new commandment: To love one another as I have loved you.”

This Samaritan woman was not someone who he was in total agreement with or someone with whom he had all things in common, nothing could be further from the truth. But his understanding of his work and his mission would not allow him to turn his back and walk away. For that is one of the great gifts that Anglicanism has given to the Christian Church over the centuries; that our love for each other and our desire to remain in communion with each other in response to this great commandment, has allowed us to celebrate and benefit from the theological diversity that exists across our Church. I believe that our Anglican Church family is an awesome witness to power of God’s love in our midst and a glorious example of the capacity for the gospel message to change the world. My friends, I believe that with all my heart.

In the Old Testament lesson the people of Israel are well into their journey in the wilderness and it is now clear that their passage will be anything but smooth and uneventful. It is a journey fraught with challenge and uncertainty and they react very much in the way that we so often act when our path in life takes a difficult turn or when we enter those desert periods. We read that their fears and their anger and bitterness made them lose perspective on what was important in their life; they lost sight of the mission that God had placed before.

In both scripture passages we see people who have come to a crossroads and they are faced with the challenge of going forward in faith, that are called upon to summon up the courage that is necessary to stay the course that leads to liberation and peace. And in our own lives we too face these same crossroad experiences, moments when the path ahead is uncertain and I believe that we have reached just such a moment in the life of this congregation and in the life of our Diocese.

In this season of Lent we are reminded that into these crossroad and turning point experiences in our life God offers us the promise of living water. Just as Moses took the same staff that he had used at the beginning of their journey and cast it down into the solid rock at Horeb to bring forth the water that would sustain them as they moved forward, we too are given all that we need to sustain us and to carry on. This morning, I believe that that living water flows through this congregation, through our Diocesan family and brings us strength and hope and the inspiration necessary to move forward together.

May we be inspired by the actions of the Samaritan women at the well who accepted the invitation of Jesus, to taste of that living water. Like her may we become witnesses to the power of that divine gift that we first encountered in the water of our baptism. To those members of St. George’s Church that have chosen to walk with us on that journey, I offer you the heartfelt love and deep appreciation of people across our Diocese and I rejoice in the knowledge that you will continue to play an important role in the mission that we will share in together for many years to come. Thanks be to God, AMEN.