​On Sunday, March 9, St. John’s had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Michelle Boyd’s Acadia Singers. Their voices augmented our worship and the upper voice ensemble joined ranks with our parish choir to bring our liturgy a different sound.

The Acadia Singers offered Sicut Cervus (Giovanni Palestrina) and Deep River (Shawn Okpebholo) during our Service of the Word. Both of these pieces have a history of proclaiming the faith of Christians in drastically different times.

The Acadia Singers added their voices with the parish choristers in the final piece, Benediction by Franz Schubert from his German Mass.
​
We thank Dr. Boyd for this gift. Our parish is grateful for the connection with Acadia Music!

Students in our university town are often looking for quiet spaces to study, especially as they prepare for exams. For the third exam period in a row, St. John’s responded by hosting a Pop-up Study Café. During one week in December the café provided a much-needed respite for students by offering a warm and welcoming space to study, relax, and recharge.
 
The concept behind the Pop-Up Study Café is simple: create a comfortable, quiet environment for students to focus on their work while providing little touches that make their study sessions enjoyable. We transformed our sanctuary and meeting room into an inviting café complete with cozy seating, spaces to work individually or in groups, and free wifi. The congregation jumped in as volunteer hosts and by providing much appreciated snacks. The hot chocolate, especially on some chilly winter days, was a big hit.
 
The Pop-Up Study Café not only created a space for academic focus but also fostered a sense of community. Students were able to take a break and connect with others, exchanging tips on study habits and chatting over their warm drinks. Many words of encouragement and a conversation between volunteers and students took place over the kettle in the kitchen.
 
Students were clearly appreciative of the church's efforts as time and again, they told St. John’s volunteers staffing the café that the church really understood what they needed. It’s not just about a place to study—it’s about feeling cared for during this stressful time of the year.
 
The Pop-Up Study Café is proof that simple acts of kindness -- a little warm welcome, community, and hot chocolate -- can go a long way in creating a positive and supportive environment for university students. With the best attendance yet at this third café, it’s clear that this initiative is meeting a real need.

That’s a wrap! (and a pizza …)
 
On October 31st, the Front Street Community Oven hosted its last weekly cookout for the season. The Thursday cookouts were truly community events, where people from all walks of life cooked together at the outdoor oven and ate together at common tables in Robie Tufts Park. Menus varied from pita & salads, to fruit crumble & local cheeses, to the ever-popular pizza, with some food provided by The Oven and other offerings shared potluck-style.
 
The Oven is a dynamic community organization that relies on volunteers, donations, and sponsorships (plus two paid staff members) to nourish 60-100 people at each of the free weekly cookouts between June and October. This year, St. John’s partnered with The Oven to access $12,500 in funding from The Windsor Foundation, allowing us to sponsor four cookouts and grow our own community connections here in Wolfville.
 
It was a joy be amongst the seniors and singles, families and students, unhoused folks and newcomers all eating together! At The Oven, all are nourished in body and spirit, as together we build a neighbourhood where all may belong. 
 
For more about The Oven, check out the website & socials: frontstreetoven.ca @frontstreetoven on Instagram & Facebook

​For the second year in a row, Musique Royale hosted a concert at St. John’s. This year we were delighted to welcome Thomas Baeté, who played the viola da gamba and also sang, and Suren Barry, who played harpsichord.

Their generous programme consisted of pieces from the 17th and 18th centuries, by a variety of composers including the Englishman Matthew Locke (1622-1677), J.S. Bach (1685-1750) from Germany, and Frenchmen Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) and Marin Marais (1656-1728). Themed around the title “Of Myth and Man”, these selections were from music written around themes of Greek myths, a popular focus for composers in this time period.

Thomas and Suren are first and foremost experts on their chosen instruments, displaying a creative energy individually and as a duet. They are also delightful and amusing gentlemen, generously sharing their knowledge with the audience between pieces.

St John’s offers an intimate setting for a concert of this nature, with good acoustics and a welcoming ambience. Attendees were richly rewarded by the very fine performances offered by these magnificent musicians.

Presented by:

​For one week in July, the walls of St. John’s resonated with the sounds of campers and volunteers as together we played, sang, created, and shared stories of Christ’s light in the world. We connected with ourselves, one another, our community and God.
​
Two dynamic young facilitators, Leah Marshall and Sophie Ashton, led this diverse group of 12 campers and 12 volunteers ranging in age from 6 to 86, in a fun and engaging program. We learned about creation care as we made “bee sippers” to provide bees with essential water sources in our gardens. We engaged with the L’Arche community to make candles, create a vibrant mural, and share a social time together. We celebrated the week with family and friends at a closing cook out, making pizzas at the Front Street Community Oven.

Memories were made at every turn. There was wonder as the campers discovered the eagles in our tree. There were glees of laughter as campers were up to their elbows in paint. There was a curiosity about the church building and its meaning. We witnessed simple acts of kindness, older children being patient with younger ones, and remarkable sharing and cooperation. It was a week full of light. It was a community of love where all belonged.
​
A project fully funded by the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Community Roots both encourages young people to grow in their faith – or to learn about Christianity for the first time – and develops leadership capacity in communities so that meaningful, local ministry can continue to happen for children and youth.

​For the six Wednesdays in Lent, Compline was offered as a way to close the day in calming rest and reflection. A choir of six people led the services in sung prayers, psalms, anthems, motets and Taizé hymns each week. Highlights included John Stainer’s setting of Phos hilaron (Hail Gladdening Light) as an introit every week, and motets including Farrant’s Lord for Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake, Rick Sowash’s Be Still, Thomas Morley’s three part setting of Agnus Dei, and John Stainer’s God So Loved the World.
 
This was all offered with a sense of space, reverence and beauty. Although the attending congregations were small, their experience of this evening worship was expansive. Singers and congregants alike were part of something vaguely indescribable but infinitely important. One never truly knows what impact any offering, musical or otherwise, in a service of worship might have, but it might just land in the ear of someone who desperately needs that message. And that a small volunteer choir can offer that message is a marvellous thing. St Augustine said that when one sings, one prays twice. This small choir of Rileigh Lewis, Emma Martin, Emily Markwart, MaryEllen Finlay, Barry Morrison and Cameron Finlay offered some very lovely prayerful leadership over these six weeks.