The Little White Church on Main Street, Canmore, Alberta
NOTE: due to COVID-19 protocols, Evensong has transformed into an online event on Zoom. Contact office@ralphconnor.ca for login.
From mid-March to mid-June, 2020, Evensong members contributed a weekly meditation/reflection to our online Sunday worship service. To watch these separately, please click on the date to download the mp4:
June 21 – Alan MacFadyen, “Oneness with Creation”
June 14 – Eric McAvity, “The Goodness of Creation”
June 7 – Marni Virtue, “Pentecost Season: One Searing Word”
May 24 – Jan Tissandier, “Ascension Poetry Collage”
May 17 – Val Goodrow, “Prayers of Intercession”
May 3 – Barbara Parker, “A Spring Prayer”
April 26 – Alan MacFadyen, “Meditation on Loving Kindness”
April 19 – Marni Virtue, Lectio Divina – “Such Singing in the Wild Branches”
April 12 – Jan Tissandier, “An Easter Like No Other”
April 5 – Judy Archer, “Gratitude”
March 29 – Judith Maxwell, “Lectio Divina – Be Still, and Know that I am God”
March 22 – Jan Tissandier, “Encircled in Light”
Initiated in 2001, Evensong’s contemplative style of worship is a wonderful Wednesday evening service (7:15-8:00 PM) at Ralph Connor. Interspersing music, silence, poetry, prose, meditation, prayer, the gifts of the Spirit are very present in this place.
Treasures of Darkness I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. Isaiah 45:3 Glory be to you, O Eternal Creator of the night, for the whiteness of the moon, the dance of a billion stars, the infinite stretches of dark space. Let me be learning to love the night… If you wish, have candles to …
A Reflection on Love Deep the love, deep the love deep the love that calls us Oh, the love, deep the love, the love that calls us on. ~ Carolyn McDade May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.
Gwilatkw, the season of Blanket Snow protecting the sunken roots Woolen warmth woven around my feet: Time of pause to consider Who I am, Whose I am, What I stand for, tall and rooted under snow. (Evensong November 13, 2002) We gather Wednesday, November 17 at 7:15 via Zoom in this Season of Blanket. A time for remembering and for healing. Come. All of you is welcome. …I pray to understand the stranger inside me Who will emerge in the …
This Wednesday, on the eve of Remembrance Day, we embrace the lives of two women from the UK: the 14th century mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the World War I heroine, Edith Cavell, whose body is interred at Norwich Cathedral. Julian recalled these words, spoken to her in an ecstatic vision from Christ on the cross: And this word: you shall not be overcome, was said sharply and mightily, for sureness and comfort against all tribulations that may come. He …
This Wednesday, on the eve of Remembrance Day, our Evensong contemplative service, on Zoom, will embrace the lives of two women from the UK: the 14th century mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the World War I heroine, Edith Cavell, whose body is interred at Norwich Cathedral. Julian recalled these words, spoken to her in an ecstatic vision from Christ on the cross: And this word: you shall not be overcome, was said sharply and mightily, for sureness and comfort against …
If you wish, have a candle ready for lighting. Listen. They are with us. They are standing with us even now, at your shoulder while you gather nets, forge steel, harvest crops, lay roads, build houses, tend homes, raise children or stalk moose through the muskeg bog. Can you not feel the comforting presence of them watching over you? Can you not feel the weight of an old and wrinkled hand upon your shoulder or your brow? They are with …
The invitation for this season is to remember and honor these stories which live inside of us, many of them unfinished or incomplete. We let the ‘lost human voices speak through us’ and perhaps discover our own deepest longings are woven together with theirs. ~ Christine Valters Paintner, Abbey of the Arts We clasp the hands of those who go before us. ~ Wendell Berry Myth insists that in each of us a great kingdom presides: filled with forests, remote …
Autumn Healing Rest You are invited to Evensong, a time of midweek grounding and rest. Teachings come from everywhere when you open yourself up to them.That’s the trick of it, really. Open yourself to everything and everything opens itself to you. Richard Wagamese Song for Autumn by Mary Oliver Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now how comfortable it will be to touch the earth instead of the nothingness of the air and the endless freshets of wind? And …
Healing in the Falling Leaves and Shorter Days You are invited to Evensong. A time to rest and ground yourself midweek. It occurs to me that the secret of fully being here, walking the skin of this planet, is to learn to see things as though I were looking at them for the first time, or the last. Nothing is too small…mundane…unusual Everything is magical. Everything moves my spirit…and I am spiritual… And I am moved to heal. Richard …
Season of Creation Oct. 6, 7:15pm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You are invited to have beside you, for the service, the following items: For Fire, a candle For Water, a bowl or cup of water For Earth, a bowl of dirt or a rock All the experiences we have in nature are of value to us. They can help us heal physically, emotionally, and intellectually, and our ties to the Creator may be strengthened simply through close encounters with Creation itself. ~ Jim …