REGINA — Bishop Helen Kennedy presided and preached when St. Paul’s Cathedral celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving on Oct. 6. There was much to celebrate that Sunday, including a short ceremony in the parking lot after the service, where the mortgage for Bagnall Hall, the attached community centre that was completed in 2014, was burned as parishioners applauded.
St. Paul’s celebrated becoming mortgage-free after nine years and 11 months, thanks to generous donations to their Building in Faith campaign, which had been planned to take 20 years.
At the end of the service, Warden Jim Melville thanked “all those who worked to retire our debt,” including an anonymous donor, and the late Phyllis Ilsley, who had named Building in Faith as recipient of a large bequest. Melville also recognized the work of Margaret Hammond, project archivist, and Doug Turnbull, whom he described as “our long-suffering treasurer.”
In her sermon, Bishop Kennedy said, “Before it was a noun, ‘thanksgiving’ was a verb. We are called to constantly practice thanksgiving.” She reminded the congregation of the biblical tradition of leaving part of a field unharvested, so it could be used by the poor and strangers. The story of Ruth demonstrates how poor widows would gather the unharvested grain.
The ancient Jews trusted that “more would be provided for future harvests” so they did not need to gather or hoard every grain. This trust allowed them to share generously from what God had given them. And so it is with Christians.
The bishop concluded by asking, “How are you going to practise thanksgiving in the coming year?” and reminded the congregation that it’s called “practice” because we must keep doing it.
The music for the Thanksgiving service was The Qu’Appelle Mass, written by the cathedral’s organist, David McIntyre. The Building in Faith Management Committee had commissioned him to compose a piece of music to commemorate the opening of the new community centre. The music premiered in 2014.
