April 2021 marks the second Easter celebrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, after a year of widespread lockdowns, social distancing and online church services. This month’s issue of the Anglican Journal features stories that speak to both the pain of the ongoing pandemic and the hope and joy of the resurrection.
Life goes on, even during a pandemic, and life’s milestones, from baptisms to weddings to funerals, have not stopped—though they may look different in the time of COVID-19. We hear from priests across the country about how they’ve adapted these important liturgies.
Even in dark times, Easter offers a glimmer of hope. As Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, writes in her monthly column, “The gift of resurrection of Jesus is the promise that—whether embraced slowly or quickly—the power of God’s love is stronger than the pain, sin and sorrows of what we see.”
Guest columnist Emily Rowe, editor of diocesan newspaper Anglican Life, also offers words of inspiration in a difficult year, telling us, “Hold fast, Anglican Church of Canada.” And Anglican Grade 12 student Hayley Galsworthy shares how an unusual senior year of high school led her to deeper faith.
In a season of Good News, this issue also carries the story of a project by the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund that will bring solar-powered light and equipment to rural health centres in Mozambique, and an update on the work of the Jubilee Commission, which has officially launched a new archival research project on historical funding trends for Indigenous ministry within the Anglican Church of Canada. There is also an update on the work of the Council of General Synod, which held its mid-triennium meeting February 20.
In his monthly column, National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Mark MacDonald shares the story of an interaction with a coworker who asked why Indigenous elders “talk about Jesus so much,” and reflects on how for these elders, “this language of Jesus is a helpful and perhaps essential way to speak of the deeper realities of life, in a way that involves both the Old World and the New World together.” We also hear this month from Bishop Isaiah Larry Beardy about Bill C-15—federal legislation tabled in December—and the importance of aligning Canada’s laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Finally, lockdowns have made many of us more familiar than ever with Netflix’s library of offerings. Columnist Dean Peter Elliott gives us some brief reviews of the latest TV hitting streaming services, reflecting on how these shows depict and deepen our understandings of race, class and gender.
Read the April issue of the Anglican Journal on anglicanjournal.com or in digital PDF.
