Pastoral Letters

DECEMBeR / January 2026

SOME NEWS FROM YOUR PEWS (or, how I see it)

And a wonderful warm greeting to all of you as 2026 unfolds. I typed in the date, and it seems so strange to put 2026 down but hey…it is and we really should get used to it. We are into the beginning of this year and slowly things which happened a few weeks ago, things along the line of Advent and Christmas and New Year’s Eve, are beginning to fade away into that place of forgetfulness. Nonetheless, may the memories still linger in your hearts. So, this message this month is going to be about one of those memorable New Year’s Eve events. Are you ready to share in this story? Here goes: 

When we were living in Elk Point, AB, one of the town’s treasures was the community choir which consisted of nearly 50 folks. We practiced every week and performed all around the area at certain times of the year (Easter, Christmas, summer events) and with matching suits and dresses and so on, we were deemed as somewhat professional and we were in great demand. We even once went to a recording studio in Edmonton to record a CD for to sell to the public. In the choir, there were also small trios and groupings of like-minded singers, and I was fortunate to belong to one of them. We were 6 voices in this ensemble, and this is where New Year’s Eve comes into play. Our director’s daughter was to be married on New Year’s Eve at St. Joseph’s Basilica on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton and we were invited to sing at the cathedral during the signing of the registry. You may not recognize St. Joseph’s but this was also where Wayne Gretzky was married…it is truly a beautiful immense Roman Catholic cathedral and during the service, folks from all streams of life would be coming and going to kneel and have prayers, go into the confession booths or just sit back and watch the wedding as it took place. The song that we were to sing was Ave Maria, in six parts, and we had practiced this song for quite a while beforehand. When it came our time to sing this, our voices echoed throughout the basilica, and I think that we even stunned ourselves with the near perfection of it all. There was even applause which followed. After the service, when we were about to leave, the priest who performed the wedding pulled all of us aside and had asked us if there could be any way that we could be available to sing this at other weddings. Of course, we thankfully declined in that we all lived a good two hours from Edmonton, and this would make it quite difficult. Yes, a memorable New Year’s Eve for the couple (and us of course) and now they have moved to Calgary and our friendship continues.

Prayer time:

O Holy Song of the Earth, your melodies flow over the mountains and the seas and wake up creation to the tunes of peace and of hope. May each of us join in with the celestial choir and link our voices to the music of the world, music which reaches and touches each of us in such visceral ways that wake up our sometimes-sleeping spirits. May today be a new beginning, a new chord played on the guitar of life, a new understanding that together…we are one…Amen.

 Blessings of love and peace to all of you….The Rev. Jope Langejans

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