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Spiritual Formation is the life-long process of transformation in every dimension of human life toward the ultimate goal of human existence: union with Christ. In Christian culture, this transformation process is sometimes known as discipleship, which means that everything we do for discipleship is part of Spiritual Formation.

As a Church, we provide opportunities for personal spiritual Formation by helping each person build a Rule of Life that can be personally adapted. The Rule of Life, which has been a part of the Church's life for millennia, has eight foundational areas separated into two types of practices: Practices of Engagement & Practices of Abstinence.

Practices of Engagement

  1. Prayer: Communal and Personal time with God
  2. Scriptural Meditation: Public and Private Reception of God's Self-Revelation
  3. Sacraments: Participation in the Sacramental Life of the Church
  4. Serving: Participating in Self-sacrifice for others
  5. Feasting: The Practice of Joy

Practices of Abstinence

  1. Silence & Solitude: The preparation for transformation by bringing peace to chaos
  2. Sabbath: Rest for the soul
  3. Fasting: The Practice of Suffering

We all will have parts of this Rule of Life that are more developed than others and seasons where one takes precedence over others. That is a good and right thing in the rhythm of life. A Rule of Life is a way of arranging our lives around the way of Jesus. As we choose to act like Him and learn to live in Him, we will be transformed into His image each and every day. How you adopt this Rule of Life will depend on where you are in your spiritual journey with Christ. Whether you are a new believer, mature in the faith, or somewhere in between, these foundations should be engaged in a way that allows you to grow into each of them rather than accomplishing perfection. 

Below are some ways we have developed practices to help you engage in each of the foundations listed above.

Prayer

  1. The CTR Prayer Guide: Our locally adapted prayer guide aims to help people at every stage of daily rhythms, from none to regular. We release three prayer guides annually that will take you through the whole of the Church year.
    1. Advent through Epiphany
    2. Lent & Easter
    3. Pentecost, Trinity, and Ordinary Time.
  2. Morning Prayer: Starting Monday, December__, the sanctuary will be open for Morning Prayer from 8:00 to 9:00 AM. The first 30 minutes will be a time of silence, and Morning Prayer will begin at 8:30 AM, following the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.

Scriptural Meditation

  1. Spiritual Formation Newsletter: A weekly email to help you confidently engage the Scriptures. This email will include reflections on a passage from Scripture from the Morning Daily Office Readings, an artistic reflection from local painters, songwriters, and poets, a reflection on Feast and Holy Days, and a reflection on each new season of the Church Calendar. Over 30 people have helped build the material for these emails, which are sent out weekly. We have writers, painters, songwriters, and poets reflecting on passages of Scripture, Seasons of the Church year, Feasts and Holy Days, and Books of the Bible. If you want to receive these emails, please subscribe below.      

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  2. Scriptural Meditation Groups: On Sunday afternoons, we take the opportunity to gather together to read, meditate on, and discuss Holy Scripture. These groups do not happen every week but will be announced throughout the year for the opportunity to grow in the confidence of hearing God's voice as we engage in our daily Scripture reading.

Sacraments

  1. The Eucharist: The Eucharist, also known as the Lord's Table or Communion, is celebrated weekly during our Sunday morning services at 10:00 AM and Wednesday mornings at 8:30 AM. All baptized believers are welcome to receive Christ's body and blood in the bread and wine, whether you are a member of our local Parish. 
  2. Baptism, Confirmation, Confession, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, Anointing with Oil: Each of these sacraments are a part of the life and rhythm of our Parish. If you are interested in participating in any of these or want more information about them, please contact Fr. Robert here.

Serving

  1. In the Parish: Every Christian should participate in supporting the communal worship of our LORD and in serving one another. What this participation looks like will be different for each of us, as we are all given different gifts and abilities. Some are given gifts to teach, others to prophecy, some have hospitality gifts, and others gifts of leadership. These gifts should be used in the Church to support the whole community's worship and life together. 

    Additionally, many in our Parish need help financially, emotionally, physically, and mentally. All of God's people are called to serve one another with our time, money, abilities, and energy. Each believer should become a member of a local Parish and serve the community in these different ways. 
  2. Outside the Parish: When we are encouraged in Scripture to care for our neighbours, God means it in two ways. Those we live life with, like our Parish communities, and those we live with geographically. The point remains the same, whether that geographical neighbour lives in your neighbourhood, street, or city. Christ calls us to care for those in need wherever we encounter them. In and outside the Parish, we should endeavour to care for the people around us and take opportunities to serve those in need. 

Feasting

  1. Liturgical Feasts: The Church Calendar has a rhythm and flow that can be missed if we are not careful. Yes, there are times to fast, like Lent, but there are also times to feast. The two most prominent are the seasons of Christmas and Easter. Yes, they are seasons, not just days. 

    The purpose is to celebrate God, the Creator of all things. We know from Genesis 1 that when God saw all He made, He said it was "very good," and He created humanity to be fruitful, multiply, serve, and have dominion over it. God called us to work in His creation with Him, to see it flourish and enjoy it with him. That is what feasting means: enjoying God's creation with him. So, we eat, drink, spend time with people, and do enjoyable things to celebrate all God has done for us and with us. Again, without excess, envy, gluttony, drunkenness, etc., without giving in to sin. 
  2. Celebrations: In a less official capacity, there are opportunities in our local Parish that we feast together. Our fall kick-off is the Sunday after Labour Day Weekend. Once everyone returns from holidays and camping trips, we celebrate their return to regular schedules with a potluck breakfast before our Sunday service. Additionally, we celebrate Pentecost with a Pentecost party each year. Here, we have games, bonfires, a Chili cookoff, and time to hang out and celebrate God's gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Silence & Solitude

  1. Silent Retreats: Once a year, we gather at Island Lake Retreat Centre for a 24-hour Silent Retreat. The retreat is an opportunity to practice silence for an extended period of time. During this time, we learn to silence the noise of the world that plays inside us as we turn off the outside distractions and focus on listening for God's still, small voice. 
  2. Morning Prayer: In Advent 2024, we will open the sanctuary for Morning Prayer and a time of silence. Before we begin the Daily Office, we will spend the first 30 minutes, from 8:00 to 8:30 AM, in silence.
  3. Wednesday Morning Eucharist: Following the Eucharist, the sanctuary will remain open until 9:30 AM so that people may remain in silence and prayer. 

Sabbath

  1. Personally Adapted: Christians have traditionally treated Sunday as their Sabbath day since it is the Lord's Day and the day of Resurrection. While that is a good and right thing, we also must understand that we are not under the law to keep a specific day as the Sabbath. At the same time, we should still take a day of rest for the sake of our souls. On this day of rest, we should stop work, delight in the LORD, and contemplate God. Traditionally, the Sabbath occurred from Friday evening to Saturday evening, but that no longer needs to be the case. 

    What is most important is that you keep a day for Sabbath. It is a day where you can rest and delight in God. It is a day of faith and worship that can be lived out with family, friends, the Church community, or on your own—whatever allows you to rest your soul and contemplate God. 

Fasting

  1. Lent: During the season of Lent (from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday), the Western Church has held to a tradition of fasting for 40 days. This 40-day fast is a way of participating in the 40 days Christ fasted in the desert after His baptism. The fast runs Monday through Saturday, with Sundays not being a day of fasting since it is the day of Resurrection.
  2. Tradition & Adaptation: Isaiah 58 teaches us that fasting is not a display to God of how serious we are in requesting something from Him. Instead, it is a natural response of grief over what God grieves for in our broken world. Traditionally, the Church fasted two days per week, Wednesdays and Fridays, which kept us connected to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

    Whether you follow tradition and fast on Wednesdays and Fridays or not, we encourage all believers to fast at different points in the year beyond our regular Lenten fast.