St. Mary’s Metchosin Challenge
Sharleen Thompson 18 Feb. 2025
St Mary’s Metchosin has, for the 9th year, put together a Lenten Challenge. It is called the Metchosin Challenge. It is a challenge from St Mary’s church to all the community to live better by being more aware of the issues facing our world, so we can be empowered to act to make our world a better place. This Challenge is in the form of a speaker series designed for a general audience on a wide range of topics. We have had speakers such as Elizabeth May, Andy Mackinnon, Wally Eamer, and Herbert O’ Driscol. Each year we have had a theme. The first year it was Big Issues Facing the World. In the following years we tackled such topics as Climate Change, Native Relations, Species Diversity, Human Rights Issues, Empower People for Action, Little Things That You Can Do to Make a Difference, Hope in a Changing World, Embracing Change, What Are Children Worrying About, and in 2024, Issues in Our Own Health. This year, for the first time, we are having a non-secular topic, exploring modern religion. We are still reaching out to the whole community, not just Anglicans. We are trying to look at the religions around us from different perspectives. What are some of the issues, different forms of worship and big issues facing us.
The challenge is running Tuesday nights during Lent from March 11th to April 15th at 7 pm at St Mary’s Metchosin Church at 4125 Metchosin Rd across from the Golf Course. All but one of the presenters will be there in person but we offer a Zoom option as well so those not in Victoria can attend. Here is the zoom link. https://vst.zoom.us/j/89279807957?pwd=ITcX9fLKiSCEhVJj7mAJHoC8bMLitz.1
Schedule:
March 11th: The Venerable Dr. Lon Towstego will look at religion as community and in the community.
March 18th: Margaret O’Donnell will present on the Taizé way of being together by many types of Christians.
March 25th: The Rev Dr. Ross Lockhart will speak on how the very secular Pacific Northwest is different from the rest of the continent and the challenges that it brings. He is from St Andrew’s Hall and Vancouver School of Theology in Vancouver, so will be presenting on Zoom.
April 1st: The Rev Dr. Travis O’Brian will speak on Mystery in the Church; the draw and the role of it in modern faith.
April 8th: Patricia Lane, a lawyer who challenges the churches to be the leaders in the climate and environmental struggles. Patricia will present on how the Canadian Churches can or should respond to President Trump.
April 15th: Our own Dean Jonathan Thomas will talk about what is spirituality. So many people say that they aren’t religious, but they are spiritual. They usually try to end the conversation this way, but what are they saying? What is spirit anyway?
St Mary’s is hoping that other congregations will join us in-person or by Zoom and listen to the ideas and participate in the conversations around them. There are some of the other presentations from other years on our web site, if you are interested in listening to these. We are hoping all of this deepens our thoughts and enlivens our conversations and maybe even propel action in some people.