It's Black History Month in Canada, and Discovering Dawn: Episode 1 is the first of a series of short videos looking at the contributions African Canadians have made to the development of Dresden, Ontario. 
Our own Christ Church, Dresden, and its connection to the Underground Railroad. is featured in this one. Take the tour with Jackie Bernard and Marie Carter inside and outside and learn how you are touching history when you enter Christ Church!  ​

May I tell you how we happened to obtain secret footage of the altar guild last fall? 
It went like this: 
Late in the summer, the St. Matthew’s churchwardens noticed something odd. Each night at dusk the outside spotlights were coming on. 
The outside spotlights hadn’t been set to automatically come on at dusk in years. The switch was checked, the electrical panel was checked, and it shouldn’t be happening. But it was.
Were vandals sneaking in to hit the switch each night in a fiendish plot to raise our electricity bills? Were churchmice up to no good? 
One of us has a trailcam, so we decided to use it to see exactly what was happening at the switch. We secured it to a beam high in the chancel. 
And forgot about it. 
You see, in the meantime, we found the answer to the problem lay in the switch itself. Our local technician, Chris, fixed it. Then the church continued to sit empty. We were mostly closed for the pandemic. When open, we were using the parish hall, as it was easier to follow the protocols there. 
The day came, though, when we needed to be in the church. It was All Souls and time to hold a pandemic-postponed cemetery decoration day. We did the usual cleaning and the unusual protocol-setting and laying of wires for mics and equipment for the Zoom component of the service. 
We held the service. It was wonderful. 
Then I, for the trailcam was mine, remembered what was still on a beam high in the chancel…
It’s kind of fun to see a sort of stop-motion of what happens at an altar in the leadup to a service. 
We’ve decided to leak a selection of the photos. 
And now you know our secret: that the altar guild really cleans up. 

The parish learning group is the focus of a three-part video series for the Diocese of Huron. It starts with St. Matthew's and goes parochially viral...
Visit the diocesan media page here to take a look.
Would you like to contribute to future videos? We'd love that! Write to us here to pitch your idea!

The Village Stitchers of Florence are back to quilting! These days there is no bending together over patchwork, but they came up with a clever workaround. Myrna, who is spearheading this project, cuts the squares and gets them to stitchers who sew them together in sections. She puts those sections together, then does the finishing. The result, just this week, was six full-sized beautiful quilts, all of which went to the Westover Treatment Centre in Thamesville. 

A bench appeared at St Matthew's parish hall in Florence last week. 
It's perfect, sheltered outside beside the entry, inviting pandemic walkers or churchyard visitors to sit for a bit. 
It's beautiful, and it has a beautiful story!
Laura's best friend gave Laura's husband, Mike, two benches to refurbish as a surprise for Laura's birthday. Mike put long hours and fine craftsmanship into the project, and we hear it made Laura cry. 
Of course it did!
She keeps one in memory of her sister, Shelley, and has installed the other at the hall in memory of two special people to her, and to the community: her father- and mother-in-law, Don and Joan.

Members of the parish were once again glued to their screens on November 30 as the Reverend Enrique Martinez was ordained at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He has been appointed deacon-in-charge of the Parish of Long Point Bay (Port Ryerse Memorial Church, Port Ryerse; St. John's, Woodhouse; St. John's, Port Rowan; St. Andrew's-by-the-Lake, Turkey Point; and Christ Church Chapel of Ease, Vittoria).

Brittany Comber sent us these wonderful pictures of the ordination most of us livestreamed on Thursday night! Almost like being there...

When St Matthew's, Florence, set up its Little Free Pantry (see page 9 of the Huron Church News) in April, it hoped it would fill a need. 
Did it ever!
It was accessed every day over the summer, and kept constantly stocked by an outpouring of community support.
September arrived, and the property on which it sat was sold. It would need to be moved. 
One phone call, and a spot was found, only a block away, and still on the main street!
The pantry builders, Jack and Irene, moved it and weather-proofed it on Saturday.
A local artist, Mike, painted the new sign.
Do you see the lock on the left? That's only to keep the flour-loving squirrel from making herself at home...