Letter from Rev. Seth Enriquez

 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’
 Joshua 1:9

Dear St Michael’s family,

As many of you learned this past Sunday, I have handed in my formal resignation letter to Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, bringing to a close my current placement at St George in the Pines Anglican Church in Banff & St Michael Anglican Church in Canmore at the end of August 2023. This resignation was a necessary step in order to accept an invitation from Archbishop Greg to take up the position of Rector at St George in the Pines Anglican Church in Banff from September 1, 2023.

No doubt this rapid change has taken many of you by surprise and that includes our family, as our remaining in Banff to serve in a full time capacity seemed an impossibility to us. But as we’ve again been reminded, our God is the Lord of the impossible: any door he closes no one can open, any door he opens no one can close. We truly feel this to be the Lord’s doing, a calling to continue to serve in the Bow Valley in a new capacity as Rector of St George’s. No doubt this will bring new challenges both expected and unseen, but our family has experienced the Lord’s continued goodness and kindness to us and therefore we trust the same Lord to carry us forward in the months and years ahead. 

As the next few weeks will bring about a close in this chapter of our ministry in the Bow Valley as we served both St George and St Michael, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of gratitude for our St Michael’s community. I remember with great fondness the welcome we received from St Michael’s when we first arrived, the warmest welcome our family had ever received as a ministry couple. Our working together with volunteers from our St Michael’s community patching together online services during the trying times in the Covid-19 shutdown. The fruitful conversations and planning with St Michael’s Corporation and Council, and the random but wonderful connection with folks just dropping by during my office hours at our church office. 

And though our time serving St Michael’s draws to a close, it’s important to take stock of how St Michael’s stands. You have a solid leadership team in the St Michael’s corporation, a team I will miss serving alongside, and a prayerful church council. You have a treasure trove in Ania, our Office Manager, who is both amiable and terrifically capable in her duties. Above all, you have the promises of God found in Jesus Christ. I remain convinced that the Lord is with you all, that this is a momentary transition for St Michael’s, and that you can await with eager expectation that the best for St Michael’s is yet to come. 

And though my role at St Michael’s and Canmore will change in the fall, we remain locals. It is our family's sincere hope that the friendships we’ve been privileged to enjoy at St Michael’s will continue to grow and flourish. Our family will be cheering you on, praying for you, and excited to see who our Lord has prepared to lead this wonderful community. 

I want to end this letter with words from scripture, the command given to Joshua and the nation of Israel by God as they entered a new season of life in a new land. This command by God to that ancient people is so relevant to us today and I urge you to take to heart: do not be afraid or discouraged for the living God is in your midst and you are never alone. The same God who gave his life for you on the cross and resurrected to a new life is the same one that is calling you to know God more deeply, to love God and neighbour more fully, and to share his gospel to all peoples: that salvation, spiritual healing, physiological integration and wholeness, and the peace that only the Creator can give is exclusively found and fully experienced in Jesus Christ the only Lord. 

My hope and prayer will always be that St Michael chooses to follow in the footsteps of Joshua as he and his people entered a new season of life:

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

My dear friends: always choose to follow the Lord, for only in him can be found the truth and surest love that heals us today, and the power that makes death only a door to a new and better life where all we’ve lost is given back to us and is more wonderful and beautiful for having been lost and then found. Only Jesus can do this, so trust and follow him all the days of your life and call others to do the same. I trust that you will, that the same Lord who safeguards our faith will keep us in friendship and love. 

My sincere gratitude and thanks for being the church in which I was ordained as a deacon, where I took my fledgling steps as a newly minted minister, and who loved my family and children so wonderfully. I will never forget it, and I will never forget you. And if you’re ever wanting to catch up, you’re only a short drive away to share a pint or tea with our family. 

God bless you my friends.

In Christ,
Rev. Seth Enriquez