By Sarah Robinson
When the new residents of 454 John St N started digging up their front yard, someone asked if they were digging graves. To be fair, this was the spring of 2020, when our fear of Covid-19 was fresh. And this yard is right beside a church: St Luke’s, at the corner of John and Macaulay.
But the young adults who had moved into the old rectory were not digging graves. They were building gardens. Who is planting at a church that closed in October 2017? In fact, you may have noticed that more gardens have sprung up. If you were walking down John Street in April 2025, you might have seen people lugging wooden garden boxes from the Grub Club at Compass Community Health and arranging them in the lot on Macaulay where a parish hall used to stand. No, no one was stealing. We were just receiving the old boxes as a gift from the Grub Club, who had themselves received a grant to replace their infrastructure. The former parish hall was rotting with mold, so the Anglican Diocese of Niagara (who has owned the property since 1882) tore it down in 2024. Perhaps one day something else will be built behind the church, but for now, there’s a bit of land in the urban fabric – and there’s a community at St Luke’s who are eager to see what might grow there.
The current St Luke’s community started to form in the fall of 2019. At first in the kitchen of the house, and then in the church sanctuary, a few friends and neighbours started praying every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6:30am, and Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm. These people came from diverse Christian backgrounds but found they could pray together through the Anglican tradition of Common Prayer. They are still praying on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday nights. In October 2023, with the blessing of the local Anglican bishop, St Luke’s began Sunday morning church services. If you’ve heard a church bell at 8:30am on Sunday, that’s what’s going on. The people who gather are not the same as when St Luke’s closed in 2017. Now we are mostly young working professionals in our late 20s and early 30s. However, we keep significant continuity with those who worshipped here before us. St Luke’s is still part of the Anglican communion and the style of our services is still in the Anglo-Catholic (“high church”) tradition. And we remain distinctly a North End community. The original parish was created because it was challenging to cross the railway tracks to get to Christ’s Church Cathedral on James Street. North Enders specifically asked for their own place of worship. Today, the roads are more reliable, but all the same, many who gather at St Luke’s arrive on foot or bike, and with a desire to invest in the life of this neighbourhood.
Which brings us back to the gardens. The land where the parish hall stood is heavy and sticky with clay. There’s old asphalt in other places. But there’s also the possibility of life here. There’s life as we grow food. The garden boxes are filled with fresh soil. Last summer we harvested tomatoes, Swiss chard, and squash. This spring we’ve already enjoyed spinach. There’s also life here as people come together. Not everyone feels comfortable stepping into a church. But we hope that every neighbour feels able to enter our garden and experience it as an oasis. We especially want to invite our neighbours to gather at the turn of each season. In the last year and a half, we’ve marked each solstice and equinox with a backyard potluck, open to everyone. Yes, we sat outside in late December – a perfect time for roasting chestnuts!
And there’s life here for our spiritual journeys. The sprouting seeds, the revival of damaged soil, and even the decaying compost piles are teaching us about what it means to be fully alive. After all, Jesus himself often taught through garden metaphors. Just as Jesus’ stories about planting, harvesting, and pruning are coming alive for us as we garden, we want to keep learning by engaging with other ordinary activities. This year we’re hosting three free community events. Each evening will centre the stories and wisdom of practitioners who work in the areas of hospitality, ecological sustainability, and creativity. It is an invitation to listen, consider together, and dialogue about what helps people and communities flourish. The first one, a panel of (and for!) people in the service industry, is happening on Monday May 11th from 6:30pm to 9:00pm in St Luke’s church, 454 John St N. All are welcome.
Whether or not you can join us, we pray that St Luke’s – its place and people – contributes to the flourishing of the North End.
