Exodus 17:1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

LENT 2023 St. A's theme - Prayer

What to expect the 5 Sundays of Lent

• Feb 26th – Intercession
• March 5th – Bishop Steve (Lectio)
• March 12th – Holy Imagination
• March 19th – Prayer in Stillness
• March 26th – Liturgy Undone

Other Moments to note

• Shrove Tuesday Pancakes, 5-7pm, $
• Ash Wednesday (/w Grace United)
• Music & Prayer night March 18th
• Quiet Saturday, March 25th
• Social Justice Wednesdays with Bishop Stephen on Zoom (poster attached)
• Diocesan Easter Vigil – In Holy Week this year we will participate in the first ever common Easter Vigil at All Saints Cathedral

Symbolises: Prayer

History: Originally pretzels were a European Lenten snack, which appeared on Ash Wednesday (the day after Pancake Day) and were eaten up until Easter Sunday. Early Christians did not eat dairy products during Lent, and pretzels were made simply from flour, salt and water, not egg, butter, milk or cheese - the foods people 'give up' for Lent. Pretzels get their religious meaning from their looped dough shape, the word means ‘little arms’ because it’s meant to look like arms locked in prayer.  

Having recently celebrated Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the children will now be going on a journey with Jesus for the next few Sundays leading up to Holy Week.

The first Sunday of Lent, the children joined the upstairs service which was adapted for all participants. It was nice for everyone to have the opportunity of worshipping together. 

The second Sunday of Lent we looked at the miracle of Jesus walking on water.

This week we learn about/discuss the events surrounding Jesus washing his disciples feet.

We thank our dedicated volunteers who join us this week and assist with our activities.

If you are interested in volunteering as an adult helper or would like to learn more please contact Faith at kids@staugustinesedmonton.com

Coffee, tea, juice and goodies are served downstairs after the 10 am service. We look forward to seeing you there .. if you see someone sitting near you during the service, who you have never seen at our coffee hour, please encourage them to attend. 

A big thank you to our volunteers who prepare and serve the coffee each Sunday as well as providing the snacks.

A copy of the roster for those serving coffee each week is posted on the bulletin board by the kitchen. 

Please contact Loretta Howard if you are interesting in being included on the roster.
lmhoward@shaw.ca
780-466-9510

Tax receipts have been sent via email and by post to those who do not have email facilities or printing facilties at home.  Some tithe.ly contributors may have received theirs already but not all. 

If you have not received your receipt, or if there are any questions in regard your receipt, please contact Cheryl at the Parish Office (via email at office@staugustinesedmonton.com or by phone 780 466 5532). 

Thanks for your patience.

Bishop Stephen London has been making his way through to all the churches in the diocese since he was consecrated in 2021.
We were pleased to welcome him to St. A's this past weekend March 5th.

You might have caught him on the Sunday morning, but he also led and held a small diocesan  youth campfire out at our St A's fire pit on Friday evening.  He said there were not many folk who were able to come out that night, but some key leaders gathered which made for a chance to chat and plan about a re-boot of youth and camping ministry in the diocese.

Sunday we cancelled the 8am service so the whole St. A's community could gather at 10am. Rev. Jonathan introduced bishop Steve to the kids by talking about how he represents to us our whole extended church family in Edmonton and across the globe.  Following our lenten theme of prayer, bishop Steve preached about his own use and experience of Lectio Divina.

And after worship - FOOD!  Thank you to everyone who brought a potluck dish, set up, took down, prepared coffee and to Amanda who made us a yummy lemon merenge cake.

I am sure bishop Steve will be back again in the next year or two, but, let's make sure to have a few more parish campfires and potlucks before then.

If you missed bishop Steve, the livestream and podcast of his sermon is available here: https://www.staugustinesedmonton.com/podcasts/st-augustine-edmonton/2023-03-05-lectio-divina-bishop-stephen-london

World Day of Prayer is an annual Christian ecumenical worship service dedicated to International Women's Day which occurs on March 8th.  It is normally held on the first Friday of March.  This year the service was written by the Women of Taiwan and is about issues in Taiwan.  The service is recorded and can be seen any time between March 1st to September 1st 2023.  The funds raised stay in Canada.

The hosts of last year's World Day of Prayer could not find a new host therefore, for this year, it is recommended that we watch the service the following methods:

1. The best site is the Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada website - wicc.org. This has a lot of background information about the issues in Taiwan.

2. The service is also on TV in the Edmonton area on Friday March 3rd at 4pm and Saturday March 4th at 11.30am.  It is being broadcast on YESTV (CKES).

3. Shaw Direct West is also airing the programme on Saturday March 4th at 4pm and Sunday March 5th at 10am

We hope that many people are able to take part in the viewing of this year's offering for the World Day of Prayer.

We have so many wonderful expressions of prayer in our church. 

With this in mind we are hoping many will be excited to participate in this evening, a lenten journey, which will combine a variety of prayers/worship with musical accompaniment which will make for a unique St A's experience.

It is always so nice to see our church decorated for the celebration of Easter.  If anyone is able to donate to help us provide floral arrangements to adorn the church during this time it would be most appreciated. 

Donations can be made via Tithe.ly or by cash/cheque.  The latter two methods can be handed in at the church office, posted or given to a member of the Alter Guild. 

Many thanks in advance for helping to beautify our place of worship this Easter.

Please "save the weekend" for our St. A's whole-parish visioning celebration on May 26, 27, 28, 2023. (Friday Evening, Saturday Day, Sunday Day.)

The weekend will center around where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.  Our last event like this was in 2014.  A parallel kid's program will be in place.

*Note - this date has changed since the event was first announced at the AGM.  Some world conflicts came to light that forced the shift.  However, we've landed actually on our patronal event - the feast day of St. Augustine of Canterbury. Perhaps not a coincidence at all.  More details to come.

Thank you to everyone who has been participating in our weekly gathering.  

We are taking a short break over the Lent/Easter period and will resume shortly after.  Keep an eye out for our start up date.

Please email the office with any changes or corrections with your address, phone numbers, or email addresses.  We do are best to keep this information updated but realize that sometimes we are missing updated information.

 office@staugustinesedmonton.com

Administration, address updates, etc: Cheryl at office@staugustinesedmonton.com, 780-466-5532