1. Advent begins December 3rd, 2023
2. Lessons & Carols service Sunday, December 17th @10am  expect lots of community-led music, seasonal reading, and a special kid's skit! Musicians, contact Megan C. if you want to help out.
3. Solstice Event/Blue Christmas Service with St Augustine's at Grace United Church, Thursday December 21st 
   A service for those who have difficulty in celebrating the “joy” of Christmas. Held on the winter solstice, this service invites us into the sacred space of the longest night of the year.Please come for as much or as little time as you need to nourish your spirit on the longest night of the year.

   5:30-6:00PM Candle Lighting and silent time in the sanctuary.
   6:00-7:00PM Reflective Music, contemplation and candle lighting (come and go as needed).
   7:00PM Blue Christmas Service
4. Advent Vigil - Sunday December 24th, 10am, in place of our usual 8am & 10am services we will be holding a simple prayer vigil for the world at 10am.  Expect a rythm of praying psalms, hymns, and times of intercession for different needs in the world.
5. Christmas Eve Early - 4pm, a simple, kid-approachable candlelight Communion service.  Want to help out?  Let Rev. Jonathan know as he will need 5-6 helpers for the sermon activity.
6. Christmas Eve Late, 9pm Carols Sing, 9:30pm Candlelight Holy Communion.  Post-service goodies not yet planned (hint, hint)
7. Christmas Day Service 8am simple communion service.  Also livestreamed.
8. Dec 31 Sunday service is at 10am only.
9. 12 Days of Christmas.  Jesus is born - let us celebrate and make these days special in our homes and families.
10. Twelfth Night Celebration. We close off our Christmas celebration with this ancient tradition.  Friday, January 5th, 5:30pm community potluck and Evening Prayer.  Yes, we will sing the song :)  Bring a main course or dessert or your leftover xmas treats.  Anyone want to make us a big pot of Wassail?
11. We celebrate the Epiphany in church that Sunday January 7th.

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
creator of light and darkness.
In this holy season,
when the sun’s light is swallowed up
by the growing darkness of the night,
you renew your promise to reveal among us
the splendour of your glory,
enfleshed and visible to us in Jesus Christ your Son.
Through the prophets
you teach us to hope for his reign of peace.
Through the outpouring of his Spirit,
you open our blindness to the glory of his presence.
Strengthen us in our weakness.
Support us in our stumbling efforts to do your will
and free our tongues to sing your praise.
For to you all honour and blessing are due,
now and for ever. Amen.

First reading and Psalm
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Second reading
2 Peter 3:8-15a

Gospel Reading
Mark 1:1-8

It is that time of year again when we start to look forward to preparing our church for the coming of the Christmas season and deciding what flowers we will choose to decorate.

If you are able to donate to the purchase of flowers it would be much appreciated!!  Donations can be made by cash, cheque (payable to St Augustine Anglican Church), online via tithe.ly or via e-transfer (office@staugustinesedmonton.com).  If paying by cash or cheque please mail to the church office or put in the offering plate on a Sunday.  Please do not hand donations directly to individuals. 

If you wish to donate in Memory of a special person or occasion, please send details by email  to junegreig@shaw.ca  to ensure we accurately publish the information.

Your  donation will be included on your income tax receipt.

EDCC Encourages Church Support of No Room in the Inn

As part of the L'Arche Christmas Pageant this past Wednesday, many Food Bank items were donated and offered before Mary, Joseph, and the Baby.

However, the donations won't quite fill the Rector's car.

Would you help?

Bring as much as you can to fill the Rector's vehicle for drop off the next day!

Most needed items list

Hello, all you aspiring young actors!

We need your help for our Christmas Skit on Dec 17th: A Canadian Nativity

Practices will be Sunday, Dec 10 during the service and Saturday, Dec 16 from 2-3pm at the church. We'll assign roles on Dec 10 so kids have enough time to practice their lines at home. And thank you to parents who volunteered to help with this!

We are looking to borrow any of the following - please bring these to church on Dec 10 or 16:

- furs or fake furs

- stuffed animals that we'd see in Canada and/or in the Arctic

- old fashioned snowshoes

- white bedsheets, blankets (that are not particularly precious) - for creating a snowy scene

- a doll we could use for Baby Jesus

- Tim Horton's travel mug

- lumberjack-themed items: clothing, blanket, hat with ear flaps, fur hat, etc.

Contact Simone with any questions - thanks!

St. Augustine's has been awarded a grant from the Anglican Foundation for the amount of $5000!

This was an appeal to further our building refresh especially in our lower hall.  While this was not the full amount we were hoping for, it will still go a long way to refresh our main washrooms and some other lower hall elements.

This is a good time to mention that if you wish to donate to the Anglican Foundation, who support projects across Canada, that would be a lovely way to say thank you to them and pay it forward. https://www.anglicanfoundation.org/donate/

Trouble hearing during worship?

With much thanks to the financial donations of a few parishioners, we now have 6 audio headsets available for use during worship.  These headsets receive an FM wireless signal directly from our microphone system and amplify it to your needs.  They have a simple on/off button, a volume control, and a balance control.

We tested two sets last weekend to good effect!

The headsets will be sanitized after each service by the tech team.

The Hanley Home Group welcomes you to join us weekly as we share lives,
fellowship, and discussion on scripture, church topics, and anything
else we find interesting! We are a friendly and relational bunch! If you
have kids, bring them along! Our daughter Isabel will love the
opportunity to play with them!

Just a reminder that the group will run Monday evenings 6:45-8:15pm at 10735 52 Street.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact John at
john@mjhanley.net or 780-239-1103.

Wishing you all the best this blessed season

Anne

Sharing in circle has a long history of transformation and community strength in both indigenous and addictions recovery traditions.

Sharing in circle allows us both opportunity to listen, and when our turn arrives, to speak.

A topic is raised each Wednesday in the realms of Faith, Justice, Spirituality, and Action in the Christian tradition that we are invited to reflect on and share if we wish.

Rev. Jonathan usually facilitates the circle.  Please contact him for the zoom access: rector@staugustinesedmonton.com

We have used books, video, or individual presentations as our 'prompts' for the evening.

"Doors" open at 7:45pm, process begins at 8pm-9pm.  The zoom stays on until 9:30pm latest for those who want to chat more.

The women of Grace United and St. Augustine’s Anglican churches are invited to gather for supper at Chianti’s. To carpool, please meet at Grace at 4:45 pm.  Registration limit: 25 people.  Please register by Sunday December 10 by signing up on the sheet in the Narthex, or e-mail chelsea.grace@shaw.ca or call the Grace office.  When you register, indicate if you will be meeting at the church or at the restaurant.  Financial ability ought not be a barrier to attendance - so if finances are an issue, please let Chelsea know when you register.  If you would like to do some Christmas shopping at Village Goods (formerly Ten Thousand Villages), please note that they close at 6pm that day.

Advent is a time when we face the needs of the world and consider how we can help the kingdom of God to grow a little greater among us.

This coming new year we will have a chance to participate in the Greater Edmonton Alliance listening campaign - the first stage of the organizational cycle.

It is a focussed campaign of one on one, small group, or house meetings aimed at encouraging people to talk about how they experience life in their commnity, to identify issues they care about, and to suggest concerns they would like to help address in their organization.

During the last GEA organizing cycle, and based on the 2019 listening campaign, GEA members:

• worked with city officials to adopt an internationally recognized set of Mental Health standards and committments for City employees.
• Worked with Living Wage Alberta and EndPovery Edmonton to foster education about what a living wage is and why it is so important (see the video below).
• Built a reconciliation team to foster good relations with indigenous communities in all of GEA's work.
• Fostered relationships between faith, labor, and non-profit organizations for the greater good.

Do you know what a living wage is?

The Rev. Michael Coren, assistant curate at St. Luke's, Burlington in Niagara diocese, the author of 18 books, and a contributing columnist for the Toronto Star, will be sharing his "radical gospel message" with members of the Edmonton diocese in December. Michael will lead a clergy day, on December 14, when he will address LGBTQ2S+ equality in the church. In the evening, he will discuss his latest book, The Rebel Christ, at a public event, from 7 to 8:30 pm. Coren argues that Christianity is relevent to the modern world, and it is vital and revolutionary. "What did Jesus actually say and teach, and how can we authentically folllow him? Watch this space for further details. The Rebel Christ is available in stores and online.

Make a warm scarf or a pair of mittens for our unhoused neighbours

Please see the attached file: Stewardship Update

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