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The Second Sunday of LentSunday 25th February 2024 First reading and Psalm Second reading Gospel Reading |
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Kid's Church - our Lenten journey continuesSunday February 25th 2024 During Lent in kid's church we will be talking about things we can do to build up and nurture our community and our world. The focus this week will be social and racial justice. |
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Sunday morning coffee hourPlease join us for coffee and a chat after the 10am service |
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A Message from the Altar GuildPlease help keep your church clean & tidy!! "The Altar Guild reminds everyone to not use the prayer book holders on the back of the pews as a place to dispose of garbage or store items. Every week we have to clean out used tissues - which is…well…yucky
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~ WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR PARISH ~
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Healing Service
A simple healing service will be held on the 3rd Sunday of Lent (Mar 3) during the 10am service. This is a familiar practice at St. Augustines that involves a simple litany of prayer and an invitation to receive anointing with oil. You may come forward for yourself or on behalf of another as we ask God's presence, grace, and renewal. |
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St A's Trivia
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What is a Leap Year?
Simply put, a leap year is a year with an extra day—February 29, which is known as the 'leap day'—added nearly every four years to the calendar year. While an ordinary year has 365 days, a leap year has 366 days. Occurrence of the leap year after every four years, makes the leap year divisible by 4. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit the sun in precisely 365 days; the Earth's orbit around the Sun is approximately 365.25 days. Adding an extra day every four years keeps our calendar aligned correctly with the astronomical seasons. Without this extra day, our calendar and the seasons would gradually get out of sync. Here are the rules of leap years:
If a year satisfies both the rules above, it is a leap year. The term leap year probably comes from the fact that a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar normally advances one day of the week from one year to the next, but the day of the week in the 12 months following the leap day (from 1 March through 28 February of the following year) will advance two days due to the extra day, thus leaping over one day in the week. For example, Christmas Day (25 December) fell on a Friday in 2020, Saturday in 2021, Sunday in 2022, and Monday in 2023, but then will "leap" over Tuesday to fall on a Wednesday in 2024.
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Leap Year TraditionsQUIRKY LEAP YEAR CUSTOMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD When something only comes around once every four years, it's bound to be associated with some weird and wild superstitions, beliefs, and traditions. In the case of leap day, these often—though not always—have to do with marriage proposals, specifically ones in which women are the ones popping the question. With that in mind, here are some of the oddest leap year traditions and quirky customs from around the world. The 29th Feb is a day when it's decreed that women can propose to their partners. While the notion that it is the man's role to propose is outdated, many still choose to follow that tradition. It's said to be an Irish custom that, according to legend, dates back to the 5th century. The story goes that Saint Brigid of Kildare thought that many women had to wait too long for a proposal. She agreed with Saint Patrick that women could take matters into their own hands, they were given one day—leap day—every four years to propose, this is known as Ladies' Privilege. 1. In Scotland, women must wear a red petticoat when proposing on leap day. 2. Turning down a leap day proposal could prove costly in Ireland In the birthplace of the leap day proposal – where the 29th is also known as Bachelor's Day – a refusal could be expensive. Historically, if the proposal was refused, the woman would have to be given a gift to compensate for the disappointment. This was said to be in the form of gloves, a silk gown or a fur coat. 2. In Denmark, if a man refuses a proposal, he must buy the woman 12 gloves. Many claim that Queen Margaret of Scotland passed a law in 1288 requiring the men who refused a proposal to pay a fine. In Denmark, that fine was 12 gloves, meant to be sufficient enough for that woman to hide the lack of an engagement ring on her finger. 3. In Germany, girls leave a tree decorated with ribbons at the home of their crush. In Germany, on the eve of the spring holiday May Day, it is tradition for a young boy to sneak out in the middle of the night to leave a small birch tree covered in ribbons—also known as a Liebesmaie—on the doorstep of the home of the girl he loves. When it's a leap year, however, things switch up and the girls in Germany have the opportunity to leave a decorated birch tree on their crush's doorstep. 4. A married daughter in Taiwan is expected to bring pig trotter noodles to her parents. Taiwan, on the other hand, doesn't focus on romantic relationships when it comes to leap year traditions. Their's is based around parents, instead. In Taiwan it is customary for married daughters to return home during the leap-year month to offer pig trotter noodles to their parents. Why? Apparently this wishes them "good health and fortune." 5. A newspaper in France only gets published once every leap year. La Bougie du Sapeur is a comical French newspaper that was first published in 1980, and only publishes once every four years—making it the least frequently published newspaper of all time. The name translates to "sapper's candle," which comes from an old French comic book character who was born on leap day. According to NPR, the paper sells around 150,000 copies every time it's published, surpassing most of the daily newspapers in France. 6. Avoid getting married or divorced in a leap year in Greece According to superstition, couples that get married in a leap year are more likely to divorce. Plus those that get divorced in a leap year are said not to find happiness for the rest of their lives. 7. Babies born on leap day immediately become members of an exclusive club. When you are born on February 29, you automatically get entered into an exclusive club that only consists of those born on leap day. The Honour Society of Leap Year Babies, which got its start in 1997, connects through Facebook and even sends out leap day news and events.
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Fundraising at St A's 2024
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Buy a light; buy a table!
Our Annex is becoming a new thing. Jodi's epic work this Summer and now a fresh coat of paint in the lower space as St. Olga's begins to make use of it on Sundays. Our growing vision for that lower space is to create a cafe-style environment where the local community can gather for coffee and connection. To start, this will only be once a week with very basic coffee and maybe a few treats (Let Jonathan know if you are interested in helping with this!) To really set the space off we need some square tables for the space and upgraded lighting from the bare-bulbs that are currently there. (There are lots of chairs there already) Would you consider donating? Light the Annex - $100/light (10 needed) (donations in the plate, on Tithe.ly, or e-transfer available to office@staugustinesedmonton.com) For more infomation visit: http://staugustinesedmonton.com/news/buy-a-light-buy-a-table
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Looking Forward at St A's & in Our Community
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Event at our Local Library
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at St A's
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A new addition to our congregation!!Nicholas David Moreau - a son for Caitlin & Dustin On November 4th Caitlin and Dustin became a family of three with the arrival of their son Nico. He weighed in at a healthy 9lbs 1 oz. All at St A's are happy to welcome him into our family as well!! |
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AGM Minutes
Please find below the minutes of our AGM this February 11th, 2024. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and to Christa for typing everything up!
For more infomation visit:
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New Ways to Serve At St. A's
Church is an experience of diversity in community. We are different personalities, strengths, weaknesses, histories, cultures, and so on. Throughout the Bible we see a focus on living within our giftings - our strengths, passions, abilities, and spiritual vocations. Diversity is not downplayed, but celebrated. Our new governance model (focussed on at our recent AGM) highlights some new focusses in the parish: -A liturgy circle: worship and teaching. -An administration circle: loving the practical details with sub groups of building, finance, and so on. -A harmony circle: considering how we and all our renting groups are connected and share in purpose together. We are also looking for a volunteer coordinator to help caring for our people power. If you feel your gifting fits especially in any of these circles, or roles please let Jonathan know! To see the new governance structure, please see the attached document:
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Building Things!Echo-reducing, wall-refreshing, space-redeeming The buzz was in the air to tie up a few post-Christmas jobs this last month. The last of the echo-reducing sound baffles got installed in the lower hall just in time for a successful test at the Altar Guild's pancake dinner. The word? The word is a little easier to hear! Try for yourself - that room has gone from yelling to make yourself heard to 80 people being able to enjoy conversation over dinner at a much more enjoyable level. This is part of a church project to give that room a re-fresh, make it more rentable, and in the mean time, more enjoyable for all our church uses. Across the sidewalk, we have welcomed St. Olga's congregation who enjoy a meal together after worship. This has ushered in a few fix-ups and paint-ups in the lower space of the Annex. In short, the whole room from top to bottom has been painted, and some ceiling issues have been remedied to make the space more enjoyable. St. Olga's folks had given the kitchen a good scrub already and so the cabinets in the kitchen got painted too. Great thanks the whole Yeo family, who have been in the background organizing contractors and helping get all the little bits done and ready. Jordan led the sound baffle project and Randy and Rita organized the final baffle installation and painting in the Annex.
For more infomation visit:
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Later this year ...
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Sunday May 19th, our celebration of Pentecost, will be a big Sunday this year!!Note date correction! We welcome Bishop Steve on May 19th this year to celebrate Confirmation, Baptism, and Anglican Reception. Confirmation for baptized people is a chance to receive a simple prayer that the Spirit be present and released in your life. Confirmation is an adult reception of baptism and is associated with several sessions of preparation that cover our way of Christian life in the world. In confirmation, the bishop lays hands on the head of each candidate and prays for them. Jonathan would like to provide mentors for each candidate for confirmation to support them in prayer and conversation. Baptism is our simple entry into Christian faith for people of any age who have not been baptized before. As we receive baptism in water and in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and are marked with chrism (blessed, fragrant oil), we offer ourselves to receive the love and promises of God and to join the church as the family of faith. Baptism is not about what we know, but about the direction we set ourselves towards in life. Anglican Reception is by no means a requirement or even an encouragement for members of St. A’s. However, sometimes we feel we want to ‘plant down’ and say we are ‘here.’ If any of these ceremonies catch your attention, please let Rev. Jonathan know. Preparation for confirmation will begin in Lent and baptismal preparation in May. Jonathan will need some confirmation mentors as well. For more infomation visit:
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Every Week at St A's
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HANLEY HOME GROUPMeet every Monday, except holidays, at 6.45pm 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 entertain them! Just a reminder that the group will run Monday evenings 6:45-8:15pm at 10735 52 Street. |
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GATHER ‘ROUND THE KITCHEN TABLEThursday afternoons 1.30pm - 2.45pm via Zoom These cold winter afternoons give us a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a relaxing time ofconversation with friends. This session we will focus on a another one of Rev. Dr. BarbaraBrown Taylor’s well-known books. Holy Envy is filled with warmth and humour as Taylorrecounts her experiences of discovering the sacred in unexpected places while teaching the aWorld Religions course to undergraduates in rural Georgia. Her deep and reflective thoughtsreveal how God delights in confounding her expectations! We will also include material from other sources to add richness to our conversation. So bring your coffee and gather around the (virtual) kitchen table or perhaps just settle Please feel free to invite a friend to join us I'm looking forward to seeing you all each week. Anne |
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WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHARING CIRCLEContinuing with 'Finding God in the Mess' 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.
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Update your InformationSo you stay in the loop!! 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.
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~ Ways to Connect ~
Administration, address updates, etc: Cheryl at office@staugustinesedmonton.com, 780-466-5532 Financial and giving: Cheryl at treasurer@staugustinesedmonton.com Pastoral, worship, spiritual: Rev. Jonathan at rector@staugustinesedmonton.com or text/call 780-619-3170 (text prefered). Jonathan's day off is Monday, but he his always available for an emergency pastoral need at the above number. Children's ministry: Simone at kids@staugustinesedmonton.com Music & youth: Megan at megl_miller@yahoo.com |