Good day,

Thursday, November 30 at St. Luke’s Cathedral, 10:30am: the annual ACW worship service marking St. Andrew’s day.

Pastie Luncheon & Silent Auction, Saturday, Dec.2, 11am-1:30pm at St. George in Echo Bay. Just $15 for adults!

Mon. Dec. 4, 9:30am free breakfast & speaker at St. George in Echo Bay (159 Church St.).  Yoga instructor, Ana Rawn, will be joining us to help us relax at this very busy time of year. Donations gratefully accepted for the local food bank.

At Zion Lutheran (corner of Upton and Wellington in the Soo): Bake Sale on Saturday, Dec.9, 10am-2pm – pulla, cookies, and cinnamon buns. Also, apparently Pastor Brad has a large collection of nativity scenes for you to see. 

Also at Zion Lutheran: Wednesday, Dec.13, 7pm is an Evening Prayer for Advent using Holden Evening Prayer. 

At St. Luke’s Cathedral: Let all mortal flesh keep silence, A Christmas Walk, Wednesday, December 20th, 2023, we still have spaces available at 5:30 pm.  6:15 pm.  7:45 pm.  (this is a link you can follow to get more info. Here it is with the url in case the one above doesn’t work for you: https://files.constantcontact.com/e2b1c2f5601/f49a2689-5ae3-41d6-92a0-f4dba46477b7.pdf?rdr=true)

A Liturgical Note For You:

Restorying the Church and our Worship through Advent: The reality for many devoted Christians is that we actually do not know our story of salvation very well and we have allowed mainstream thinking to distort or dilute our story. I was part of a group this past weekend who began the rediscovery of our story – who we are and why we are as Christians – that fuels our passion and ignites the desire within us to be this story and to share this story. Please take a few moments to watch this amazing video at the link here as a reminder of the difference it makes when we know the “why” of who we are as the body of Christ:

Throughout the year, I present liturgical notes to you from our authorized Anglican texts. I realize that some of the things I write are not the usual practice “on the ground” in our church buildings and, in some cases, things quite different from our authorized texts are employed in our liturgies. But why is it so important to get things right in our liturgies? The liturgical greats over the decades…Alexander Schmemann, Aidan Kavanagh, Rowan Williams, and lesser known, newer on the scene fonts of knowledge like Simon Chan and Juan Oliver…will all tell you the same thing: Bad liturgy = bad theology = unhealthy churches.  The opposite is, of course, true: our Anglican liturgies have been carefully put together to be transformational …they are dense with the theology that forms us as disciples of Christ (lex orandi, lex credendi: the law of what is prayed is the law of what is believed. In other words, we are what we pray). As Richard Giles has passed along from one of his mentors, well done liturgy “converts more people than many sermons” (p.25 of Here I Am Reflections on the Ordained Life). Liturgical greats may be more commonly referred to as liturgical grumps but, crucially, they point us to the knowledge and tools we need in order to experience the transformational power of our liturgies that arise from our scriptures and early Church life. Our liturgical calendar and authorized seasons place these liturgies within the unfolding drama of the gospel and what our lives mean when joined to Christ. Following our liturgical calendar thus shapes us according to the way of life in the kingdom of our Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer and Ruler. Our liturgies – when done well – form us in our story that is so crucial to our “why” as disciples of Christ. So, without further ado here is another tidbit about Advent Worship…

The Advent Wreath: Last time I mentioned the wreath, we talked about the fact that the Advent wreath is not meant to be the object of a little mini rite within our Sunday liturgical rite. The appropriate number of candles is to be lit before the service begins with no prayers, readings, or songs/hymns attached. In the church building, the wreath is a visual reminder of the season and something on which to focus as we pray.  All that we need to hear and know about each Sunday of Advent is already contained within our Sunday liturgy…in the prayers for the day, in the Prayers of the People, and in the songs/hymns we hear.  Want to read this for yourself? Check out p.152 of the 2023 McCausland’s or – even better – for a more detailed explanation, go to p.A34 here: https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/OccasionalCelebrations.pdf

 So what do the candles mean?  This may be disappointing for you but they are simply marking the passage of the weeks – an Advent calendar minus the chocolates – as we await the return of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.  We humans just can’t seem to resist attaching greater meaning to things like this so, over the years, various traditions have developed to explain each candle. One is: 1. the Patriarchs  2. the Prophets  3. John the Baptist and  4. the Virgin Mary.  Another one is: 1. Hope  2. Peace  3. Love  4. Joy.  Still another one is to combine those first two together (for example, lighting the candle of Love for the Virgin Mary).  

For Your Devotions:

Thursday, November 30th is the Holy Day of St. Andrew the Apostle. In Greek, Andrew’s name means “manly.” In the Synoptic Gospels, Andrew and his brother Peter were called to “fish for people.”  Legend has it that Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross which is why there is an ‘x’ on the Scottish flag since he is their patron saint. To read more:   https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Andrew

In the hope of Christ,

Susan