Good day,

Well, there aren’t any events this week as people are busy gearing up for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning worship services.  If you’re thinking of visiting parishioners in retirement homes and long term care facilities, I think that’s a wonderful idea. You may want to check in with your incumbent to find out when he/she is going and tag along. I’ll be doing a worship service at Great Northern 2pm Tuesday, Dec.17, and a visit to Pathways at about 3:15pm that day. On Wednesday, I’m heading to the Davey Home at 1pm, Thursday at 10:30am is a worship service at Mapleview, Friday at 10:30 is a worship service at Collegiate Heights, and somewhere in there I will be visiting at VanDaele as well. Feel free to join me…

A Liturgical Note For You:

The Advent Ember Days occur this week.  Need a reminder on what Ember Days are?  Ember Days are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of certain weeks through the Christian year – traditionally at the turn of the four seasons (so…during the 3rd week of Advent, the week of the first Sunday in Lent, the week after the Day of Pentecost, and the week after Holy Cross Day).  According to McCausland’s Order of Divine Service, these are days on which the church engages “in intentional and deep prayer for its whole ministry: for the mission of the Church, for the ministry of the Church, for peace, and for the unity of the Church.”  Okay, so if they occur at the “turn of the season” then why do Advent’s Ember Days happen during the third week of the Advent Season?  Well, this week does indeed correspond closely with the beginning of the winter season in our neck of the woods (although it has looked and felt like winter for a few weeks already).  Clearly, these particular days of observance are based on a western (northern hemisphere) sort of Christian experience with seasons.  

Anyway, this is also the exciting time of Advent when the Church liturgy and mind set takes a turn as well…we begin to look forward with greater focus and longing to the incarnation of the Saviour – beginning especially on December 17 (the octave before Christmas).  This is the time when the Church makes use of the Ancient Advent “O” Antiphons – the refrains that were sung (one per day) at the beginning and ending of The Magnificat at Evening Prayer.  We use these antiphons daily – or at least each Sunday – throughout all of Advent (They are the Prayers of the People in Advent in the BAS). They are a powerfully transforming reminder that our God has many names by which we acknowledge God’s saving activity in our Great Story of Salvation – a very good reason why they are in our prayer book. 🙂

For Your Devotions:

There actually aren’t any calendar observances but I noticed that the Anglican Church calendar has put Simon Gibbons on this Friday. He would have been acknowledged yesterday (the 15th) if it had not been a Sunday. Here’s the information for Simon:

December 15^th is the commemoration of Simon Gibbons, First Priest from the Inuit, 1896. Simon was left an orphan at the tender age of six and spent the rest of his youth being cared for in an Anglican orphanage in Newfoundland. There he was educated and encouraged to seek ordination. He spent his first years as an Anglican presbyter as a missionary – regularly making the arduous 100 mile circuit – even during the frozen depths of winter – to hold services in isolated communities. Despite exhaustion and personal danger, Simon was always joyful in his service to the Lord.  These physically strenuous years took their toll on his health and he died at just 46 years of age.  To read more about this amazing individual, check out p.374 here: http://c2892002f453b41e8581-48246336d122ce2b0bccb7a98e224e96.r74.cf2.rackcdn.com/ForAlltheSaints.pdf

In the hope of Christ,

Susan