Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Kitchen Party - Parish Fundraiser

There was great fun and cheer had at the St. Luke's Kitchen Party the other evening. 



Advent Wreath

     The Advent wreath, or Advent crown, is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western church. The Advent Wreath is traditionally a Lutheran practice, albeit it has spread to many other Christian denominations.         
     It is usually a horizontal evergreen wreath with four candles and often, a fifth, white candle in the center. Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, the lighting of a candle can be accompanied by a Bible reading and prayers. An additional candle is lit during each subsequent week until, by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four candles are lit. Many Advent wreaths include a fifth, Christ candle which is lit at Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
     The custom is observed both in family settings and at public church services.



First Advent Candle - Hope

Second Advent Candle - Love

Third Advent Candle - Joy

Fourth Advent Candle - Peace

Fifth Advent Candle - Christ's Birth

Gifts for Mission - 2011/2012 Guide

Gifts for Mission: Your 2011/2012 guide to supporting the ministries

of the Anglican Church of Canada at home and around the world.

Below is a sample page from this years guide.

The Jesse Tree - An Advent Tradition

On Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent, Janet asked the children to help her place eight new symbols c/w story on the Jesse Tree.



Above Image cf. Google Images

The following is from the Parish Bulletin - Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011: 
     The Jesse Tree and its symbols help us remember and reflect on who we are as Christians.  For each day of Advent stories from the history of God's people are told covering the time period from the story of Creation to the story of the birth of Christ.  Each story is marked by a symbol and that symbol is place on a tree - the Jesse Tree - which represents the line of descendants from Jesse, the father of David to Jesus, the Messiah.  The symbols help us to think about our history as the people of God.  As we wait for the second coming of Jesus we remember how the birth of Jesus brought hope and love into the world according to God's promise. 

The following information comes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Jesse

     The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the Ancestors of Christ, shown in a tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David; the original use of the family tree as a schematic representation of a genealogy. It originates in a passage in the Biblical Book of Isaiah which describes metaphorically the descent of the Messiah, and is accepted by Christians as referring to Jesus. The subject is often seen in Christian art, particularly in that of the Medieval period. The earliest example dates from the 11th century.

     The passage in Isaiah, 11:1 is: "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.   In the Latin Vulgate Bible used in the Middle Ages this was: "et egredietur virga de radice Iesse et flos de radice eius ascendet " or ".. a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up...".   Flos, pl floris is Latin for flower. Virga is a "green twig", "rod" or "broom", as well as a convenient near-pun with Virgo or Virgin, which undoubtedly influenced the development of the image. Thus Jesus is the Virga Jesse or "shoot of Jesse".
     In the New Testament the lineage of Jesus is traced by two of the Gospel writers, Matthew and Luke. Luke describes the "generations of Christ" in Chapter 3 of Luke's Gospel, beginning with Jesus himself and tracing backwards through his "earthly father" Joseph all the way to Adam.
     Matthew's Gospel opens with the words: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham".  With this beginning Matthew makes clear Jesus' whole lineage: He is of God's chosen people, by his descent from Abraham, and he is the "shoot of Jesse" by his descent from Jesse's son, King David.   The figures shown are drawn from the genealogies in the Gospels, usually showing only a selection.

35th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in Canada

On St. Andrew's Day, November 30, 2011 marks the 35th Anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in our Anglican Church of Canada. Lutherans mark this anniversary too.  Women Anglican and Lutherann priests from across Canada are invited to a time of celebreation, reconnection, sharing stories, renewing baptismal and ordination vows, and a variety of workshops to equip us in future ministry.   Details: Wednesday, November 30th 7:00 p.m. St. John's Anglican Church, Lunenburg   Anniversary Service Celebrant: The Right Rev. Sue Moxley, Bishop, Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island Preacher: The Right Rev. Elaine Sauer, Bishop, Manitoba & Northwestern Ontario, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada Keynote Speaker The Rev. Dr. Eileen Scully, Interim Director, Faith, Worship & Ministry, Anglican Church of Canada.   Workshops: Clergy Moms: A Balancing Act; Story Telling for the Soul; Making a Joyful Noise: Composing music for the 21st Century; Visual Prayer; Equipping Clergy; Ordination: A Scriptural reflection Using Our Senses; Shaping Images of Self & Others in Women's Ministry: Symbol & Image Creation with Felt & Wool. The Above information from: http://www.nspeidiocese.ca/35thAOWP.htm Here's a link to the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/35th-Anniversary-of-the-Ordination-of-Women-Priests-in-Canada/155108777857318 CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!! The following comes from The Diocesan Times:  http://www.nspeidiocese.ca/times/2007/DT%20Feb%2007WEB.pdf  Fire in the deep water, fire in the deepest heart      The “Living Prayer Blanket” which was made into an altar cloth by the women who attended the 30th Anniversary. Squares came from individual clergy who made them from such things as stoles, clergy shirts, items/materials that are of importance in their ministry. Standing behind the altar are: Revs Heather Hamilin-Gravels, Lorraine Quin, Fran Boutilier, Evelyn Knorr, Jane Clattenburg and Bonnie Leblanc(NB).       Imagine 70 women (women priests that is) gathered together at one time, in one place, voices raised in prayer, song, and worship, in remembering and sharing, in laughter and tears and in looking back, but always looking forward.      What an experience! The reason for the gathering was to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in our Anglican Church of Canada.      The Gathering began on Tuesday, November 28th across Canada as women met in airport lounges to take flights to Kelowna, B.C. and then a bus trip to orrento Retreat Centre on the Shuswap Lake. During our travels older friendships were rejuvenated and new friendships quickly emerged.      These friendships bonded during our three days together –from our warm welcome to Sorrento –to the snow and cold (-18!) – to our wonderful send off early Friday morning, December 1st. The “in between time” was spent in the warm comfortable atmosphere and beautiful surroundings of Sorrento Centre. From our Wednesday morning Eucharist, celebrated by Rev. Patricia Reid, ordained November 30, 1976, to our sharing circles of our personal journeys and experiences , to the wise words of Bishop Anne Tottenham –“Our identity as priests, as women”, to Bishop Victoria Matthew’s challenge to us in “rekindling our passion for ministry” and in remembering as offered by Rev. Margaret Waterchief “honoring those who led the way”, our time together was spirit filled and life giving, truly, fire in our deepest hearts! And, just when we felt nurtured, restored and rejuvenated we took part in another life giving experience! On Thursday, November 30th, St. Andrew’s Day, the actual 30th Anniversary of the first six ordinations we traveled to St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kamloops where we were warmly and graciously welcomed by the Cathedral congregation who had decorated the Church and Hall with banners depicting our celebration and served us a delicious turkey dinner. Following dinner we joined with the congregation in a Eucharist Service of Celebration with renewal of our Baptismal and Ordination vows. Each of us from our Diocese, Jane Clattenburg, Evelyn Knorr, Heather Hamlin-Gravells, Lorraine Quinn and Frances Boutilier came away with our own reflections of this experience of “fire in our deepest hearts”  knowing that in our own faith and life journeys we are where God calls us to be! Or as one colleague shared her reflection with us: “Fire in our deepest hearts” – the water of our birth/baptism/tears does not extinguish the fire but feeds it.      May God continue to feed the fire and to enable me to explore ways of helping to connect a hurting and broken world with the love of God. Like the bush of Moses’ experience, the fire burns but does not consume.”      Now we look forward to the 35th Anniversary Celebration in 2011, to be hosted in our diocese!

Hallelujah, by Kelley Mooney

Last evening we saw P.E.I.'s Kelley Mooney at the Dundee Arms Pub in Charlottetown.  Kelley wrote her own spiritual words to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and sang it last evening - powerful!!  Check it out on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guhr0Vh2hE0