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Tonight!!! Lessons and Carols for Advent & Christmas – Our Multicultural Service will take place tonight, December 10th at 7pm. This is a wonderful service to invite friends and family. Do come along and bring a gang with you. There will be hot chocolate served afterwards.  

The Path to Christmas – This year, as a part of our Christmas preparations and celebrations we are having 4 stopping places made on a path on the north side of the church. There will be a lighted walkway to follow as pilgrims make their journey through the Christmas Story. The journey ends upon entering the stable door (main door of the church) to find the Christ Child. The church will be alight with candles. The sound of Christmas Carols will welcome all who enter, and hot chocolate will be served.  

Many Thanks go to Many People this Week
To Jose Gedalanga, Demosthenes Sotana, and Leo Sotana for the work they are doing on building the huts for the Christmas Path. Thanks to Bob Desaulniers and Dick’s Lumber who have provided most of the materials for building the huts.
To William Lah and Pray for putting up the first Christmas lights in the Holly Trees and the entrance way of the church
To Les Foulds and Roy Francis for the work that has been done to repair a leak in the church roof in the vestry area. Thank you to them as well for reframing the stable door, putting out the image of the Annunciation, and the image of Mary and Joseph with the donkey.
To Wendy Russell for making the arrangements for the trimming of the Holly Trees  

Outdoor Christmas Lights - If you would like to make a contribution toward the cost of the Christmas Lights to light our ‘Pathway to Christmas’, please speak with one of the wardens, Fil Sotana or Jacquie Stinson.  

Today is Food Bank Sunday! On the second Sunday of every month we ask everyone to make a special effort to bring along a non-perishable, long-dated items for the food bank.  

Lunch Bunch Christmas Turkey Luncheon will be on Dec 12th. We will meet at 11:30 with lunch being served at noon. This will be taking place at Faye’s Restaurant, 7380 King George Blvd #600, Surrey, BC V3W 5A5. Deadline for monies to be received is Sunday, December 10th. Please see Joan Hnedish if you wish to go.  

PWRDF – Next Sunday, December 17th, our PWRDF parish representative, Paulette Smith, will make an appeal to the congregation for a special contribution to a PWRDF for Advent. Donations to PWRDF of $20 or more will be receipted for income tax purpose.  

Christmas Flowers Donations are now being received for the Christmas flowers given in memory of a loved one or in thanksgiving. As a gauge for what your offering might be, each poinsettia plant costs about $25. Please make your Christmas Flower offering in a separate envelope and place it in the offering.    

Perfumes and Scents in the Church and Parish Hall We have all heard of the problems associated with breathing and the triggers that cause people real difficulties for breathing. In the last year, a number of parishioners have approached the wardens and rector in reference to their own difficulty breathing. The difficulty comes when members of the congregation, including both men and women, are wearing scents, colognes, and perfumes to church and other events in the parish hall. For some people, the throat begins to close or constrict and breathing can become severely restricted. This, of course, is quite serious, very scary, and can easily lead to a medical emergency.   It is important to understand that this has nothing to do with disliking a particular fragrance or scent. The church council requests members of the congregation, of their own volition, to refrain from using perfumes, colognes, and scents so that others who are easily affected may breathe easy. We hope everyone will be understanding of this.  

Forthcoming Dates for St. Helen’s
December 12 –Lunch Bunch meets at Faye’s Restaurant (see notice)
December 16 – 3pm Trinity School, Kandi, Sri Lanka, Carol Service
December 21st –1pm Celebration of Life Service for Beverly Seidler  
December 24th is both Advent 4 & Christmas Eve
Please remember the 4th Sunday of Advent is the morning of December 24th. We will have our usual Sunday service at 10am.
Christmas Eve Services – 7pm and 11pm
Christmas Day Service – 10am  

Readings for Next Sunday, December 17th – Advent 3
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11;
Luke 1:46b-55 (Canticle);
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24;
John 1:6-8, 19-28    

Holy Days and Commemoration of the Week Simon Gibbons 15 December - First Priest from the Inuit, 1896 On this day we commemorate Simon Gibbons, who was the first of the Inuit nation to be ordained as an Anglican priest and whose ministry in the diocese of Nova Scotia gave the rest of our Church a wonderful example of vitality. He was born in Labrador, the son of a white settler and an Innu mother. Both of his parents died before he was six years old, and he was placed in an Anglican orphanage in Newfoundland. The Church nurtured his intelligence, and he was encouraged to train for ordination. He eventually went to King’s College in Nova Scotia, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1878. Gibbons began his ministry as a travelling missionary in Cape Breton and laboured in conditions which taxed his physical endurance to the limit. He regularly walked a hundred-mile circuit to conduct services in isolated communities. He made his rounds even in the depths of winter, just to bring the comfort of Christ to the sick and dying; and in so doing he risked his life in blizzards or while crossing inlets whose frozen surfaces often gave way beneath his feet. Yet in all his exertions, despite fatigue, pain, and danger, Gibbons never failed in joy or in his ability to communicate the gladness of his service to the people he visited. After seven years in this work he was appointed rector of Lockport; in 1888 he moved to the mainland parish of Parrsboro. In both parishes he supervised building campaigns and joined in the manual labour of raising the church frames, nailing the clapboards, putting in the windows, and moving the furniture into place. But it soon became clear that the strain of his earlier ministry had destroyed his physical resilience, and though his spiritual joy was unabated, his health steadily declined. He died at the age of forty-six on this date in 1896.  

Advent Stopping Places on the Way to Christmas As you all know we are setting up a path with a number of stopping places that share the story of Christmas. A lot of work has been done to prepare the huts to tell the story. We will be working hard on it all this week as well.   We hope there will be a lot of support from the congregation to come along and participate, to invite friends and family, and even take a part and help in hosting one evening when the lights are on as people make the journey. The journey ends inside the church where people will be welcomed. There will be carols playing and hot chocolate served. Please speak with Father Steve, our rector if you are able to help or would like to help in any way. This is a great opportunity to reach out to the community.   The first night will be Saturday, December 16th immediately following the Trinity School, Kandi, Sri Lanka Carol Service We expect to have the trail and the church open from Sunday, December 17th Saturday, December 23rd for walking the trail and welcoming pilgrims into the church.                       

Advent: A Time to Ready Your Heart