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Notices for the Week: Nov 20th – Nov 26th

Tuesday
Songs of Praise in the Church at 7:00pm

Friday
Bazaar set up in Upper hall starting at 2:00pm

Saturday
Bazaar! Doors opening to the public at 10:00 am  

Bottle Drive next Sunday Kelly & Les will be delivering all our deposit recyclables to the recycling depot. Please bring in all yours to go. They need to be left outside the lower hall door before or immediately after the service please.  

Words and Music for Advent and Christmas Last year we had a wonderful response to this service that featured readings and carols sung in a variety of languages of our congregational members.  On Sunday evening, December 4th, we will pray together in word and music as we enter the Advent season to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ Child.  We would like to include as many of the languages of those who call St. Helen’s their spiritual home as we reasonably can on that evening.  If you would like to participate, please speak with Father Steve, our choir director, Lynn Turner, or one of the wardens.  

Lunch Bunch Our lunch in December will be on Monday Dec. 5th at the ABC Restaurant, 15373 Fraser Hwy at 11:30am. Lunch at 12 noon, cost will be $18.00 which includes Turkey Dinner, desert, coffee or tea, gratuity & tax. (The price of the Dinner is gone up to $20.00 and the difference will be paid out of the Lunch Bunch money.) We need to know how many are coming by Nov.27. If attending, please put your money in an envelope with the correct amount and your name on it. Envelope to be given to Joan Hnedish or Pat Nociar.  

ACW SW Fraser Area Meeting:  Many thanks to all the ladies who attended the Area Meeting on Tuesday, November 15.  Our ACW gave a warm welcome to the Diocesan Board, the Rev. Sue Foley-Currie, and other ACW members from Surrey, Langley, Delta and Abbotsford.  As guest speaker, The Most Rev’d. Archbishop Douglas Hambidge was very complimentary of the role women have played in the church and encouraged us to continue doing so as we look to the future.  As always, he shared a few humorous anecdotes from his experiences in BC and worldwide.  His wife, Denise, and Ann Popple also joined us.   

2017 Church Calendars:  are available NOW!  The Anglican and Lutheran churches have worked together to produce this expression of their joint commitment to living out God’s mission in the world.  The format allows lots of space for recording your busy schedules.  They cost $7.00 each and available from Jos Laskey.  Only 50 are available.      

Mission, Ministry, and Outreach Working Group – In order to build on our work in and around the community, it is important for St. Helen’s to have a small working group to keep us up to date on the needs of the community.  This team of people would be able to see how our faith community could be of help in the neighbourhood.  Are you interested in working on such task group?  It is a great way of turning our prayers into action.  Please speak with Father Steve or one of the wardens.  

Surrey Urban Mission – As a follow-up from SUM, Mike Musgrove the executive director has highlighted a few immediate needs:  1/Are you able to help with pick up and deliveries, especially a Cobb’s Bread pick up on Monday nights. This requires a SUV, mini van or a pickup and can be done on a rotating schedule. 2/Volunteers on Tuesdays to lovingly interact with our guests and help with lunch service. Perhaps a group of folks that could come in and just sit, share lunch with our guests and hear their stories once a week  3/Someone with a pickup truck who is available during the day, there are times we need to drive stuff to the dump.  

St. Helen’s Refugee Working Group – It has been a few years since our refugee committee has been in operation.  Now is a great time to re-establish this working group as we continue to wait for Esther from the refugee camp on the Burmese-Thai border.  If you are interested in being a part of this working group, please speak with Father Steve or one of the wardens.

Dates for Your Calendar
Nov 27 - 10am Advent Sunday
Dec 4 – 10am – Holy Eucharist – Advent 2              
             7pm – Words and Music for Advent and Christmas
Dec 5 – (Note: this is a Monday) Lunch Bunch meets at the ABC Restaurant
Dec 6 – 7pm Executive meets
Dec 11 – 10am – Holy Eucharist – Advent 3
Dec 13 – 7pm Parish Council
Dec 18 – 10am -Holy Eucharist – Advent 4 with Bishop Melissa visits the parish

Saints We Remember this Week
This week we remember two particular saints.  Saint Edmund, King of East Anglia (November 20th) who was martyred in the year 870AD.  Five years after Edmund began his reign Vikings attacked and mounted a huge raid upon his kingdom and shattered the East Anglian army in a single battle. Edmund himself was captured and brought before the Viking leader, who offered to spare the king’s life if he renounced the Christian faith. Edmund rejected the offer and confessed Christ before his captor. Tradition says that the Vikings tied him to a tree, scourged him brutally, then riddled him with arrows and finally beheaded him.  Once his murderers had departed, the East Anglians recovered the body of their king and eventually interred it with honour at the town of Bedricsworth, which ever since then has been called Bury St. Edmunds.  

St. Clement, Bishop of Rome (November 23) He is known to us as the author of a pastoral letter written around the year 96. He seems to have been a slave who adopted the name of his former master, Clemens, in gratitude for being granted his freedom. We do not know how or when he became a Christian, and though it is clear he rose to a position of leadership in the Roman church, we cannot be sure what office he held or what role he performed. One tradition lists him as the third bishop of Rome after St. Peter and says that he reigned between the years 90 and 100. But other evidence suggests that the church in first-century Rome was governed by a council of presbyters, not by a single bishop. In that case, Clement may have been the president of this council or simply the presbyter who acted as minister for relations with other churches. Whatever his office, he wrote a pastoral letter to the church at Corinth after a group of its junior clergy had convinced the rest of their community to depose its ruling council of presbyters. Clement wrote on behalf of the Roman church and castigated the rebels for their pride, then rebuked the entire community for letting partisan strife go so far. His argument does not follow a straight line, but instead presents a round of variations on the theme of pride and true humility, self-will and Christian obedience. He concluded with this advice: Is there anyone among you who has a noble mind, who is compassionate, who overflows with love? Let such a person say: “If I am the cause of any disorder, friction, or division among you, I will remove myself. I will go away, anywhere you wish, and I will do anything the congregation says — only let there be peace between Christ’s flock and their appointed presbyters.” Anyone who does this will earn a great name in Christ and be sure of a welcome anywhere, because “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”  

What can you do this week? Reflect on how you might be a witness for Christ and your faith this week in the face of those who would ridicule you.  Pray about who you may offer to God for the building up of God’s Kingdom particularly as it has to do with being at peace with our neighbours and especially with those who are a part of our faith community.