Notices for the Week of October 1st - 7th
St. Helen’s Anglican Church
Notices for the Week of October 1st – 7th
Our Third Annual Pie Sale will be held after church on Sunday, October 1st. Of course, we want you to buy pies but we really need people to make them. Please get out your rolling pin and get to work. Thanks everyone.
Run for the Cure - Please Pray For Wendy and Peter Russell who are taking part in the ‘Run for the Cure’, today.
Decorating the Church for Harvest – We would like to have a great deal of produce – fruits and vegetables to decorate the Sanctuary, around the Rood Screen and around the Baptismal font for our Harvest Thanksgiving. Everything is welcome, sacks of potatoes, bushels of apples, grapes etc. Even bales of Hay would be very welcome. Use your imagination and let us see just how generous we can be as God has been generous with us. Bring it all along and we will see how we can fill this barn of a church building. We will be able to give it all way to the Surrey Urban Mission and the Surrey Food Bank afterwards. Time will be settled next week.
October Lunch Bunch – will take place on Tuesday, Oct 3rd, in the Upper Hall, beginning at 11:45am. All are welcome. Cost is $6.00. There will be plenty of fellowship, so please do join us for this relaxing luncheon. Confirmation you are coming would be appreciated. Please be in touch with Jos Laskey 604-219-0879 or email her at ladarnetal@outlook.com
St. Helen’s International Dinner - October 28th
Set the date aside for this International Dinner featuring some favourite dishes representing various cultures of our parish of St. Helen’s will take place that evening. Besides the dinner there will be some entertainment, a raffle, and an auction of services. Tickets will be available next week. This will be held in the upper hall and planned to be a fun, light hearted, fundraising event. Tickets are $15 and we would like to sell a minimum of 120 tickets. Please see Fil Sotana today to put your name down for tickets. This is a great opportunity to invite family and friends. Perhaps you would like to make arrangements to fill a table.
Perfumes and Scents in the Church and Parish Hall – In recent years we have all heard of the problems associated with breathing and the triggers that cause people real difficulties. 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 become can become severely restricted. This, of course, is quite serious, very scary, and can easily lead to a medical emergency. It has nothing to do with disliking a particular fragrance or scent. The church council discussed this concern at its meeting on September 19th. The result is that the council is requesting 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.
Jam time - Don’t forget our Christmas Bazaar will be held on Nov 25th. It may seem like a long way off but time has this habit of whipping by! Now is not too soon to begin preparations. With all the wonderful fruits and vegetables in season please think of the pantry stall. Jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, chutneys etc. are all needed and welcomed. Thank you! If you have jars or need jars speak to Jacquie Stinson (604-517-4661)
Forthcoming Dates for St. Helen’s
Tuesday, Oct 3 – Lunch Bunch meets in the upper hall 11:45am
Sunday, Oct. 8 – Harvest Thanksgiving Festival at 10am
Saturday, Oct. 28 – International Dinner
Sunday, November 5 – All Saints Sunday
Tuesday, November 7 – Lunch Bunch
Sunday, November 12 – Remembrance Sunday
with Trumpet for Last Post and Reveille
Saturday, November 18 – Possible Concert featuring our Organist
Our Organist, Mr. Matthew Ma with a guest Soprano
Saturday, November 25 – Christmas Bazaar
Sunday, November 26 – Reign of Christ Sunday
Readings for Next Sunday, October 8th – Harvest
Deuteronomy 26:1-11,
Psalm 100;
Philippians 4:4-9;
John 6:25-35
Other Holy Days and Commemorations this Week
Francis of Assisi 4 October-Friar, 1226 — Memorial
Today we celebrate Francis of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian whose greatest honour was to be known as il Poverello, “the little poor one of Christ.” He grew up in a very wealthy family and seemed to have not ancare in the world until he was twenty years old, when a chance encounter with a leper left him appalled by his own uselessness. Soon afterwards he heard Jesus speaking to him from a painting of the crucifixion over the altar of a local church. He threw away his wardrobe and renounced his father’s wealth in order to care for the poor and the crippled. In 1208 he heard the ommission which the risen Lord gave to his apostles, “Go, make all nations my disciples,” and knew that it was also addressed to him. Francis began to train his followers for the task of making Jesus truly known and loved among the ordinary people of Italy. Out of this movement developed the Order of the Lesser Brethren, commonly called the Franciscans. Francis cared deeply for his new Order, but he also grew restless as it became an established institution of the Church. He distanced himself from its day-to-day life and eventually went his own way as he strove to imitate Christ’s total obedience to God. Two years before his death he was granted a sign which manifested this desire. One September day in 1224, he had a vision of the Crucified borne on the wings of a seraph. As the vision withdrew, the wounds of Jesus appeared in Francis’s own flesh — the scars like nail-wounds on his hands and feet, and in his right side a scar like a spear-wound. These marks, called the stigmata, remained on Francis’s body until his death two years later.
Biographies and info regarding Holy Days and Commemorations come from the book ‘For All the Saints’ published by the Anglican Church of Canada. The book may be viewed freely in pdf format on the ACC website at: www.anglican.ca/about/liturgicaltexts Then click on: For all the Saints
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken - A few notes…
John Newton (17251807), the author of "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," was among the most influential Evangelical Anglicans of his day. A contemporary of the Wesleys, Newton learned the Bible at his mother's knee but abandoned the faith and opted for the life of a sailor. After many adventures in Africa, he experienced a profound conversion, was ordained an Anglican priest, and accepted a curacy at Olney (1764). There Newton wrote hymns and enjoyed the friendship of the troubled but brilliant hymn writer and poet, William Cowper. In 1779, Newton and Cowper published some of their hymns in Olney Hymns; included was "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" Newton built this hymn around seven biblical passages. It quickly gained popularity wherever English-language hymns were sung. The wide circulation of his autobiography detailing his sins as a slave trader and his dramatic conversion enhanced Newton's popularity as a hymn writer. Gifted with rich imagination and a thorough knowledge of scripture, this author of "Amazing Grace" and "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds" helped introduce the singing of hymns into Anglican parish practice. Not many hymns, by virtue of their composition alone, command such power and strength as “Glorious things of thee are spoken.” There is an inherent strength in the structure, text, and scriptural images that, were this a modern day film, would make for the best in dramatic productions. Newton himself later described the publication as “a monument, to perpetuate the remembrance of an intimate and endeared friendship.” Zion, the city of God, is the center of this hymn. The site of the Jebusite fortress taken by King David in 2 Samuel 5, it has long been an important symbol of the strength and identity of Jerusalem. One of the richest images that comes from this location is the life-giving water from the Gihon Spring, an intermittent spring that promised fresh water for ancient settlers of Jerusalem. From the beginning of its history within Judeo-Christian traditions to the hope of the glory of the new Jerusalem, Zion has been a place of promise and has found its way into many songs and liturgical practices of the church.