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Notices for the Week of December 1st - 8th  

The Lunch Bunch – meets this Tuesday at the Day and Knight Restaurant located on the West side of King George Blvd. just before 96th ave. as one travels south.  Everyone must have their money to Joan Hnedish by today.  

Parish Multicultural Carol Service – Next Sunday Night – Our Annual service will take place next Sunday, December 8th at 7pm.  Our service will feature people singing carols and reading the bible in their mother tongue.  This is a time to celebrate the many gifts and talents as well as the breadth of cultures that people have brought with them to St. Helen’s. In this we realize the all-encompassing love of God.  

Christmas Bazaar – Thank you to all the people who helped to make our Bazaar a successful event this year. The funds realized were approximately $4,850.   

2020 Church Calendars: Only 4 left!  Please see Pat Clegg today if you would like one.  Calendars are just $8 each.     

A Special Concert – This Friday! A fundraising concert to raise the final funds for the new sound system for St. Helen’s will be held this Friday December 6th, at 7pm in the church.  Saskia & Darrel Delaronde will be performing a special concert including the music of Christmas and other folk tunes and music from across the prairies, west coast, and Canada.  Tickets are $20 and are available after the service today  

Sound System – Update - We are expecting to have some wiring done late this week in preparation of our new sound system being installed.  The installer is optimistic to have the new system in place for Christmas.

A Depreciation Report for the Church Building The building surveyor was here this past week for his preliminary review of our building.  Over the coming weeks there will be some activity as various tradespeople come to look at the church to review the various systems such as heating, electrical, lighting foundations, walls and plaster, windows, the tower, gutters, roofing, etc.  The process takes a few weeks to look at the building, gather the information and prepare a report.  We hope to be able to share the knowledge gained from this review with the congregation in the new year.  

Pavilions of Light –We need people to help decorate the pavilions with the scenes of the story of the nativity.  There are 4 pavilions – The Annunciation, Mary visits Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph make their way to Bethlehem, and the Angels appearing to the shepherds in the fields.    

Tri-Parish Christmas Luncheon at Len Shepherd House – For the last few years our three parishes of St. Helen, St. Michael, and Epiphany have put on a Christmas luncheon at Len Shepherd House.  This year the luncheon will take place on Monday, December 16th.  There are volunteers required from each parish to help serve the food.  We need one or two from each parish.  If anyone might be able to help please speak with the rector.  Arrival time on the day would be about 11am and be finished up by around 2pm or shortly thereafter.  

A Christmas Pageant will take place on Sunday, December 22nd, the 4th Sunday of Advent.  Everyone is invited to dress up as their favourite character from the Story of the Nativity of Jesus.  So we need shepherds, sheep, Wise Men (and Women!), Angels and Stars. You can even dress as a camel or a cow or any other domesticated farm animal (no lobsters, please).  The pageant takes place during our 10am service.  There are no lines to learn and the narrator will guide us all along as we travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.  

Readings for Next Sunday, December 8th – Advent 2
Isaiah 11:1-10;
Psalm 72:1-7; 18-19;
Romans 15:4-13;
Matthew 3:1-12  

Holy Days for this week Dec. 1st – 7th
Dec 3 Francis Xavier, Missionary to the Far East, 1552 Com
Dec 4 Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, 1637, and the Community of  Little Gidding Com
Dec 5 Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210 Com
Dec 6 Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342 Com
Dec 7 Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 397 Mem  

Using Advent to Prepare for Christmas
An Advent Resource The Primate’s Fund (PWRDF) has put out an email resource of reflections on the Advent season.  These can come to you ever day during Advent.  All you have to do is sign up online for it. This Advent, we’ve asked four specially selected writers and theologians to connect themes of Advent to PWRDF areas of work:  Laurel, John, Marion and Mary Jo delve into the scriptural readings for Advent and connect them to the weekly theme of Advent, and the work of PWRDF. Peace, Love, Joy & Hope will be available for download by November 28, 2019, or subscribe to receive a reflection in your inbox every day of Advent until Christmas morning. The webpage to bring up to sign up is: https://pwrdf.org/get-involved/advent2019/  

Our Diocesan Care + Share Program Care + Share has been helping to fund a wide variety of ministries in our diocese since 2011. The ministries are supported for a two-year period to help them to expand and strengthen their work.  Every two years Synod selects and affirms from one to three recipients of the care + share donations for the next two-year cycle. At our 2019 Synod, a resolution was passed with an overwhelming majority to confirm the Urban Aboriginal Ministry (UAM) as the recipient of the care + share donations for January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021. You are encouraged to support this Diocesan ministry and outreach.  For more information about UAM and the Rev. Vivian Seegers who runs the UAM, check out this webpage: https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/news/care-share-advent-campaign-for-2019