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Notices for the Week of Nov 26th – Dec 2nd  

Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. We will have a special Advent procession, bless the Advent Wreath and light the first candle for Advent. Come and join the celebration. Bring friends too!  

The Bazaar is a Wrap for another year. Thank you to everyone who helped in so many ways. It is a lot of time and effort which always makes it a success.

Teapots! We need teapots! We are looking for at least 1 and hopefully 2 teapots for our kitchen. Large ones, but not so large they are difficult to manage please. If anyone has any unused ones at home, we would be happy to accept them. Please talk to Marion O’Byrne for further info.  

Special Appeal Thanks – Thank you to those who responded to the Special Appeal. The appeal achieved $1545.  

Lessons and Carols for Advent & Christmas – Our Multicultural Service will take place on Sunday, 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.  

Pathway to Christmas – This year, as a part of our Christmas preparations and celebrations we are having 4 stopping places made on a path through our woods. There will be a lighted walkway to follow as pilgrims make their journey through the Christmas Story. The journey ends as they enter 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. We hope to have dates when we will do this sorted out and reported in the service sheet next week. 

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.  

The 2018 Church Calendars are now available for purchase at $7.00 each. The same price as the last few years. These are available from Pat Clegg at coffee time. Or call her at 604-495-4559 to place your order.  

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.  

PWRDF – As you all know our PWRDF parish representative, Paulette Smith, makes an appeal to the congregation for a special contribution to a PWRDF each Advent. Paulette will be making the appeal during December and will let us know about the project.  

Forthcoming Dates for St. Helen’s
December 10 – 7pm Lessons and Carols for Advent and Christmas
December 12 –Lunch Bunch meets at Faye’s Restaurant (see notice)
December 16 – 3pm Old Trinity School Lessons and Carols Service  
December 24th is both Advent 4 and 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 3rd – 1st Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 64:1-9;
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 ;
1 Corinthians 1:3-9;
Mark 13:24-37

Flowers for the Altar People have asked about making donations toward the flowers. Here is some information in a question and answer format.  
Why Flowers? Flowers are placed at the altar each week to beautify the church and as a reminder of God’s creativity and generosity to us. It reminds of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the promise of new life given to us.  
When? - People most often donate these flowers in memory of a loved one. The information about this is placed in the Sunday service sheet and prayed for as we remember those who have died in the intercessions. People also donate the altar flowers in thanks for a special event such as a marriage, a birthday, an anniversary, or graduation. Really, it can be whatever your wish it to be.  
Which Sunday? - You may wish to donate the flowers for a particular Sunday that is closely associated with the memorial or thanksgiving. It does not matter if there is more than one person contributing to the flowers on any given Sunday. The cost of the flowers is spread over the whole year including Sundays when there has not been a particular sponsorship.  
How Much? - Please remember you are making a donation to the church. Please make your cheque or cash donation in an envelope and place it in the offering plate on any Sunday. Please mark the envelope ‘Altar Flowers’. Please mention the date for which the flowers are intended as well. Of course, please donate what you think you can afford but in various conversations, a $25 donation will go a long way in helping to defray the cost of the flowers each week.  
What Now? If you would like to contribute to the flowers and have the memorial or thanksgiving placed in the intercessions, please speak with Heather Herd who will take the details to pass on to be placed in the Sunday notices. A week before the designated Sunday, Brownee Hamilton will call you to remind you that on the upcoming Sunday your thanksgiving or memorial will be in the intercessions and in the service sheet. If you have not already made a donation to the flowers, your donation will be very much appreciated on that Sunday. If you have any questions, please speak with Heather Herd. If you are not sure who Heather is, please ask the Rector.  

Hymn of the Week – Crown Him With Many Crowns “Crown Him with Many Crowns” was written by Matthew Bridges, an Anglican clergyman who at age 48 converted to Roman Catholicism and at age 51 wrote this hymn. It is the one hymn written by Bridges to still be sung widely today. Bridges wrote six verses, each celebrating some aspect of God, such as kingship, love, and peace. Some years later, Godfrey Thring, an Anglican clergyman, thought that the hymn needed a verse celebrating the resurrection, so he wrote the one that begins, “Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o’er the grave”. He wrote additional verses as well. The hymn as found in most hymnals today includes verses by both Bridges and Thring.

Holy Days and Commemoration of the Week
St. Andrew the Apostle 30 November - Holy Day Today we honour the memory of an apostle named Andrew. The Gospels say that he was a fisherman and the brother of Peter, and his name always appears near the top in the lists of the twelve apostles. The Fourth Gospel pairs him with Philip in answering the Lord’s questions at the feeding of the five thousand and later in acting as an intermediary for some pagans who wished to meet Jesus. But that is all: Andrew’s story is no sooner begun, than it is swallowed up in the greater story of Jesus. The people of the Church later invented legends about Andrew, to give their memory more than just a name to honour and more than just a single episode to recount. These legends gave Andrew exotic adventures travelling and preaching in many different places until he was martyred, crucified on a cross in the form of an “X.” Some of these legends may indeed be true, but biographical truth is not their purpose or function. So we come back to the gospels and their brief account of Andrew’s calling. Andrew was a Galilean fisherman minding his own business, mending his own nets, when along came Jesus. The Lord called him, and Andrew got up and walked — he walked into the story of Jesus. From that moment on, his life was no longer his own; Andrew had no other story but the story of Jesus, the story that is told about Jesus, the story that Jesus himself tells. And that is how we honour the memory of the apostle named Andrew: by remembering his name as we tell the story of Jesus, the One who called both Andrew and us into the story of salvation.