Join us this Sunday at 8:30 or 10:00 AM for a Remembrance Day service. Those in uniform and/or with medals/commendations are welcome to wear them.

Parish Council Retreat is this evening at 6:30 pm in the Chapel.

The Parish Council Christmas Dinner is coming soon on November 23^rd at 5 pm at Mary and Al’s home.

Your Christmas Craft Fair Committee has been busy planning and working hard behind the scenes to organize yet another wondrous annual Craft Fair and Tea event! Plan to come to Church of the Advent on Saturday, November 16th between 10 am and 3 pm. Start your Christmas shopping early by browsing among unique, one-of-a-kind crafts from over two dozen vendors. Visit our tea room for lunch, opening at 11 am. And don't forget to purchase our homemade jams, jellies, and baked goods. The Church of the Advent Christmas Craft Fair is always a delightful way to kick off the holiday season.

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- Sign-up sheets are in the Narthex for those who wish to volunteer their support on the Friday prior to the Craft Fair, and on the day itself.

- To all bakers, Ziploc bags & plates are available. You can pick them up in the parish office Tuesday to Thursday between the hours of 9 am and noon.

- The Christmas Craft Fair committee is running a little short on Classico jars and Christmas mugs. If you have any to spare, we please put them in the bin found in the Narthex. Thank you!

The Church of the Advent Jazz Vespers is thrilled to welcome The Brandy Moore Jazz Trio.

Join us on Sunday November 24^th at 7pm for this incredible show. Suggested donation at the door is $20/person.

A fun COFFEE HOUSE EVENING presenting the Bluegrass/ Folksy band  “Pocket Full Of Dust.”

Friday Nov. 29 th at 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 ish in the hall at the Church of  the Advent.

Tickets $15.00 at the door or purchase in advance from Dayle  Robertson or Bev Somers.

Door prize to be won! Coffee, tea and snacks will be available (cash only please). This event is open to the public.

POCKET FULL OF DUST 

Pocket Full of Dust is a four-piece acoustic band that plays bluegrass as well as traditional roots and folk, with strong vocal harmonies.  The band has been active locally for the past few years playing market venues, some restaurant gigs, as well as busking at the central library. Band members are: Tim Storm – banjo & vocals, Noreen Skoreyko – fiddle, mandolin & vocals, Carol Thibault – upright bass & vocals, and Bruce Medd – guitar & vocals. C’mon out and hear some good old time acoustic music!

Nobody should spend Christmas Day alone - no matter who you are: retired with family far away, a member of the military, or a student. 

Last year’s Home Alone Christmas Dinner at Church of the Advent was a great success with a large turnout and lots of happy faces. We will be hosting the lunch again this year, catering for fifty people, with an online RSVP. A simple meal will be served.

If you volunteered to help out on the day, and were with Sr Ingrid, preparing food and serving at the lunch, you will know what a joyous and rewarding experience it was. We would love you to volunteer for this year's lunch!

How can you help?

- Volunteer to help to prepare and serve food on the day.
- Donate a few dollars towards the cost of the meal
- Bake a dessert

Sign-up sheets are in the Narthex for duties such as setting up and taking down, serving, and food preparation that can be delivered either on Christmas Eve service or Christmas Day. Please speak to Sr. Ingrid for more information. 

Join us in the St. John’s room on the first Wednesday of each month for our informal book club meetings. We are a small group who love to exchange books with each other and share our thoughts about them and the authors. This is not your typical book club as the group is not required to read the same book at once. Everyone is invited to read what they wish, and then share what they like about the book. It’s a lot of fun! See Joan Hoffman if you have more questions.

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

The Forward Day by Day Devotionals for November, December, and January are ready. Don't forget to pick yours up in the Narthex. You will find there the small pocket size version along with the large print.

For Christians, the season of Advent can offer us a peaceful time of reflection, of waiting and watching for Jesus's miraculous birth.

Journey through Advent with our ever-popular creative evenings for the whole family. We have four special clay Christmas tree ornaments for you to colour or paint, as you listen to meditations from "Preparing for Christmas", a much-loved book of Advent meditations by Richard Rohr. Our thanks to Bob and Charlotte Nichols for the clay ornaments. Bring your coloured markers. Paint and paintbrushes will be provided.

There is a 20-person limit for each of the four evenings. Please sign up for each evening on the signup sheet in the Narthex. 

Where: St John’s Room
When: Thursdays November 28^th, December 5, 12 & 19,
             6.30 - 7.30 PM (or as long as you wish)

Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Brennan Manning

Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.

The centrepiece of this week’s Top Shelf is another book for fans of Brennan Manning, this one with a 4.31 score on Goodreads and 4.8 on Amazon (both out of 5). Manning urges us to accept that God deeply loves us as we are, to stop trying to hide our weaknesses, sins, and failures from God, and to come to God in all of our imperfection. Only as our true selves can we claim our true identity as God’s children.

Abba’s Child was first published in 1994; the library’s copy is of the 2015 reprint. Its regular location will be in the Healing section, shelf code HEAL MAN2.

Also on this week’s Top Shelf are some of the other books recently featured in the New Book Corner (The New Parish, Advent Conspiracy, and Care for Creation), and a recently-donated copy of Richard Wagamees’s 2015 novel, Medicine Walk, which the Vancouver Sun called “one of the finest novels of the year.”

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To borrow a book, please fill out a green loan slip from the small bookcase in the narthex, and put it in the pink box. The loan period is 6 weeks. If you have one due for return, please fill out a yellow return slip instead, and leave your book beside the box.

Nov 7 - Parish Council Retreat, 6:30 PM

Nov 16 – Christmas Craft Fair, 10 AM – 3 PM

Nov 23 - Parish Council Dinner, 5 PM

Nov 24 – Pastoral Visiting Training, after church at 12 PM

              -Jazz Vespers - Brandy Moore Jazz Trio, 7 PM

Nov 27 – Community Lunch, Noon

Nov 29 – Coffee House Evening featuring Pocket Full of Dust, 7:30 PM

Nov 30 – Spanish Service, 6 PM

Dec 7 – Taize Service, 5 PM

Dec 8 – Hanging of the Greens, 10 AM

Dec 21 – Blue Christmas Service, Chapel, 5 PM

Dec 24 – Christmas Eve Services

Dec 25 – Christmas Day Dinner, Noon

Dec 28 - Spanish Service, 6 PM

Readings for this Sunday's services:

Wisdom 3:1-9

Psalm 116

1 Peter 1:3-9

John 11:21-27

Read Sunday's readings online:
1. Go to https://lectionary.anglican.ca/  
2. Select next Sunday's date in the space at the bottom.
3. Click "Link to full text for this day".

All are welcome to join us on Thursdays for our relaxed and interesting Zoom online Bible Study, to look at the readings for the following Sunday. No experience or prior knowledge is needed.

Time: 10 AM - 11 AM.

Zoom Link:  

https://bc-anglican-ca.zoom.us/j/88378461340?pwd=cU9wSUNEZG02M3h3bGVrUmpyMjRNZz09

Meeting ID: 883 7846 1340
Passcode: 4743031 

Sunday
 8:30 AM - Traditional Eucharist, Book of Common Prayer
(no choir) Chapel

10:00 AM - Contemporary Eucharist, Book of Alternative Services,
with choir Main Church

First Saturday of the Month
5:00 PM - Taize service with singing  Chapel (except August and January)

Last Saturday of the Month
6 PM - Spanish Language Anglican Eucharist Service  

Office hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays

from 9 am until noon.