+ Would you like to share the love of Church of the Advent by visiting a parishioner who is homebound (on a monthly basis)?
+ Would you like to learn how to offer communion to those at home?
+ Do you feel called to visit parishioners who are in hospital?

The Church of the Advent Pastoral Care team invites those who have already volunteered to be part of the pastoral visiting team, and those who are interested in learning more, to our first training session, after the 10 AM service this Sunday. At this training, you will learn best practice in visiting people at their homes. You will learn what you need to know about making hospital visits. You will learn how to share consecrated communion bread in a sacred and respectful manner.

Please join us at 12 noon in the St John's Room. This once-off training should take between an hour and 90 minutes. 

Contact Sr. Ingrid, Jose or Bev if you cannot attend training this Sunday, so an alternative date can be arranged.

Photo by Mayur Gala on Unsplash

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

Brandy Moore has impeccable phrasing and a gorgeous voice, moving seamlessly across genres, touching your heart with a tender lyric one moment, then igniting your soul the next. With her easy, inviting stage presence and an unmistakable joy in what she does, Brandy has become a local favourite since moving to Vancouver Island in late 2017. Brandy is joined by Tony Genge on keyboard and Jon Miller on drums.

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

Our fair was a wonderful day from start to finish with people still walking in at 2:55 to shop! The lunchroom served 170 people. We received many wonderful comments from the patrons, such as “Such a blessing”, “Service was excellent”, “Excellent lunch”. We thank the several people from Job’s Daughter’s who came to help with the serving. We ran out of sandwiches by 1:30.

We had 29 crafters. One of the vendors sent a message the next day saying “From was I could observe, it was a good market for most vendors. You and the volunteers have done a wonderful job”.

There are many people to be thanked: Sue and Carolyn our faithful dishwashers; Mrs. Claus (Deb Stevens) and her elf (Peyton); the Ladies Guild for making all the sandwiches; the many parishioners who donated to our Bake Table and our Craft/Jams table; all those who gave tirelessly of their time Friday night and all day Saturday. We are truly blessed.

The Craft Fair team thank Mary for her caring guidance from start to finish. You are so appreciated. After expenses, our profit for the fair should be close to $6350.00.

The Peninsula Youth Group invites you to their next Youth Event....

Board Games and Escape Room!
(and snacks)

November 24th, 2PM
St. Michael's and All Angels Anglican Church, Royal Oak

Bring your favourite game to share!

Please RSVP

My previous attempts in the spring didn’t result in any information so I’m trying again.  There are two parishioners who are using envelopes 2 & 17.  Unfortunately, I don’t have them in my records so although I’m keeping track of all of the donations, I don’t have their names so won’t be able to issue charitable tax receipts.

I’m asking all parishioners to check their envelope number.  If you’re using #2 or #17, please contact me at church or at home at 250-478-4717 and I’ll update my records.  I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me.

This season, Church of the Advent along with Street Hope Ministry will be handing out gift bags to the vulnerable in our community. Last December, Street Hope delivered 270 gift bags! For those of you familiar with the Shoebox project, previously we had used shoeboxes to fill, however this year we are filling drawstring bags. Please fill your bag with essentials and Christmas goodies like snack bars, nuts, snack packs, chocolate or cookies, juice boxes, warm socks, gloves, hats, toiletries or gift card. If you have questions about any items, please contact the parish office. Bags can be brought to the church by December 8^th.

Additionally, the Women in Transition House is seeking community support for its clients. Many of the women there are escaping from difficult and often dangerous situations with nothing in their possession. The Shelter urgently needs donations of adult women's new clothing (with tags on), including underwear, sweatpants, sweatshirts and pyjamas. Donations for the Transition house can be brought to the church by November 24^th.

Image: https://www.thresholdministries.ca/shv/#contact

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!

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)

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 at noon 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. 

The Ladies Guild is offering complimentary luncheon tickets at $10 each. These tickets are perfect for gift giving, have no expiration date, and can be used at any regular luncheon. To purchase them, please contact Jose or the Parish office.

The next Community Lunch is Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025.

You can plan for future community lunch dates by checking our EVENTS page on our website.

If you notice a maintenance issue inside the building or around the church property, kindly please inform the parish office directly, so that the issue can be immediately handed off to our Buildings & Grounds team for resolution. Thank you!

Photo by Sam Clarke on Unsplash

The library contains accounts of the faith journeys of a number of notable figures in the history of Christianity. On display on the Top Shelf this week are the Confessions of St. Augustine; Revelations of Divine Love by Mother Julian of Norwich; C.S. Lewis’s autobiography, Surprised by Joy; Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain; and Henri Nouwen’s secret journal, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom.

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

OVERDUE BOOKS

The library’s loan period (except for daybooks designed to be used over a specific amount of time) is six weeks.  If you are thinking that you have had a book on loan for rather a long time, you may be right, as there are a number of overdue books. Please read and return your book by the first Sunday in January. Thank you.

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 – Ladies Guild Christmas Lunch, 12 PM

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

Nov 30 – Spanish Service, 6 PM

Dec 1 - Breakfast for the 8:30 service

Dec 4 – Book Club, 10 AM

Dec 7 – Taize Service, 5 PM

Dec 8 – Hanging of the Greens Service, 10 AM

Dec 15 - Pageant Sunday, 10 AM

Dec 21 – Blue Christmas Service, Chapel, 5 PM

Dec 24 - Christmas Eve Services:

 - Children's Service, 5 PM

 - Family Service, 7 PM

 - Service with Choir, 10 PM

Dec 25 – Christmas Day Dinner, Noon

Readings for this Sunday's services:

2 SAMUEL 23:1-7

PSALM 132:1-13

REVELATION 1:4B-8

JOHN 18:33-37

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".

Faith Tides is the online, faith-based publications of the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets (BC). Through news stories, reflections and feature articles Faith Tides aims to showcase the work God is doing through our churches. It is a space where people of faith and doubt can walk alongside one another, share their stories and grow together.

Join us for an engaging evening with Bishop Anna. Build relationships across the diocese, delve into her vision for a bright future, and explore the life-giving ministry thriving within the Islands and Inlets.

This 1st annual dinner will highlight and raise funds for our ministry in the North Island. Hear stories of the work of truth telling, reconciliation and rebuilding that is happening in our churches in Port Hardy, Port McNeil and ‘Yalis (Alert Bay) - true centers of community, hope, and outreach.

Wednesday, February 5th, 2025
6:00pm | Terrace Ballroom, Inn at Laurel Point
Tickets: $200 individual | $1500 for a table of 8

Tax receipts issued for $100 per ticket and for $700 for a table.

Limited Tickets available for purchase on Eventbrite here.

For more infomation visit:

http://bc.anglican.ca/events/bishops-dinner/2025-02-05

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.