News, Links, and Prayers for October 21 to November 18

And the One who was seated on the throne said,
“See, I am making all things new.”
(Revelation 21:5a)

There are 15 news items, 10 links, and 8 prayer paragraphs for October 21 to November 18.

NEWS:

We Have a New Youth Facebook Page:

Everyone is invited to check out and “like” our new youth Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, you can find our page by typing in “St. Paul’s Calgary Youth.” Aaron Havens, our OneBody South Coordinator (see the news item “We are Part of the OneBody South Youth Ministry Initiative” posted below), and I will be making sure that it has up-to-date unformation. Hopefully, our youth will add lots to it as well!

Please Continue to Pray for God to Raise Up a Coordinator for Our Children’s and Youth Ministry:

We are following two new leads in our quest for a Children’s and Youth Ministry Coordinator. Please continue to pray for God to raise up the person God desires as a to help equip us to serve the young people of our Parish and community – and please be open to the possibility that this person is YOU! Here is a description of this ministry position:

We are looking for one or two people with a passion for God and for sharing God’s love with young people, to coordinate our Children’s and our Youth Ministries.  These two ministries, which could be combined into one, would be 13 hours per week, with compensation being provided, based on qualifications and experience.  If you sense that the Lord may be leading you to become part of the ministry team of our Parish in either or both of these capacities, please contact either me or John McIntyre (our Christian Education Ministry Chairperson) at 403-256-1428 or 403-828-9283, respectively.

St. Paul’s Ministries Provide Opportunities to Use God’s Gifts to Serve:

At this year’s Annual Meeting, we shall be seeking Parish Council positions to help coordinate our Christian Education, Community Connection, Hospitality, Outreach, Stewardship, and Youth ministries. We shall also be seeking a Deputy People’s Warden and Treasurer. So there are lots of opportunities to serve! If you think that God may be laying it on your heart to share yourself in one of the ministries, please contact me or one of the people involved in them (the people who are presently serving in these ministries are listed on the inside cover of each issue of Living Waters).

Thank you, Dinah Breu, for the following prayer for our Parish ministries. I invite us all to make it part of our daily prayers for St. Paul’s:

O Lord our God, our creator, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given your people of the Parish of St. Paul and for the many wonderful ways in which these gifts are already being used to glorify you. We pray that you will continue to strengthen, encourage and uphold all those who share their time and talents in ministries of every kind. Our prayer is also that you, our Provider, will continue to build up these ministries, touch people’s hearts for service and fill up vacancies where needed. It is you alone, Lord, who supplies our every need. We pray this in the name of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

We are Part of the OneBody South Youth Ministry Initiative:

As a new youth ministry initiative this Fall, we have formed with St. Peter’s what we are calling “OneBody South” (Good Shepherd, St. Laurence’s, and St. Martin’s have formed ”OneBody West”), for combined activities for youth of Junior High and High School age.

Please talk to me if you would like further details, including a schedule of the OneBody South events that have been scheduled for the Fall through the Spring. Please also let me know if you would like to be on a steering committee to work with Aaron Havens, the OneBody South Coordinator, to plan OneBody events. Everyone is welcome to bring along their friends to all OneBody South activities.

The next OneBody South events are a trip to the newly re-opened Devonian Gardens on November 21 and Zoo Lights on December 5. Look for more details on this blog and our St. Paul’s Calgary Youth Facebook page when the dates of these activities get closer.

October 7 to November 4 – We Have a Special Stewardship Focus:

For five weeks this Fall, from October 7 (Thanksgiving Sunday) through November 4 (All Saints’ Sunday), we are having a special Fall stewardship focus at St. Paul’s. Our theme this year is on stewardship as the outpouring of a thankful heart. Look for opportunities to reflect on the opportunities we have of sharing God’s love in the world, through times of prayer; letters from me and our Stewardship Co-coordinator, Dan Brisbin; short videos; a “Stewardship Gifting Survey;” and stewardship material on this blog and in print form on a Stewardship Table in the Hall.

Embedded below is the video we watched at our October 14 Services, “The Gift of Generosity:”

Embedded below is the video entitled “What is Your ‘5 Loaves and 2 Fishes’?”, which we watched as part of the Children’s Talk at our October 28 Triple C Service:

For the video entitled “We Give,” which we watched at our October 21 Services, please click here.

October 21 – We Commemorate St. Luke’s Day and Seek Healing Together:

Our October 21 Services commemorated the Feast Day of St. Luke the Physician. As we have done in recent years, included as part of our Services anointing with oil and special prayer for healing.  

World Food Day occurred on October 16. Our Gospel passage and the Prayers of the People reminded us of the need of so many in our world for healing from the brokenness of poverty and hunger. Also, my “Book Nook” display on October 21 had a healing theme, and three of the books in the display were on ways we can help end poverty and hunger. The main website for World Food Day can be accessed by clicking here.

As part of our seeking of healing together, those who would like to be part of a Grief Support Group this Fall were invited to meet together in the couch area after the 8:30 and 10:00 Services. Over a dozen came, and the healing energy of Our Lord was manifest in our midst. We plan to meet on the first and third Sundays of the month, at 12 noon. Our facilitators will get together to plan, and then we’ll post a starting date. Jesus wept at the grief of his friends as they mourned the loss of their brother Lazarus. His heart goes out to us in our pain, and he walks with us through the darkest valley on feet pierced with nails from his love for us. At St. Paul’s, this Grief Support Group will be an opportunity for all those who are walking the dark path of grief to meet to share the love of Jesus with one another. At the end of our 8:30 and 10:00 Services, Bill Hellyer modelled the willingness to risk vulnerability to help one another heal, by sharing his story of hurting, healing, and hope (thank you so much, Bill!). You can access Bill’s story by clicking here.  

October 21 was also the day on which we handed out our “Stewardship Gifting Survey,” designed to help us identify and develop the gifts of time and talents with which God has blessed us at St. Paul’s. Copies of this Survey were included in the stewardship envelopes that were mailed out the week after October 21. If you picked your envelope up on October 14, and weren’t at the Services on October 21, you may not have received a Survey. You can pick up copies of the Survey (one for every teen and adult in your household) mid-week, during Office hours (9 to noon, Monday to Friday), or on Sunday, November 4.

October 24 and November 7 and 14 – We Walk in the Footsteps of St. Paul and St. John in an Adult Education DVD Study:

This Fall, everyone is invited to participate in this study with new DVD’s from acclaimed “Faith Lessons” DVD Series with Ray Vander Laan that we shared in Lent and Easter. Filmed on location in Caesarea, Sardis, Pergamum, Ephesus, and Laodicea, this Study follows the footsteps of St. Paul and St. John in the growing Early Church. You’ll discover the passion and commitment early Christians displayed as they held fast to their belief in Jesus in the face of fierce opposition and severe persecution. Please click here for more details.

October 28 – We Share BCP, Triple C, and Taize Worship:

On October 28, we continued our practice of worshipping God at our 8:30 Service using the language of the Book of Common Prayer.

Our 10:00 a.m. worship was a Triple C Service. These Services, which usually occur on the fourth Sundays of the month, are Christ-centred, Creative, and Compact times together, in which we stretch ourselves and share worship in new and exciting ways. As is the case at our “regular” 10:00 a.m. Services, Nursery and Sunday School are both available.

The joyful theme for both morning Services was being touched by and then touching others with the love of Jesus. At our Triple C Service, we watched as part of the Children’s Talk an animated song of the boy who gave Jesus his five loaves and two fish to feed others, and saw it multiplied to feed a multitude. This video is embedded above as part of the News item “October 7 to November 4 – We Have a Special Stewardship Focus.” Both 8:30 and 10:00 Services included a 7 1/2 minute video of Tony Campolo telling the unforgettable true story of Jesus’ love experienced in a “Party with Prostitutes” in Honolulu. This video is embedded below:

And at 7:30 p.m., we gathered for Taize Worship, a time of contemplation and quiet meditation – the perfect way to end our day together. Many thanks to Margaret Anne Knowles for continuing to share these Services with us! You can access one of the reflections and one of the chants at the Service on October 28 by clicking here.

November 2 – We Remember the Faithful Departed:

On November 2, we shared together an All Souls’ Day Service of Holy Eucharist. For pictures and prayers from the Service, please click here. 

November 4 – We “Fall Back” into Mountain Standard Time:

On November 4, we all get an extra hour of sleep, as our clocks get turned back an hour at 2 a.m. Please spread the word, so that no one has that bewildered look on their faces at our Sunday Services! 

November 4 – We Worship Together as Saints, and Baptize Three Dear Children of God:

We shall celebrate the Feast of All Saints’ on November 4. At our 10:00 Service, it will be our great joy to Baptize Amanda and Brielle de Vries and Kolten Pain; and renew our own Baptismal vows. 

This is also the day on which, we have the opportunity, as part of our living out of our Baptismal vows and Baptismal ministry, to return the Thanksgiving Sheets that were handed out on October 7, our 2013 Pledge Cards, and our Stewardship Gifting Survey (see the October 21 news item above).

What an awesome day of celebrating our calling as the people of God it promises to be!

November 11 – We Remember the Sacrifice That Has Enabled Us to Worship in Freedom:

Our morning Services on November 11 will have a Remembrance Day focus, including The Last Post and silence, to honour all those who were willing to lay down their lives in war for the cause of peace.

Then, at 7:00 p.m., we shall gather again for “A Day of Remembrance.” Thank you, Kerry Peters, for putting this special evening together.

For more details about Remembrance Day this year at St. Paul’s, please click here.

November 12 – We Celebrate the Life of Tony Martin:

At 2:00 p.m. on Monday, November 12, it will be our great privilege to celebrate the life of our dear brother, Tony Martin, and to commit him into Our Lord’s eternal keeping. Please make sure that all Tony’s friends in our Parish family know that this is taking place. You can access more information about the Service celebrating Tony’s life by clicking here.

November 17 – We Have a Happy Fourteenth Birthday:

It’s 14 years since we moved into our new building. Each year, we celebrate this event with a birthday party, and, as the above poster says, we shall be continuing the tradition this year on Saturday, November 17. For more information, please click here. Huge thanks again to Kerry Peters for organising this time of fun and fellowship!

November 18 – Our Youth are Eating Pizza and Watching a DVD Together:

At lunchtime on November 18 (after the late morning service), our Youth Group (all youth from our Parish or community who are age 12 to 18, and any friends they invite) are going to hang out together, eating pizza and watching a DVD in the Hall. To pick from a list of 11 possible movies, or to add one not on the list, all youth are invited to go to our St. Paul’s Calgary Youth Facebook page, or email me at pastorfergus@gmail.com.

LINKS:

1. www.stpaulscalgary.ca– to our website [The most recent additions on our “News and Events” page, in the “Announcements and Newsletters” section, are the October 28 News Bulletin; October issue of Living Waters; and October Calendars (print copies of the November issue of Living Waters, complete with the November calendar, will be handed out at our November 4 Services; please look for electronic versions of these in the week following, to be posted in this section of our website).] (Thank you for our website, Paul Bourgeois!);

2. http://www.calgary.anglican.ca/news_weekly.html – to the Diocesan News Service bi-weekly Newsletter;

3. http://www.calgary.anglican.ca/news.html – to issues of “The Sower,” our monthly Diocesan Newspaper;

4. http://www.anglicanjournal.com/ – to the Anglican Church of Canada’s national stories of interest, such as “Inspiring Fresh Thought About God’s Mission” and “East Coast Grinds Toward Recovery after Hurricane;”

5. http://secure.powertochange.org/p-656-asher-naomi-ministry.aspx – to the section of the “Power to Change” website through which donations can be made to Naomi Asher, a former member of our Parish family, who is involved in campus ministry among young people in Eastern Canada;

6. click the link here – to information about Bob and Joanne Plant’s grandson, Adam, who is playing for the West Kelowna Warriors (Thank you for this, Bob!);

7. http://prayfordaisy.com – to the website put together by the family of Daisy, a courageous young girl who is living with cancer (Thank you for this, Jennifer Fong!);

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq3sM7-Cwmg – to the video embedded below of the a young family (including one very young member) singing “God Will Take Care of You” (Thank you for this, Anne Lowry!):

9. http://www.victoriaroyals.com/article/vollrath-celebrates-first-whl-win – to an article on Coleman Vollrath‘s first WHL win (Congratulations, Coleman!); and on the lighter side:

10. http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3707625 – to a message from one pumpkin to another (Thanks again, Paul!).

Please keep emailing me stories, videos, and other items to which I can include links in this section, for the uplifting of our Parish family.

PRAYERS:

The following part of this posting is for new prayers or prayer-emphases. The complete Prayer List is included on the back cover of the weekly Order of Service. If you are unable to attend on a Sunday, and would like to have these prayers emailed to you, please email the Office at office@stpaulscalgary.ca).

In our prayers:

We thank the Lord for the improving health of Verna Hewett, Kevin Mark, Barbara Jean Moore, Peggy Pingot, Brian Tyson (my father), Margaret Wheeler, and Marlene Wright.

We share the joy of the families of Amanda and Brielle de Vries and Kolten Pain, whose children are receiving the Sacrament of Holy Baptism on November 4; and we pray for the Holy Spirit ever to be poured out upon them.

And we especially thank God for the Good News of life and love which it is our privilege to share in word and deed with God’s world by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We also pray for Our Lord’s healing touch upon Margaret Anderson, Lionel Chaddock (Catherine Curren’s uncle), Helen Cleveley (who is responsible for our soup label ministry), Dave Christopher (Doreen and Kerry Peters’ friend), Verna Hewett, Doug Irwin, Dorothy Lewis, Kevin Mark, Dennis Moore, Lynda Mountford, Nicola Peden’s father, Ken Penley (Linda Hubert’s father), Peggy Pingot, Art Trundle (Rhonda’s father), Brian Tyson (my father), Margaret Wheeler, Marlene Wright, and Barb Wysotzki.

We commit into God’s eternal keeping Tony Martin, who passed into eternal life on October 26. Rest eternal grant to Tony, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. Amen. We stand in prayer with Paul (Tony’s son); and all Tony’s family and friends in their grief. In their recent bereavements, we also pray for comfort for the Blevins, Eggertson-Gray, Fink-Lee, ffolliott-Knowles, Hellyer, Hollings, Hubert, Lewis, McIntyre-Trundle, McLeod, Matthews, Mountford, Pike, Ponting, Roett, and Wood families.

We pray for our neighbour to the South, in their upcoming election, and that the person who is elected to serve the USA and the world with wisdom and integrity.

We pray for Ben Evans (Simon and Stephanie’s son) and his family, who live in New York, and for all others who are also recovering from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Ben’s house, which is only one block in from the coast, was spared in the storm, but Simon sent the 2 photos embedded below of what Ben’s street looks like now:

Last, we lift up all who are suffering in our own city, our country, and the other parts of the world. In particular, we pray for healing for all who are enduring famine in East Africa and violence in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria. And we ask for wisdom and strength for those who are working for peace and justice throughout the world. May all be sustained by the Lord of love.

God bless you all, always.

Your Brother in Jesus,