News > 2008 Parish Life Notes > 08.11.23 Parish Life

Meet the Artizo interns

Monday, Nov 24 at 7:30 pm please come to the Trendell Lounge to meet the Artizo interns and hear what exciting things have been happening in the program. All are welcome, please RSVP to the church office at 604.731.4966.

Keeping Company with God

Are you feeling weary and heavy laden? Needing to come to God for his care and comfort? Then come to “Keeping Company with God” on Monday Nov 24 at 7:30 pm in the sanctuary.

Seniors Tea

St. John’s Seniors Tea will be held on Tuesday, Nov 25 at 1:30 pm in the Trendell Lounge. Barbara Constantine will give us an exciting presentation on “Vancouver, the Host City for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.” Do come and bring your friends. Please call the church office at 604.731.4966 if you need a ride.

Serving the Lord out of All He’s Given Us

If you enjoy art, why not join us this Friday evening from 5:00 to 7:30 pm to paint scenes to be photographed for
Christmas cards and to be part of an opening “movie” at the Christmas Eve Family celebrations. The idea is not to create a masterpiece (though you can feel free to do so), but for children to work alongside adults from our church and to see how we can go on using our gifts to serve the Lord. Call Ruth Flannigan to let her know if you’re interested (ext 27 or ruthf@stjohnsshaughnessy.org).

Advent Carol Service – Nov 30 at 4:00 pm

Come and join the St. John's choir in singing carols and advent hymns, to hear a sermon and Bible readings about Jesus’ first and second coming, and to listen to the choir sing.

Upcoming baptism

There will be a baptism service on Dec 14. All interested in being baptized need to contact the church office and complete the application process by Dec 4. For more information please contact Nancy Williams at 604.731.4966 ext 19.

2009 offertory envelopes orders

We will be ordering our 2009 offertory envelopes very soon. If you would like to order ANiC - St. John’s Project envelopes, please contact the office or see Nancy Williams at coffee hour after the 9:00 am service or in the narthex after the 11:00 am service.

ANiC – St. John’s Project offering

ANiC – St. John’s Project can receive donations, as cheques, cash, or securities. To give via cheque or cash:

• Use the ANiC envelopes provided at the back of the church.
• Make cheques payable to "ANiC – St. John’s Project"

To identify yourself for a tax receipt please do one of the following:

• Write your name and address on the envelope
• Write your St. John’s (Shaughnessy) envelope number on the ANiC envelope.

To donate securites please contact the church office.

Operation Christmas Child

Our boxes need to be delivered to Bethel Church, 10200 No.5 Road (604.274.2811) this week (any time from
Monday to Saturday between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm). We’ll have three carloads. Please speak to Ruth Flannigan this morning or call her later today at 604.737.1467, if you can help.

Daily Bible Reading

What we all need to do is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, but where do we begin? In Sunday's bulletin, there will be a copy of the Bible Reading Guide for the next 8 weeks, Nov 23, 2008 to Jan 24, 2009. This guide is an abbreviated version of the Book of Common Prayer Table of Lessons (pp xvi to xlv), which was written with the assumption that a person would pray and read two passages from the Bible, morning and evening. We chose two of those four readings for this little Guide. If you don’t have a Prayer Book, Norah Johnston (604.224.8986) would be glad to provide you with one at cost. There are two readings – one from either the Old or New Testaments and the other a Psalm. May God bless and enlighten you as you read His word.

Parish Announcements

Litigation update. No court date has yet been set, and the legal team will advise as soon as that has happened. It is possible that the date will be in the New Year rather than late November or December as was previously thought. There are no other developments to report.

Accommodation needed. A couple from Victoria, along with their 15 year old son, are in need of a two-bedroom suite, or similar accommodation, for a period of 3-5 months while the father takes ongoing treatment for leukemia. I have met with this family, and can assure you they would make very good house sitters over the winter months to come. If anyone is considering going away this winter, and would welcome this family to stay in their home, that would be much appreciated. Or, if you know of a suitable suite which might be available, please contact Edie Rittinger at 604.731.4966 ext 24.

Children’s Christmas Choir. Children in kindergarten and older are invited to be in the Christmas Choir. All details are in the letter to families available in Sunday School this morning.

Lost and found. Please claim items from the lost and found tables outside the library in the Church Hall. Unclaimed items will go to charity.

Volunteers needed! We are looking for volunteer receptionists and bulletin stuffers. If you have a few hours a week to volunteer please contact Nancy Williams or Joanne McKinnon in the office.

Library. Thanks for all the returned books. Keep them coming in!

Community News

New Ed Norman CD: A Cathedral Christmas.
Ed Norman’s recording of Christmas organ music is now available. Ed is currently the director of music and organist at St. George’s Cathedral in Kingston, Ontario. Contact Jack or Irena Tippett (604.926.7852 or jctippett@shaw.ca) if you would like to buy a copy. The CD will make an excellent gift!

Dear Friends,

It was a blatantly Christian Synod! Last week a number of us had the privilege of being part of the inaugural national Synod for the Anglican Network in Canada. It was a time of great joy and fellowship where the focus was on Jesus Christ in our prayers and hymns and we heard about the faithfulness of God in the stories of the 23 congregations who have now joined. I have not been to a Synod for 6 years and I think I speak for all who were there that it was a time of real joy. You should be encouraged to know that last Saturday the Diocese of Fort Worth in Texas officially joined the Province of the Southern Cone, and on Monday Bishop Bob Duncan, the Moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, representing more than 100,000 Anglican Christians in North America, announced the release of the constitution for the formation of a new North American Anglican Province for December 3rd this year.

I have become more than ever convinced by the events of the last month of the critical importance of the work of the Artizo Institute. If you are a member of St. John’s you will be familiar with a number of our Artizo interns who are training for ministry here at St. John’s. Artizo is a Canadian initiative in several Network churches which seeks to identify and equip Christian leaders committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, for ministry in the Anglican church. We believe that gospel ministry is both caught and taught and that you cannot learn ministry unless you are involved in ministry. Artizo provides a ministry apprenticeship and each intern is immersed in a number of hands-on ministries.

I am delighted with the interns who are part of Artizo and thankful to God for all who are partners in this ministry through prayer and financial support. Please continue your support. These are very significant
days for us as Anglicans and one of the most strategic things we can do for the future of the gospel is to pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up workers for the harvest, and to invest in their training.

Please join us tomorrow evening at 7:30 pm in the Trendell Lounge to meet the interns and to hear more.

Rev. David Short