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On Sunday, Dec 13th at 5PM, we will being having an Advent Evening Prayer service. It is a time to reflect, to worship by candlelight and to prepare for the coming of Messiah in a manger. Advent Vespers will be an evening prayer setting with Advent lessons and carols. Please come and join us!
This Christmas we will be offering a variety of services:
Christmas Eve 7PM: The Sunday School kids and Pastor Erik will be working together in leading a Christmas Eve service of lessons and carols. There will be lots of music to celebrate the Christ Child born in the manger.
Christmas Eve 9PM: This year there will be a second Christmas Eve service. The service will be quieter reflective service with Holy Communion. This service is meant to be an alternative option to the 7PM service.
Christmas Day 10:30AM: This is will be the normal Christmas Morning service with Holy Communion, and lots of Christmas Carols.
Dec 27th, First Sunday of Christmas 10:30AM: This service will be a chance to keep singing all those wonderful carols and this time by request as we have a service of Lessons and Carols.
The Sunday School will siging a couple songs at the Christmas Eve service this year. If you would like your kids to sing, please bring them to all the rehearsals. Dec. 6th, Dec. 13th, and Dec. 20th during the service, Sunday mornings at 10:30AM.
This Sunday, all confirmation students are invited to attend this Sunday’s service. We will be commissioning the students as they begin (have already begun) their studies in faith. And part of that commissioning will be the promise to support them as they embark in this program. So please, come out and let us celebrate the beginning of something special!
There will be a worship committee meeting on Sunday Nov. 22nd right after the service. We will be planning for Advent, Christmas and hopefully into the new year! Also, we will talk about our experience of the new cranberry hymnals. 
On Nov. 1st the Church celebrates All Saints Day.
“The custom of commemorating all of the saints of the church on a single day goes back at least to the third century. All Saints Day celebrates the baptized people of God, living and dead, who make up the body of Christ. On this day or the following Sunday, many congregations will remember the faithful who have died during the past year. ” from Sundays and Seasons.
At St. John, we will give thanks for all the baptized, and especially those who have died, by lighting a candle in memory of loved ones.
Reformation Day is Oct 31st. This is the day, in 1517, that Marin Luther’s 95 Theses were posted for academic debate and discussion. The modern church marks this day as the beginning of the Reformation in the Western Church. However, the need for change and renewal in Western Christianity had been centuries old by this point.
Today, Reformation Sunday (the Sunday before and nearest to the 31st of October) is a chance to celebrate the renewal of the Gospel, of God’s radical love for creation, that was discovered by Luther in a time when the Gospel was not preached or heard. The colour used on Reformation Sunday is Red, to signify the action of the Holy Spirit. However, we also remember on Reformation Sunday the deep division in the One Body of Christ that it caused. Renewal and change often comes with pain and hurt. And so we give thanks for God’s radical and freely given love for all creation, and we pray for healing and unity in the Church.
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