O, Emmanuel

Dear Friends,  

As we move deeper into the Advent season we are in the season of the "O Antiphons," a type of prayer each of which is based on one of the names given to God in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Today's prayer is "O Emmanuel, our King and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God." Cf. Isaiah 7:14. When applied to our world and time all we can say is Amen and Amen!    

Here are some events coming up, including information from Rev. Lorie:  

Dec 16th and 23rd - We will enjoy 2 more Friday at 10 am gatherings in Advent and then take a break over the holidays and January. Healing Eucharist and Circle of Grace gatherings will resume on January 27th.  

An enormous THANK YOU to all who participated last Saturday in our first Family Eucharist Service at St. Thomas. We had 18 kids! 34 people in total who filled the sanctuary and hall with the bell ringing, candles all aglow, lot of laughter, singing, and repeat-after-me Eucharist prayers. [See photos above.] Couldn’t have done it without the cooking and crafting of Irene and her family, and the strong support and help of our Wardens Wayne & Jan. Thanks to all who pitched in and those who came! Many were blessed and loved being at St. Thomas together. The next one is in February! Please let me know if you want to join the fun by helping with food, and activities, or just join in.  

Thank you to Gail, our Parish Administrator, for working hard and creatively all year to give us beautiful bulletins, PowerPoint overheads, updated schedules, wonderful Website updates, etc ……. And a special thank you to Gail for the St. Thomas picture booklet soon to be released, “Looking Back… Looking Forward…” Check it out on Sunday!  

Service opportunity Dec 17th, 10 am -- If you enjoy decorating please come and help us decorate St. Thomas for Christmas!  The Altar Guild would really appreciate your help!  

Christmas Services:

Dec 24th -- Midnight Mass at 10 pm.

Dec 25th -- Christmas Morning Holy Eucharist (children-friendly) at 9 am.  

This will be the last midweek update of 2022; I will resume them at the begining of January, 2023.  

Denise and I wish all of you a very meaningful Christmas season and a Happy New Year!