The journey is the destination

Dear Friends,  

As our world hurtles around the sun on its annual pilgrimage at 30 km a second or 67,000 mph we find ourselves, due to the nature of our planet's tilt, entering a time of reduced daylight, a time of deepening darkness which can--if we let it--darken our mood as well. Now is the time of year to lean into fellowship, good books, and some sort of service in our community/church, a little of each usually does the trick; see my Instagram account at @abbyanglican for some book ideas.

It's also a great time to try a spiritual practice in tune with the season e.g. Our Friday Healing Eucharist.  

Here's another "spiritual practices" opportunity offered by the Anglican Church of Canada, a series of Advent meditations and discussions https://bit.ly/3Ofx9W7. These meditations and discussions build on the traditional themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love and offer a way for us to link these powerful emotions and motivations to God's Mission in our contemporary context. 

This coming week we observe the final week of the Church Year by celebrating "The Reign of Christ," the last feast of the year and the first major feast of the Ecumenical Church created in over a thousand years (1925 was the first time it was celebrated). This feast celebrates how it is that we can believe that God is reigning and, more importantly, experience God's Kingdom in the midst of a world that is far from acknowledging God's rule.  

Events:  

Nov 18 -- Healing Eucharist at 10 am; Rev. Lorie says "All are welcome for the next two Fridays of Christian practices and then we will begin a 4-week series “Waiting Together in Advent”. We will spend time each week with the Advent story and its characters to be enriched in this holy season of grace."  

Nov 26th -- Men's Breakfast at Jimmy J's, 8 a.m. There will be breakfast and a discussion led by Fr. Allen.  

Dec 3rd-4th -- Bishop John's visit to our parish!  There will be an opportunity to meet with Bishop John Saturday evening at 7 pm in the parish hall. The council will meet with Bishop John at 6:15 pm. Sunday morning, December 4th, Bishop John will preach/preside at our service of Holy Eucharist.  

Dec 10th -- Saturday 4 pm-6 pm. Our first family service!  Please invite families with children or bring your grandchildren.  See the poster in the narthex and on the bulletin board in the hall!  

The journey is the destination,  

Fr. Allen Doerksen