An ADvent/Christmas Letter

People, look east. The time is near of the crowning of the year...
Set every peak and valley humming with the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today: Love, the Lord, is on the way.
(lines from verses 1 & 5 of People Look East by Eleanor Farjeon, #9 in Voices United)

Friends in Christ, Grace and Peace to you all!
Somehow I look at the calendar and find that Advent is upon us already! The crowning of the year is imminent!
As a community of faith we once again start to prepare for the birth of a child in a stable, a birth proclaimed by angels visiting shepherds, a child who will change the world. As we move into this season of preparation and hope and promise I thought I would take time to share some news about the season and about the life of our community of faith.

Here at St. Paul’s it is customary that we have a special Outreach campaign during Advent. This year we have made cash donations from the Outreach Fund to support the work of our partner agencies. We were able to give $4 000.00 to The Salvation Army, $500.00 to the Elders Caring Shelter, and $500.00 to the St. Lawrence Centre. Donations to the Outreach Fund to build it back up so we can continue to offer food vouchers as needed are welcomed.

The other part of our Advent Outreach Campaign this year is to support the Explorers as they create Blessing Bags. They are looking for things like socks and gloves, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, and portable snack food. These items can be dropped off at the church by December 4^th as the Explorers will fill the bags at their meeting on December 6^th. If you would rather, you can make a donation to St. Paul’s Outreach Fund earmarked for the Blessing Bags and we will pass the money on to the Explorers to cover their costs.

Over the last few years we have had a practice of a Memory Tree, where we hang names of those we remember at Christmas. Without having a Blue Christmas service this has been our way to mark the “blueness” of the Christmas season. This year we will include the hanging of our memories on the 1^st Sunday of Advent (November 27^th) and invite folk to add names throughout the season. If you are currently attending worship online and wish to have a name added to the tree just let the office know and we will make it happen.

As a reminder, all of our worship services are live-streamed on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@st.paulsunitedgrandeprairie. This year that will include the CGIT Vesper service at 7:30 on December 4^th. Please join us in person or online as the CGIT girls invite us into the Christmas Season.

Our Christmas Eve service this year will be at 8:00. Again please join us online or in person as we celebrate in story and song the miracle of a baby in a manger. As we are, hopefully, beyond the most active part of the COVID-19 pandemic we are not limited in attendance numbers this year and pre-booking a seat is not required. I would love to see the sanctuary filled with folk on Christmas Eve.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the financial realities of our life together. We continue to struggle to meet our budget, with a year-to-date deficit of around $33 000.00 as of the end of October. So I ask each of us to consider how we might be able to support the ongoing ministry of St. Paul’s this year. We make a difference in the life of Grande Prairie because of your support. Donations can be dropped off at the church during office hours, or they can be brought on a Sunday morning, or a cheque in the mail always works. For electronic giving you can give through CanadaHelps (https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/36020) or through an e-transfer using secretary@stpaulsuc.ca as the receiving e-mail (no security question is required). E-transfer might be preferable as there is no service charge paid by St. Paul’s for that. An ongoing option is to get started on, or adjust your current, PAR. Contact Carla if you want information about PAR.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong;
And warring humankind, hears not the love-song which they bring;
Oh, hush the noise, and cease your strife to hear the angels sing.
(verse 3 of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by Edmund Hamilton Sears, #44 in Voices United)

Every year in the Advent/Christmas season we look for signs that God is breaking into the world. Every year we name that the world as it is is not the world as it could (or should) be. So we wait with Hope for the coming of the Prince of Peace who will transform the world. We wait for songs of Joy to spring out of our mouths and the gifts of Love to spread from every corner and hamlet. There is a lot of bad news out there, but once again the angel will bring Good News that shall be for all people. For unto US a child is born, unto US a child is given, God is with us, we are not alone. God will transform the world through the life of a baby born to a peasant family in a backwater part of the Roman Empire. And the world will never be the same again.

May you find time this Christmas season to hush the noise and listen for angel song. May you find God in ways and places you least expect. May you feel the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love of Christ’s presence in your busy-ness. Have a blessed Christmas.

Or, as Tiny Tim might say, “God Bless us, every one!”