On Wednesday afternoon of this week, I headed out in the car to complete several errands.  One stop was to drop off my mail-in vote for the provincial election, with the people working at the District Election office.  A second stop was at Christian Book store, located just off Finlayson Road at Nanaimo St. in Victoria.  The reason for my visit to Christian Book store was twofold.  A book I had requested quite a while back, at the beginning of the pandemic, had finally arrived.  I have been looking forward to diving into this acquisition for some time now.  In the days ahead, when I have some time to kick back and just read, I will be so pleased.  I may share some of my reading experience, in a future item in this newsletter.

The second reason for going into Christian Books and Music was to pick up copies of McCausland’s Oro, which Caroline had ordered for our parish. You may be asking yourself, what is McCausland’s and why is Paul writing about receiving this book? Let me share with you what we do with McCausland’s.

Every year in October or at the latest, early November, a volume is published whose purpose is to lay out the psalms and readings from Scripture which we use for our worship services every Sunday in the Church year.  Our lectionary is divided into three yearly cycles, year A, B, and C.  This new church year, year B, begins with the First Sunday of Advent on November 29th, 2020. The readings and psalms are outlined for that day and for every Sunday throughout the church year. But it also contains the readings for every day of the Church year and instructions for observing Feast days, Saint’s days, festival days such as Christmas day, Easter, and Maundy Thursday, and even Remembrance Day for both the BAS and BCP prayer books.

But there is even more contained in McCausland’s.  For each entry or day, there are suggestions for hymns which have themes appropriate for use on that day.  Our music director has access to McCausland’s Oro when determining which hymns, we might use for any worship service throughout the year.

Here at Church of The Advent, Kathy Middleton and the priest-in-charge consult McCausland’s to decide which readings and psalms we will use for our weekly worship.  Every week, Kathy sends the appointed readings out to the readers along with the text for each reading and the psalm.  The idea here is to try to standardize readings to the same version of scripture. Why? Because there are so many versions of the Bible available,  that we need to have one version used by all our congregation when we are discerning the Word, so that the words themselves don’t cause us to falter in hearing what scripture is saying to us.

So, when you hear me or Caroline, or Kathy, or anyone else refer to McCausland’s, you now know what it is they are referring to.  

Blessings. 

Paul+

The Anglican Edition Canadian Church Calendar is now available for purchase. We have a limited supply and they are $6 each. Please email or call Caroline to let her know if you would like one.

The pictoral theme of the calendar this year is entitled "Homecoming." 

"We love these places for the memories they hold, for the lives that have passed through them. They are 'thin places' of polished wood, stained glass, and the smell of prayer books and dust. When we allow them to be, they are icons, porous to the holy, and when we are away from them, we often long for them. It's like longing for home. In 2020, we were away from them for a long time. And though that didn't prevent our serving and celebrating in new and vibrant ways, many of us felt something like the longing of the Babylonian exile, when the focus changed from temple to test, from ritual to word. As it turns out, that exile was a time of transformation. And there was, in the end, a homecoming."

We continue to take calls from Monday until Thursday at 10 am for Sunday Service seat bookings.

If you are calling outside of office hours, feel free to leave a message. Your seat will be confirmed.

Thank you!

Join us for our virtual coffee time at 10 am on Sundays. 

Here is the Zoom info: October 11, 2020 10:00 AM Vancouver

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81271301300?pwd=YzJSUlVIU3YxVDBrejI5dHo0R203UT09

Meeting ID: 812 7130 1300

Passcode: 4743031

Dial by your location  +1 778 907 2071 Canada

Our readings for Sunday, October 25th (Pentecost 21) are as follows...

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Matthew 22:34-46

Thank you to all who sent in Thanksgiving offerings. The parish truly appreciates your generosity and support.

Blessings to you all.