The Dessert and Silent Auction is happening this Saturday, February 15th at 7 pm. Have you got your tickets? If not, don’t worry, there will be tickets for sale at the door, $5 each, starting at 6:30 pm. Thanks to everyone who offered to make a dessert for our Live Auction. With Jack Knox as our guest auctioneer, there will be lots of merriment and inspiration as he encourages us to bid on an amazing array of spectacular culinary creations. Thanks as well to parishioners and local businesses who have contributed a wide-ranging collection of interesting items for the Silent Auction.

Please bring your desserts to the church either Friday or Saturday morning, from 10 am to noon. If you can help with the set-up of the room on Friday morning, please join us between 10 am and noon.

A huge thanks to everyone who has contributed desserts and/or Silent Auction items. And thank you to all the volunteers involved in planning and in working at the event. It promises to be an enjoyable evening as we support our local Goldstream Food Bank and our church.

The next Safe Church training is happening on February 16^th, following the 10 AM service. The training should only take an hour. Please feel free to bring a bagged lunch if you would like. For anyone else who would like to sign up, the sign-up sheet is in the Narthex.

This Sunday, on February 16th we’re celebrating Black History Month with a special soul food breakfast. Parishioners can look forward to trying soul in a bowl! Please join us in Room C following the service.

We’re hoping Bill Geimer is available, as he is invited to share a page of his upcoming book, which is set to be published soon!

Calling all youth! The next Peninsula Youth Group event is happening on Sunday, February 16th, 2 PM, at St. Andrew's in Sydney.

For more information, contact Kelly at kduncan@bc.anglican.ca, or Marnie at marnie.sandborn@gmail.com.

Happy Black History Month  Not that long ago in December of 1995, the House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month. It’s not widely known that black people were enslaved in Canada. All year we celebrate the achievements of black people, but this month is BHM.

There are many ways to participate in Black History Month (BHM). View the local events for this month.

If you would like to check out a couple of your fellow parishioners; Jill Tyler-Dolan is starting her book tour in March, but her book is available at local bookstores like Coles. (More information will be coming soon); William Dolan would also love to share his music with you all, as he has several songs/videos out that are available to stream on many media platforms like Spotify, Apple, and Youtube.

Jill Tyler-Dolan - Artist & Writer

William Dolan - William Dolan Official - William Dolan Official

Coldest Night of the Year - In Victoria, The Coldest Night of the Year is a family-friendly fundraising walk in support of Our Place Society and other organizations. 

The CNOY raises money for folks in our community who need our help - people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness.  Join the walk on February 22, 2025 - team up, fundraise, and walk! It's for adults, moms and kids, seniors and youth as well.

Would you like to join parishioners Jill and William Dolan with their Aunt Jill Sartorio fundraise with their team Yoga Lab Westshore Yogi’s? You're invited to walk with them, or to make a financial contribution. Click here:

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=1029171&langPref=en-CA

The AGM Report, Financial Reports and Proxy Forms are now available. You will receive a separate email later today with links to digital copies, but if you would like a hard copy, they are now available for pick up in the Narthex.

Please be sure to read all the reports prior to the 23rd, as individual reports will not be read at the meeting. Questions or comments should reach warden Terry Mikkonen at wardens@colwoodanglican.ca by 5PM on Saturday 22nd February. Proxy forms should be handed in before the start of the AGM.

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NOTICE is hereby given that a meeting of parishioners of the Church of the Advent of Colwood and Langford in the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia will be held on Sunday, February 23, 2025, in the Main Church following the combined service 10:00 service.

Church of the Advent is pleased to welcome back the Greater Victoria Police Chorus for another spectacular performance. Join us at the church on Sunday, March 2nd at 2 PM. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance through the Parish Office or at the door. You won't want to miss this great performance!

2024 Tax receipts are available again this Sunday. Barb Gossman will be away, so please see Liz Garland after the service if you haven't yet picked yours up.

Do you enjoy boardgames? Feel like getting together with friends for some games, snacks and plenty of laughs?

Then join us for the first of many Church of the Advent Family Boardgame Nights. Whether you’re a classical purist who digs Risk and Monopoly, or you’re into trying something new like Settlers of Catan or  7 Wonders; there will be tons of games for everyone. Party games, strategy games, dice, cards…you name it! We will also have a rules explainer available, so you don’t have to plug through an instruction manual for 20 minutes to figure out the games. Feel like sharing your favourite game with friends? Bring it along!

Did we mention snacks and drinks? That’s right! In true boardgame café style, we will have bowlfuls of snacks, popcorn, and drinks available to keep tummies from grumbling. All proceeds will go to the Coffee Fund.  So come feeling ‘snacky’!

Come out and enjoy the spirit of fellowship mixed with a little healthy competition and plenty of fun. Saturday March 8^th starting at 5pm. See you there!

Readings for this Sunday's services:

Jeremiah 17:5-10                                               

Psalm 1

1 Corinthians 15:12-20                                                

Luke 6:17-26                                                                                                                     

Read Sunday's readings online:
1. Go to https://lectionary.anglican.ca/  
2. Select next Sunday's date in the space at the bottom.
3. Click "Link to full text for this day".

This Week’s Top Shelf: “Everyday Sacred”

Ash Wednesday this year is 5 March, less than three weeks away. For some, Lent is a good time to seek out new ideas or practices, or refresh old ones, and the Library is here to help.

Books borrowed anytime during February will not be due back until the end of April.

This week, the Top Shelf display features four books—the first three of them from Bishop Logan’s recent gift—about finding spiritual life and practices in the midst of our day-to-day lives, as well as two other exceptional books suitable for Lenten study.

Sue Bender. Everyday Sacred: A Woman’s Journey Home.

   Focusing on the image of a begging bowl, waiting to be filled with nourishment for the day, a harried 60-year-old woman embarks on a quest to find the sacred in her own life. “With simple shifts of perception, each of us can find the sacred in every day.”

Joan Chittister. The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life.

   Sister Joan considers what the practices of monastic life have to offer those outside the monastery: “new ways of meaningful living in the very center of our own world—without ever withdrawing from it.”

Christopher C. Moore. Solitude: A Neglected Path to God.

   A busy parish priest realizes his own need for solitude, and “shows us practical ways to reclaim the experience of solitude as a spiritual and personal discipline, no matter how busy and demanding our lives may be.”

Barbara Brown Taylor. An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith.

   Twelve simple spiritual practices for everyday life. A New York Times Bestseller.

Stephen Cherry. Walking the Way of Passionate Humility.

   A guide to a form of humility that is true to the example and teaching of Jesus. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2011.

 Eugene Peterson. Run With the Horses: The Quest for Life at its Best.

   A theme-based study of the Book of Jeremiah, about achieving a God-centred life of excellence.

To borrow a book, please fill out a green loan slip from the small bookcase in the narthex, and put it in the pink box labelled “Library.” If you have a book due for return, please fill out a yellow return slip instead, and leave your book beside the box.

Feb 15 – Dessert & Silent Auction, 7 PM

Feb 16 – 8:30 Service Breakfast

Feb 18 – Parish Council, 7 PM

Feb 22 – Spanish Service, 6 PM

Feb 23 – Combined 10:00 Service

  AGM, 11:30 AM

Mar 1 Taize Service , 5 PM

Mar 2 Police Chorus Concert, 2 PM

Mar 5 Ash Wednesday, 10 AM and 6.30 PM

Mar 4 Shrove Tuesday

Mar 8 Family Games Night, 5 PM

Mar 15 Parish Council Retreat, 9 – 1 pm, chapel

Mar 16 Jazz Vespers

Mar 26 Ladies Guild Lunch

Mar 29 Spanish Service, 6 PM

There are a few useful resources available for you to consult in your decision-making, should you wish to Buy Canadian to support our economy.

It's important to acknowledge that making these decisions is complex - whether you wish to support only businesses that are Canadian owned and make products from local produce, or whether the fact that produce is made in Canada and employs Canadians is more important to you. 

This is a very useful website: https://madeinca.ca/

If you are on Facebook, the Made in Canada Facebook community has grown remarkably in the last two weeks.

You may wish to sign up with a local produce, fish or other co-op or provider to support your local community, reducing the carbon footprint of your groceries.

Most of all, we all need to remember what Heather Johnson, a Canadian farmer, has said on the Made in Canada Facebook page, and and whom I quoted in my sermon last Sunday. It's about love of and support for our country, not hatred of others.

“As a farmer and producer of Canadian food, I'd just like to encourage you all to buy Canadian products for the rest of your lives. Shop Canadian because you love Canada. Because you love your families. Because you want the Canadian economy to succeed and because you know that all Canadians benefit when it does.

Its super sad to see people buying the products I grow and raise - out of hate. Supporting my business, and businesses like mine, because you hate a political leader in a foreign nation. I don't grow food with hate. I grow it with love for my fellow Canadians, love for my country and a deep love for working on the land and with animals and ecology.

Buy Canadian products for love of Canada. … Embrace your love of Canada, and keep it going forever. Keep it going, and help build the Canada we all want to live in. A strong one, a profitable one, a tolerant one which loves all Canadians and grows forward with tolerance, not hatred.”

If you have useful ideas, perhaps we can make a resource section on our church community bulletin board in the hall.

All are welcome to join us on Thursdays for our relaxed and interesting Zoom online Bible Study, to look at the readings for the following Sunday. No experience or prior knowledge is needed.

Time: 10 AM - 11 AM.

Zoom Link:  

https://bc-anglican-ca.zoom.us/j/88378461340?pwd=cU9wSUNEZG02M3h3bGVrUmpyMjRNZz09

Meeting ID: 883 7846 1340
Passcode: 4743031 

In collaboration with Flourish! School Food Society, ReImagine is proud to announce this year's Seedy Saturday!

Converge with local farmers, seed vendors, gardeners, and agricultural groups to celebrate our growing community. We CAN (and should!) grow more of our food at home!

Faith Tides is the online, faith-based publication of the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets (BC). Through news stories, reflections and feature articles Faith Tides aims to showcase the work God is doing through our churches. It is a space where people of faith and doubt can walk alongside one another, share their stories and grow together.

To read the February issue online or download a PDF version, visit the Faith Tides website.

A retreat is exactly what we need this Lent to not spiral out of control spiritually. Instead let’s retreat together to spiral towards transformation. Let’s see just how possible it is to integrate loss and change into our spiritual journey’s and find new energy for our lives.

Your guide and facilitator, Denise Doerksen will present you with several spiritual exercises to aid you in this personal journey. It will be a day of entering into the difficulties we have traversing the known pathways of our lives and what is unknown, and finding a way to integrate, grow and be transformed in the process. 

• Gather in the parish hall at 10am for introductions and refreshments.
• Instruction on each of the Spiritual Exercises will occur in the hall as a group and then you will be given personal time to explore these exercises in the church and/or in the gardens.
• Lunch will be provided
• Donations gladly accepted

Register with Rev. Denise at incumbent@holytrinityns.org

Sunday
 8:30 AM - Traditional Eucharist, Book of Common Prayer
(no choir) Chapel

10:00 AM - Contemporary Eucharist, Book of Alternative Services,
with choir 

First Saturday of the Month
5:00 PM - Taize service with singing  Chapel (except August and January)

Last Saturday of the Month
6 PM - Spanish Language Anglican Eucharist Service  

Office hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays

from 9 am until noon.