Bulletin Notices
November 12th, 2017
7:45 a.m.
7:45 a.m. – Holy Eucharist
(Book of Common Prayer, Page 67)
Hymns: 133, 187, 216
The Collect of the Day: (said together)
Eternal God, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This Sunday’s Reading:
Micah 4:1-5 & Luke 21:5-19
Next Sunday’s Readings:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 & Matthew 25:14-30
Come Sing With Us
This Christmas!
We have room
for more singers in our choir
and we’d love to have YOU!
Come and check us out
at this week’s
Choir Practise
Thursdays
7:45 p.m.
Try it!
You’ll like it!!
And we’d love to have you!!
Today is the last day to bring in your packed shoeboxes. You could make a difference in some child’s life!
Your packed shoebox needs to be at the church by noon on today, November 12th. We will be taking all the shoeboxes to Bayfair Baptist Church, 817 Kingston Road, Pickering, on Monday, November 13th. We need volunteers to drive the shoeboxes to Bayfair Baptist Church on Monday between 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., please call Judy Carpino at 905-509-1164.
Thank you for your support.
· If you didn’t get a chance to put a shoebox together, they will still be accepted at Bayfair Baptist Church until November 18th.
St. Paul’s Special Vestry Meeting
Please join us next Sunday, November 19th following the 11:00 am service for a special Vestry meeting to elect an additional Synod Representative. David Karram has been nominated.
SPOTH Kids: Fall News
Christmas Play … A Charlie Brown Christmas …our Outreach Show and Dinner will beSaturday December 16th. This is a free dinner and show which is put on for the greater community is a chance for those who may not know God or cannot afford to have a family evening out. Last year we hosted 145 people for the show and dinner. We need people who can come in to help set up, serve and clean up. It is a wonderful way to help make Christmas special for someone. Speak to Jacquie for more details (905-621-0155).
VANDERMEER WINTER FUNDRAISER IS BACK
This Sunday is the SPOTH Kids launch the Vandermeer Fundraising program. They will be selling the beautiful Vandermeer Christmas plants, arrangements and gift cards. Money that we raise this year will go towards supplies and equipment to enhance our Children & Youth Programs which benefits all of our SPOTH KIDS! Every order counts! Please take an order form home and share it in your neighborhood and work place. Order forms are available in the lobby, at the back of the church and from the SPOTH Kids Ministry Team. The deadline for all orders is Sunday November 26th. Orders will be ready for pick up Friday December 8th from 7 pm to 9 pm or Saturday December 9th from 9 am to noon. For more information to speak to Jacquie James.
DIOCESE OF TORONTO
& WORLD CYCLE OF PRAYER 2017
Please pray for:
· St. Paul’s, Uxbridge
The Rev. Canon Mark Kinghan
· The Church & people of Ughelli (Bendel, Nigeria) & The Rt. Rev. Cyril Odutemu
St. Paul’s on-the-Hill is now accepting donations online through PayPal. Donations can be made at the following link: http://stpaulsonthehill.com/donations/
Advent is a period of spiritual preparation in which many Christians make themselves ready for the coming, or birth of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Celebrating Advent typically involves a season of prayer, fasting, and repentance, followed by anticipation, hope, and joy.
Many Christians celebrate Advent not only by thanking God for Christ's first coming to Earth as a baby, but also for his presence among us today through the Holy Spirit, and in preparation and anticipation of his final coming at the end of time.
How Can Advent Make A Difference in Your Relationship with God? In preparation for Advent a five week Bible Study will be held at the church.
Dates:
1. Tuesday, November 21
2. Friday, December 01
3. Tuesday, December 05
4. Friday, December 15
5. Tuesday, December 19
Time: 7:05 – 9:05 pm
Leader: Bruce Hampson
Cost: TBA (Not to exceed $20.00)
Please contact Bruce – 905-409-6387 or email: if you are interested in attending. Please advise ASAP so that the material can be ordered and received before we begin November 21.
Mid-Week Eucharist with Healing
The Rev. Keith Todd, our Honorary Assistant invites you to join him at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday mornings for a special eucharist with prayer for healing. He will conduct a Bible study at 9:30 a.m. prior to the service. This is a great opportunity for those who cannot attend Sunday services and those who are available during the weekday.
Prayer, Praise & Healing Service
Sunday, Nov. 19th @ 7:00 p.m.
PP&H is an informal and unhurried service that provides the opportunity to just rest in God’s presence. Come and share in a time of prayer and praise with Pastor Doug Willoughby and Phil Jocz and the worship team Laudate (loud-ah-tay).
FAMILY LIFE MARRIAGE CONFERENCE
BLUE MOUNTAIN RESORT
NOVEMBER 24-26, 2017
Early Bird Rate ends November 13th
$280 per Couple
Make your marriage a priority this fall, it is the best gift you can give your spouse and your family.
Over the past 10 years there has been a total of 26 couples that have attended this conference from our church.
Don’t buy into the myth that your marriage is in trouble if you are attending a Marriage Conference, just like our cars, our marriages need regular maintenance, husbands and wives reconnecting with each other without distractions.
We will help connect you with other couples to get the discount rate. For more information, contact Scott (905-409-6848) or Jacquie (905-621-0155) James.
www.familylifecanada.com/event/weekend-getaway-blue-mountain/
Christmas Lunch & Bake Sale
Just to remind you all, our second Christmas Lunch & Bake Sale will be held on Saturday, November 25/17, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Doors open at 10:00 a.m. and lunch will be served from 11:00a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Tickets for the lunch will be available in the Narthex after each Service, from Committee members and from the Church Office, Monday to Friday (from 9:00a.m. - Noon). They will also be available at the function - tickets are $10.00 each.
· We are also asking for baked goods, cakes, pies, etc., and also any preserves, jams and jellies.
Please contact the Committee:
Dionne Rainford - 647-693-5617
Jean Mott - 905-839-0793
Rhona Bradbury - 905-839-8924
Gloria Ferguson - 905-509-3399
Marilyn Sinclair - 905-686-3617
Thank you all in advance, Dionne Rainford
A Battle to Fight
Hanging on to the Truth
In any hand-to-hand combat, there’s a constant back-and-forth of blows, dodges, blocks, counterattacks, and so forth. That’s exactly what is going on in the unseen around us. Only it takes place, initially, at the level of our thoughts. When we are under attack, we’ve got to hang on to the truth. Dodge the blow, block it with a stubborn refusal, slash back with what is true. This is how Christ answered Satan — He didn’t get into an argument with him, try to reason his way out. He simply stood on the truth. He answered with Scripture and we’ve got to do the same.
This will not be easy, especially when all hell is breaking loose around you. It will feel like holding on to a rope while you’re being dragged behind a truck, like keeping your balance in a hurricane.
Satan doesn’t just throw a thought at us; he throws feelings too. Walk into a dark house late at night and suddenly fear sweeps over you; or just stand in a grocery line with all those tabloids shouting sex at you and suddenly a sense of corruption is yours.
But this is where your strength is revealed and even increased — through exercise.
Stand on what is true and do not let go. Period.
The traitor within the castle will try to lower the drawbridge, but don’t let him. When Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts, it’s not saying, “Lock them up because they’re really criminal to the core”; it’s saying, “Defend them like a castle, the seat of your strength you do not want to give away.” As Thomas à Kempis says, “Yet we must be watchful, especially in the beginning of the temptation; for the enemy is then more easily overcome, if he is not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but is resisted without the gate at his first knock.”
Remember the scene in Braveheart where Robert the Bruce’s evil father is whispering lies to him about treason and compromise? He says to Robert what the Enemy says to us in a thousand ways: “All men betray; all men lose heart.” How does Robert answer? He yells back, I don’t want to lose heart! I want to believe, like [Wallace] does. I will never be on the wrong side again.
That is the turning point in his life . . . and in ours. The battle shifts to a new level.
Excerpted with permission from Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, copyright John Eldredge.
“All men die; few men ever really live.” Really living for Christ means accepting that we are at war. With a fierce enemy. And yet we don’t have to be afraid because God is with us!
The Lord of Heaven:
Sutherland Springs, Texas
Editor’s note: Again, shots were fired. Blood spilled. Families lost loved ones. Hearts across the nation broke when the news hit of the church massacre at First Baptist in Sutherland Springs. It’s so easy to ask “Where were You, God?” in such a volatile and uncertain world. Pastor Max Lucado addresses this question in this excerpt from his devotional God Is With You Every Day.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of
Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? — Psalm 8:3-4
When tragedy strikes, whether personal, national, or global, people wonder how God could allow such things to happen. What can He be thinking? Is God really in control? Can we trust Him to run the universe if He would allow this?
It is important to recognize that God dwells in a different realm. He occupies another dimension.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.
— Isaiah 55:9 NCV
How vital, then, that we pray, armed with the knowledge that God is in Heaven. Pray with any lesser conviction, and our prayers are timid, shallow, and hollow. Look up at the heavens and see what God has done, and watch how your prayers are energized.
This knowledge gives us confidence as we face the uncertain future. We know that He is in control of the universe, and so we can rest secure. But also important is the knowledge that this
God in Heaven has chosen to bend near toward earth to see our sorrow and hear our prayers. He is not so far above us that He is not touched by our tears.
Though we may not be able to see His purpose or His plan, the Lord of Heaven is on His throne and in firm control of the universe and our lives.
God of all comfort, we ask You to be palpably near to our brothers and sisters in Sutherland Springs and for their families and loved ones. Our hearts are heavy with grief at the largest mass shooting in Texas history. Come, Lord Jesus! Thank You that You are in control and that You love us and bend down near to hear our cries.
We invite you to leave your prayers on our blog. ~ Devotionals Daily