The bulletin for the 10 am service for December 1st is posted below.
To read or download bulletins from previous weeks, click here to go to the Bulletins page.
THIS WEEK’S PARISH NEWS – December 1 – December 8 (**New Items, *Revised Items)
**Thank you to Tara Poilievre for leading the service this morning while Daniel is on holidays. Thanks as well to St. Luke’s choir, Music Director, and instrumental soloists for the special musical offerings today.
Please stay for Coffee Time this Sunday after the 10 am service – Park on Synod Road for easy access via the side door of the hall.
A Sincere Thank You from Carol Turnham to all who helped to make this year’s Bazaar such a success. Your donations and hard work are much appreciated!
**An Updated Christmas Bazaar Summary Sheet is available at the News page. This updated summary sheet provides a breakdown of the Square payments for each area, which makes a big difference to some of the areas, such as the Silent Auction, where most of the money received ($778.70) was via the Square. The Silent Auction total including the Square payments was $1,149. Please see the updated summary sheet which also includes money received after the Bazaar. The total from the Bazaar is now $10,456.60!
*The Deadline for the Christmas Prescription was Friday, November 29th but we always allow a few days grace. So if you have an article, photo, or poem to share, please send it along ASAP so that we can fit it into this issue of the Prescription. Please send along your articles, photos, poems, and other creative endeavours to Barb Prescott (communications@stlukecedarhill.ca) or to St. Luke’s Church Office (admin@stlukecedarhill.ca).
*Fantastic Friday – Our next Fantastic Friday will be this Friday, December 6th from 4:30-6:30 pm in the hall. Fantastic Fridays are held on the first Friday of the month through to June. Invite your friends, neighbours, children, and grandchildren to join in the fun and find out why these Fridays are fantastic! Dinner is included. For more information or to offer to help (always greatly appreciated!), please talk to Tara Poilievre, Barb Prescott, Sharon Hallsor, or Claire White.
*This year’s Christmas Pageant will take place next Sunday December 8th, during the 10 am service. If you are interested in taking part in the Pageant, please reach out to Claire White. We always have a role for anyone who wants to be involved! After the service, we will be having a potluck lunch (meat will be provided) in the hall. A sign-up sheet is at the back of the church for those who would like to attend. Please indicate if you are bringing a salad or a dessert. If you would like to help with this event, please call Claire White.
Save the Date and Note the Time – On December 15th, Bishop Anna will visit St. Luke’s for a 9:30 am service. Note that there will not be an 8 am service that Sunday.
**Planning Christmas activities with visiting family and friends? Keep in mind our special Christmas services at St. Luke’s – Christmas Eve: Child-friendly service at 4 pm with Christingle oranges for the children; 7 pm Family Communion service with candles, carols, soloists, instrumentalists, and a choir. Christmas Day: 10:00 am Family Communion Service. All are welcome at all of these services. Please note that there will not be a 10 pm service on Christmas Eve this year.
**A Note from the Stewardship Team – We are very thankful for the commitments people made regarding their offerings for 2025. Here is an update. During this year's Stewardship Campaign, we have received 43 pledges with $82,480 pledged to date. Last year we received 42 pledges and $80,084 was pledged. However, there still could be some pledges to come in for 2025. In addition, 13 people, who donate via the PAR, didn't make pledges. If their PAR donations stay at the same level next year, their donations for 2025 would total $19,416 for a total of $101,896 committed. While these aren't huge increases, each year’s Stewardship Campaign invites us to examine our offerings as part of our spiritual practice.
*Christmas Stocking Project – As we have done in previous years, we have chosen a World of Gifts Project through the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund as our Christmas Stocking Project. We are starting our Christmas Stocking Project today, the first Sunday in Advent, and it will continue to Christmas Day. Our project will be buying goats for families in Kenya who are food insecure and have little to no income. You are invited to drop your gold coins (Loonies or Toonies) into the Christmas stocking at the back of the church or to put a special donation into the collection plate labelled “Goats Project”. Money designated in the collection or collected in the stocking from now to Christmas Day will be sent to the PWRDF to buy goats for families in Africa.
St. Luke’s Players Panto Tickets – Tickets for St. Luke’s Panto, Camelot, are available now through EventBrite. With plenty of traditional pantomime audience participation and huge helpings of laughter, this is a family show not to miss! Dates are: evenings at 7:00 pm on December 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20; matinees at 2:00 pm on December 14, 15, 21, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30. See more information at the Events page.
Pre-Authorized Remittance Program (PAR) – A number of people noted on their givings cards that they would like to increase their PAR or start using PAR. To make a change or start using PAR, please send an e-mail to St. Luke’s Givings e-mail and include the following information as noted. To make a change to PAR, include your envelope #, the date you would like the change to happen (eg December 1, 2024 or January 1, 2025, etc.), and the amount of the change. The PAR comes out of one’s account on the 20th of the month but changes have to be sent in prior to the 10th of the month. To start using PAR, send an e-mail to St. Luke’s Givings e-mail and a form to enrol will be sent to you. The Treasurer will follow up with everyone who indicated that they would like to change their PAR amount or start PAR in case they have any questions.
Monthly Parish Financial Information – As noted in the Canons, Parish Executive and Parish Councils are to make the monthly parish financial information available to parishioners. Not having a convenient place to post this information in the church, we decided that anyone interested in this information could contact Neil in our parish office and he can e-mail a copy to you or print for you a copy of the monthly financial information once it has been approved by Parish Council at the Parish Council meeting.
**Thanks from the Compassionate Resource Warehouse to all those who donated sewing notions, crochet cotton, knitting wool, and embroidery supplies. Tara delivered 5 bags of supplies provided by our generous parishioners. The Compassionate Resource Warehouse now has enough of these items at this time.
“Help Wanted” for Sunday Morning Coffee Times including baking, set up, and clean up. Volunteers have a choice to just set up or clean up or both. Baking is always welcome and thoroughly enjoyed at Coffee Time. Our Coffee Times after the 10 am services have become very popular and we can only continue if we have enough volunteers. If you can help, please email Heather Simpson, Rector’s Warden (hsimpson@stlukecedarhill.ca) or chat with her on Sunday. Dates needed now are the Sundays in December.