A Construction Update
More pictures of progress in the basement!
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A "Blue Christmas" Service at St. Luke's
"Blue Christmas" is a gentle, contemplative liturgy for those who are carrying pain or loss in the Christmas season. St. Luke's will offer this service on Sunday, December 20th, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Pre-registration is required. Click here to do that.
A Virtual Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk
Click here for the St. Luke's Virtual Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk. Filming and editing by Annabel and Evan Scott. Piano accompaniment by Rev. Victoria. Heartfelt thanks to Susan Kehoe for set-up and leading, and to our Labyrinth walkers Kathleen and Phil!
When's the Best Time for you for Virtual Story-Telling Time in January?
As a way of staying connected during this time, we are replacing this fall's St. Luke's Virtual Social Hour with St. Luke's Virtual Story-Telling Time. We would like to find a time and day that works for more people. To find out more about the idea, click here. We warmly invite you to participate in the Virtual Story-Telling Time whenever you can as a story-teller or a listener. Here's a link to a survey to find out what time works best for most, and whose story you'd like to hear, and whether you're open to sharing your story. Please complete this survey by December 27 at 5 PM (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9CCMVB8). Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you there.
Heather Mallett and Anne Wright
Would you like to connect with another member of the community but aren’t sure how to reach them? Contact Helen Cathcart at familylibrarian@yahoo.ca, or leave a message on the church answering machine and we’ll make the connection.
We can get through this together!
Each week of Advent, stones painted with Advent symbols will be available at St. Luke's, St. Martin's, All Saints, and Julian of Norwich and the four parishes will hold each other in prayer. This is offered as a tangible reminder that even as we continue our pandemic response and cannot all join together in person, we can join together in prayer and devotion. The prayer will be included at in-person worship and in the newsletter. The stones will be handled carefully, with pandemic safety protocols in mind.
Star of Wonder, Star of Night!
As Christmas approaches, sky gazers will be treated to a celestial wonder that hasn’t been seen so clearly since 1226 — a “Christmas star”! Click here to read more.
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Blessing for the Longest Night
All throughout these months
as the shadows
have lengthened,
this blessing has been
gathering itself,
making ready,
preparing for
this night.
It has practiced
walking in the dark,
traveling with
its eyes closed,
feeling its way
by memory
by touch
by the pull of the moon
even as it wanes.
So believe me
when I tell you
this blessing will
reach you
even if you
have not light enough
to read it;
it will find you
even though you cannot
see it coming.
You will know
the moment of its
arriving
by your release
of the breath
you have held
so long;
a loosening
of the clenching
in your hands,
of the clutch
around your heart;
a thinning
of the darkness
that had drawn itself
around you.
This blessing
does not mean
to take the night away
but it knows
its hidden roads,
knows the resting spots
along the path,
knows what it means
to travel
in the company
of a friend.
So when
this blessing comes,
take its hand.
Get up.
Set out on the road
you cannot see.
This is the night
when you can trust
that any direction
you go,
you will be walking
toward the dawn.
—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow
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This is our great covenant: To dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another.
(James Vila Blake)
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This kingdom of God life is not a matter of waking up each morning with a list of chores or an agenda to be tended to, left on our bedside table by the Holy Spirit for us while we slept. We wake up already immersed in a large story of creation and covenant, of Israel and Jesus, the story of Jesus and the stories that Jesus told. We let ourselves be formed by these formative stories, and especially as we listen to the stories that Jesus tells, get a feel for the way he does it, the way he talks, the way he treats people, the Jesus way.
(Eugene H. Peterson)
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St. Luke's Table has extended its hours to respond to need in the neighbourhood, and is now open Monday to Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
St. Luke's Table continues to operate upstairs as construction is now underway downstairs! Lunch is still being served at Tom Brown Arena, but is also available at St. Luke's. This saves many of our neighbours from having to make their way along to the arena. St. Luke's Table has been serving between 35-50 breakfasts each day, and seeing an average of 80 people for lunch. Meals are kept on hand and heated up for those who are hungry in the afternoon and evening.
Please continue to keep St. Luke's Table staff and participants in your prayers.
Click on the image for news from SWCHC.
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A PRAYER FOR NEIGHBOURHOODS
God of justice and of joy
I hold before you my neighbourhood
The people who live in the dwellings around me I pray for my neighbours
Those I like and those I struggle to like
Keep them safe and strengthen them for the days ahead
Reveal to me ways to serve my neighbourhood in the midst of this crisis
Help engender community spirit among my neighbours
That through this difficulty we might all help to co-create
A resilient neighbourhood
Empowered by love of neighbour and of stranger
Amen.
(Tim Watson)
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Click here to read all COVID related news from our Diocese. Updates are posted on Wednesdays.
New Weekly Podcast
Saturdays, Online
Bishop Shane is exploring and conversing his way across the Diocese! Tune in each Saturday to see where he is and what is happening around our vast and exciting Diocese.
A service of Lessons & Carols for Christmas was first developed in 1880 by Bishop Edward Benson of Truro (who eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury). A later adaptation by King’s College, Cambridge, became widely known. Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa has further adapted this iconic Christmas liturgy, using readings and carols to narrate the story of God’s loving purpose in creation, from the Spirit of God, which moved over the waters at the beginning of time, and the covenant God made with humankind, to the abandonment of that covenant and the hope-filled promise of humankind’s redemption by the Holy Child of Bethlehem. The lessons are read by individuals from the Cathedral’s diverse community. The service is offered by Christ Church Cathedral as a gesture of peace and goodwill to the people of the Nation’s Capital.
A service of Lessons and Carols will be held at 4pm Sunday December 20. Join us either in-person or online by following our podcast at https://www.youtube.com/c/christchurchcathedralottawa
Pre-registration is required for in-person attendance and can be requested by contacting the office by email at info@ottawacathedral.ca or by phone at 613.236.9149.
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