Dear Friends, 

We have been blessed with a lovely late autumn this year as the snows have only recently arrived with us. The Harvest supper was later this year than usual but this did not seem to detract from the event but perhaps even added to it with a more relaxed atmosphere. All Saints Sunday saw the dedication of a new Remembrance Book and a Book of Benefactors. The Book of Remembrance will include all of the names of our dead since our foundation. We have collected the names from archives and the work of inscribing them will begin in January.  Remembrance Day was warmer than the last couple of years and church was well attended. However the number of people at the cenotaph seems to be decreasing every year which is a worrying trend. We all need to be exposed to the significance of the price that was paid in the two World Wars, especially the young. The Patronal Festival and lunch were excellent and there was a younger crowd in the kitchen! We are 183 this year making us the oldest surviving parish in the Diocese (not including the Cathedral) and the eighth oldest church. The Advent Lesson and Carols at St John’s Masonville, the induction of the delightful new United Church Minister, The visit of the Rev’d Dr Richard Cawley, our Lay Reader receiving his full Diocesan License, the Christmas party at the Torch Bearers Bible College, and the full pews during the Advent Sundays (almost twice the number of last year) has rounded off a full autumn. 

The Bible Study group has tackled the Gospel According to Saint Mark this year. If you are interested please come along and join us. The Adult Education group seems to have morphed into a young adults group. Let us hope this continues to grow. Lent comes very early this year and so in February the Bible Study group will study the Archbishop of Canterbury’s book Lost Icons. In this book Archbishop Rowan Williams looks at the images of God and Spirituality that have been lost in the modern world. He looks at our discomfort in speaking about community, our unwillingness to look at remorse, and our lack of understanding of growth and nurture throughout life. He also explores the loss of images of childhood, charity, and choice. Please do come along and join us on Thursday mornings during Lent. 

The youth group is getting older and as they mature they are also getting organized. They have planned their own trip to New York City and also a couple of fundraisers for the group. On Saturday the 18^th the youth are taking the Sunday School kids for a holiday horse drawn sleigh ride and a hot chocolate party. On Saturday January 15^th they are hosting a square dance for the community at the Rawdon Golf Course. Please come along to the dance to support the initiative of our youth. Youth leaders International will also be having a fundraising lunch in January, the 22^nd, with a slide show and presentation about their work and travels. The youth group will be raising money again for World Vision with a Concert and thirty hour famine in March. The Sunday School and the Youth Group also raised enough money for World Vision this year to donate 10 fruit trees, warm clothing for 25 children in Eastern Europe, 2 hens and a rooster, and enough to fully stock a school classroom in the third world. The winter BBQ is being organized by some of the younger adults in our community this year. Please get your tickets for a fun evening on the 29^th of January. 

The Web Page is updated in the autumn, winter and spring so please take a look for new photographs of events and recent news. I remind you that the deadline for Vestry reports (to be made by the heads of all church groups) is January 16^th. I would ask you to all keep Fr Peel Stephen in your prayers during this holiday season. Let us pray that God will grant him courage and dignity during the days ahead and a fearless and peaceful end to his earthly pilgrimage. Remember Mildred and their Sons and family. 

I hope that your Christmas is relaxed and rooted in the knowledge that when the darkness was deepest God sent a light to shine forth to bring hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved, comfort to the fearful, healing to the sick of heart, and peace to all of His children.                                                                                                                                                                 

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