We are an Affirming church

‘A CENTRE FOR SPIRITUAL LEARNING’

Core Values: Hospitality, Spiritual Growth, Inclusiveness, and Reaching Out

Our Mission: Life-changing ministry through Jesus Christ

Reaching Out

St. Aidan’s United Church, Victoria, B.C.

c.

The

Christmas shopping! Pledging! Offerings! Donations!

Does it seem to come at us from all sides at this time of year?

How do we make the practice of giving a spiritual exercise?

Perhaps we can look at intentions and actions…

- Giving with generosity (no matter how small the gift) rather

than obligation

- Giving with thankfulness rather than out of guilt

- Seeing it as an opportunity to show love, rather than showing

off

- Giving with no expectations of something in return

- Giving anonymously

- Sacrificing in order to give to another

- Giving to someone we don’t know

- Giving especially when we see a need

- And especially…Giving a helping hand!

This page – Giving with

spirit

INSIDE……..

REV. CHERYL BLACK –

‘Cheryl’s page’

An Advent Event

Epiphany Explorations

Casserole Caravan

Our Place

Thrift Shop

Pastoral Care

Rentals & Décor report

Spiritual Growth

Christmas at St. Aidan’s

Dec. 2015

So many ways to

give! Watch for

the hands

throughout.

I am glad to have this opportunity to address everyone at St. Aidan's. A newsletter is a valuable

communication tool and Janis and Sylvia surely do a great job! I hope you know how lucky St. Aidan's is

to have such dedicated people giving their time and talent to keeping you informed.

I've now been at St. Aidan's for 3 months and I really like what I see. What an active congregation you are with so

many entry points for new people to become involved. I love going to the Thrift Shop on Wednesdays and looking

at how each department is busy welcoming their customers/friends. There is an enterprising energy and spiritual

support tangible in the air.

The Bizarre was a very big energy both on the actual day and on the days leading up to 'the day' - what a warm

wonderful gathering of St. Aidan's past, present and, dare we hope, future?!!

I'm learning that St. Aidan's really gets behind these big projects - and I'm looking forward to seeing how this

energy, creativity and competence will give shape to your primary goal of becoming a centre of spiritual learning.

This is an exciting vision and a galvanizing focus for all of us and will alter the shape of St. Aidan's ministry within

the next few years.

Some of you have asked about my office hours so we might have a visit and get to know one another. On December 8, 15,

22, prior to Christmas, I invite you to drop into the church for Coffee break at 10 till 11 a.m. on Tuesday mornings. I'll put

on the coffee and bring in the shortbread cookies. Please come in and have a visit in the front parlour. It will be fun and

help us get to know one another.

Advent and Christmas are my favourite seasons of the Christian year and I'm excited to experience my first Christmas with

you folks here at St. Aidan's. I'm looking forward to the Carols for Christmas concert. I'm hoping there will be a good

turnout (at least enough to keep me on tune) for the Dec. 18 Carolling when we'll share our carols and joy with neighbours

and friends in the community. I'm looking forward to meeting the angels and shepherds and wise ones at the 7 p.m.

Pageant service on Christmas eve. I can hardly wait for the meditative 10 p.m. Christmas eve with harp and candlelight

and communion.

I think Christmas Eve will be delightful and beautiful this year at St. Aidans and I'm looking forward to it. Yet I cannot

imagine missing the birthday party for Jesus on Christmas morning. I've heard there will be angel food cake and ice cream

served along with our favourite carols. Do come along for an informal celebration that Jesus of Nazareth was born and grew

up to be a servant leader who changed the world and who still has the power to transform our lives and our action into

agents of hope, peace, joy and love.

-May joy and love abide with you and with those you care about this season.

---May peace and hope abide in the lives of all those who, like Mary and Joseph,

will be away from home and living in less than suitable surroundings this holy season.

-May we all know the presence of God's love shining on us and hear the angels sing

their song of hope: Peace on earth and goodwill to all.

With Love,

Cheryl and Pemberley*

CHERYL’S PAGE

*Shih Tzu – means ‘little lion’,

but this breed is a lover, not a

hunter. Happy and good-

natured, an ideal church dog!

When?

Friday, December 11 (4 pm to 6 pm)

Sunday, Dec. 13 (11 am -1 pm and after the 7 pm Carol Service)

Where?

St. Aidan’s United Church Chapel and Seminar Room

Cost?

A toonie (optional) to support the work of the downtown churches’

Out of the Rain ministry

How can you help?

We are asking congregational members to loan us their crèches acquired from their travels. If you would

like to loan a crèche, here’s what to do:

Crèches should be brought to church on Sunday, December 6th

well wrapped, packaged, and labeled with your

name. Accompanying your crèche should be a short explanation of where you acquired the crèche and what it

means to you. Worship Team members will carefully unwrap your crèche and take a photo of it once set up so

that we know how many precious pieces are included. Crèches can be picked up on Monday, December 14th

from the church office. We will have them wrapped and packaged back in the same box they arrived in. We

encourage you to invite your friends and neighbours to come and view the exhibition. We are grateful to former

church member, the late Helen Mogensen, for inspiring us to reinstitute the tradition she began many years ago.

Questions? Call Mary Kennedy 250-598-6094 or makenn@uvic.ca

TASKS: Receiving crèches on Sunday, Dec. 6th and putting them in safekeeping until set up on Friday.

1. Set-up: Friday: 1 pm

a. Tables

b. Velvet cloth

c. Set up

d. Photos taken and names added to photos

e. CD player ready with music

f. Urn ready with paper cups and mulled cider

2. Monitoring the Exhibition Friday 4-6 pm (2 shifts) [clean urn]

3. Monitoring the Exhibition Sunday 11-1 pm (2 shifts) & After Carol Service

4. Taking down exhibition: either Sunday evening OR Monday morning 9 am

a. Packing up crèches,

b. Velvet cloth away

AN ADVENT EVENT – coming to a church near you!

Creches from around the world

Watch for updates

about our refugee

family from Carol

Munro and Frances

Stocks.

Tell your friends and

family about this joint

enterprise of St.

Aidan’s, Oak Bay United

and the Masjid al-Iman

Mosque. They may

wish to contribute in

some way.

Epiphany Explorations by Carol Donovan

St. Aidan’s is Partner with First Metropolitan

United for Epiphany Explorations, January 21-24,

2016 (epiphanyexplorations.ca)

St. Aidan’s is the first church to partner with First

Metropolitan for the annual EE spiritual learning

event hosted at First Metropolitan United Church

and attended by around two hundred people from

Canada and the United States. We are represented

on the planning committee as well as funding travel

for one speaker. In exchange, we have first choice

from invited speakers. San Francisco pastor and

gifted storyteller, Megan Rohrer, will speak at St.

Aidan’s on Sunday, January 24th, 2016. Author,

artist, activist and educator, Rev. Rohrer speaks on

issues of homelessness, sexuality and gender.

Tom Axworthy and Naomi Tutu are other

headliners among the great speakers at the EE

conference. Register before November 30th and get

a discount. Brochures are available in St. Aidan’s

Library. Volunteers would be appreciated and

would attend the event free of charge. Contact

Carol Donovan at St. Aidan’s (250-382-0655) or Al

Fowler (250-886-7817) at First Met United for more

information.

REFUGEE

FAMILY

Casserhat the Bazaar is over and CASSEROLE CARAVAN The Bazaar is over, the pies sold; the Pastoral Care freezer is empty. As you know part of our ministry is to provide emergency food on a short term basis for members of our congregation who need this little bit of help. If you can make a tasty casserole, some homemade soup, pasta sauce or a light chili we would love to fill the empty space we have. Portion sizes can vary from one to four. If it is something you like to eat, then it will go down well and is a wonderful way of "Reaching Out". You can contact Val Bauld 250 721 5962 or valbauld@ shaw.ca for more details.

Our Place

Now open longer hours, Our Place has

recruited 100 new volunteers. If you

would like to be involved with this

uplifting ministry, Ray Evans will tell

you how to go about it.

Monday, December 14 - CBC & Our Place

present readings from ‘A Christmas

Carol’ at Alix Goolden Hall at 7 p.m.

Tickets - $15 adults $5 children

Lyle’s Place, Ivy’s Bookstore, Our Place, on line

Cookies! Muffins! Cupcakes!

Do you love to bake? The Nutrition Bar

at Our Place loves to receive donations.

Just drop them off at the front desk at

Our Place and you will receive a big

thank-you!

Other popular items are fruit, buns, nuts,

or any finger food.

More anonymous giving…….

Look for the Angel Gift tree in the front entrance of St.

Aidan’s. Give a Christmas gift to an Our Place family

member.

HAPPINESS IN THE

THRIFT SHOP IS…..

-Opening a donation bag of clean

clothes

-Cleaning up a donation to make

it saleable

-Fixing an electrical device

-Giving a warm jacket, in good

repair, to Our Place

-A lot of saavy customers who

know good value

-Helping someone find just the

right outfit, appliance,

houseware item……..

-every Wednsday at 10 a.m.

…..And Cookies!

We are having another exciting year, recycling, selling and

sending off many donations to those who need them most. I

am always heartened by all the thought and care that goes into

decisions made by our sorters whose job it is to choose where

every single item ends up.

The same careful thought went into the decision about where

the 14% of our net revenue for 2015 was going to go. It was

finally decided that the whole amount, approximately $7,000,

should go to The Threshold Housing Society. "Their purpose

exists to serve youth from across Vancouver Island through

supported independent living. Providing positive role models

and constructive support helps youth in our community

navigate the challenges of school, work, relationships and life.

Many of these young people just need someone to believe in

them."

We have over 40 volunteers working in our thrift shop on a

regular basis. We always need more help and often in small

ways that make a huge difference. If you think you can help out

for even one half hour a week, please let us know. It means a

lot to our operation.

We need:-

1. Someone to bring boxes and bags from the office area down to the

hallway by the elevator on certain days of the week. ( We have

people who do this on some days.)

2. Someone to take our metal recycling to Steel Pacific when our

regular volunteer goes on vacation.

3. Someone to take electronics, such as TVs/computers to the bottle

recycle depot on Glanford Avenue when our regular person is unable

to do the delivery.

4. More people are needed to sort clothing, housewares such as

glassware, china and ornaments.

Thank you for giving this your prayerful consideration. Our team is a

most supportive and wonderful group to work with and the fact that

they very seldom miss a single day, reflects that they really enjoy

each other's company.

By Sylvia Campbell

By the

‘Secret

Sorter’

Pastoral Care Team News by Helen Pinel

Name Badges: Despite all our best intentions, many of us find it difficult to remember everyone’s name. Wearing one

of our St. Aidan’s Name Badges can sure help resolve this problem. There’s a sign-up sheet on the Library counter - you

can order a badge with a magnet ($10.50) or a pin-style ($9.25).

Healing Pathway: This is a therapy-based approach to health and healing for oneself and others. It draws on the wisdom of hands-on energy healing practices from a variety of faith traditions, and is helpful for releasing pain, stress reduction, supporting life transitions, and for spiritual awareness.

Healing Pathway treatments are available by appointment here at St Aidan’s - on

Monday mornings, and on Friday mornings or afternoons. There’s no cost for this

treatment. To make an appointment, please call Elizabeth Thornburn-Korolus (250-298-0747).

If you’d like to know a bit more about “Healing Pathway”, please speak to one of us on the

Pastoral Care team.

Pastoral Care Visitation:

This ministry is being carried out day-by-day in so many quiet, personal ways. We have several regular PC Visitors,

and many others of you, who reach out to a number of our St Aidan’s people, as well as to many folk beyond our St

Aidan’s community.

Our team members: Val Bauld, Rev. Cheryl Black, Puddie Curtis, Rev. Betty Anne Dempsey, Diane Kendall, Susan Kurushima, Jean

Margison, Phyllis McNaughton, Helen Pinel, Carol Sidhu, Moira Wightman

Our semi-annual meeting of visitors will be held Wed., Dec. 9, at 1:30 pm (Rooms A/B).- an opportunity for us to share together as we learn more about how to best support this ministry. Please feel free to join us - there will be coffee/tea and goodies!

Annual Christmas Communion and Tea:

This has become one of our very special Advent programs, and on December 8th, we will

once again host this special event, inviting many of our shut-ins and mobility impaired

people to celebrate and share together in a Communion Service, and then to have some

social time afterwards with tea and Christmas goodies - and lots of conversation and

laughter.

For several years now, members of the Worship Team have joined us in supporting and

assisting with this event. As well, others help with greeting, driving and just being present.

This has become a “feel good” occasion for ALL of us - a real privilege, as we

share together!

DID YOU KNOW?

Partner/neighbour free rentals at St. Aidan's

Presbytery Pensioners

Victoria Presbytery

Mt Tolmie Community Association

Blockwatch

SingYourJoy

Shelbourne Community Kitchen

Out of the Rain (soup making)

U Vic Chaplaincy (Henri Locke)

• District of Saanich

New Year -New Paint

We are looking for exciting things to happen at St.Aidan’s in 2016. As a start to the New Year we are undergoing a long needed redecoration of many areas of our building.

Bl Black Dog Painting will be in our building from Dec. 21 until Jan. 8th. (This time period has been found to be the most economical to have the work done.) They will be starting downstairs so as not to impact on our Christmas celebrations. They will continue after Christmas upstairs in the Great Hall and other adjoining room. We appreciate your patience during this time.

Shirley Hannaford & Marilyn Smith

BOOK CLUB by Janis Evans

The Bookworms last meeting

of the year will be on Dec. 2.

We will be discussing Chapter

7 of Christianity After Religion

by Diana Butler-Bass. On Jan.

6 we will conclude our study of

this book and choose another

for the winter/spring season.

If anyone wishes to start a book

club on another day or an

evening, please contact a

member of the Spiritual Growth

Team and we will help you.

ADVENT GIFT TREE

What would you give the earth for Christmas? Look for

the Gift Tree in the great hall and write your wish list

for our planet.

- and on the same bulletin board….

The Nativity scene – what does the picture say to you?

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

TEAM

Reel Spirituality - Movie Night at St. Aidan's

By Maureen Koch

Once a month, a few St Aidan's movie buffs gather in the Seminar Room to watch a film. Some say we watch movies to escape life, but I believe it is often the opposite - that we watch them in order to live more deeply. Why watch movies in a church, you might ask? Well, we are together; we sit in the dark, knowing that we are collectively entering another world and when the lights go on, we will be bound by a story and surprised by the grace revealed. Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat say, "Some movies are close encounters with the stories of our lives. They help us identify the many voices within us....Some are rendezvous with the shadow sides of life.... They show us how others have dealt with change & loss, success & death. They open a window into the profound mysteries of life and love, good and evil. Many reveal signs of God's presence in daily life".

Do you have some creative ideas for spiritual growth at St. A’s?

Join us at a meeting or better still, join the team!

Members to contact: Maureen Koch, Andrea Hubbard, Cheryl

Black, Jack Dayton, Janis Evans

Christmas at St. Aidan’s

Carols by candlelight

Sunday, Dec. 13, 7 p.m

-with all of St. Aidan’s choirs

Christmas Eve

Thursday, Dec. 24,

7 p.m. A family-friendly service with lots of singing

10 p.m. A heartfelt, meditative service with

candlelight, harp and communion

Christmas Day

Friday, Dec. 25

10 a.m. A birthday party for Jesus!

CONTACT US

St Aidan’s United Church

3703 St. Aidan’s St.

Victoria, BC

V8P 2V7 250-477-2089

office@staidansunited.com www.staidansunited.com Facebook – staidan

www.staidansunited.com

staidansunited

Ministers

Rev. Cheryl Black

Rev. Betty Anne Dempsey –

Pastoral care

NEWSLETTER CO-EDITORS

Sylvia Campbell

Janis Evans