My Dear Friends in Christ,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

As we reflect on the blessings bestowed upon us, I am reminded of the unwavering generosity and support from our church community. Your commitment to our shared mission has made a profound impact on the lives we touch and the outreach we achieve. ...

In Advent we anticipate both the incarnation and second coming of Jesus Christ. Just as Advent is the end and beginning of the Christian year, so we remember the beginning and end of all things, we recongize our present need for our saviour, and our hope found in the coming of Jesus in the manger and at the end of time. 

Want to explore how this connects with our modern lives? Come over this Sunday to discover how the true hope of this world and our lives is found in the coming of Jesus.

Join us for Holy Communion at 10am and then coffee right after!

Celebrant:

The Rev. Seth Enriquez

Readings:

Isaiah 64:1-9 (read now)

Mark 13:24-37 (read now)

Hymns:

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel  (Listen Now)

Emmanuel  (Listen Now) (Lead sheet) 

Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus  (Listen Now)

Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending  (Listen Now) 

Doxology  (Listen Now)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord  (Listen Now)

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence  (Listen Now)

Benedictus  (Listen Now) (Lead sheet) 

To keep up to date with the new songs we're singing this year, listen to them on our church worship playlist here.

Every year a church is chosen to host the Annual Banff Community Advent Service. This year it will be St George in the Pines Anglican Church!

This is a wonderful time where we gather with our sisters and brothers in Christ from different churches to prepare our hearts for the birth of our Lord Jesus! 

So come over Sunday 3 December at 6pm for an evening of friendship, carols, and hot chocolate after service!

If you'd like to help our hosting efforts by contributing treats to share with the community after the service, please email Rev Seth at seth@stgeorgesinthepines.com or simply reply to this email.

Dear St George family, to receive a Tax Receipt for 2023 dontations must be received no later than December 31st.  Cheques mailed must have a post mark of December 31st and received by January 5th.

Join us at Banff Food & Friends for a delicious meal every Monday from 5pm to 7pm!

Volunteer with us! Food and Friends is always in need of volunteers to happen each Monday. Consider signing up to one of our volunteer shifts and help us continue to servce our Banff Community! [Volunteer Signup Link]

Let's make sure to prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus by singing together this Advent. Below are two playlists of the songs we'll be singing this Advent for you to enjoy and to familiarize yourself with upcoming hymns we'll be singing together. 

Each weekly newsletter will also contain sheet music for each new song (as available) to help you sing along with us at Sunday service. 

[ YouTube Playlist ]

[ Spotify Playlist ]

Pew bibles are back!

St George's will now have ESV Bibles in our pews to read along with our scripture readers each Sunday. We will migrate from printing full readings in our paper bulletins since they will be avaialble in our physical bibles in church. This will helps us in two important ways ...

- Why Ayaan Hirsi Ali Became A Christian is a sobering reflection by Professor Carl R. Trueman on the recent public conversion of celebrated UK Atheist Ayaan Hirsi proclaimed on Unherd.com

- The Cross and the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth is worth re-sharing, as he processes his conversion story that took him from Zen Buddhism to Wicca, and finally to Jesus in the Orthodox Christian faith.

- Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ is an excellent book by Rev Timothy Keller that offers a "profoundly moving and intellectually provocative examination of the nativity story".

- Confronting Christianity : 12 Hard Questions for the World's Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin explores 12 questions that keep many of us from considering faith in Christ. Look more closely, she argues, and the reality of suffering, the desire for diversity, the success of science, and other seeming roadblocks to faith become signposts. Jesus becomes not a relic from the ancient world, but our modern world’s best hope.

Though we moderns resist authority, we need it to make sense of the evil and suffering in the world. And the only authority we can trust with our lives is Jesus the humble King.

Bible Study is back on, Tuesdays from 28 November at 4:30pm

Join us at the Rectory (406 Buffalo Street) for a time of reading God's word, sharing questions and ideas, and growing together in friendship!

We're here for you.

If you need prayer and support, always feel free to reach out to us. You can click the button below to submit a prayer request or simply reply to this email. 

The Diocese of Calgary sends out a e-newsletter every two weeks. To view their most recent newsletter click the button below.

Giving financially is just one way of expressing generosity. If you’re struggling financially or in debt, we encourage you to express generosity in a non-financial way by serving on the Sunday Readers team, praying for the Church, or being generous with your time towards others.

Curious? Explore our Spirituality of Giving