Advent Resources for 2015

The Anglican Church of Canada has put together a page that serves as the hub of information and resources to help you celebrate the season of Advent through to Christmas.

AdventWord 2015 – A Global Advent Calendar. Participate in the Anglican Communion’s Global Advent Calendar. Live into the season of Advent as we anticipate the coming of Christ, the fulfillment of our deepest desires and longings. Respond to a daily meditation with images and prayers that speak to your heart and be part of a global Advent Calendar that brings us together in communion.

Video Explaining Advent

Not quite sure about the relationship between Advent and Christmas? Check out this two-minute video that describes why we celebrate Advent and wait to celebrate Christmas.

And beginning November 27th (the First Sunday of Advent,) visit bustedhalo.com/advent for the Busted Halo Advent Surprise Calendar for daily jolts of wisdom and microChallenges that will give your Advent more meaning, as well as give you a chance to win prizes, including an iPad2!

New Evangelical Church Plant for Downtown Montreal

“It is with great joy that the Anglican Diocese of Montreal hopes to ‘plant’ a new church congregation into the historic Montreal-centre parish building of St James the Apostle in 2016. Our aim is to reach young, urban professional and multicultural individuals and families through a modern Anglican form of worship and evangelism. This pilot project is part of our exploration into what 21st Century church will look like in Montreal”, says Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson, Anglican Diocese of Montreal.

In his Bishop’s Charge of 2014 entitled Called to Grow former Bishop of Montreal Barry Clarke underlined the need to prayerfully hold together the tensions of joining in the Mission of God, managing over $300 million of challenging real estate and doing so within a radically changing environment of leadership and discipleship. In its 2010-2015 Mission Action Plan, the Diocese of Montreal repeated a need to work towards the planting of vital churches.

2015 Fair Trade Christmas Boutique to Benefit Refugees

A Fair Trade Christmas Boutique will be held on Sunday 29th November, 11am - 3pm in the Atrium, 1444 Union Ave (behind Christ Church Cathedral, 635 St Catherine W, metro McGill.).

Come find socially responsible Christmas gifts and stock your kitchen  cupboards the fair trade way this Advent and Christmas season!

The 2015 Fair Trade Christmas Boutique of Christ Church Cathedral is being held in collaboration with Dix Milles Villages St-Denis, Equifruit and Aysana.

Enjoy fair trade handicrafts and decorations from all reaches of the globe together with an exciting selection of fair trade fruits and fair trade baked goods.

All profits will go towards the Refugee Sponsorship Ministry of Christ

Click here to go to the Facebook events page.

Pain, Hope and Healing: Everywhere, Everywhere, Everywhere

“Later that night I held an atlas in my lap ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered, where does it hurt? It answered everwhere everywhere everywhere.” ~ Warsan Shire

When I read the poem above, it captured how I was feeling in light of the world events of this week. That sense that hurt is happening around the globe.

It is enormous. It is overwhelming. It is the activities in Beirut, Baghdad and Paris, and so many other countries. It is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.

Help St. Philip's Support the NDG Food Depot’s Annual Door-to-Door Food Drive

The NDG Food Depot’s Annual Door-to-Door Food Drive will take place on Saturday, December 5, 2015, 09h30 to 14h00 at St. Philip’s in the Memorial Hall. Once again St. Philip's is playing a central role in this year’s food drive! You can help with this important outreach event in our community by volunteering in one of the following ways:

1. Pick-up teams. Pick-up non-perishable food items from households in NDG, Westmount and Montreal West. We need drivers with cars accompanied by two able-bodied volunteers to knock on doors and collect food and donations.

Reflections on the ISIS Terrorist Attacks: An eternal perspective

Across the internet, people are wondering how exactly to respond to the latest events of terror and horror. Of course, it’s not just Paris is it? Days earlier, 41 people were killed in Beirut, victims of a suicide bomber’s deranged quest for ‘justice.’ These events are too common to us. We have been here before. Is it cynical to say we will be here again in the (near) future?

“What is our response?”, that is what so many are asking. And, in the days to come, I am sure there will be many, many suggestions as to how the global community should ‘respond’ to these acts of terror. This question, however, takes a different twist when we ask it from a Christian perspective. How do we address these things from the perspective of faith? As members of the church, who believe there is a living and active God in this world, to what do we cling? Is there any hope? Where should our reflections take us?

Churches Address the Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic

“The Arctic is the epicentre of climate injustice,” said Bishop Mark MacDonald of the Anglican Church of Canada and the World Council of Churches (WCC) president for North America during a conference organized by the Church of Sweden and the Canadian Council of Churches held in Storforsen, Sweden, from 5 to 8 October.

“Future of life in the Arctic – The impact of climate change: Indigenous and Religious perspectives” was the theme of the event attended by more than thirty participants.

Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau from Archbishop Hiltz and Bishop Johnson

Bishop Susan Johnson, Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada, and Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate, The Anglican Church of Canada, Mississauga, ON, Canada.

Dear Prime Minister:

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), we extend our heartfelt congratulations to you as our new Prime Minister.

A Statement from the Canadian Anglican House of Bishops on the TRC

A Statement from the House of Bishops of The Anglican Church of Canada Concerning the Calls to Action from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18)

As bishops of The Anglican Church of Canada we are very grateful for the work of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.