ADVENT! Yes, can you believe it, this Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent. Watch our pre-recorded service when KAT sends you the link Sunday morning. She’ll attach a bulletin so you can follow along.

We are in the second wave of COVID, and sadly are required to shut the church down. This is not how we had hoped to enter into Advent and the Christmas season. But this is our reality. So it’s up to us to be creative how we keep our spirits up, reach out to one another, and create the light and hope that will see us through.

Even though we can’t gather in person, there is SO much going on here at St. Mary’s. This past few days you learned about:

1.    The Living Well through Advent series. There are still a few booklets left so if you want to follow the guide day by day through Advent, leave KAT a message by phone or email and we’ll attempt to get you the booklet early on next week.

2.    Our non-Christmas Fair invitation to make a donation in lieu of our major annual fundraiser and to come and pick out the sweetest little COVID Christmas bird you can imagine.

3.    Our Christmas Card gift idea where for $12, we will send a Christmas card to someone on your list with prayers and a beautifully embroidered star inside.

We have good news. Earlier this year, we applied to the Anglican Foundation of Canada for a grant towards the cost of re-roofing our church building. And…. this past Monday we received news that we have been awarded $10,000 towards our costs! Combined with bequest money from the Whitehead family, we are close to covering the total cost. Thank you to those who helped put the grant application together.