Love divine, All loves excelling Joy of heaven, To earth come down Rev. Charles Wesley 1749

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1 What s Inside Rector s Message 2 Calendar 3 Days of Christmas 4 Healing Service 6 Quiet Day 7 Church School 8 Love divine, All loves excelling Joy of heaven, To earth come down Rev. Charles Wesley 1749 Advent Study 9 Caribbean Night 10 Anniversary 11 Basement sale 12 Niagara Trip 13 Children s Corner 14 Puzzles 15 St. Theodore of Canterbury Anglican Church 111 Cactus Avenue North York, Ontario M2R 2V1 Advent and Christmas 2008 Telephone: Facsimile: Please call ahead theodorechurch@bellnet.ca Website: sttheodore.ca

2 2 Canterbury Tales From the Rector s Desk The Season is once more upon us. The snow arrived on cue (even if you cannot yet buy any salt). The lights are already shining around the neighbourhood and holiday decorations are up in the stores. I hesitate to say Christmas because the real story of Christ coming to us in human flesh is usually lost or obscured amidst the parties, food and presents. Enjoy the Holiday season all you want but do not call it Christmas unless you intend to centre on the story of Christ and the miracle of the incarnation. One of the highlights in the malls, and usually in the centre, is the toyland display with a merry old man dressed in red waiting to greet excited children anxious to tell him what they want under the tree on Christmas morning. Santa Claus is what they call him. There is no mention and very little knowledge of the fact that this is a derivative of Saint Nicholas whose feast we celebrate on December 6 th. This year, at St. Theodore s, we will be celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas on Sunday December 7 th. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, in the fourth century and was principally known for his generosity to children who were in need (always anonymous). Because of this, he is often seen as the patron saint of children. In many countries, his feast day is celebrated with the exchange of presents leaving Christmas to be a religious event. On Sunday December 7 th, we will learn more about this man and the children will bring our St. Nicholas, a.k.a. Mario Angers, gifts to take to the children in Flemingdon Park. Enjoy Santa Claus but do not confuse him wit St. Nicholas. I wish you all a happy holiday and a joyous Christmas. Yours, in Christ, your priest and pastor, Rev. Claire+ To our friends and family at St. Theo s, may You and your family have a blessed Christmas And keep Christ in your Christmas this year. Andy and Sandy Khan and family Blessings to all our St. Theodores friends Dorothy and Gus

3 3 Canterbury Tales Thank You s and Contributors Olive Masters for selling our basement (see page 12 ) Gloria Dodd for the trip to Kittling Ridge and Niagara lights (see page 13) Ruth Barber for the Sunday School article Carol Brunton for the healing service and altar guild articles Rev. Claire for the Quiet Day article Kirk Merrett for filming The Amazing Grace project Diane Darlington for our 50 th Anniversary logo Andy Khan for heading up the Caribbean Night crew (see page 9) Greg Paskaruk and the Tunes for outreach to Stouffville hospital and North York Seniors centre The Choir for outreach to Thornmills Retirement Residence Paul Hietala for ongoing puzzle frustration Eileen Packwood and Joyce Tillotson for endless address lists Elsie Mullins, Louise Smith, Betty Smith, Joyce Chen who with the 50 th anniversary committee addressed a couple of hundred invitations Ruth Darlington for crossing the t s,dotting the i s and finishing the job Aba Newton for photography UPCOMING EVENTS NOVEMBER Sun.30 Advent I 8am Holy Communion Rev. Claire 10:30 Sung Eucharist/school 7:30 Joint Evensong St. Seraphim DECEMBER Tue. 2 8pm Advisory Phyllis Wed.3 7:30 advent study 2 Church Thu. 4 8pm choir Church Fri. 5 4:30 Tunes Church Sat. 6 Niagara Festival of Lights bus trip Sun. 7 Advent II St. Nicholas 8am Holy Communion Rev. Claire 10:30 Sung Eucharist/school Tue.9 7:00 50 th meeting R. Darlington s Wed.10 7:30 advent study 3 Church Thu. 11 6:00 choir Thornmill Seniors Home Fri. 12 4:30 Tunes Church Sun. 14 Advent III 8am Holy Communion Rev. Claire 10:30 Contemporary Eucharist/school 7:30 Healing Service Wed.17 7:30 advent study 4 Church Thu.18 8pm choir Church Fri. 19 4:30 Tunes at Stouffville hospital Community Dinner Sun. 21 Advent IV Carol Service 8am Holy Communion Rev. Claire 10:30 Service of Lessons and Carols/school 12:00 pot luck lunch Wed. 24 Christmas Eve 7pm Family/Contemporary 11pm Festal Eucharist Thu. 25 Christmas Day 10:30 Sung Eucharist Sat pmOpen House Rectory Sun.28 Christmas I 8am Holy Communion Rev. Claire 10:30 Sung Eucharist JANUARY Sun. 4 Epiphany Sunday 8am Holy Communion Rev. Claire 10:30 Sung Eucharist/school Sun.11 Epiphany I 50 th Anniversary 10:30 Festal Eucharist

4 4 Canterbury Tales Marking the Days When Christmas retail goods begin to be displayed before Hallowe en we can all be forgiven for getting a bit confused about the holiday (holy day). Many cultures have specific traditions around these feast days, and as these are dearly held. Tread carefully around any thou shalt s, especially at St. Theodore s, where we welcome the world to our table Liturgically the Anglican Church (many other Christian Churches) begins its New Year on the first Sunday of Advent (November 30 this year). The four Sundays of Advent take us to The Night of the Incarnation, or Christmas Eve. The Twelve days of Christmas follow, ending at The Epiphany on January 6. That, in a Christmas nutshell, is it. Advent If you pay attention to such things, and members of The Altar Guild have it firmly before them as a lodestar, the colours on the altar and lectern change with seasons and feasts of the Church. We like to use colour to send messages; red lightstop, pink ribbon-cancer fundraiser. In the church purple or blue are colours of penitence and patience. Advent is a solemn season of patient expectation and inward reflection, quite different from the goings on in the secular world. In the past, it was also a season of fasting before the feasting of Christmas, The pink candle on the advent wreath can symbolize a lightening of Advent discipline for that week. We also like to count things down, hence the advent wreath, the advent calendar, and if your children come to St. Theodore s, moving Mary, Joseph and the donkey along the star path until they reach the stable. Join our Wednesday series this year, and learn more about Advent and especially the symbolism around the advent wreath. A last comment about Advent; it only begins on December 1, when that date is a Sunday. Advent can start as early as November 27 and as late as December 3, which challenges those chocolate advent calendars! Christmas (The Incarnation) Advent ends on the night of December 24. The next twelve days represent the Christmas celebration in honour of the newborn Child. Unlike the secular holiday, which ends at the Boxing Day sales, Christmas, for a practicing Christian goes on until January 6. The popular song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is suggested to be a song of Christian instruction dating to the 16th century. The "true love" mentioned in the song refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who is part of the Christian Faith. If you check the internet you will find a heated debate as to the authenticity of this interpretation. But, as a kind of faith checklist it is wonderful, and so included here. Day 1, Christmas Day, December 25 A Partridge in a Pear Tree The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ. Day 2, December 26 Two Turtle Doves The Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God's self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the Story of God to the world. Day 3, December 27 Three French Hens The Three Theological Virtues: 1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love (1 Corinthians 13:13) Day 4, December 28 Four Calling Birds The Four Gospels which proclaim the Good News of God's reconciliation of the world to Himself in Jesus Christ.

5 5 Canterbury Tales Day 5, December 29 Five Gold Rings The first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah. Day 6, December 30 Six Geese A-laying The six days of creation that confesses God as Creator and Sustainer of the world Day 7, December 31 Seven Swans A-swimming The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion. Day 8, January 1 Eight Maids A-milking The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Day 9, January 2 Nine Ladies Dancing The nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness,6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control Day10, January 3 Ten Lords A-leaping The ten commandments Day11, January 4 Eleven Pipers Piping The eleven Faithful Apostles: The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus Day12, January 5 Twelve Drummers Drumming The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) Belief in God. 2) Belief in Jesus Christ,. 3) His conception by the power of the Holy Spirit. 4) His suffering under Pontius Pilate, death and descent to the dead. 5) His resurrection and ascension. 6) His return to judge the living and the dead. 7) Belief in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting. with files from Dennis Bratcher Epiphany Christmas ends on January 6 which is celebrated as The Feast of the Three Kings, the Wise Men or The Magi. Actually, the Bible does not mention how many there were. It is tradition that says three, and tradition also that gives us their names: Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar. The gold, frankincense and myrrh are mentioned however, and are associated with; Christ s presence on earth (gold for kingship), in Heaven (frankincense for the spirit), and among the dead (myrrh for annointing). Saint Nicholas Throughout the weeks of Advent and Christmas several feast days are celebrated. This year, at St. Theodore s we are turning our attention to Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra whose feast day is December 6. As a Christian, Nicholas suffered persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and was imprisoned until the emperor Constantine showed tolerance toward Christians. Tales of Nicholas generosity were widespread, Over the years since his birth and ministry in the 4 th century, he has been transformed, in North America, into Santa Claus, who visits and leaves gifts for children on Christmas Eve. The addition of reindeer, sleighs, elves, the north pole and chimneys is a fairly recent development (Clement Moore s The Night Before Christmas figures prominently in our recent mythology). The significance of Nicholas for us today is that his response to God s love for us in Jesus Christ was to care for others. His kindness and care for children are modeled every time we give a gift out of love. Perhaps Nicholas would not be too unhappy at his transformation into Santa.

6 6 Canterbury Tales Christmas Flowers Advent is here and Christmas will soon be upon us. The Altar Guild of St. Theodore s takes great pride in decorating the church for Christmas. We order Poinsettias and extra flowers to adorn our Altar. After Christmas the plants and flowers are taken to our ill or shut-in members. If you would like to help us with the cost of these flowers please fill in the form below and place it in an envelope marked Christmas Flowers together with your donation and put it either on the collection place or hand it into the church office. We will print the list of Memorial and Thank offerings in our Christmas leaflets therefore we need this request/donation by Sunday, December 14th. In Loving Memory of or In Thanksgiving for Name of Donor Envelope # Amount of Gift $ Healing Service December 14 Christmas is a very difficult time of year for so many people and especially this year with the present world wide economic situation. Here at St. Theodore s on Sunday, December 14th, 7:30 p.m. we are having a service of Laying on of Hands and Anointing for healing. It is a time to come with your burdens, concerns (physical, emotional, work related) and needs, to place them in the loving hands of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Those who have attended this service in the past have found it most helpful and peaceful. Hope to see you there. Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass. To all friends at St. Theo, we wish you all the best in the holiday season. Bob and Vi Lambert Luke2:15

7 7 Canterbury Tales Quiet Day at the Convent On November 1 st, eight of us gathered at St. John s Convent to have some time apart to reflect on where we had come to in our ministry as people of God in this place. Even though we called it a quiet day, most of it was far from quiet as we celebrated what we had accomplished over the last couple of years and became animated about the future. We began by reading Philippians 3:3-16, Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Rev. Claire began by giving a summary presentation on our journey so far. She looked at notes from Vision 2000 led by Father Dean in 1998, a visioning day in May 2006 led by Isaac Mukasa, a discernment day at the Convent in September 2007 led by Rev. Mary Pataki followed by a Visioning Day and Community Walk in October 2007 and a Discernment Sunday, November After some discussion, this session was followed by a quiet time, then Eucharist and lunch with the Sisters. We gathered again in the afternoon to look at where we go from here. In 2006, three areas of growth were identified: 1. Worship and Music, 2. Outreach and Social Justice and 3.Christian Education. Since then, a contemporary service once a month has been introduced. There has been great growth in Outreach, thanks to Olive Masters leadership. We now have a strong connection with refugee resettlement and have recently had a church basement sale. The needs of the Russian community around us has been recognized and a mission into that community is in the planning process. In the area of Christian education, we have a strong group of teachers for our children and, for the adults, several study sessions a year are held on Wednesday evenings. Without extra staff, this is perhaps as far as we can go at this point. A list was made of where we would like to be in 2 years and in 5 years. All these plans need help and volunteers to go ahead with these dreams are badly needed. In two years we would like to see the following in place: A St. Theodore s alumni association, a young adult group, strong outreach, good stewardship of time, talent and money, good marketing practices reaching to all and specifically to the Russian community, an active greeter s team, and additional clergy staff. In five years: Young vibrant congregation, strong ministry to immigrants, strong lay leadership, healthy finances, sale of the rectory. Other forward thinking ideas : Curb appeal improvement, bible study at different times, quarterly work parties, publicizing events outside the congregation. The day closed at 3 pm with prayer. Prayer for those Living Alone I live alone, dear Lord, stay by my side In all my daily needs, be thou my guide Grant me good health, for that I pray To carry on my work from day to day. Keep pure my thoughts, my every deed Let me unselfish be in neighbour s need. Spare me from fire, flood,malicious tongue From thieves, from fear, from the evil one If sickness or accident me befall Then Lord I humbly pray, hear thou my call And when I m feeling low, or in despair Lift up my heart and help me in my prayer I live alone, dear Lord, yet have no fear, Because I feel thy presence ever near. Remember and invite those who are alone this Christmas Christmas Outreach Every year we reach out to our community to sponsor and assist: Flemingdon Park Don Valley Refugee Resettlers North York Food Bank

8 8 Canterbury Tales The Sunday School of St. Theodores would like to wish everyone a very Joyful Christmas. Our teachers and children are happily planning for the Season of Advent and following the very special journey of Mary and Joseph. We would like to take this opportunity to let you know about our activities over the next month of December. Each Sunday our young people will be greeted by Bonny at Children's Time where they will learn more about Advent through story and song. In keeping with our guest preacher Revd. Donald Butler's sermon: WE SERVE GOD BY HELPING OTHERS our children will be involved in two very special missions. We will be collecting new unwrapped toys for Flemingdon Park Mission and we will continue to add items to the Food Bank in order to assist families in our community. We will engage you and explain how we hope that you will support us with these initiatives. During our lessons the children will also learn about St. Nicholas and the work that he did in order to help those in need. Rev. Claire has a special surprise for the children on December 7th. We would also like to invite you on a Sunday in December to enjoy some special treats decorated by the children. On Christmas Eve our children will be performing a very short narrated play: The Road to Bethlehem. Most importantly, we will rejoice and share in the very special story of the birth of Jesus. So please join us. Ruth Barber Best wishes for the holidays Ruth and George Darlington to all our St. Theodore friends. Sheilagh, Pat, Cheryl, Katherine and Michael

9 9 Canterbury Tales Advent Study The Advent Study will start before Advent this year in order to get the four weeks in. Our first meeting will be on Wed. November 26th and continuing on Dec. 3, 10, and 17, 7:30 p.m. at the Church. We will be studying the meaning of the four weeks of Advent as they pertain to the Advent Wreath. The members of the Bible Study asked if we could study this. Bonny gives such a good talk to the children every year but we as adults don t understand the meaning behind the four weeks. Come and learn more about the Advent Season. Merry Christmas to all our friends Yvonne and Barl In the deep midwinter Christmas blessings To all our friends And their families The Yu s Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year From Joyce Chen and Family

10 10 Canterbury Tales Caribbean Night Appreciating the entertainment Birds of Paradise Happy retirement Vi!!! Kitchen Duty is no hardship at Caribbean Night It was a great party with great food and entertainment, but to an outsider the lasting impression must have been the joy with which we joined and shared one with the other. Our diversity really is our strength. Thanks to Andy Khan and his crew for making this night such a memorable one. * * * * * * * * * * * * Goodbye Mukami, Daniel and Michael On Sunday, November 9 we said goodbye to the Donnelly family at a reception after the service. We wish Godspeed to them and look forward to receiving news of their journey.

11 11 Canterbury Tales Come, Celebrate our Fiftieth Anniversary St. Theodore of Canterbury Fiftieth Anniversary Year Events January 11, February 24 February 25 April 5 April 12 April 13 April 14 April 24,25 May June 20 July Sept. 19 Sept. 20 October November Festive Eucharist Mardi Gras Ash Wednesday Palm Sunday Good Friday Stations of the Cross Parish Walk Holy Saturday Resurrection, Easter Day Monks Cell Open House Tunes Concert, Art Show The Islanders Patronal Dinner/Dance Patronal Festival Caribbean Night Glory to God: communal music making Renew friendships with Former rectors Former parishioners Those who have served this parish during its fifty year history As we celebrate, before God in thanksgiving, the first event marking fiftieth anniversary year :30 a.m. * * * * * * * * Celebrate the music of The Tunes Celebrate our Russian outreach launch Celebrate our website launch All events will be posted after January 11, 2009 at Reception following in the parish hall A word about the invitation letter that is coming to you with this newsletter. It is for you to pass on to a friend, or someone you know with whom we may have lost contact.

12 12 Canterbury Tales In Our Anniversary Year (four things to consider on January 1, 2009) A commitment to regular attendance at services will improve your spiritual health A commitment to attending our special Eucharists and programmes will strengthen our community Our financial security is closer when you use the Pre-Authorized Givings programme (P.A.G.) A donation to the furnace fund will keep 2009 both warmer and cooler Basement Sale Saturday, November 22 Olive has a good reason to smile, and we have a huge reason to give her thanks. Over the course of November we had been collecting clothing and household items for a basement sale. The end result was a massive collection of new and used saleable items. On the day of the sale, the wardens were away at an all day workshop at St. John s which really pulled the staffing down. Claire managed to slip away just after lunch to help with the sale, but a lot fell on the shoulders of Olive and her crew. Nevertheless the sale was a great success, raising over $500 for outreach projects. There is much of good quality left. Several suggestions have been made as to its dispersal. As outreach moves forward in its charge to reach out to the needy and disenfranchised in our community, one idea that has been explored and is reaching implementation is our outreach into the Russian Community, ( see it launched at our Festive Eucharist on January 11, 2009). Our visioning, parish walk and quiet day have all been part of this project. It is important to get it right and is worth a slow, careful approach. Where this all ties in with the basement sale is in the fundraising to finance the Russian Outreach. A consideration for on-going fundraising is to implement a monthly new and used clothing sale. So here we are, with a good stock of clothing left over from the sale, a fine idea for further fundraising and no storage space. Is there an angel out there who has either basement or garage space for clothing only? If you have, Olive or the wardens would appreciate a call. Merry Christmas from The Brunton Family

13 13 Canterbury Tales Christmas blessings to everyone with wishes for a healthy New Year. Louise Smith Roy and Joyce Tillotson Wine Tasting and Niagara by Night Seats still available for this fabulous trip Saturday December 6 2:45 Bus leaves St. Theodore s 3:00 Kittling Ridge Wine Tour 4:30 Wine tasting and shopping Kittling Ridge 5:30 Dinner Betty s restaurant 6:30 Niagara Tour to see lights To reserve call Gloria Dodd at (905) or (416) X8082 All inclusive $70 fundraiser for St. Theodores

14 14 Canterbury Tales Children s Corner December 6 is the feast day of Saint Nicholas. Many years ago, only a short time after Jesus walked upon this earth, he was Santa Claus to children in his hometown of Myra. Many boys and girls today, especially in Europe, look forward to this day. They know Saint Nicholas will leave them candy and fruit if they put out their shoes by their bedroom doors on the Eve of St. Nicholas. Jurgen and his dog are looking longingly into the candy maker s shop window, thinking of the candy and fruit that will be in their shoe tomorrow, but only if they have been good. St. Nicholas will leave coal if they have not been good. Hidden in the picture are an apple, a slice of watermelon, a bunch of grapes, a pear, peas in a pod, a carrot, a banana and an ear of corn. (parents: see the full story in this issue)

15 15 Canterbury Tales Puzzle Page by Paul Hietala In this issue, I thought I'd introduce an amusing type of puzzle I first encountered on the ceiling of my dentist's office. (Anything to distract his patients during his oral excavations.) They're called brainbats. The idea is to figure out what expression is represented by a seemingly odd group of words or letters. You just have to say what you see. Some examples: VISION VISION stands for "double vision"; DEEF is "feedback"; GGE, GEG, EGG is "scrambled eggs"; and HIJKLMNO is "water" ( H to O, get it?) Then, maybe it's time to revisit some puzzle types from previous columns. Remember doublets? Change one letter at a time to from one word to the other. So, can you in 7 moves each 11. Turn WHEAT into BREAD? 12. How about BREAD into TOAST And, while we're on the subject of breakfast: 13. Jack is a farmer and owns some chickens. One day, he took a basket of fresh eggs to the market to sell. The first person bought half of all the eggs in the basket plus half an egg. Then, the second person bought half of the remaining eggs plus half an egg. Now Jack's basket had only 1 egg left. If no eggs were broken in the process, how many eggs did he originally have in his basket? 14. A loaf weighs 8 ounces plus half a loaf. What is the weight of a loaf and a half? Merry Christmas to everyone, and a Happy Puzzling New Year! Answers to Patronal Festival Puzzles 1. $200. Simply the result of two transactions on which he made $100 each time. 2. She mashed them and used a spoon. 3. First stand the wheel of cheese on edge and cut down through the middle. Then, without separating the two pieces, lay it flat on the table and make two more cuts at right angles to each other through the centre. 4. The snail's net progress is 1 m per day. After 15 days, it is 15 m from the bottom or 5 m from the top. Hence it reaches the top on the 16 th day. 5. Choose any four of the coins and weigh with two on each side of the balance. If this balances, these four are all good. Weigh the remaining two, one on each side. The lighter one is counterfeit. If the first weighing is does not balance, weigh the two coins from the lighter side against each other. Again, the lighter one is counterfeit. 6. With four people you can count the handshakes just by listing all possible pairings of four people: AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD, for a total of 6 handshakes. With 8 people, imagine that they enter the room one at a time. Each person shakes hands with all those who are already there before the next one comes in. A enters and has no one to shake with. B enters and shakes hands with A. Total is now 1. C enters and shakes with both A and B, total of 3. After the 8 th person has arrived the total is = 28 handshakes. With 80 people the previous approach would work but it's a bit tedious to add up all the numbers from 1 to 79. Now imagine all 80 guests are lined up in a row and one person is designated "host" He walks down the line and shakes 79 hands. If each of the 80 people play "host" in turn and you end up with 80 x 79 handshakes. But in this case you've counted each pair twice, once with each person playing host and again when they were in the line. So take half, and there's your answer: 80 x 79 x = 3160 handshakes. OK, so I sneaked in a little math.