Do you ever think about your baptism? Do you remember it?

I'll be honest. I don't actually remember much about mine and what I do recall doesn't have anything to do with the actual baptism. I remember that I was made to wear a red dress with a white apron front and that it was itchy. I remember that my brother (who was a baby at the time) and I were baptized together. I remember sitting in the front pew and having to sit still. 

And that's it.

Not the water, words, or my parents or godparents speaking for me.

So, I appreciate the opportunities we have to remember and renew our baptismal covenants. I like remembering the words, the things that we commit to as followers of Christ.

This Sunday we will celebrate the baptism of Jesus, and as a part of the liturgy, we will renew our own baptismal covenants. We will say the words again, 'I will with God's help' in response to the questions; a reminder that we don't do any of this alone, nor are we expected to. 

One of the (many) things that I love about our faith is the opportunities that we have to remind ourselves who we are and whose we are. I love that we are not expected to get any of this right the first time around and that it is right in the words of our baptisms that we will do our best to love, to serve, to strive for justice with the help of the one who loves us into being.

As we say these words this coming Sunday, I would be curious to know what you notice, how you feel when you say these words, and what, if anything, you remember about the first time you said them or they were said for you at your own baptism.

See you on Sunday!

In gratitude for our ministry together,

Marnie

Readings for next Sunday include:

ISAIAH 60:1-6; PSALM 72:1-7, 10-14; EPHESIANS 3:1-12; MATTHEW 2:1-12

You can find the link here

After spending several weeks digging into scripture with our study The Path, I would like to suggest that we take a little break.

I am going to spend the month of January reading, The Good Book by Peter Gnomes. In this book, the author tackles several difficult topics and attempts to give us some context for what we find in the Bible.

Then we will have a conversation about it on Wednesday, January 29th at our usual times. 11am in person and 7pm online.

You can order this book on Amazon or through your local book store.

If you want to learn more about the Anglican Church, our history, our worship, and our community, join us for this 9 session series. This series will feature a variety of voices from our wider church community. We will meet in-person once (at St. Anne's) and online weekly for 8 weeks.

For more information click here

A note about our schedule at St. Anne's for this course. We will have a teaching Eucharist on February 2 with lunch following the 10am service where we will go over the teachings so far and have an opportunity to ask any questions.

Marnie is away from the afternoon of December 29 - January 2.

Pastor Christoph Rieners has agreed to be available in case of any pastoral emergencies. Please call Our Saviour Lutheran Church at (604) 270-0085

We have some St. Anne's t-shirts still available for $25.00 each.

And one cap still available for $20.00

We have 4 small, 1 medium, 5 large and 3 XL.

Shirts can be purchased in the office.

Get yours before they are gone!

Calendars can be bought at the church office for $6.00 each.

Our friends at Our Saviour Lutheran Church are looking for an Office Administrator. If you know of anyone who might be a good fit, please pass this along.

Here is a link for the position described below.

Requirements:
Working knowledge of Sage50 accounting software, MSWord, and MSExcel, Excellent
communication skills

Duties:
A/R, A/P, and payroll for church and day care using Sage50
managing supplies inventory and purchasing
communicating with pastor
creation and publication of weekly service bulletin
training will be provided

Hours:
22.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday 8:45am to 1:15pm (with some flexibility)
Send resume to office@oursaviour.ca