Dear Friends
Welcome to St John’s for worship this coming Sunday, December 5. Please see the links for this week’s worship video as preparation for the Second Sunday of Advent.
We are planning to decorate the church after the service this Sunday. You are welcome to participate!
Please note that you require ID and proof of vaccination every time you visit the church building for worship or for any other reason. If you are not able to enter the building and you would like to participate in worship, please contact the Rector to receive home communion from the Reserved Sacrament.
Let’s do our best to keep each other safe.
Welcome to St John's!
Listen to past Sunday sermons at:
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TO REMEMBER IN PRAYER
Those On Our Hearts
Shane, Ron, Maura, Pat, The Reverend Gary van der Meer, Major the Reverend Canon Catherine Askew, Ministry Intern John Holgate, Gordon, Gregory, Kerry and all who minister at St John's.(Please note Prayers will be posted for two consecutive weeks unless requested to be posted for a longer period of time.)
Our Diocese
For Cornerstone/Le Pilier, (one of our Diocesan Community Ministries) and for their Executive Director Sarah Davis.
For the residents, staff, and Chaplains of the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
For all vocations to the priesthood and religious life. .
Our Bishop, The Right Reverend Shane Parker, our Metropolitan, The Most Reverend Anne Germond and our Primate, The Most Reverend Linda Nicholls.
Anglican Church of Canada (ACC)
The Primate: Archbishop Linda Nicholls and the staff of the Primate’s Office of the Anglican Church of Canada.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (ELCIC)
National Bishop: Bishop Susan Johnson and the national staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
The Anglican Communion from Aba to Zululand
The Anglican Church of Burundi.
Parish Prayer Group
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WEEKLY PARISH WORSHIP VIDEO
This St John’s Worship Video anticipates our in-person worship service on Sunday, December 5, 2021 – The Second Sunday of Advent.
Welcome to our MPP for Ottawa-Centre, Joel Harden for the Community Conversation, as we reflect on the story of John the Baptist, Luke 3:1-6.
This video coincides with World AIDS Day and includes scenes from the Flag Raising on Parliament Hill and the gathering that followed at the National Arts Centre on Wednesday December 1. Special thanks to the AIDS Committee of Ottawa.
The hymn “Hark! A Herald Voice is Sounding” is sung by the St John’s Choir and improvised on the harp by St John’s Music Director Gordon Johnston.
The worship service for Advent 2 at St John’s will include additional scriptures and music. You are welcome to join us at 8:00 & 10:15 a.m. Please note that you require ID and proof of vaccination every time you enter the church building.
Welcome and I’m looking forward to meeting you!
The Reverend Gary van der Meer
Pastor & Rector
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Update on the Livestreaming Experiment
Last Sunday, we experimented with livestreaming and we are grateful to all who joined us online for the service, all who watched afterwards, and especially to those who submitted comments and suggestions. Thanks also to Thomas Meikle, our videographer, who was visiting family in Ottawa, for his time and expertise.
The challenging thing about a “one-off” experiment is that it’s not easy to incorporate suggestions into future weeks as a learning curve.
Our challenges included:
Intermittent internet resulting in a shaky picture. We would need an extender or ethernet cable for the stability we would need.
The volume wasn’t loud enough. We would need 100+ feet of cable to add the camera into the sound system – plus a sound engineer to help get the settings right (and perhaps some additional equipment for the sound system as well).
The cost for this particular version of livestreaming (assuming we solve the above challenges) is definitely reachable, about $2000. But there’s a good reason why churches are spending much more to “get to the next level”.
The final challenge is training volunteer videographers. We would need at least three. We are still getting back on top of all the other volunteer Sunday roles, especially ushers and ID checkers! But let us know if you'd be interested should we go in this direction.
The result of it all is we had a one-off experiment!
It’s great to be a community that welcomes experiments. We know the idea is very helpful for those who are not ready to be with us in person. We invite you to reflect on what you need. In the meantime, thanks for your patience, interest and feedback.
In the meantime, we will continue in our present pattern:
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An advance video reflecting on Sunday’s themes and connecting us to our neighbours through community conversations. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube Channel.
- Offering in-person Sunday worship that is safe, meaningful, and inspiring.
- Offering home communion to those not able to attend in person.
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Providing an audio recording of each Sunday’s sermon on our website.
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We need photographers for Church Events. If you love using your camera and you’d like to help us have great pictures for our website, newsletter, and videos, please be in touch with Gary: gary.vandermeer@stjohnsottawa.ca.
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Volunteers are needed on December 5th after the 10:15 service to decorate the nave of the church for Christmas. Please speak to Vicki Milnes for details and to volunteer for this annual activity. Afterwards we will meet at Deacon Brodies for lunch and refreshments. |
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Special Community Shop Opening
Sunday December 5th after 10:15am Service
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Our Community Shop has been reorganized with lots of Christmas items. Do some early Christmas Shopping on Sunday December 5th right after the 10:15am service, shop our stock before its gone and say hello to our volunteers. |
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Monday, December 6, 2021 at 7:30 pm. |
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Photo Credit:Candice Camille. |
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is the author of the powerful Governor-General’s Award-winning novel Five Little Indians. Michelle will deliver the first lecture in a series that commemorates the 125th anniversary of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa on Monday, December 6, 2021 at 7:30 pm
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The lecture is a joint presentation with All My Relations, and will be livestreamed on the ADO YouTube channel:
Michelle Good's remarks will continue to be available on the YouTube channel afterwards.
Michelle Good is a Cree writer and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. After working for Indigenous organizations for twenty-five years she obtained a law degree and advocated for residential school survivors for over fourteen years. Good earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia while still practising law and managing her own law firm. Her poems, short stories, and essays have been published in magazines and anthologies across Canada, and her poetry was included on two lists of the best Canadian poetry in 2016 and 2017. In addition to winning the 2020 Governor General's Award for fiction, Five Little Indians, her first novel, won the HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize, the Writers Trust Fiction Prize and the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award.
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Book Evening Wednesday December 7 at 7:30 p.m.
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For our next book study please note there are now 5 copies of I Will Arise and Go Now: Reflections on the Meaning of Places and People by Herbert O'Driscoll at Perfect Books, with 5 more coming, ready for St John's folks to buy! |
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We look forward to welcoming Bishop Shane Parker to St John’s on
Sunday, December 12 at
8am and 10:15am
Plan to be with us as we welcome our Bishop!
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First Annual Scotch Tasting Event
Join us on Sunday, December 19th at Deacon Brodies Pub, located at 247 Elgin St., for what we hope will become an annual Event.
Deacon Brodies has Ottawa's finest whiskey collection with over 400 brands. We will be sampling four of these different brands from each of the four categories of scotch.
Please RSVP to the Parish Office at office@stjohnsottawa.ca by Thursday, December 17 at 3:30pm to reserve your seat. Cost will be approximately $45
(Remember that St John's parishioners receive 10% off their total purchase and in turn Deacon Brodies Contributes 10% back to St. John's)
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It has come to our attention that someone has been using a spam email account impersonating our pastor. This has been unfortunate and sadly a common problem for church leaders, given our names are often on parish websites.
You can verify the authenticity of an email by verifying the address. In our case, authentic staff emails always come from a @stjohnsottawa.ca account. For example, our pastor's email is gary.vandermeer@stjohnsottawa.ca.
Secondly, please note that you will never be asked by email to send gift card numbers or money directly to the parish priest or to any of our staff members and wardens. Donations will only be accepted by way of the proper methods listed on our website and online donations will only be made through our Canada Helps page.
If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to us at the parish office at 613-232-4500. Thank you!
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You can help the Altar Guild decorate the church for Christmas and remember your loved ones with flowers. Make your donation to St John's noting that it is for Christmas flowers and if applicable, please include a note to indicate the names of the people to be remembered. You can put your donation in the collection plate any Sunday or drop it off at the Office. |
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SHOP PWRDF’S ‘WORLD OF GIFTS’ |
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Looking for a meaningful gift for that special person who has everything?.... Why not consider a Christmas gift from PWRDF’s World of Gifts. It’s a great way to support our partners around the world and add meaning to your Christmas shopping. Gifts range from wells, humanitarian disaster funds, all manner of animals (goats, chickens, cows) to buying the whole farm!
Go to the PWRDF website - pwrdf.org - and click on “World of Gifts.”
You can also call the PWRDF National Office at:
1 (877) 936-9199 (9 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST Monday – Friday).
Thanks to all who purchased PWRDF Christmas cards. Sales have been brisk with only 3 packets of cards remaining at $25 per packet.
Thank you for your support. Your PWRDF St. John’s Committee.
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FOLLOW ST JOHN'S ON
FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & YOUTUBE
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Please click the icons to link to our social media pages.
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NEXT SUNDAY - DECMEMBER 12TH
THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
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ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
ANGLICAN CHURCH
154 Somerset Street West, Ottawa, ON K2P 0H8
613-232-4500
office@stjohnsottawa.ca
The Reverend Gary van der Meer, Rector
Major the Reverend Canon Catherine Askew, Honorary Assistant
Dr Gordon Johnston, FRCCO, Organist and Choirmaster
Detlef Dransch, Rector’s Warden
Stephen Giles, People's Warden
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Anishinabe aking ate awaso kikinawadjichigan.
This land we are upon is the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.
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