Happy New Liturgical Year everyone! With the start of the season of Advent we begin our preparations for Christmas. Advent is a time of waiting, a time of preparation, and a time of spiritual renewal. I know it can be a struggle to slow things down during Advent, especially as the preparations for Christmas can increase our stress levels. Between house decorations, gift buying, family gatherings, and Christmas card mailings, we can lose ourselves in the busyness. Please consider slowing things down during this time by focusing on the essentials, and leaving some of the extra fluff for others. For example: buying gifts is a wonderful endeavour that lets us be generous and thoughtful, but perhaps we don’t need to chase every sale and every great deal that is advertised. It is better to do a few essential things well, then to do many things poorly. To help all of you plan ahead and prioritize please see the Christmas schedule insert in this weekend’s bulletin, and keep it handy. Also, here are a few key dates on our journey towards Christmas this year:
December 2nd - 1st Sunday of Advent, the journey begins. Make some plans on how you would like to plan this time and what special events, prayers, books, movies, you would like to incorporate into your life to help you highlight this special season.
December 6th - Feast of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus). As children we always received gifts on this day from St. Nicholas. He would come in the middle of the night and leave something for the children under the pillow. Perhaps praying to St. Nicholas on this day or reading up on his life would be nice.
December 7th - Christmas Movie Potluck at the parish hall in Owen Sound is a great opportunity to build community and enjoy this great season together. Starting at 5pm.
December 8th - Altar Servers Christmas Gathering at the parish hall in Owen Sound. Great food, fun, games, with our wonderful altar servers. They all know what kind of dog is my favourite.
December 14th - Another Christmas Movie Potluck in Owen Sound. Starting at 5pm.
December 16th - Lessons and Carols, an evening of music, scripture, and beauty. Performance by our own musicians at St. Mary’s in Owen Sound starting at 7pm.
December 21st - St. Mary’s and the Missions staff Christmas party, priests are cooking, and hopefully no one will get sick.
Fr. Wojtek Kuzma