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Happy Advent!

Wait. Is that really the correct greeting for Advent? I don’t know. ‘Happy’ seems a bit, well, you know ... happy, and I’m not sure happiness should really be an Advent emotion. Whatever. I hope that last Sunday you made a purposeful and deliberate beginning to this season of hope. If you were in church (or listened to the stream – either live or on demand) you’ll know that this Advent we’ll be preaching our way through some amazing promises that are in the Old Testament lessons from Isaiah. On Sunday we began with “God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore.” Perfect! Bring it on!

This coming Sunday it gets even better. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” How good is that? Happiness may not be a traditional Advent emotion, but excitement surely is. There’s a lot to get excited about.  

One thing to be excited about, even though it is not mentioned in the Bible, is the election of a Junior Warden to fill the current vacancy. So, I’m delighted to tell you that at its recent meeting, the Vestry elected Bill Eskridge to be the Junior Warden for the remainder of the term, i.e. until the Annual Meeting of Parishioners in January. Congratulations Bill, we’re excited that you’re back in leadership of St Jonh’s.

This week I also want to tell you about a special Rector’s Forum on December 14 at 9:15 in the library. The eagle-eyed among you may have read a few weeks ago a statement made by a body called GAFCON (the Global Anglican Future Conference). In this declaration GAFCON stated that it had “re-ordered the Anglican Communion”. This included the rejection of the authority of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. If you did, indeed, read about this statement from GAFCON you may have responded with anxiety and the obvious question, “What does this mean for the Episcopal Church?” Well, that will be the focus of the Rector’s Forum on December 14. I’ll lead us in learning and understanding the recent developments in global Anglicanism. As you’d expect, I will try to be factual, gracious, and completely fair to all our Anglican brothers and sisters, while also giving my honest personal reflections.

One more piece of exciting news is that the Welcome Course will begin its 2026 version on Sunday January 11 at 9:15. This year I’ll be extending the course by a further week – to make it a 9-week program. Since its creation around 15 years ago, the Welcome Course has been instrumental in hundreds of people learning about the basics of the Chrsitian Faith through the lens of the Episcopal Church. As such it is perfect for newcomers to St John’s, anyone who wants to do a refresher on our faith, and adults who wish to be confirmed. Look out for a leaflet before Christmas.