VAUDREUIL PARISH PULSE
December 2007

 

Note from the Women

The St. James Church Women give a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all those who contributed to the success of the Bazaar on Saturday, 24 November and a special ‘thank you’ to Audrey Driver who, once again, convened this event.

We had a wonderful day working together and the financial results will benefit the Church Women’s charities and ongoing commitments.

Again - many thanks to you all.

Looking ahead to next year, watch for the date to be announced for our AGM and Dinner evening.

YOUTH RECAP 2007:
- A note from Kelly:

Firstly, I want to express my sincere blessings for the Christmas Season to every member of our parish community.
It has been a joy meeting some of you for the first time and getting better acquainted with others. I feel very welcomed! Secondly, I would like to recap the projects that I have worked on over the last several months since becoming Youth Coordinator.

I started working on the rock concert at the beginning of April. After months of preparation expended I thought it was a great way to start off our new youth ministry. There is still much talk about that event and I hope to see more of them in the future. The possibility of making it an annual event is definitely in my thoughts and I would encourage more of you to come, see and hear what wonderful spiritual message the concert conveys.

In September, Children’s Church restarted at St. James with a new teacher, after my proposal was graciously accepted by my mother, Anne Babbage. St. James has become alive with spirit; the halls filled with various art works and the cookies for teatime disappearing more frequently. I wish to extend a sincere ‘thank you’ to Wanda Bray who has been a pillar of stability at St. Mary’s Children’s Church for many years. Wanda was also in charge of preparing the exceptionally organized Day Camp. Thank you again, Wanda, for all your support.

At the end of October the teens had a confirmation reunion to reacquaint themselves with each other. Those that came (some dressed up for Halloween) had a great time chatting amongst themselves and carving pumpkins to form a prayer circle. At that point it was an eye-opener for me to see how many of our parish teens do not attend church nor are they aware that their parish has someone arranging these special events just for them. Please, talk to your teens and encourage them to come; or bring them to church and I will meet them and personally invite them to come along.

So what, exactly, are some of our teens doing?

Well, we have started a rotation for a nursery monitor and Children’s Church helper at St. James. This seems to be something to which all teens really look forward. I have never seen so many young people excited at minding a baby, ever! Zoe Proctor is definitely a hit with them. I encourage all of you with babies or toddlers to come to St. James’
11:00 am service, the teens are waiting to play blocks with your bundles of joy. Although this service has not yet started at St. Mary’s in full rotation, I hope that this can be remedied as soon as we have more teen volunteers willing to help.; If you would like to suggest someone, please speak to me.

Also, in October some of the St. James people might have noticed or heard announcements of a bulletin board for youth being put up in the corridor between the main hall and the big hall. This is a volunteer/ work board. This concept has not taken off as much as the teens or myself would have liked it to. I will further explain its purpose: There are two columns on the board one that says volunteering and another that says work. Below these columns is a pack of post it notes. Anyone interested in having a teen either volunteer their time (i.e.- perhaps your child is sick and you maybe want them to come over with some balloons and sing a silly song, or perhaps you yourself would like someone to accompany you to the grocery store, etc), or working to make a little bit of extra money for those odds and ends jobs no one really likes to do (i.e.- perhaps you live alone and would like someone to wash all your windows for you this spring, wash your car, shovel your snow etc. etc) takes a post it note and write their name and number. I will then pick up the note and call you to arrange whatever the job may be. It is basically a mini job/ volunteer bank. I encourage you to use it; this gives you a chance to really get to know the future of your parish better!

CANDLELIGHT CAROL SERVICE AT ST. JAMES:
Sunday, Dec. 16th 8:00 pm

The annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols will this year be held at St. James’ on Sunday, 16th December at 8 p.m. Our Organist and Choir Director, James Armstrong, has finalized his selection of music for the service, and the Choir is working hard to make this a memorable part of our Christmas worship. This service follows broadly that of Kings College Cambridge and includes a selection of mostly traditional Advent and Christmas music and readings. It will be a candlelight service, with opportunities for the congregation to join in. Please mark the date in your agendas, and join us for what will be a wonderful evening.

GREENWOOD SINGERS AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH
Wednesday, Dec. 19th, 7:30pm

On Wednesday evening, December 19th, St. Mary's Church will be hosting Greenwood Centre for Living History's presentation of the Greenwood Singers' Carols for a Mid-Winter's Night with readings by well-known Hudson personalities including Helen Zajchowski. The evening will comprise a wide variety of music and readings particular to the Christmas Season. Opportunities for the audience to sing favorite Christmas Carols were a big hit last year and will again be part of this year's festivities.

Concert attendees are invited to Greenwood at 6:30 PM for coffee and dessert before the concert (tickets $15.00) or to St. Mary's Parish Hall for wine and cheese following the concert (tickets $20.00). In either case, the concert will start at St. Mary's Church at 7:30 PM.

Net proceeds from the evening will be shared between Greenwood and St. Mary's Church. Tickets are available at Mays' Studio, may be reserved by telephoning Greenwood at 458-5396 (e-mail greenwood@hudson.net) or from Frank Royle at 458-7316 (e-mail froyle@frank-royle.com)

ST. MARY’S FAMILY CAROL SING:
Saturday, Dec. 22nd 4:00 pm

To the sheer delight of all who have heard them before, the Turtle Pond Gang will be at St. Mary’s Hall on Sat. Dec 22nd at 4:00 pm, to help James lead the St. Mary’s Annual Family Carol (Shout) Sing-a-Long. Cookies and juice, or sherry for those who prefer not to drink juice, will be served. Everyone is welcome to attend this fantastic family event. Bring your own bells, guitars, trombones, violins, trumpets, saxes, and voices and join in the fun! Your freewill offering will help defray our costs.


CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PAGEANT
Sunday, Dec. 24th 4:00 pm

This Christmas Eve at 4 o’clock in the evening, the children from St. Mary’s and St. James’ Sunday Schools will enact the gospel of the birth of Jesus. It has become a Christmas tradition for many families to celebrate together with friends and neighbors the very real reason why Christmas is Christmas. We will sing most of the favorite carols, witness frightened shepherds, behold the joy of heavenly angels, and follow Joseph and Mary through their arduous journey to Bethlehem.

We invite any child who would like to participate to join us at rehearsal, Sunday mornings 9:00 a.m., December 16th and 23rd. There will be speaking parts, acting parts, just standing parts and angels and lamb parts for the very young. With all the hustle and bustle this season tends to bring, please come and share with us the true meaning of Silent Night, Holy Night. For more information please call Wanda Smith at 450-458-0481.

ST. JAMES’ LITURGY TASK FORCE

We are still looking for people willing to serve on this short-term task force to examine the liturgy and make recommendations to the Corporation. If you would like to have some constructive input as to how we worship together, please call Alison Bentley at 450-458-8076 or email at alison.bentley@sympatico.ca

VAULT ROOF

Three members of our congregation assisted Roger Seguin in re-covering the roof of the old stone building in the churchyard, commonly known as the ‘vault’. Our heartfelt thanks go to Alan MacLeod, James Forster and Graham Campbell and, of course, Roger himself. Just for your information, the vault is where the bodies used to be stored over the winter to wait for the ground to soften and permit burials to take place in the spring. It is now used for storage of chairs etc. for which there is inadequate space in the church buildings themselves.

Roger had estimated that the job would be completed by lunchtime, but this did not allow for the removal of three old layers of shingles and repairs to some of the woodwork. There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that the team are now looking forward to tackling the roof of the large hall!

PARISH FAMILY NEWS:

Death: Ruth Cobbett Lewis died on November 16th at home and her Memorial Service was held on November 22nd at St. Mary’s Church.

BAPTISM: Felix Edward Shandling Gratton, son of Alex and Richard and brother of Elizabeth, was baptized on November 4th at St. James.

St JAMES SUNDAY SCHOOL

Our Sunday School Coordinator Anne Babbage would like to hear from anyone who could volunteer one Sunday every few weeks to help her with the Sunday School program. Helping the young people of our parish to come to know Jesus is a vital and rewarding ministry. If you would like to share in this experience please call Anne at (613) 674-1403 or Youth Committee Chair Alison Bentley at 450-458-8076.

ST. JAMES’ SLATE OF OFFICERS FOR 2008

A Nominating Committee of two members from the congregation, comprising Michael Legg (Chairman) and Marylyn Pound, has been appointed to consider nominations for the slate of officers for 2008 to be presented to Vestry at the annual meeting on 3rd Feb, 2008. If you have any suggestions or wish to discuss, please contact Michael or Marylyn. Their phone numbers are 458-7219 and 458-5127 respectively.

ST JAMES MEMORIAL FLOWERS: Christmas flowers

One of the Chancel Guild responsibilities is to see that there are flowers in the church every Sunday. At this time of year, flowers become very expensive and so we would be very grateful for any and all donations, no matter the amount, towards our Flower Fund. We are looking forward to having an abundance of Christmas Poinsettias again this year. Tax receipts will be issued for donations over $10 (Air Mile points not available, sorry!) Thanking you in advance! Please call Cherrill Gordon at 450-458-5010 for memorial flowers at St. James or Elizabeth Dempsey at 450-458-4380 for memorial flowers at St. Mary’s.

WHAT IS ALPHA
Alpha is an inter-denominational program which explores the basics of the Christian faith, through a series of videos and discussion groups. It is a program that is open to anyone who is interested, runs for 10 weeks and is due to begin at the beginning of February 2008.

Many people in our community have already found ALPHA to be a very "renewing" faith experience. There is no-charge and no long-term commitment. It will be a chance to explore your faith with others, in a very relaxed atmosphere.

If you are interested, please contact Wilf Hall at 450-458-7913, Isobel Wright at 450-458-7355 or Chris Garner at 450-458-4268. For more information please see www.alphacanada.org

PULSE" CONTACT INFORMATION:

The Parish Pulse Editorial Team is actively looking for your articles. Please feel free to contact any of them with your ideas or suggestions for an article. (Mary Vipond, 514-488-3485, maryvipond@gmail.com; Paul Brierley, 450-458-1750, paul.brierley@future.ca; Wilf Hall, 450-458-7913, wghall@sympatico.ca).

The deadline for the next issue is Wednesday, October 24th, 2007.
The publication will be at the end of the month.

Submissions should be directed to Mary Vipond through: maryvipond@gmail.com or parishvaudreuil@ca.inter.net, drop off at the Parish Office, fax to the Parish Office at 450-458-8802, or mail to The Parish of Vaudreuil, 642 Main Road, Hudson, Quebec, J0P 1H0.