• Services this week
• Tonight! 31 Jan Teens & Twenties Games Night
• Gladys Thomas - Hope Home update
• Tuesday Contemplative Prayer
• Thursday Book Study - Laudato Si'
• 11 Feb St Philip Parish Vestry
• Good News: Syrian-Palestinian refugee sponsorship moving ahead
• Precious Jewels Ministry update
• Pastoral Care training opportunity
• Tomorrow: An invitation from Bob Watts' family
• Mindful Living: 7-Week Course at St Philip
• Family Valentine's Day Crafternoon
• This Week in Prayer
• Useful links

2 February 2025 - 4th Sunday after Epiphany

8am Holy Communion

9am Community prayers downstairs in the youth room

9.30am Eucharist, in-person and live streamed via Facebook Live [LINK]

• Celebrant & preacher: Fr. Allen Doerksen
• Altar Guild: Beth Macdonald, Karen Fenimore
• Usher: Daniel Varga
• Music leader:  Dana Reiter 
• Readers:  Joe Weicker, Melinda Budgell
• Prayers of the People: Joan Sedgwick
• Powerpoint & slides:  Clayton Savage
• Facebook Live: Karishma Iyer
• Children's ministry: Gerianne Knowles-Robson
• Youth ministry: Ruth McGhee
• Coffee: Evelyn and Clayton Savage
• Offerings counters: Betty Davidson, Sharon Richmond

Please join us downstairs in the hall for coffee and fellowship after the 9.30 service.

4 Feb, Tuesday 10.30am Contemplative Prayer

6 Feb, Thursday 10am Holy Communion followed by book study

This evening is for *everyone* between the ages 16 and 29. We won't nitpick about the age limits :)

Date: Friday, January 31st, drop in or leave any time 6-9pm, at St. Philip Anglican Church - entrance to the lower level through the pathway by the garden at the side of the building - follow the signage!

Questions?: Contact Karishma at ms.shrutikarishma[at] gmail.com

Gladys Thomas will be speaking during sermon time at both the 8 am and 9:30 services on Feb 9th.  Gladys is the President & CEO of Fondation Pour Les Enfants d'Haiti, which runs "Hope Home" in Haiti, one of the ministries that St. Philip has supported the most faithfully and passionately over the decades.  She'll update us on Hope Home and the other areas of the Foundation as well as the conditions in Haiti right now.

Photo: cfchcanada.ca/

Please join us on Tuesday mornings, 10:30 - 11:30, meeting in the choir area of the nave (at the front of the church), for a 20 minute contemplative sit with a time of prayer following. 

Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash

Following the 10am Thursday Eucharist service, our regular seasonal book study resumes starting 9 January 2025 with Laudato Si', Pope Francis' 2015  encyclical subtitled "On Care for our Common Home".

All are welcome to join in the book study, whether or not you attend the service before it!

• 6 Feb Integral theology (137-182)
• 13 Feb Lines of approach and action (163-201)
• 20 Feb Ecological education and spirituality (202-246)
• 27 Feb Conclusions

Full text of the encyclical Laudato Si'

'The Letter' film

St Philip Oak Bay will hold its AGM (also known as the Annual Vestry Meeting) at the church on Tuesday 11 February 2025 7-9pm. 

Image by claude_star from Pixabay

Hi Friends,

I received word from ICA that our proposal to sponsor Reem and her two daughters has been approved. That means we can start fundraising in earnest and accepting donations through the Synagogue refugee fund. We will need to raise $35,000 by the end of March in order to avoid any issues with a new government suspending the program later in the year. 

To contribute, see link below to make a tax deductible donation through the Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue, or write a cheque to  Congregation Emanu-El. 1461 Blanshard Street, Victoria,  V8W 2J3. With a comment in the note section saying: "For New Refugee Family". 

https://congregationemanuel.shulcloud.com/payment.php?donation_type_id=6709560

To learn more about this initiative, please contact us at CEE.Refugee@gmail.com

Shalom/Salaam

Robert Oppenheimer

Chair, Congregation Emanu-El Refugee Project

The Roman Catholic Diocese of VIctoria presents online training sessions for Pastoral Care Ministry volunteers who wish to visit the lonely, homebound, sick, injured, elderly, and dying, in hospitals, extended health care facilities, or at home. The next session is scheduled for February 1 - April 5, 2025 (with no session on March 8 for spring break).

Please come if you can to an open party for friends meeting friends, and we’ll honour Bob's parting together. No solemn dress or manner, please just come and enjoy - Saturday 1 February, 1-3pm,  at Lutheran Church of the Cross (Cedar Hill and Cedar Hill X).

- Bonnie de Moissac

Wednesday evenings 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Feb 5-Mar 19. Cost:   $25 for workbook 
Contact: Florie Varga 250 709 7063 or Florie@Florievarga.com 

Lorrie and I greet you and pray for you as you prepare for the AGM in the coming days.
Linked below please find the AGM report for 2024 from Precious Jewels Ministry.

Lorrie is presently in Uganda and I am in the Philippines. We continue to thank the Lord for good health, and for the faithful prayers and partnership of the St. Philip family,  which allows us to continue to minister to families and children in the Philippines and Uganda.

Thanksgiving from afar,

Joke (and Lorrie)

We would like to invite your congregants to join us for a Family Valentine’s Day Crafternoon on Saturday, February 8^th, 1-3 pm. This free event will be held in our downstairs Community Hall (level ground access via Granite St., through the doors just east of the big entrance ramp); there will be Valentine’s Day themed crafts, coffee/tea and light refreshments, as well as a nursery space for parents with younger toddlers/infants.

• Saturday, February 8, 2025
• 1:00 PM  3:00 PM

• Oak Bay United Church 1355 Mitchell Street Victoria, BC, V8S 4P9 Canada (map)

• Live Streams:  via Facebook Live [LINK]
• Service outline: for those viewing the live stream, the coming Sunday's 9.30 service outline is online here
• Listen to a past sermon only: click here, choose a sermon, scroll down & click "jump to sermon". Now featuring audio-only as well!
• Service recording & sermon audio: choose any past Sunday here (listed most recent first)
• More news & events from our church neighbours and wider community: click here
• Previous parish newsletters: click here
• Parish Council minutes: click here , see under Downloads
• Staff contacts: via the parish website
• Liturgy for the Islands and Inlets: click here for full text
• Salal + Cedar (Diocese of New Westminster): click here
• Book of Alternative Services: click here
• Anglican Church of Canada lectionary: click here
• Revised Common Lectionary: click here
• Diocesan Comings & Goings: read latest
• Inclusive Christians at UVic: read latest
• Faith Tides: click here for latest issue
• Contemplative Society: latest news
• L'Abri Canada: read latest
• Sorrento Centre news: click here
• PWRDF updates: read latest
• KAIROS Canada: read latest
• Anglican Church of Canada news: click here
• Anglican Journal: click here for latest articles

The Welcome pew leaflet, weekly parish news, current Anglican Journal, & Faith Tides, recent Parish Council minutes and more are all available in print in the narthex. Please let Anna know if more print copies are needed, on Sundays or for sharing with those who don't use email.

Header: Cover image: “For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face.” Trees on an island reflected in water, Kuopio, Finland, 2017. Photo by Niilo Isotalo, Unsplash.
Candles: S. Hermann & F. Richter, NoName_13 on Pixabay
Footer painting: Caitlin Ambery, 2007