• Services this week
• AGM summary
• Spring Break Ideas for Church Hall Use
• Wed am at St George's & on Zoom: “Where did all the young people go?”
• 1 March Christ Church Cathedral Ukrainian Fundraising Concert
• Tomorrow: 2 March The Diverters - Bottle & Refundables Drive in the parking lot
• 3 March Syrian Sponsorship fundraising concert
• 12 March Oak Bay Community Association Housing forum
• 15 March Taizé prayer next Friday evening
• St Dunstan's - fundraising with Purdys
• 16 March St Mary's - Giant Spring Book Sale
• 28 March Maundy Thursday Agape Meal - save the date!
• The Montreal Mission Internship
• 12-13 April Diocesan conference: We Together 2024
• Volunteers for We Together 2024 Needed
• Tax receipts are in the mail
• This week in prayer
• Useful links

Sunday 3 March 2024, Lent 3

• 8am Holy Communion
• 9am Community Prayers in the Youth Room 
• 9.30am Family Eucharist, in-person and live streamed [LINK] 

Tuesday 5 March

• 10.30am Contemplative Prayer

Thursday 7 March

• 10am Holy Communion, followed by book study

Prayer team is available during Communion at the 9.30 Sunday service, and please join us for fellowship and coffee after.

We held our Vestry meeting (AGM) Sunday, February 25 after a lunch in the downstairs hall.  It was a well attended and spirited meeting with lots of questions, particularly about missions.  Technological glitches with the overheads prevailed throughout the meeting during the Treasurer's (Mark Laidlaw) presentation, so we thank everyone for their patience and good humour.  The major outcomes of the meeting were:
 
•    Larry Anthony was affirmed as warden and Marcus Schlag as a member of parish council for another 2 years. Zoe Urquhart is stepping down as a parish council member.

•    We passed a budget of $321,800 for 2024, an increase of about $18,400 over what we spent in 2023.  The meeting was dominated by a discussion of missions giving; the Parish elected to maintain missions giving at 2023 levels of $18,700.  To meet the overall budget in 2024, we will need income of roughly $26,800 a month.  Please continue to pray for the mission of St. Philip Church and give your financial support to our shared ministry as God guides you.

AGM minutes will be available soon.

- Fr Allen, Ceal, Larry, and Mark
 

Spring Break is March 15-April 1.  The preschool will be closed during that time – which means the church hall is free for us to use all day during the week.  If you would like to see the hall used for a tea, board games, bridge, card games, lunch, an activity for kids or anything else, please let Allen (incumbent@stphilipvictoria.ca), Ceal (cmclean@stphilipvictoria.ca) or Larry (lanthony@stphilipvictoria.ca) know.  If some good ideas emerge, we can work with you to find other team members to make it happen.  

Thanks
Ceal

Fr Allen notes - if you're looking for a Lenten study, consider attending this:

For decades we’ve been wondering and worrying about our young people leaving our beloved church. For 4 Wednesday mornings this Lent, join Bp Anna and Rev Christine to explore the social, spiritual, religious and theological movements of the late 20th century. What happened in the wake of the great optimism of the 1960’s? Why haven’t any of the many approaches we’ve tried to engage young people over the decades worked in the long term? And finally, what are some of the emerging ideas and practices of 21st century Christianity and beyond? Where might we go from here?

The first session covered the sweeping societal changes (particularly in North America) of the 1960s, and how they affected church life, thought, and attendance. Links to two key articles cited:

•The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church  (July 2023)
• Why So Many Americans Have Stopped Going to Church (August 2023)

Dates: Wed. March 6, 13, 20
Time: 9:45am - Coffee and light snacks; 10:00-11:30am program
Where: St George's Cadboro Bay  3909 St George's Ln Victoria, BC Canada V8N 4E3 
For further details please email admin@stgeorgecadborobay.ca or  phone 250-472-2090

Zoom option available here. 

There will be a St Philip contingent at future sessions, online and in person - see you there!

Friday 1 March at 7pm: An evening of song, dance, and poetry at Christ Church Cathedral (Quadra at Burdett) to celebrate the 210th birthday of Ukraine's National Bard, Taras Shevchenko. Featuring performances by LUNA Ensemble, Kalyna Choir, Veselka Dancers and others.

Tickets available on the Ukrainian Cultural Centre website (https://uccsvi.ca/), via e-transfer (uccvictoriacity@gmail.com), at the Cathedral office, or at the door.
 
Admission is $15 per person or $20 for the whole family. Kids 12 and under, free.
 
Presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Victoria Branch.

The Diverters are coming to St Philip! We accept anything refundable; this is one of our fundraising efforts! Cans, bottles, milk containers, juice and soda bottles, etc - milk & plant-based aluminum containers, milk & plant-based plastic, milk & plant-based gable tops, alcohol bag-on-a-box, liquor glass, non-refillable beer, liquor plastic, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, drink boxes, drink pouches, other gable tops, bi-metal cans.

We first became a group out of Our Place Society when a handful of low income bottle collectors came together and decided to become The Diverters. We are now an independent nonprofit organization advocating for low income and houseless people across Victoria and dedicated to transitioning Victoria to a circular economy. 

Find out more on our website: https://www.thediverters.ca/

Victoria Shows Love Syrian Sponsorship group

- fundraising concert- 

Featuring West My Friend, Sari Alesh, Habbous & Jordie, Island Song choir

St Philip Anglican Church, Sunday March 3  from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

$25 pp

www.victoriashowslove.ca

www.icavictoria.org/

Panel: Ravi Kahlon, BC Housing Minister 
Kevin Murdoch, Mayor of Oak Bay
Virginia Holden, Greater Victoria Housing Society
Zac de Vries, Capital Region Housing Corporation

Moderator: Dr Michael Prince, University of Victoria

Tuesday March 12, 2024, 7.30 pm St Philip Anglican Church

Email for more info or to submit questions for the panel: oakbayconnector@gmail.com

Help spread the word: if you live or work in Oak Bay, please take some leaflets from the table in the narthex for your neighbours or a poster for your workplace

All are welcome to St Philip Oak Bay for a candlelit service of song, silence and contemplation, in the style of the Taizé Community. - Friday 15 March, 6pm

Agape Meal  – Save the Date for March 28

Lent will come to an end and the joy of Easter will be with us soon!  Last year, we began the shift from Lent to Easter with an Agape Meal, a simple meal of lentil soup, bread, cheese and wine accompanied by spiritual readings and reflections.  It was so successful we want to do it again!  The Agape Meal will be held in the St. Philip hall on Maundy Thursday, March 28th. Like last year, we will do 2 sittings to mximize the numbers that can attend. 

After the second sittingl, we'll transition to a special worship service upstairs. 

Plans are just getting started so we have few details at this point.  We haven't even decided what time the two sittings will be at – we just want you to save the date so you can attend.  What we do know is that everyone who went last year found it to be a very meaningful service and that it was a great time to connect with each other.  It was amazing to see how much people enjoyed this event and how well we came together as a community to make it happen.  We also know we'll need volunteers – soup makers, food buyers, set up and take down people, and dish washers.  Sign up sheets will be available by Sunday, March 10.  

Everyone is welcome!  

- Ceal McLean

Do you like to give (or indeed eat) Purdys chocolates for Easter? If so, you could support our neighbours at St Dunstan's in Gordon Head at the same time through their fundraising link, below. Orders must be placed by 10 March, and will be ready to pick up at St Dunstan's from 24 March.

For more information, click here

Churchmouse Books - 8th annual Giant Spring Book Sale!

Saturday 16 March, 10-2 at  St Mary's, Oak Bay - 1701 Elgin Rd

As always you’ll find the usual wide collection of pre-owned books in excellent condition plus a now-regular feature: jigsaw puzzles! We are also excited to have local authors of The Victoria Writers’ Society in attendance to display their own works and meet the public.

While you’re here, enjoy live music, share a cup of coffee or hot dogs or the Archdeacon’s famous pulled pork or vegan sliders from the grill, and a chat with your neighbours.

The Churchmouse Bookshop, open every Saturday, 10am - 1pm, receives good-quality used books from the Greater Victoria community and makes them available to new owners in return for cash donations, in support of St. Mary’s charity efforts and partners. In 2024 we continue our support of the Food Bank at St. John the Divine, Threshold Housing, Our Place Society, and more.

Admission is free, book sales by donation. Donations of books in advance of the sale are welcome, received on Saturdays 10am-1pm.

The Montreal Mission Internship is a 9-week paid internship for 18- to 25-year-olds with a heart for service and a desire to discern how God is calling them to serve in the world. Interns work at a social service organisation in the city of Montreal, responding to areas of social inequity such a homelessness, migration, and food insecurity. They then meet as a group, and individually with mentors, to reflect on how God is working in and around them, and to discern together how they are being called to participate in God’s work.  

There will be an online info-session happening on March 12^th from 12:00pm-1:00pm.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

Registration for We Together 2024 is open! This year the Conference will be at St. John the Divine in Victoria on April 13th.

We Together is our regular (once every other year) diocesan conference to remind us of the ways we are connected; we are stronger together. We are bound in countless ways, in our structures, in our prayers, and through the stories we tell. We are each other's concern, and we are each other's gift.

This year we are continuing to focus on our context, building on the "here in this place" theme from We Together 2022 we will be looking at what it means to serve and minister in the most non-religious context in North America. We have unique challenges, and unique opportunities.

The conference will begin on Friday evening April 12th with an evening banquet at the Baumann Centre followed by an opening address by our Executive Director, Brendon Neilson. On Saturday we will gather at St. John the Divine in Victoria featuring our keynote speaker John Thatamanil, our Diocesan Theologian. John will be presenting two sessions with small group dialogue following each. We will end our time with the celebration of the Eucharist with Bishop Anna preaching and presiding.

The synod office is looking for volunteers to support We Together 2024. Below are a list of volunteer shifts with assigned tasks. Those interested in volunteering may attend the conference (both April 12-13) free of charge. 

Fri 12 Apr - evening: table & chair setup, setting tables, collecting used glasses, general cleanup and takedown

Thanks to all who have collected their tax receipts and saved postage. All remaining tax receipts have now been mailed. Please contact Betty Davidson, our Offerings Secretary, with any questions: offerings@stphilipvictoria.ca

Readings and prayers for Sunday 3 March and the following week:  click here

• Live Streams: via the parish website or direct from YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/@st.philipchurchvictoria1351/live
• Service outline: for those viewing the live stream, the coming Sunday's 9.30 service outline is online here
• Service recording & sermon transcript: 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
• 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, Anglican Journal, Faith Tides, 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.

Candles: S. Hermann & F. Richter, NoName_13 on Pixabay
Tax receipts:  Loren Biser on Unsplash 
Daffodils: Andreas from Pixabay
Spring ideas: Owantana from Pixabay
Footer painting: Caitlin Ambery, 2007