November 2015

This time last year I was busy planning for my Sabbatical … it’s hard to believe that I have been to Europe and walked 700 km across northern Spain. I wonder what the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostella will look like on Christmas Eve!

As I sit here writing, the sun is streaming through my window and the temperature outside is well above zero with a forecast for 12 degrees, it is hard to take in that in six weeks, we will be in the single digit countdown to Christmas.

This year has held a lot of blessings at QUC.

* the gift that St David’s offered when they and their ministry personnel offered to cover the worship services at the church while I was on sabbatical.

* the wonderful gift that the different committees and groups offered when they led worship…Outreach, Christian Life and Growth, Youth Group not to mention the men who led the Mother’s Day service and the Jammers who took over the outdoor service in July.

* celebrating the 50th anniversary! The hall was filled with the smell of good food and the laughter of people and on Sunday morning, our sanctuary was packed while the Rev. Diane MacVicar preached.

* the possibilities our 50 for 50 campaign have opened up for us.

* not to mention the baptisms and weddings that we celebrated throughout the year.

Our dreams keep coming true as the choirs of QUC and St David’s will join forces this year for the annual Christmas Cantata! You will want to mark your calendar clearly as we moved our service time to 9:30 on December 20th and St. David’s has moved theirs to 11:00 to make this joint project possible.

The week before the Sunday School will wow us with their talents too. They are so good at showing us what the important things are.

With such an amazing year filled with so many wonderful reasons to celebrate setting the tone, this Christmas season will be a joy and a blessing to the people who call this church theirs. Christmas is the beginning of it all. With the celebration of the birth of Jesus, we commit ourselves to following Jesus way again… for another year.

My prayer is that you will find Christmas an opportunity to be with family, to join with our community in worship and to also reflect on what it means that God would come to earth as a tiny baby. That God would become human and live a human life.

Merry Christmas