Church Family Happenings

 November 10, 2022

At LMC

We are beginning our Advent and Christmas preparations in Sunday School! We will be filming videos and practicing music in November, getting ready to participate in the Advent Worship services. We look forward to seeing your kids in Sunday School, and we hope you’re looking forward to seeing their hard work during the service!


Next week, November 20, we will be observing Eternity Sunday as a part of our worship service. Eternity Sunday is an opportunity for us to light candles and remember those in our congregation who have died in the past year. There will also be opportunity to light candles individually for those who have passed, whether recently or further in the past. Please come prepared to remember and to celebrate Communion together.


In the community

Mennonite Central Committee

Breakfast! On November 18 at 9am, pastors, church admins, and lay leaders are invited to the Calgary office to have breakfast with Rick Cober Bauman, Executive Director of MCC Canada. RSVP by calling or texting Donita at 780-901-1021.

Join the MCC Edmonton Thrift Shop team! Apply for the Warehouse Worker position by visiting mcccanada.ca/get-involved/serve/openings/warehouse-worker-mcc-edmonton-thrift-shop.

Choose gifts that change lives with Christmas Giving.Call us at 403-275-6935 or visit mcccanada.ca/christmas to give the gift of hope around the world.

Have yourself a peaceful Christmas. MCC Thrift has put together a free Christmas resource with ideas and tips to make the holiday season a little calmer with the help of your favourite secondhand shop. Get the resource at thrift.mcc.org/peaceful-christmas.

Join us for a celebration of 50 years of MCC Thrift! This special virtual event on November 22 at 6pm will celebrate the history, creativity and generosity of the MCC Thrift network and our many dedicated volunteers. Link: mcccanada.ca/get-involved/events/celebration-50-years-mcc-thrift.

Fellowship with us. Nov. 18, 7pm. Foothills Mennonite Church. Everyone is invited to an evening of stories and fellowship with Rick Cober Bauman and Ryan Siemens, the Executive Directors of MCC Canada and Alberta. RSVP by calling the Calgary office at 403-275-6935.


Edmonton Ecumenical Peace Network

Beyond the Frontlines: Rethinking Remembrance Day. Peace is a value in many religious traditions, and yet, it can often be weaponized against those fighting for survival, dignity, and equality. Whether close to home or thousands of miles away, how do we define peace in times of war? How do our spiritual traditions guide our active involvement in advocating for justice, equity, and peace? How can we use our collective voices to centre the experiences of those most impacted by war? Join us at 6:30 pm on November 11 in Churchill Square for our interfaith candlelight walk, followed by reflections and refreshments at McDougall United Church.


Canadian Mennonite University

Christmas with CMU. Saturday, November 26 at 7:00 PM (CST) at Bethel Mennonite Church (465 Stafford St., Winnipeg). This year’s Christmas program will be in-person and livestreamed featuring favourites performed by a variety of CMU’s music ensembles. Space is limited; free tickets are required, available at cmu.ca/christmas.

We Need to Talk. After nine months of war, are there still nonviolent options for Ukraine? Join Karen Ridd and Wendy Kroeker for a discussion of this question during CMU’s interactive Zoom call-in show, We Need to Talk, November 16, 9:30 PM (CST).  Visit cmu.ca/weneedtotalk. 

CMU Festival Chorus. J.S. Bach’s magnificent Christmas Oratorio, Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248, is an awe-inspiring masterpiece for choir, soloists, and orchestra. Enjoy the choir’s stunning musical rendering of the nativity story in all its rejoicing, gladness, and celebration on December 9, 2022 (in Winnipeg, MB) and December 10, 2022 (in Gretna, MB). Details and tickets available at cmu.ca/festivalchorus.  


Village Goods

Starting Monday, October 31, the Village Goods store on Whyte Avenue will be open 7 days a week. Check out the store for fair trade Christmas decorations, nativity scenes, and gifts, such as children’s toys and books, mittens and socks, calendars, and jewelry. If you are interested in volunteering, contact us at info@villagegoods.ca.


Richard Eaton Singers

The Music of Vaughan Williams. Concert Saturday, November 12, 2022, at 7:30 pm at the Winspear Centre. Richard Eaton Singers have in past years had the opportunity to present numerous concerts with the Edmonton Symphony either on or around Remembrance Day, as musical commemorations of one of the most significant national holidays in our calendar. This concert will present several of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ works, including his major cantata on the theme of war and peace, Dona nobis pacem. This co-production will reveal the composer’s lifelong commitment to writing impactful music for voice and orchestra including four representative works that span a period of nearly 50 years of compositional activity.

Reflecting on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, we begin with the short celebratory hymn arrangement Vaughan Williams was invited to contribute to her coronation in 1953, The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune: All People That on Earth do Dwell.The first half of the concert closes with his Five Mystical Songs for baritone soloist, chorus and orchestra.

The second half of the concert will centre on the fact that Vaughan Williams’s long life (1872-1958) spanned both World Wars. Although at the age of 42 he was well past the age of conscription for active duty in WWI, he did contribute as an ambulance attendant for British campaigns both in Greece and France, and the experience of witnessing the brutality of the War’s casualties affected him deeply.  Undoubtedly the memories of these war experiences were very much on his mind when in 1935, with the ominous signs of conflict emerging from continental Europe, he composed the cantata Dona nobis pacem – grant us peace. A major source of text for Vaughan Williams was war poet Walt Whitman. The rigours of war are aptly represented in Beat! Beat! Drums!, Dirge for Two Veterans, and Reconciliation. The cantata closes with a triumphant and ultimately peaceful, reassuring “Dona nobis pacem”, hauntingly sung unaccompanied by soloist and chorus.

Celebrate, commemorate, and reminisce with us in Remembrance of those that have given their lives to protect ours. Buy tickets here.


Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols for Advent & Christmas

You are invited to the annual Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols, with performances by the U of A Mixed Chorus and the Faculty of Education Handbell Ringers. The program will be at the Winspear Centre on November 28 at 7:30 pm, and tickets can be purchased for $25 ay the Winspear Box Office. The Festival is a benefit concert for U of A Student Support.


Camp Evergreen

Telethon Event: Camp Evergreen is holding a fundraising telethon on November 12, 2022. The livestream will run from 10-4 on Saturday, and there will also be an online Silent Auction on the Camp Facebook page. See more details about how to donate and the fundraising goals, and watch the livestream, here.

Camp Evergreen 3-on-3 Pond Hockey Tournament: Taking place on January 14th, 2023, our 3-on-3 Hockey Tournament is a fun time for all levels of Hockey Player. Funds raised from the tournament are used to support the ministry of Camp Evergreen. Spectators are welcome to come watch and participate in our silent auction. Don’t forget to bring out the kids, we’ve got stuff planned for them to! Lunch and Supper are provided. To register a team contact staff@camp-evergreen.com.

Camp Evergreen Winterfest Family Camp: Family Day Long Weekend has never looked more fun! This Family Camp is a whole lot of special with a giant dose of fun. You can expect a weekend full of skating, pond hockey, sledding, Jug ‘n’ Jog in the snow, Crokicurl, Redneck Curling, and all of the activities you have come to love. If you love Camp Evergreen in the summer – you are going to love how magical it is in the winter.