• Those who are sick, suffering or in need; those who will experience lonliness and isolation this Christmas.
• Those who are struggling with physical or mental illness due to COVID-19; for "bending the curve" and bringing down the number of cases in Alberta; for all who are doing their best to serve others in this time.
• Those who have died: Cornnelia, sister to the Rev. Johnny Pooten of Holy Trinity Edson, and those who mourn: Johnny, family, friends.
• Bishop Sixbert and the Diocese of Buyé (Twinned Parishes).  
• Our brothers and sisters in Christ from Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 First Nations, from the Métis Nation of Alberta, and from the Métis Settlements in Alberta.
• Click here if you would like someone's name included in this prayer list. We will use first names only.

We won't be gathering in person this Christmas, but all across the diocese virtual services are being planned and will be hosted through video and live-streaming, Zoom and whatever other platforms we can find! Be sure to check here for information about Christmas Services. This page will be updated right up until December 23rd. 

With the help of the Very Rev. Alex Meek and the Rev. Canon Chelsy Bouwman, Bishop Jane has been sharing Advent Prayers and the lighting of the candles through December. Watch for the Lighting of the Christ Candle, coming this week. Please use it in your worship, either corporately online or in your home. 

Available now: 14-minute mp3 of Christmas reflections on piano from Evan Thomas, Music Director at St. Matthias in Edmonton.
Coming this week: Christmas hymns.

The Very Rev. Alex Meek has worked with her team at All Saints' Cathedral and contributors from across the diocese to create a special service of Lessons & Carols for the first Sunday of Christmas (and the last of 2020). Bishop Jane Alexander will be preaching. The YouTube link on the diocesan website will "go active" at 8:00am December 27 and a separate Vimeo link will be available for download. 

We at the Synod Office pray for blessings and peace this Christmas season for you and all those you love, and we look forward to serving our diocese together with you in 2021. We'll be back at work - albeit remotely - on January 4.

St. Faith's PrayerWorks festive Christmas lunch on Friday, December 18 was a great success. Many of our community neighbours picked up take-away lunches and festive care packages. We also worked with partners to distribute meals and care packages in the community...

The parish of St. Timothy’s Edmonton has served with the Inner City Pastoral Ministry (ICPM) as a founding member since 1978, providing volunteers and food for the Sunday lunch program at the Bissell Centre in the inner city. This has been a rewarding experience for our volunteers as they have had the opportunity to worship with and serve the community on those Sundays. So much has changed this year because of COVID-19...

On Sunday November 22, the children and youth of St. Michael and All Angels in Edmonton took over Zoom worship. A long-standing tradition at St. Michael has been to celebrate the children and youth of our parish on the last Sunday before Advent. ‘Children’s Sabbath’ is held on the closest Sunday to the anniversary of the ratification on the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child, which happened on November 20, 1989. Our children and youth become the readers and leaders of our worship time...

Check out the most recent edition of The Neighbourly, the newsletter of the Interfaith Housing Initiative, of which the Diocese of Edmonton is a founding and active member. In this edition: a Christmas massage from Martin Luther, a new partnership, a new project, and a recap of the 2020 plenary sessions.

Please join us in a shared project to create a decorative textile for the Cathedral narthex. We will be gathering white knit, crocheted, and woven squares at the Cathedral between December 1st and January 15th. The squares will be joined together into a shared piece that shows that even when we are apart, we can do great things together through Christ! Click below for full information, or download this instructions pdf. I hope you will consider contributing a square as a concrete act of solidarity with each other and an expression of hope that we will get to the other side of the pandemic and gather together as a diocese once more. 

Contacts: 
*The Ven. Travis Enright, Archdeacon for Indigenous Ministry: rector@stfaithsanglican.org / 780-477-5931
*Fiona Brownlee, Aboriginal and Rural Communities Liaison: f.brownlee@edmonton.anglican.ca / 780-312-9070
*The Rev. Lori Calkins, Priest: loriinkster@gmail.com 

Please see the Indigenous Ministries section of the diocesan website for leaflets, web links and other resources to help you pray and take action for reconciliation. See also the Anglican Church of Canada Reconciliation Toolkit.

This page lists online opportunities for worship, learning and virtual community provided weekly by parishes throughout the diocese.

In this time of continued uncertainty, the Church, the Body of Christ, remains a loving and connected community. we hope to do all we can to support each other, and the diocese grateful for any and all donations we receive. If you are able, please continue to support the ministries of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton. We continue to look for ways to support parishes and to ease the financial burden on those who will be struggling in weeks and months to come. You can make a secure online donation through the diocesan website.

Archbishop Linda Nicholls invites every parish with a bell, and every parishioner with a bell at home, to ring out our joy at 12 noon (in your time zone) on Christmas Day to share with the world that despite all the restrictions and losses we are facing, Christ is born and hope is renewed.

If you post a video or photo on social media using the hashtag #HopeRingsOut the ACC digital team will compile the public posts on the ACC website and keep it updated through Sunday, December 27.

Each year Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University (a university of Christian Reformed Church in North America in Grand Rapids, Michigan) hosts an internationally-recognized on-site symposium on Christian Worship and worship renewal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s symposium will be offered online and at no-cost. This is an incredible learning and networking opportunity for both clergy and laity alike and may just be the life-giving winter commitment that will help lend some buoyancy and creative energy to the coming long winter months.

Following a successful event in October, A Common Word Alberta is planning more frequent opportunities for interfaith dialogue. You are invited to: "Continuing the Conversation," a series of four winter-time Christian/Muslim Encounters. Topics will be: Knowing your Neighbour, Hospitality, Embassy, and Unity. Each session will be one hour, featuring opportunity for discussion in smaller 'breakout' groups. Regular meeting time will be the first Tuesday of the month with the first encounter planned for Tuesday, January 5 at 7:00 pm. Registration required.  POSTER