Come and begin the Christian New Year and begin to anticipate the celebration of Christmas! This Sunday there will be a quiet, said Holy Eucharist (BCP) at 8:30 am, a Choral Eucharist at 10.30 am, and The Reverend Canon Doug Richards will preach.

Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

The 10.30 am service will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel. Please be aware that technological issues sometimes occur.

Come and enjoy the festive season! Shop for a wide variety of baking, preserves, soups, pies, along with knitting, jewellery, puzzles, board games and other treasures between 11.30 am and 3 pm. Enjoy delicious tea plates with tea or coffee to take-away or sit and enjoy for $20 per person between noon and 2.30 pm. Cathedral Carollers will provide Christmas music. 

On Sunday, what is left over from Saturday's event will be available before and after the 10:30 am service. Your last chance to buy before everything is packed away!

Begin the season with beautiful music in a gorgeous setting! The service of Advent Lessons and Carols features a procession to the four corners of the Cathedral, where scripture is read that helps us enter into anticipation and waiting. The music is rich and the voices of the Boys Choir, Girls Choir and Lay Clerks lift us out of darkness into the light of God's love. 

This service will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel. Please be aware that technological issues sometimes occur.

This Sunday's Advent Carol Service concludes with the first movement from Marcel Dupre's "Symphonie Passion": "Le Monde dans l'attente du Sauveur", published in 1924 from a 1921 improvisation. A copy of this same symphony appears in a well-known photo of former Organist and Choirmaster Godfrey Hewitt taken in 1947 by Malak Karsh; a reminder that Hewitt was always alert to contemporary trends in the arts, programming and performing much new music here during his long tenure - a pattern of support for composers and musicians the Cathedral maintains into the twenty-first century.  

On Sunday, November 23rd, our Girls Choir travelled to Emmanuel Anglican Church and sang a beautiful evensong. Afterwards there was a plenteous potluck for all who attended - full church, full hearts, and full stomachs - what wonderful hospitality on a snowy winter night!

Paul is delighted with our new investment - lightweight, movable scaffolding that is easily stored onsite. Those hard-to-reach lightbulbs may now be changed more readily, painting touch-ups done, and Christmas wreaths hung!

Thursday was fragrant with the arrival of the Christmas wreaths. Thanks to Hilary and Lena for spearheading this amazing choir fundraiser with a new record reached of 410 wreaths sold. What a wonderful way to spread some cheer, support our choirs and a local business, and advertise our Advent and Christmas services - a win, win, win. Well done, everyone! 

What is the unique, powerful proposition that we as Anglicans have to offer people in a secular culture? How are we being called to guide change? How can our national church structures support dioceses and parishes so they can thrive? Hear Primate Shane Parker’s thoughts on these questions and more in a wide-ranging conversation with the Rev. Canon Martha Tatarnic on the Future Christian podcast.

This Advent, the app Pray As You Go is offering an invitation to pause, prepare, and pray with them. They are offering Advent Psalms: a gentle rhythm of audio reflections designed to help enter more deeply into this season of waiting and hope. This retreat has been written by Fr Philip Harrison SJ, Editor of The Way. Each week, a different Psalm will be prayed, allowing its imagery and wisdom to guide the Advent journey. There will also be an Examen to pray at the end of each week, giving space to look back on the week with gratitude and openness to God. All sessions will be available for free on the Pray As You Go app and website. 

Come, enjoy the anticipation of Advent and joy and wonder of Christmas! Details for all the services and events are listed inside, and a handy list is on the back. Download and print it out, or pick one up at our Cathedral.

Come celebrate the magic of Christmas with some of the most beautiful traditional German songs, choral masterpieces by J. S. Bach, Jacobus Handl and Michael Praetorius, and such holiday classics as Silent Night and O Christmas Tree. Timeless melodies, shimmering polyphonies, and well-known carols are combined in a joyful experience in which the audience is invited to sing along with the choir, joining voices to rekindle the warm and festive atmosphere of Christmases past. Featuring the combined choirs of Christ Church Cathedral and the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal.

Tickets will be on sale Sundays at coffee hour after the 10.30 am service.

Helen and Greg Clark will be selling their Land’s End maple syrup and all proceeds will be given to the Cathedral Restoration Fund. Thank you Helen and Greg! They also supply maple syrup to our Pancake Supper each year.

The O Antiphons, sung in ancient evening offices during mid-Advent as antiphons to the Magnificat, provide a rich source of devotional imagery, and are well known through the hymn “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” In this contemplative and gentle evening liturgy, they offer a tone of expectation and hope. “Look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

This service will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel. Please be aware that technological issues sometimes occur.

In the middle of the business of preparing for the coming Christmas Season, spend a day in the quietness of our Cathedral reflecting on the Great O Antiphons of Advent. Please bring a lunch with you. For more information please be in touch with Canon Doug (doug.richards@ottawacathedral.ca).

Belong Ottawa is not doing gifts bags this year but they are looking for donations of new personal hygiene to be distributed over the Christmas season and beyond. Such items help provide cleanliness, care, dignity and a sense of normalcy.

What is needed: socks, mittens and gloves, warm hats, underwear, shampoo and conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste, bars of soap, towels.

Please bring in your donations to the office or to the basket at the entrace to the Cathedral until December 21st. Thank you for your generosity!

Make sure to purchase a calendar this year as Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa is featured on the November page! Thanks to Nicola Whitehouse for the awesome photo. Calendars are available from reception for $10. They will be a hot commodity so get yours now!

For those who donate by using offering envelopes and have requested them for this year, they are now available on Sunday in the foyer or during the week during office hours. If you would like to give in this manner, please email attention the Envelope Secretary at info@ottawacathedral.ca. Thank you for picking them up so that we can save on mailing costs!

Our Cathedral
All those who are ill or suffering, and those who care for them.
Our Diocese
For the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we prepare to elect a new bishop, for those discerning a call to let their name stand for election, for the nominees, for Members of Synod, and for our Diocesan Administrator, Bishop Michael Bird; Diocesan Community Ministries; Diocesan partner, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
Canadian Cathedrals
The Cathedral Church of St. George, Kingston, ON, The Very Reverend Doug Michael.
Anglican Church of Canada (ACC)
The Most Reverend Shane Parker, Primate; The Most Reverend Anne Germond, Metropolitan of Ontario; all people in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC)
The Right Reverend Dr. Larry Kochendorfer; The Right Reverend Carla Blakley; all people in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada.
Moravian Church
All people in the Moravian Church of Canada.
Companion Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East
The Diocese of Jerusalem, The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum; peace in Israel and Palestine.

Our Clergy and the Cathedral Prayer Team will pray for all requests sent to info@ottawacathedral.ca during the week.

Scripture Readings for Sunday, December 7th | Second Sunday of Advent | Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12

Children's Worship Activities | Weekly worship bulletins, books and other activities are on the shelves at the entrance to the Cathedral. There is also a table in the Great Hall to use and the labyrinth to walk. If your child is interested in being a junior server, member of a choir, or a reader, please speak with our clergy.

Hearing Assist Sets | Are available at every service from our sidespeople.

Newsletter Deadline | Wednesdays at noon.

General Info | Please visit our office, call 613.236.9149, or email info@ottawacathedral.ca. Office hours are Monday to Thursday 9 am to 3 pm, and Friday from 9 am to noon, except on statutary holidays and during holiday seasons.

Parking | Street parking is free around the Cathedral on Sundays. Cathedral parking at the Vista on Sparks is off Queen Street, immediately east of the Cathedral, on the P1 Level. You MUST have the code to enter the parking garage and to re-enter and access the elevator (glass door across from the Cathedral's new east steps). The code is 4120. It will be posted at our reception desk and listed here each week. When it changes, there will be ample notification. If you enter the garage and there are no spots available, you will need to exit and find parking nearby.