Our Thanksgiving celebrations will no doubt look different this year due to COVID-19, but even in the midst of the current pandemic we have much for which to be thankful: for love, food, work and shelter; for family and neighbours and our community of faith. For all of God's good gifts which surround us with each new day we give our abundant thanks and praise. On behalf of Bishop Michael, Canon Susan, Rev. Matthew, Rev. Gillian and Rev. Rick, we wish everyone across the Parish of the Valley a safe, healthy and Happy Thanksgiving!

This week's online worship service comes to us from Holy Trinity Pembroke, with a sermon by Rev. Matthew. Copies of the order of service and The Valley Bulletin are available online so you can pray along with us at home. For those requiring hearing assistance please click the "cc" button on the YouTube viewer to turn on closed captioning. A new online service is published each week on our parish YouTube channel beginning Sundays at midnight. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel, as we can begin to customize it more once we reach 100 subscribers (only 55 more still to go!) Click "Click to Pray" below to link to this week's online service.

The Parish of the Valley is joining a diocesan multi-church book study being offered via Zoom. The book is The Great Spiritual Migration by Brian D. McLaren. The study will be held on six Wednesday nights from 7pm-8:15pm, beginning Wednesday October 21st. Participants are asked to please order your own book; they cost approximately $20 and can be ordered through Amazon by clicking the blue button below. To register for the study please call or email the Holy Trinity Pembroke office and we will send you a confirmation email with further information and the Zoom link: 613-732-4658; holytrinity@nrtco.net. 

Our friends and neighbours in the Parish of St. Barnabas Deep River are hoping to launch a "Virtual Church School" for young people in our churches, and they have invited members of the Parish of the Valley to join the fun! The hope is to offer a regular Zoom gathering time for students between grades 6 and 12 (ages 11 to 17). While these gatherings would not necessarily be too structured, the hope is to spend some time exploring our weekly Sunday Bible readings as students and teachers, while also leaving time for fellowship and fun!

The fall issue of Revelations is now available for download by clicking "Read Revelations" below. Our heartfelt thanks to our editorial team and to all of the contributing writers for making this issue possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our autumn issue includes special columns by two of the Parish of the Valley's Honourary Assistants: the Rev. Canon Roger Steinke and the Rev. Canon David Lethbridge. It also includes updates from our clergy team, a parishioner profile, and wonderful stories from across our parish. Paper copies of the newsletter have now also been mailed to all members of the parish who do not have access to email. Happy reading!

St. Augustine's Beachburg has a new resident church mouse! Meet Caeli, who was crocheted with love by St. Augustine's parishioner Gay Tushingham. Caeli's name comes from a latin word meaning "from heaven." We hope you'll come and meet her (from a safe physical distance) at one of our evening services in Beachburg. The next service at St. Augustine's will be on Sunday October 25th at 7pm. 

Do you enjoy movie making? Are you familiar with social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook, or editing applications like iMovie?  The clergy team is hoping to assemble a small group of volunteers to assist our parish with continuing to broadcast our online services as we head into the fall and winter. Volunteers might help with filming or editing Sunday services and/or assist with uploading the files to the Internet so that others can pray along with us at home. If sharing in this ministry is something you feel called to please speak with any member of the clergy team. We would love to chat with you!

2021 Canadian Church Calendars and Valley Coffee mugs are now on sale across the parish, with all proceeds benefitting our local congregations.

For mugs ($10) please contact: Alexis Anderson for Holy Trinity Pembroke (613-633-7897), Josie Hopper for All Saints Petawawa (613-687-2634), Bernard Raglin for St. George's South Alice (613-732-7101), Marilyn Hill for St John's Eganville (613-628-9159), Jennie Mick for Stafford, Micksburg and Rankin, Canon Susan for Killaloe/Tramore (613-732-0313), and Bishop Michael for Barry's Bay, Whitney, and Cobden (613-401-8976).

In-person worship services have resumed throughout the Parish of the Valley. A full listing of our service times can be found by clicking here. If you are considering worshiping at a church in our parish that you do not typically attend we recommend that you call ahead and speak to the member of the clergy team assigned to the church in question, to determine if attendance space is still available given physical distancing requirements. As of last week additional spaces for worshippers were still available at our churches in Micksburg, Cobden, Eganville, Whitney and Pembroke. Those wishing to attend services at Holy Trinity Pembroke are asked to please register in advance. You can register online by clicking here or by calling the Holy Trinity church office before Thursdays at noon: 613-732-4658.

During COVID-19 the vast majority of our church expenses continue. All members of the Parish of the Valley are encouraged to make regular offerings to their home churches by mail, online or through pre-authorized remittances to support our parish's ministries. Members of Holy Trinity Pembroke, St. John's Eganville, and Ascension Killaloe/St. John's Tramore can give to their churches online using credit card or PayPal through the website Canada Helps.

Every donation matters, so please click "Support Your Church" below to find out more about how you can contribute. Thank you for your faithful support!

Don't forget to download and read The Valley Bulletin from the Latest News section of our parish website. Click "Read The Valley Bulletin" below to access this week's issue, including our parish prayer list.