The Karen people on the Thai/Myanmar border have been persecuted for over sixty years. They are a minority ethnic group who have been driven from their homes and are living in large Refugee Camps.

We are partnering with Christ Church Bangkok who has been co-ordinating emergency supplies for the Karen since 1984, focussing upon the needs of the Karen refugees living inside the camps, but also supporting the Karen churches in the Thai border area, bringing training and encouragement to leaders.

The main involvement is an education programme at Noh Bo Academy. The number of students at Noh Bo varies from year to year, but averages 200. During the school year 2016/17 80 border students enrolled. They come from Mae La Refugee Camp, some come directly from Myanmar or from the local, displaced Karen community.

In terms of staff there are 13 teachers including a Principal who earn an average salary of $142 per month. There is also 1 office worker, 3 cooks and 2 supervisors. Their average salary is $103 per month.

To support a day student costs $ 344 AUD per year and to support as boarding student costs $516 AUD per year.

So why not give all of your friends and family a month's worth of support for a student?

Cut your gift budget in half and give half to fund th education of a student at Noh Boh?How to donate: You can choose to sponsor a particular student at Noh Bo Academy. There is a file at the back of the church to choose a sponsor child. Once you have chosen a child you can deposit your donation as follows:

Bank Account Name: Evangelism and Fellowship Account BSB: 706-001 Account number: 30003528

Ref: KAMB (then add student ref number or leave blank if a general gift)

Please note it is for KAMB and which student in the reference section – eg: KAMB102 (the number of the student you have chosen to support or KAMB_gen if you are giving a general donation)

Please email marsha@stalbans.org.au and tell us when you have made an electronic donation so that we ensure that the payment has reached us and goes to KAMB.

St Alban’s Anglican ChurchDecember 2018

St Alban’sAnglican Church

Phone: (08) 9328 8071Email: office@stalbans.org.au

423 Beaufort StreetHIGHGATE 6003

Direct debit details : BSB 706-001 Acc. 30003530

Arthur Symons- 1/12Gillian Reid - 2/12

Rosemary Prior - 6/12Liz Hunter - 8/12

Clement Wayner - 10/12Morteza Mortezaei - 11/12

Peter Vine - 13/12Laura Megarrity - 14/12

Alan Dungey - 19/12Elena and Elija Pryor - 22/12

Val Little - 24/12Stephen Wayner - 26/12

Tim and Christine Stapleton - 8/12Gary and Stella Budrikis - 13/12Peter and Sarah Curtis - 19/12Marc and Marsha Dale - 20/12Theo and Liz Kitchen - 21/12Chris and Fiona Allen - 22/12

Eddie and Ros Jamieson - 28/12

Birthdays & Anniversaries

• 2 Dec - "Power and great glory" Preacher - Marc Dale Jeremiah 33:14-16 Luke 21:25-36

• 9 December "The tender mercy of our God" Preacher - Peter Curtis Malachi 3:1-4 - Luke 1:68-79

• 16 December - "Prepare!" Preacher - Ric Dale Zephaniah 3:6-20 - Luke 3:1-18

• 23 Dec - "Just as he promised" Preacher - Sam Rae Micah 5:2-5a - Luke 1:39-55

• 25 Dec - "Peace at last" Preacher - Marc Dale Isaiah 9:2-7 & Ps 98 Luke 2:1-20

• 30 Dec - "Amaze" Preacher - Wes Gregory Psalm 148 - Luke 2:41-52

December services

Reach outBuild upSend out

WELCOME Whether you’re investigating who Jesus is and the claims he makes about himself, or a long-time follower of Jesus we invite you to join us and share this journey together.

We extend a warm welcome to those who are visiting and all regular attenders. We hope you find the answers you seek, the peace you crave and the belonging you need, among us.

Minister: Rev. Marc DaleAssistant Minister: Sam Rae

Office Administrator: Janelle Dale Wardens: Judith Curtis & Dean Powell

STUCK FOR A CHRISTMAS PRESENT - GIVE THE GIFT OF EDUCATION

MONTHLY PRAYER MEETING8 December 8:30am - 10:30am

We pray because God cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). He promises to listen, to help, and to protect. He promises to be there.

When we pray, we surrender and release our thoughts, worries, and desires to God. We pray because prayer shifts our attention to “him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). Join us in the Small Hall as we

pray for gospel growth at St Albans, in Perth and around the globe.

It takes just $30 to provide an Angel Tree gift for a child with a parent in prison - a gift of love, healing and bonding between a parent and child. When an inmate leaves prison, family life can be restored because their child knows their parent loves them.

Please return gifts for Angel Tree to Jill Gibson by Sunday 9 December.

Sarah's Ministry Apprenticeship 2019-2020As you may be aware, I plan to undertake a Ministry Apprenticeship with the Christian Union at UWA over the next two years. I would like to thank those of you who have expressed interest in receiving my updates and praying for me regularly and those who have committed to giving generously to my training and this ministry to University students. You've been a great encouragement to Peter and I!

Currently 22 people or families have expressed interest in being prayer partners and 15 have committed to being financial partners. I have raised $8,420 which is 24% of the total amount that I need to raise. However, I need to raise 80% of my target, before I can start on the 1st of February 2019. Please pray that I will be able to raise the required amount of $34, 700 and that God will provide Peter with a job.

If you are interested in receiving my updates, email me (sarahkcurtis03@gmail.com) and I'll add you to the list. If you are interested in financially partnering with Peter and I, please go to the AFES website (https://support.afes.org.au/) and search for 'Sarah Curtis'. We need 26 more people or families to give $20/week. However we would appreciate any amount that you can give!

In the church hall you can buy a Karen made APRON for $25 or BAG for $15.

Marc and Marsha Dale

Christmas at St Alban's8 to 25 December

8 December from 9:30am to 11:30amGingerbread House decorating

A fun women’s and kids event. Come along and create a beautiful Christmas memory. $20 per kit. Includes everthing you need to

decorate your house, morning tea and a talk on Christmas. Booking essential - call 9328 8071. Want to help - speak to Marsha.

16 December from 7.30pmPop-up Outdoor movie cinema “Nativity!”

Front lawn of St Alban’s. BYO Rug. Drinks & popcorn on sale. Want to help - speak to Marc.

16 - 21 December from 6.00pmChristmas windows and carols

A new window opening every night including caroling throughout Highgate and special events at: Baker and Shuhandler, Harvey Leigh’s, No Menu, Beaufort St 24 hr Chemist, Ischia and

Mt Lawley Art Framer. Want to help/sing - speak to Rosemary Prior.

22 December from 6.30pmChristmas Pageant and Night Market

Christmas Pageant including camels and a donkey starting at Mary St and ending at St Alban's. Join in or watch from the footpath. Followed by Artisan and Food Night Market with stalls from

local eateries, carols by the Providence Gospel Choir, the Salvation Army Band and Coolbinia Primary School, Nativity scene and impromptu Nativity play for all kids and a photo book.

Want to help - speak to Peter Curtis or Marc.

24 December from 7.00pmCarols and readings

A service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus.The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in short Bible readings from Genesis, the

prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols.

25 December from 9.30amChristmas Day Service

Join us as we celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ. There is no better way to celebrate the wonder and joy of Christmas than with your chuch family at St Alban's. Celebrate what we know to be true… God sent

His Son - our Savior, Jesus Christ, into this world to be born as a helpless baby, in the most humble of settings: a manger.

Together we celebrate this amazing gift!

The Christmas season brings with it a heightened feeling that something wonderful is coming.Can you sense it?Like a faint sound in the distance drawing nearer. Like the waiting at the airport to be reunited with a loved one as they emerge from the terminal. Like the moment right before the sun peaks out from behind the horizon. Like a promise about to come true. Something wonderful is coming.“For a second you catch a whiff in the air of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.” (Frederick Buechner)Advent. It means, something wonderful is coming.Sunday 2 December marks the beginning of Advent, a season in the liturgical calendar that starts every year on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. It is a time for making room and priming our hearts to treasure Christ. And yet amid all the frenetic end-of-year chaos, it’s far too easy to squander these precious moments of waiting. We know all too well what it is like for December to blur by and to arrive on the doorstep of Christmas as another exhausted casualty of our consumeristic age.Reacting … Organizing … Shopping … Planning … Wrapping … Budgeting … Stressing … Eating … Stress-eating.So I am writing to those, like me, who need to slow down and embrace the oft-missed words of the famous carol, “Let every heart prepare Him room.”

Advent: A Season of RememberingAs we remember God’s promises fulfilled at Christmas, we are reminded of just how intensely the incarnation of Christ shook the world! The meaning of Christmas goes miles deeper than a public holiday, family traditions, pretty lights, and a chance to refresh your depleted stockpile of socks.Christmas means revolution! Christmas means miracle! Christmas means that God has come to us!

The King of Heaven exchanged His throne for a cradle.The Almighty swaddled Himself with vulnerability.The Creator entered into His own creation.The Author put Himself on the page.The Infinite became an infant.The Giver became the gift.

Jesus came as Immanuel—‘God with us.’ Remembering that God has drawn near, deepens in me an appetite to seek Him.Advent: A Season of AnticipatingThere is something in observing Advent that awakens not only joyful remembrance over the first coming of Christ, but also a deep, yearning eagerness for His second coming (Revelation 22:20). In many ways, the Church of this present age is in a similar position to God’s people toward the end of the Old Testament—marginalised in exile, hoping in the darkness, waiting in the stillness for the Day when Christ returns and (in Tolkien’s words) “makes every sad thing come untrue.”Like a child on Christmas Eve caught between the joyful memories of the Christmas that was, while waiting with breathless anticipation for the Christmas about to be, so are God’s

people living between the Hallelujah! of Christ’s resurrection and the Maranatha! of Christ’s return.It is here—in the waiting of Advent—that God’s people discover a unique species of joy that can only be glimpsed through the lens of worshipful anticipation.Timothy Paul Jones writes, “In Advent, Christians embrace the groaning, recognizing it not as hopeless whimpering over the paucity of the present moment but as expectant yearning for the divine banquet Jesus is preparing for us. In Advent, the church admits, as poet R. S. Thomas puts it, that “the meaning is in the waiting.” And what we await is a final Advent yet to come. Just as the ancient Israelites awaited the coming of the Messiah in flesh, we await the coming of the Messiah in glory. In Advent, believers confess that the infant who drew his first ragged breath between a virgin’s knees has yet to speak his final word.”Advent is a way of reminding us that we are pilgrims passing through, that the brokenness of this world isn’t how it’s always going to be, that the true King will indeed soon return.Preparing Our Hearts for ChristmasLike with all things, knowing where to begin is usually the most difficult part. Below are some resources that will help you (and your family) slow down each day and cultivate worshipful anticipation through the Advent season. For families, observing Advent together might just be the perfect time to rekindle the fire of family devotions, or light them up for the very first time.December will be busy. But it doesn’t have to be a blur. Let’s begin preparing room in our hearts this Advent for Immanuel—the God who is with us.

Preparing Our Hearts for ChristmasAdam Ramsey (in The Gospel Coalition Australia - au.thegospelcoalition.org)