St. Barnabas hosts a Fernwood Christmas tradition
On Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Victoria hosted the 17th annual Star Sunday, a beloved community crafting fair marking the Second Sunday of Advent. Families and friends are invited to enjoy hands‑on craft stations where children and adults can make Christmas decorations and gifts from natural materials, including beeswax candles, wreaths, cards and beads.
The festive atmosphere continues outside with warm apple cider, waffles, caroling and a yule fire, offering a chance to connect and celebrate together. Around 20 craft stations are available, each supervised, making Star Sunday a welcoming space for all ages. Donations are gratefully accepted to support the church’s community programs.
Star Sunday is a joyful way to celebrate creativity, fellowship and the Advent season, bringing the community together to share in the spirit of Christmas.
Chalking the door
By Barb Prescott
We celebrated Epiphany at St. Luke this year with the radio play, “The Fourth Wiseman” at our 10 am Sunday service at the beginning of January. This play had us thinking about the true gifts of Epiphany. The theme at the January Fantastic Friday was also Epiphany and we wrote the gifts we were bringing to Jesus on stars and hung those stars in the church.
We also chalked the door. Because the children at Fantastic Friday love to help with the chalking, we have a board which we chalk and place above the entry door of the church. In the past we had to lift the children to do the chalking or had a ladder, but this works much better. If you don’t have the tradition of chalking the door at your church, here’s how to do it.
People are invited to inscribe the lintel of the home (the horizontal frame above the door) with the inscription shown below using chalk (hence, chalking the door). The letters C M B come from the traditional (9th century) names for the three kings: Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. Some also suggest “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” which means, “May Christ bless this dwelling!” Each person is afforded a turn to make one or more of the marks: 20 + C + M + B + 26.
Victoria cellist performs at St. Luke’s Reflections service
By Barb Prescott
In January, we welcomed cellist Elena Antontceva to our Reflections series. Elena is an internationally known cellist who has performed in Europe and now lives in Victoria. Each Reflections service has a theme and features poems, prayers and readings, interspersed with music and times of silence.
The theme of the January Reflections was “home” and the readings and music on this theme provided a time of peace and serenity. Reflections will be moving to the second Sunday of the month from February through June, starting at 4:30 p.m. in February and March and at 7:00 p.m. April – June. Music at the February Reflections will be presented by the Seabreeze Trio.
