An abbreviated worship schedule for November is found to the right of the HOME page. A three-month September-October-November 2025 worship schedule is available for download from the RESOURCES page.

Commemorations and feast days are part of the Book of Common Prayer calendar throughout the year. On Tuesday, November 11th, the calendar commemorates Martin, Bishop of Tours, France, c. 397. He was dedicated to missionary work and despite being elected bishop, continued to live as a monk. Many believed him to be a wonderworker, but he knew his power came from God and was not his own. The story of his conversion from military life to the service of Christ inspired many, although fellow bishops who were led astray by worldly living and ambition looked down on him for his lack of culture. One wealthy and educated landowner, however, was inspired by Martin to renounce most of his property and live a monastic lifestyle. The biography he wrote, Life of Martin, ensured that the Bishop of Tours would be remembered long after the names of his critics had been forgotten.

November 11th is also Remembrance Day, when we give thanks for the brave veterans, past and present, who sacrificed their health and often their lives in the service of our country. We also remember military families: mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers of veterans. In the words of The Royal Canadian Legion, “The act of Remembrance is one of the most important ways to honour and thank Veterans for their sacrifices.”

On Thursday, November 13th, we commemorate Charles Simeon of Cambridge, Pastor, 1836. He arrived at King’s College, Cambridge as a student who had spent his youth primarily on “horses, games, and fashion.” Before long Charles had a change of heart and eventually became a priest. His state of mind following his conversion is best told in his own words:

“Of course there was a great difference in my frames [of mind] at different times, but for the most part they were very devout and often, throughout a great part of the service, I prayed unto the Lord with strong crying and tears [Heb. 5.7]. This is a proof to me that the deadness and formality experienced in the worship of the Church arise far more from the low state of our graces than from any defect in our liturgy. If only we had hearts deeply penitent and contrite, I know from my experience at this hour that no prayers in the world could be better suited to our wants or more delightful to our souls.”

On Saturday, November 15th, devout Anglicans begin to take part in the “Martinmas Fast,” a forty-day observance leading up to Christmas Day. Fr. Ranall Ingalls writes of this time:

“Like the season of Advent, the fast is all about waiting, listening, and longing. It is an opportunity to practice these and loosen the grip of practices that reinforce impatience, inattention, and self-enclosure. Just how we do this may be very different from one person to another.”

On Sunday, November 16th, the calendar lists Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200. He is described as a man of “rare holiness and generous love,” a love returned by the common people with whom he spent much of his time. Hugh belonged to an order of monks called Carthusians, who lived in the French Alps. From there he was sent to set up the first Carthusian house in England. His leadership impressed King Henry II despite his opposition to some of Henry’s policies toward the Church, and Hugh was appointed Bishop of Lincoln as a result. He taught that attaining the kingdom of God meant becoming truly a Christian:

“For three things in particular are demanded of a Christian, and if he is without any one of them when he comes to judgement, the name of Christian will do him no good. On the contrary, the name without the reality will only do harm, because living a lie is more damnable in someone who professes the truth. But it is essential that the virtue and truth of this blessed name be possessed. So those who always have love in their hearts, truth in their mouths, and chastity in their bodies are not falsely Christians.”

Also on this day, the calendar marks the life of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1093. A woman who was intelligent, strong-willed, and deeply religious, Margaret was “every inch a queen.” She used her influence to guide her husband, King Malcolm III (Canmore) of Scotland in matters of church, society and state. Her work and generosity on behalf of the poor and people sold into slavery, however, is what makes her special and remembered with such affection. In her story, The Life of St. Margaret, her biographer writes:

“What could be more compassionate than her heart? Who could be more gentle than she towards the necessitous? Not only would she have given to the poor all that she possessed, but if she could have done so, she would have given her very self away. She was poorer than any of her paupers; for they, even when they had nothing, wished to have something; while her anxiety was all to strip herself of what she had. She was near to God, for in the purity of her prayer she sought nothing but God.”