Hello church,Â
It is the Tuesday of Christmas week and things are starting to fall more into place for Thursday. To say that I am excited to spend my first Christmas with you all as a pastor would be an understatement. I am also equally excited to have our Lessons and Carols service on Sunday!
Yesterday on my sabbath, I was over at the homestead, which is the house my grandparents lived in my whole life and now my aunt lives there. And I made our Swedish Rye Bread, the bread that we have had every Christmas Eve. Only one minor hiccup of dissolving the yeast wrong, which resulted in me having to go to the grocery store for more compressed yeast. But after that mix up, I was able to make the bread and make all the loaves that we will be needing!
On Thursday we will be gathering over Zoom for our Christmas Eve service. Shanelle will start our carol sing at 5:50pm and then our service will start at 6pm. While we will not be together in person, we will still share in the light passing at the end of the service. Please have a candle nearby for the singing of “Silent Night”, the lights in the sanctuary will be dimmed and the candles that we have with us will be lit, this way we can still have the sea of light that we are so used to.
On Sunday December 27th we will once again gather on Zoom for our church service and share in a service of Lessons and Carols. We will hear from the prophets of the Old Testament and the many different parts of the nativity story in the Gospels. Please come in your finest Christmas sweaters, Christmas jammies or other festive wear! This will be a more relaxed service than our typical Sunday services.
On Monday December 28th, Vivian will be in the church office from 9am -5pm for those of you that need to pick up your poinsettias. If you need to make other arrangements please contact Vivian in the church office.
The church office will be closed Thursday December 24th and Tuesday December 25th, Thursday December 31st and January 1st. If you need to get a hold of either myself, Vivian or Arleen please email us at our email addresses and we will get back to you.
Sunday January 3rd we will be celebrating Epiphany, the day that the Three Wise Men saw Jesus. Our opening hymn that Sunday will be “We Three Kings” and as the legend goes, the men will be singing this for us. While we will still be on Zoom, I will have you all unmuted so we can hear you all sing!
Scriptures for Christmas Eve are: Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, and Luke 2:1-20
Our prayer for this week comes from Anne Fraley, rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in South Windsor, CT
Prayer of Adoration and Intercession
for the Christmas Season
We come to adore you, little one.
On bended knee,
with hopeful heart,
and eyes stretched wide with wonder and awe.
The gentleness of your gaze
draws us into the mystery of all that lies beyond,
and in that place of falling into joy
we yield all that we are to you.
And we pray.
For those who are broken,
Those who seek,
The trembling and the rumbling tummies,
The haggard spirits and the ragged lives.
For those who cling to the last best thing,
and those whose hearts pine for love.
Bless us, O Lord, whom we adore,
and turn our faces ever toward you.
For peace,
for mercy,
for the sake of all that is holy.
We come to adore you, O Christ.
Care Team Updates:
Mary Madison’s funeral service will be on Monday, December 28th at 10:30 a.m. Her service is available online to all of us. In order to access the live streaming link, you must go to her obituary:
Go to www.Calhounfuneral.com
Click on their “Obituaries” tab.
In the search bar on the right, type in Mary’s name.
Mary’s photo will appear. Click on “view” to view her obituary.
Under “Services” will be the live stream link to her service. It will activate at 10:25 a.m. If you wish to view the visitation, a prior link will activate at 9:55 a.m.
May this week land gently on you all and may you find moments of Christmas magic throughout the week.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Megan