Dear friends,
Tomorrow evening is one of the most special nights of the year as we gather to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. The liturgy begins at 5 p.m., but special music begins at 4:30, so please come to hear the joyful music of the season. The service leaflet is attached.
Here is the schedule for the rest of the holiday season:
This Sunday, December 29, there will be one service of Christmas Lessons & Carols at 10 a.m.
On Sunday, January 5, we return to our usual worship schedule of services at 8:30 and 10:45. In lieu of Sunday School this week we will have a training session for all who currently are, or interested in becoming lectors and/or lay readers. Anyone in the church, no matter how long you’ve been here, is welcome to participate in these ministries.
Our treasurer Lee Morris reports that someone transferred securities into the church’s Schwab account in December, but we don’t know who it was. If it was you, please let Lee know so that he can credit your kind donation.
After the first of the year we will have two opportunities to serve our neighbors. First, our refugee family will be arriving sometime before January 20. We are holding an online shower for them to stock their new home with the many things they will need. We will send out a list of things in early January. But beginning Sunday you will see tables in the parish hall with things already donated.
I was talking to my friend Kim Jackson, the priest at Church of the Common Ground, whose congregation is largely unhoused. She said they have plenty of coffee and hot chocolate for the cold weeks ahead, but they need sugar (5-pound bags) and artificial creamer (in large containers, not individual packets). I told her we would collect those things for them during January. So when you’re at the store please consider buying extra and putting it in the red wagon, or have it delivered.
Some of you may remember that last Christmas I said that after Joe’s death it was time for Joseph Henry and me to start a new tradition — getting on a plane Christmas Day. So Wednesday morning we will be flying to Santa Fe for a few days. We’ll be back the evening of December 30 (that allows JH to celebrate New Year’s Eve with someone other than his mother ).
I hope to see you tomorrow evening. If not, I wish you a very merry Christmas and the happiest of New Year’s.
With love,
Tricia