Services for this
coming Sunday, December 15th, the Third Sunday of Advent and will be at 8
and 10, followed by coffee hour. We hope you will join us for worship and
fellowship (and a last chance to purchase “stocking-stuffers” from the Boughs & Bonbons table).
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| "2nd Sunday dialogue homily" |
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| Xena tends the dog biscuit table! |
Boughs and Bonbons chairwomen Lynne and Patti would like to
thank everyone who helped make the Christmas fair a success: Carol Tubman,
Chris Mills, Elaine South, Carolyn Boldt, Barbara Lord, Claudia Kennedy, Dale
Appleton, Val May, Sally DeGroot, Judy Ward, Carolyn Seston, Barbara Lloyd,
George Rau, Bruce Kennedy, Gretchen Behr-Svendsen, Peg Cade, and the bakers of
all cookies and other baked goods. If we haven't named you, a thousand
pardons – we appreciate everyone's contributions, both large and small!
We will sell our stock once again this coming Sunday,
and then everything will be put away. If you want to buy any of the Fair
Trade food products - the candy bars, chai, and hot spicy cocoa are especially
great Christmas gifts - see Gretchen. Those can be purchased on any Sunday, but do get them before they are sold out.
A message from the
Food Pantry: The Food Pantry is always grateful for your contributions of
food, but at this time of year, as preparations are being made for the
Christmas baskets, please know that cash
contributions are especially helpful, since Food Pantry purchasers are able
to buy items at much reduced prices, so your contribution dollars go almost
four times further than if you purchase yourself at the supermarket! Thank you.
Our Advent Quiet Day is this Saturday,
December 14th, 9-1, led by the Rev. Susan Ackley. “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.” [Isa 35:1-2] Step away from the business of the season and join us for this short retreat time of prayer, and quiet activity. No previous experience is necessary! It will conclude with an informal Eucharist and a simple soup lunch. Please register by calling the church office or emailing Rev. Heidi by Friday (frantzdale@gmail.com) Also, we are looking for an additional volunteer to make a pot of soup.
Reminder for Sunday, December 22nd,
Advent IV: We will have
only ONE service – at 10 o’clock – an opportunity for all of us to celebrate
together. This will be our Greening of
the Church, at which the participatory decorating of the church for
Christmas will be accomplished liturgically by all of us together over the
course of the liturgy, such that we begin amidst the deep blue of Advent, and
depart leaving our sanctuary rich with laurel roping, poinsettias, and the
white and gold of Christmas.
Food for thought at
we engage in this season of generosity and giving (relayed by my colleague
Gill Healey, pastor of the congregational church in North Conway...
The teller of this story was a man participating in a
workshop called. “How to Track Woodland Animals.”
He was paired with a
woods-wise woman with whom he spent silent hours tracking deer. On a deer path,
each simultaneously spotted an odd black stone that looked like the petrified
hoof-print of a deer. Being younger, he was quicker and snatched the odd stone
first. As he eyed it in his hand, he could tell that she wanted it, so he gave
it to her as a gift. Three times she graciously refused. Three times he gave it
back.
In the time that has
passed, the man has come to understand that the odd black stone meant more to
him because he gave it away than it ever would have meant to him had he kept it
for himself… and – while we will never know for sure – that odd black stone probably mean more to the woods-wise woman
because it was a gift.
See you in church!Blessings,
Heidi+
Celebrate Christmas at
Saint Andrew’s-in-the-valley
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF TAMWORTH AND THE OSSIPEE VALLEY
All are Welcome!
December 22 Fourth Sunday of Advent
10 am Service of Holy Eucharist and the Greening of the
Church for Christmas
(No 8 am service)
December 24, Christmas Eve Candlelight Services:
Family Service with Organ and Choir
4:45 pm Carol Sing
5:00 pm Blessing of the Créche & Holy Eucharist
“Midnight”
Service with Organ and Choir
10:45
pm Carol Sing11:00 pm Festival Eucharist
December
25, Christmas Day
11:30 am Holy Eucharist
Free Traditional Christmas DinnerChristmas Day, Wednesday, Dec 25,
Gather at 12:30 - Dinner served at 1:00 pm
For reservations: call the church at 323-8515
December
29,
The First Sunday after Christmas
8:00 am
Service of Morning Prayer10:00 am A Service of Lessons & Carols
