Happy 2020!  A new year gives us all the opportunity to make adjustments to align ourselves with our goals, and to reexamine our goals.  One of my goals is to be a better creation steward.  I pray to be made aware of small adjustments that can add up to significant change.

So, to that effect, this week I will not be printing out 120 Helpers to put into all of the leaflets.  I am sending this electronic link, and will have copies available in the Great Hall and lobby.  Please give me your feedback!  This amounts to a savings of around $20 per week, so not huge, but a small change that can add up to saving both money and paper.  However, if this change is at the expense of you knowing what is happening in our parish, and being connected to the excitement, then it’s totally not worth it.  All past Helpers are available from our website and Facebook.

So, without further delay, see the January 5, 2020 Carpenter’s Helper newsletter. See all Newsletters or Announcements.

A few reminders:

• EPIPHANY Fellowship, Pot-Luck, and burning of the greens is this Sunday, January 5, 2020 at 5:00 in the evening.  I hope to see you at our favorite pot-luck of the year!
• Next Sunday, January 12, 2020, the Finance Committee would like to have everyone attend their update at 9 a.m. There will be doughnuts!
• Novel Theology will be meeting on January 19, 2020 at 9:15 a.m. in the Classroom .  An Irish Love Story by Patrick Taylor will be discussed.
• Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at noon, starts a new service of Intercessory Prayer with Holy Eucharist.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator

Novel Theology is a lively discussion group that meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Classroom. Meetings are the second Sunday of September through May. For January, April and May 2020, we will meet on the third Sunday.

The reading list for the 2019-20 is:
Sept. 8, 2019 – The Chilbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan
Oct. 13, 2019 – Love Heals by Becca Stevens
Nov. 10, 2019 – The Walk by Richard Paul Evans
Dec. 8, 2019 – Gabriel’s Angel by Nora Roberts
Jan. 19, 2020 – An Irish Love Story by Patrick Taylor
Feb. 9, 2020 – A Step of Faith by Richard Paul Evans
March 8, 2020 – A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeline L’Engle
April 19, 2020 – The Other Side of the Sun by Madeline L’Engle
May 17, 2020 – Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Please join us! Reading the book is not a requirement. For more information, contact Susan Hechter at susanahechter@gmail.com.

This Sunday, December 29, 2019, there will be ONE SERVICE only at 10 a.m.  This will be a special service of Lessons & Carols with Holy Eucharist Rite II.  

We will return to our regular schedule the following week, January 5, 2020:
8 a.m. Rite I
10:30 a.m.Rite II

On Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at noon, a new service of Intercessory Prayer with Holy Eucharist will be added.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator

Celebrant: In the name of God and of this congregation, we send you forth bearing these holy gifts, that those to whom you go may share with us in the body and blood of Christ.
All: We who are many are one body because we all share in one bread and one cup.

On Sunday mornings at the end of the Eucharist, you see Eucharist Visitors be charged by the priest to take Holy Communion to our house-bound parishioners. This is a way to make our brothers and sisters know that they are indeed an essential part of the congregation, even though they cannot be physically in the building with us. Our lay Eucharistic visitors are rewarded beyond measure for their service. If there are others of you who think you might like to be part of this ministry, you are invited to go along with our lay Eucharistic visitors and see what it’s like. Then, you can tell Larry Duggan that you’d like to be scheduled once a month as a visitor yourself, perhaps as part of a team of two.

Happy Advent friends!  As you’ll see in the reminders below, it certainly is a busy time of year!  I hope that you have found ways to make this season extra special.  

I haven’t had the pleasure of attending one yet, but I hear that the Sunday evening Advent prayers have been marvelously intimate and meaningful. If you go, share your experience with others, in person or through social media (or throw some photos or text my way and I will be glad to share!).

Please see this week’s Carpenter’s Helper, and be sure join us at noon this Sunday for our next Coffee Hour Speaker: Dorothy Thayne will speak to us about the symbolism of icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus.

Save the dates:
*Dec. 15, 2019 at 6 p.m. – Advent Evening Prayers
*Dec. 22 , 2019 at noon – Greening of the Sanctuary
*Dec. 22 , 2019 at 5:30 p.m. – Children’s Christmas Pageant & Advent Prayers
*Dec. 24 , 2019 5:30 p.m. carols and 6:00 p.m. service with Eucharist. Also, 10:30 p.m. carols and 11:00 p.m. service with Eucharist
*Dec. 25 , 2019 CHRISTMAS! 10:00 a.m. service
*Jan. 6, 2020 EPIPHANY potluck and burning of the greens- more info to come, but save the date!!!  The fire permit has been pulled, and the pink slip for the potluck is turned in.  This will be Fr Howie’s first time attending this awesome event at St Thomas’s; let’s show him how we let our light shine (literally…with a huge bonfire in the parking lot).

See all Carpenter’s Helper newsletters and announcements.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator