Advent Greetings and blessings to all:

I hope everyone is well and prepared for Christmas.  Things have been very busy around the Church.  One particular point of gratitude and thanksgiving should be given to the Episcopal Church Women...who shopped and wrapped gifts for our adopted Christmas families.  We really challenged ourselves this year by undertaking 12 families...with a total of 28 children- we gave enough money and dedicated enough time and energy to give all these children a Christmas- when otherwise they would have none.  It is truly a blessing to shepherd such a wonderful and caring church family...well done everyone! 

Announcements for the week:

• Tomorrow night is Third Thursday covered dish- beginning at 6:00pm (nursery provided).  Tomorrow night after dinner I will hand out devotions for the twelve days of Christmas (but won't spend too much time talking about it) and I will also answer questions concerning the Christmas season...so come out and try and stump the priest! 
• Sunday, December 23rd, immediately following the mass we will gather and green the Church for Christmas...so if you are able, please stay a while and lend a hand, it is a wonderful experience to take part in. 
• Don't forget Monday is Christmas Eve- and we will have two services
  • The "Family Service" at 6:00pm- this is for families with young children who cannot stay up for the Midnight mass...I am also going to try and prepare a sermon that is geared for the little ones
  • The Midnight Mass
    • We will begin the Midnight mass with Christmas carols beginning at around 10:45pm
    • The Mass proper will begin at 11:00pm. 
• Christmas Day Mass:
  • The "Mass at Dawn" will be at a more civil hour of 9:00am in the Chapel.  It will run about 30 minutes.
• The Church office will be closed for the remainder of the week of Christmas
  • Weekday masses will be canceled. 
• Don't forget the Annual Meeting of The Church of Saint John will be on Sunday, January 6th immediately following the mass, and as is the custom, we will eat a covered dish meal and conduct the business of the Mission.  All baptized persons who are 16 years of age and are members of the Church of St. John's (have there letters here) are entitled to suffrage. 
  
  • As per Canon Law- Nominations for Mission Committee are being accepted and can be given to any member of the Mission Committee.  We will elect three members, and as of this writing, we have three nominations.
    • The Mission is also accepting nominations for the position of Mission Clerk- as of this writing we have one nomination (to be voted on at the January Meeting of the Mission Committee)
    • We are electing a new treasurer- as of this writing, we have one nomination (to be voted on at the January meeting of the Mission Committee).  

In other news, We have a cool new website (still a few bugs too be worked out).  The Diocese of Mississippi offer free web hosting and management services to all her churches, and we have moved over.  You can find the site at http://stjohnsaberdeen.dioms.org and it is full of fun and interesting things, like the church calendar, news, The this week at St. John's emailing, The bulletins for the upcoming and previous week, and all other sorts of fun and exciting things.  So, instead of linking to the bulletin, I invite you to go to the new webpage and take a look around. Also, if you find anything lacking or confusing, please email me back so I can take care of it. 

Please remember that Christmas Eve is attended by a number of visitors...people who are coming through the doors of the Church with some reluctance, maybe some guilt for not attending the rest of the year, or maybe just coming to see what we are all about...so, please go out of your way to show them the love of God and let them know that we are a loving and caring community.  Also this is a great night to invite your friends and acquaintances who might not have a regular church home to come to Church...people realize, or at the least, have a heightened sense of the need to go to Church on Christmas, so help them out and lead them here.  And always, if I can be of any assistance in this regard, I am always available and ready to be at your service.  

And finally, links O' the week:

• For those interested in reading ahead and coming to Bible Study (and you should be interested...because the Bible Study is awesome and the best one in town!) http://www.io.com/~kellywp/YearA_RCL/Advent/AAdv4_RCL.html
• The proposed bulletin for the week: http://stjohnsaberdeen.dioms.org/doc/Bulletin_Advent_IV

Wishing you all a wonderful, wonderful holiday season.
God bless you all and thank you.
Jeff+