St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

                                                                                                                        12/4/07

Brothers and Sisters,

            Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  I pray this letter finds you well in the midst of this wonderful season of Advent. During this season of preparation, I find myself preparing for quite a few things. My family begins to arrive this week for my ordination a week from today. We are preparing our home to host seven extra people and another dog. I find my self anxious to prepare to say the full Eucharistic prayer with you all on December 16th. I hope that during the busyness of this time of year, we all can find time to be still and prepare our hearts for Christ’s coming. I mentioned in the sermon chat last Sunday that Devo-to-go is a good daily mediation to experience during Advent. www.cathedralyoungadults.org/Devo-to-go/Devo-to-go.html

You could also just do a web search for Devo to go.

            There are several events at the church this month. Please mark your calendars.

Confirmation/ Enquirer’s class begins this Friday at 5:30pm. This course is a great opportunity to learn more about the Episcopal Church, Church history, the Bible and to fellowship with each other, all are welcome.

 

December 14th from 7pm until December 15th at 8am we will have a prayer vigil at St. Stephen’s. This is a great opportunity to come and be in the church for thirty minutes to an hour and pray and reflect about your faith journey with God and this season of Advent. The church will be open all night and a sign up sheet is available in the hall.

 

December 15th 8-11am we are having a parish work day. Please come, bring some breakfast food to share and a spirit to work and have fun.

 

Christmas Eve services will be at 5:30 and 11pm on Monday December 24th. We are planning a Christmas play, led by Hope Sanders with our children and young people participating during the 5:30 service. We also plan to have at 10:30pm thirty minutes of Christmas music before the 11pm service. More about this will be announced the next couple Sundays. Christmas morning you are encouraged to worship with family at home.

 

Thank you to everyone who has returned pledge cards. It is not too late to do so. If you have questions or need a pledge card, please let me know.

 

Finally, I want to commend to you all the “green” work that we are doing at St. Stephen’s. We have recycling bins for paper, cardboard, cans, and plastic. There is a compost pile at the back of our parking lot for flowers, lawn clippings and other compost material. If you are interested in learning more or helping with these efforts, let me know.

 

God’s Peace,

 

 

The Rev. Eric Liles