St. John s Episcopal Church P.O. Box South Wayne Avenue Waynesboro, VA (540)

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1 St. John s Episcopal Church P.O. Box South Wayne Avenue Waynesboro, VA donna@stjohnse.comcastbiz.net Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the whole earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; proclaim the good news of his salvation from sat to day. Declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples. -Psalm 96 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Christmas day is the day of new birth. A day when we can truly feel and celebrate the presence of God among us, Emmanuel. Our redeemer, our gift from God, the Christ child was born to save us. This is the time when we are open to the possibilities of recognizing Christ among us in new ways. There is a reason that Christmas starts the beginning of a new Church year. What better way to begin the next year of our lives than with the birth of our Savior? It is also a new phase for St. John s. As we continue the transition time together there is much to be celebrated and many opportunities to recognize Christ in all of us and all that we do in His name. The preceding psalm reminds us of our responsibility to proclaim the good news of our salvation during this year. We are to sing to the Lord and bless his name for all that the Lord has given us. We are truly blessed here at St John s and what better way to show it than declaring his glory to all peoples. Come celebrate and proclaim joyously the gift that was given to us! Our 4 Advent service on December 24 will be at 9:00 am: Rite One with music. The Christmas Eve Pageant and Children s service starts at 5:30 pm. The more traditional service begins at 8:00 pm. What a blessing it is to realize, that by God s grace, Christ is manifested and proclaimed all year round at St. John's. It is a pleasure to celebrate this Christmas season with you! Faithfully yours in Christ, The Rev. Denise Gray Guinta Christmas Schedule Sunday, December 24 9:00 am ONE MORNING SERVICE only 5:00 pm Pageant & Holy Eucharist The Birthday Party for Baby Jesus follows immediately after the service in the Parish Hall. 8:00 pm Holy Eucharist

2 Boys Home Christmas This year we have eight boys that we are supporting for Christmas at $100 each. The boys will be taken shopping to purchase the items that they want. They will send us information about their purchases. If you would like to help support this wonderful mission please make checks to St. John s and in the memo put Boys Home. Order Poinsettias Now! If you would like to purchase a poinsettia in honor of or in memory of a loved one, to be used in the church for the Christmas season, please call the church office or fill out a form which will be found on the bulletin board in the Vestibule. The purchase price is $12.00; please make your check payable to St. John s Episcopal Church and designate it for poinsettias. The deadline for ordering is December 19. Help with Greening of the Nave From Norma Buzzard We need greens for decorating as well as people to do the work. Actual decorating will be done on Friday, December 22, at 10:00 a.m. Any help will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, call Norma Buzzard at Our Nave is beautiful in its simplicity, but never more so than when wearing the greenery of the Christmas season. If you can help with decorating and/or supply greens, please give Norma a call. St. John s WARM House Christmas Gifts In the Parish Hall you will find a small Christmas tree with the wish lists from the mother and 2 daughters that live in our room at the WARM House. If you would like to help with any of these gifts, please take an ornament from the tree and wrap the gift. Remember to put the person s name on the gift and return them no later than December 17. Please let the office know which gift you are getting. If you would prefer to give money towards the gifts, please make checks out to St. John s and in the memo put WARM Christmas Gifts. Christmas Pageant Rehearsals All children are invited to participate in our Annual Christmas Pageant, December 24 at 5:00 pm. Rehearsals will be after church on December 3, 10, and 17. Dress rehearsal will be at 6:00 pm on December 21. If you are interested please contact Tom and Kathe Maneval at maneval@ntelos.net. Page 2

3 Happy Birthday, Jesus Celebration From the Parish Office Following the Christmas Eve Pageant service, we will have a birthday cake in the Parish Hall to celebrate Jesus birthday. Please bring a finger food to share, preferably something that is not sweet. Youth From Fran Gomez Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the Halloween Party at the WARM Shelter!!!! A huge shout out to Natalie, Sammy, Isabel, Joseph and Katie they are a remarkable group of kids and I am so proud of every one of them! Special thanks to Marty (for bringing dinner and lending overall moral support), Greg (for dry ice and being my constant when I am a spaz), Sheila and Wendy (for the yummy baked goods and awesome bingo prizes), Alex & Pam (for calling bingo, making necklaces and giving us extra sets of hands to control the chaos) and also thank you to Peggy (costumes and financial support) and to Valerie (for the bead necklace craft). The weather was awful so we were close quarters inside the kitchen, but I think everyone had a blast! There were 13 kids from the shelter who participated in the party. We had costumes, face painting, bubbling witch s brew, bingo, made bead necklaces and had tons of goodies, not to mention served dinner. A great big thank you to everyone for your participation and support! Stay tuned for the next activity: December 10th after the 10:30 service we will make more blankets so that we can give every child at the shelter a blanket for Christmas. Annual Meeting Our Annual Meeting will be held on December 17 after the 8:00 am and the 10:30 am services. You will hear from our Senior Warden, Colleen Taylor, about our year in review. She will explain our budget, which was already approved by the Vestry in the November meeting; it will be available for discussion. We want to thank our off going Vestry members Dale Diacont, Colleen Taylor, George Buzzard and Gerrie Kerby. Our Vestry candidates for 2018 are Sally Cole, Dan Jenny, Melissa Techman and Ellen Reno. (This is a change from the previously announced candidates; Ben Cooper was unable to serve. Agape The Agape Fund is looking for a committee member to serve a five year term beginning in January We oversee the dispersion of about $12,000 annually to needy individuals and organizations in the local area. Meetings are the third Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Please contact the church office or Bill Eckman for info or to volunteer. Page 3

4 Episcopal Church Women News Disciples Kitchen Helpers The mission committee sends a big thank you to all that gave money, provided food and served at the Disciples Kitchen on November 9. We collected $183 and spent $152, so we have a little money left over for first quarter. We fed 43 and had 27 takeouts, plus served seconds to some as well. The participants really like the lasagna and salad and it was fairly easy to prepare, so it will be our fourth quarter menu going forward. The mission committee welcomes menu suggestions for other three quarters. ECW Christmas Lunch Thursday, December 7 11:45 am Greenleaf Grill Wear your favorite Christmas sweater and join us! Please call the office by December 4 to reserve a spot. NO December ECW Meeting. Next meeting: Sunday, January 14, 2018, 9:30 am in the Parish Hall The St. John s Bazaar was a huge success! Many, many thanks to bakers, makers, donators, and shoppers. ECW added over $1,100 to be split between inside church projects and community outreach. Updates on where the funds go will be shared as they happen. We still have a few things for sale in the classroom beside the office. Almost everything is half price. You can still shop for a few more weeks. Page 4

5 December Birthdays 1) Edie Eckman, Carole Shriver 3) Whitney Cannata 5) Graham Taylor 7) Diana Deputy 13) Candy Wagner, Doug Wood 26) Pat Fracher image (c)jonathunder 2017 Vestry Members Amy Bihl George Buzzard Dale Diacont June Elliott Warren Elliott Kathy Garber Gerrie Kerby Richard Smith Alex Sullivan Nancy Rogers Colleen Taylor Freddie Zeh December Anniversaries 22) Mickey & Richard Ferguson 26) Polly & Andy Purcell 29) Sally & Richard Reynolds If we have missed any birthdays or anniversaries please let us know so we can update our information. October Attendance st nd rd th th The Mission of St. John s Episcopal Church is to worship and serve God as we: Pray, Proclaim the gospel, Promote spiritual growth, justice, peace and love. Affirmed by the Vestry, December 2008 All articles are due in the church office not later than the 15th of each month. Early items are always accepted. Thank you for being kind and on time. Deadline for January issue: December 15 Page 5