Under the Oaks Newsletter

Transcription

1 Under the Oaks Newsletter December 2016 Christ Episcopal Church, Bay St. Louis ENews will be published monthly and released the last week of the month. Hard copies of the monthly ENews will be available in the Narthex. Submission deadline is 10 working days prior to month's end. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunday Worship 10:00 AM Contact Information Church Office: In This Issue Pries t in Charge Chris tm as Poins ettias November 30, 2016 Dear Friends, Parish Office Hours Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ******************************************************** This past Sunday, November 27, we began the season of Advent. Advent is the season that last four Sundays until Christmas Day. The word advent means "coming" and this season is one in which we prepare Harves t Dinner Update! Bible Study Anglic an Diges t News! Food Pantry 4th Sunday at 4 Serving This Month Birthday's & Anniveraries CEC Contac t Inform ation

2 ourselves for the coming of the Christ into our lives. It is important to remember that we are preparing ourselves to celebrate the Second Coming of Christ -that time when God competes His Kingdom through the risen Christ; as well as celebrating the birth of Jesus the Christ on Christmas Day. Both are important! During the season of Advent, we read scripture readings that point to the Second Coming of Christ as well as readings that point toward the birth of the Christ child. Advent is also a time of expectation - the expectation of realizing the presence of the risen Christ in our lives today. As we spend time preparing to celebrate Christmas let us take a moment each day to stop and reflect on how we expect to experience the risen Christ in our daily lives. We will have one service on Christmas Eve at 7:00 p.m. On Sunday, Christmas Day, there will be a service at 9:30 a.m. There will be no music at this service. This service is provided for those who might not be able to make the Christmas Eve service. As we approach the end of 2016 think about the possibility of becoming a lector, chalice bearer, acolyte, usher, or altar guild member during The more people that participate in these ministries the more Christ Church is enriched. I will be announcing some dates for training soon. I hope each of you have a blessed Advent season and a merry Christmas. Faithfully, Fac ebook Clic k to Visit o ur Website!! Join our Facebook group! Click To Join Our Ma iling List (If you have a new address or a friend that Cecil Christmas Poinsettias would like to receive Parish s) You may also click here to specify if you would also like to receive other types of s our Parish sends out! Christmas greens and poinsettias will be needed for our Christmas service. Please give a poinsettia in honor of, or in memory of, or as a birthday wish. This donation is $25. If you have greens that we can cut, contact Elizabeth Register

3 Thank You ECW Third Thursday December 15th - 6:00 p.m. Pot-luck Christmas Party in Johnson Hall Guests should bring their favorite food item to share; and a wrapped $10 - $15 gift to be exchanged during the course of the evening Dear Christ Church Family; The Harvest Dinner Committee wishes to extend a million thank-yous to all of you who helped in the success of our 68th Annual Harvest Dinner - we served over 650 dinners to our families, friends, and neighbors; and our profit exceeded $5700. This was beyond our hope to serve 600 dinners. The sale of donated groceries generated $741 for our

4 three missions: Alliance for Health ($476), Food Pantry ($65), and Friends of the Animal Shelter ($200). ECW will meet to allocate additional sums to those missions based on our ticket sales profits. While it is wonderful to have exceeded our financial goals; none of this is as important as the fellowship that was shared in every stage of our event. As we sit in Church on Sunday we cannot lay eyes on a single parishioner who was not in some way involved in our success - whether they cooked, cleaned, sold tickets, donated money, or invited guests; everyone helped in a way that was possible for them. And what a success that is! Not to mention non-parishioners who donated time and talent in support of the event because of the missions that will benefit; and because while they may not be Episcopalians they profess that they love us and all that we do in the community. I recently read an article about getting stuck in a rut of doing something because you have always done so; and I confess I pondered about Harvest Dinner and whether it is just a "habit", or whether it truly glorifies God by inviting folks to our Parish and demonstrating our love for one another and the community. Shortly after, a group of us met to be interviewed for a news story and as we recounted the history and stories of 68 years' of Harvest Dinners it became abundantly clear that this is more than just preparing dinner and selling tickets. Generations of families have been drawn to this adventure - both on the Church side and from the community; committing to maintaining a tradition, not because it is a habit, but because each generation enjoys it as much as the prior generation. Pleasure, family, community, and faith... I think God is pleased that so many people came to His kitchen and "passed a good time" as they say in Cajun country. We cannot begin to name all the folks who made this possible, and truly, there is no one person more important than another. As you sit in Church look within, look to your left, look to your right, look front and back, and know that you are looking at someone who helped, one way or another. We thank every one of you. And we

5 thank the community who joined us and hope they won't be strangers for long! On behalf of the Harvest Dinner Committee, Susan Stevens Adult Forum Every Sunday at 9:00am in the Parish hall December Topic: Prayer ECW Bible Study ~ Tuesdays at 2:00pm Christ Episcopal Church is featured in the Winter Issue that mailed out the end of November. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6 December 4th Fall UTO In-gathering Blue Boxes will be collected at the Sunday service. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Food Pantry~ Items for December 2016 Canned Vegetables ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All children are welcome!

7 Sunday School For Ages: 3-10 December 4th - Advent - Week 1 & 2 December 11th - Advent - Week 3 December 18th - Advent - Week 4 December 25th - No Sunday School "Merry Christmas" Sunday's at 9:00 am Johnson Hall ~ Sunday School Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Merry Christmas for children of inmates If you wish to adopt an inmates child and supply a gift, please call Lindsey Richard Please note that there is a

8 maximum gift amount of $30 per child. Christ Church will host a Christmas party with Santa Claus, cookies and punch during this one hour visit with incarcerated parent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please keep an eye out for neighborhood dinner group invitations coming in the mail! We'll be gathering in neighborhood groups for fellowship. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christmas Eve Service Saturday, December 24th - 7:00p.m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOLY COMMUNION FOR THE SICK AND SHUT-IN

9 Please notify the church office and/or the Priest if you, or someone that you know of is in the hospital, nursing home or home bound that would like to receive communion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ See you in January 2017! "Fourth Sunday at Four" is a visual and performing art series held nine months of the year, deleting April, August and December. This series is sponsored by, and held at, Christ Episcopal Church, 912 S. Beach Blvd. Bay St. Louis, MS, to showcase the tremendous talent in our area and to share it with the community. The performance begins in the church at 4pm, followed by a reception that features the exhibiting artist. The event is free and open to the public. For further information, contact: Church or Chairman: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spring 2017 The Ritzy Rummage Sale April 8,2017 Let all friends, book clubs, yoga classes, aerobics, spinning groups know that we will pick up any time they have things ready to put in the sale. Thank you, Elizabeth Register

10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Serving this Month: Liturgist's Schedule - December 2016 D ecember 4th SERVER: George Riviere LECTOR: Madeleine Ammentorp READER: Anita Warner USHERS: Corky & Molly Hadden COUNTERS: Lindsey Richard & George Riviere VPOD: Megan Martinez ACOLYTE: Sarah Belcher FLOWERS: Nonnie Debardeleben D ecember 11th SERVER: Alice Baird LECTOR: Susan Stevens READER: Mary Kay Hubbard USHERS: Anne Dawes & Brian Bosch COUNTERS: Mary Kay Hubbard & Susan Stevens VPOD: Marcie Baria ACOLYTE: Max baria FLOWERS: Fran Mitchell D ecember 18th SERVER: Susan Stevens LECTOR: Elizabeth Register READER: Denise Frickey USHERS: Lindsey Richard & Scott Bagley COUNTERS: George Riviere & Elizabeth Register VPOD: Toni Calandria ACOLYTES: Anders & Conner Fanberg FLOWERS: Elizabeth Register D ecember 24th (Saturday Night Service: 7:00pm) Servers to be announced.

11 D ecember 25th (Christmas D ay) The Reverend Cecil Jones Friends, thank you for your willingness to serve. Readings for December are available at: December 2016 Happy Birthday! David Baria Sophia Taconi Anna Rieves Bosch Rachelle Henderson George Riviere III Edward Madden Kate Montjoy Shirley Lansden Alexander Grannon Kay Compretta Claudia Dinwiddie Taylor Cheek Susan Stevens Ted Dawson Jesus Christ December 2016 Happy Anniversary!

12 George & Robin Riviere The Mission of Chr ist Episcopal Chur ch To be an Inviting and Transforming Community of Faith that Celebrates Christ's Presence and Grace. Christ Episcopal Church 912 S Beach Blvd Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi 39520