Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Serving on Sunday (Nov 29th):
* Greeters: Christine D * Host: Black * Readers: Dave D, Cindy C
* Psalm & Prayers: Judi S * Chalice: Karen S, Jane C
* Announcements: Andrew P * Counters: Cindy D, Kathy D
Sunday's readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Verger List has Sunday assignments through December.
Announcements – November 29, 2015
Parish Quarterly Meeting – Sunday after 10am service
Annual Meeting Reports due December 13 – Believe it or not Annual Meeting is just around the corner. Please submit your reports for the Annual Report to Paul Stevens in electronic format by December 13. Thank you, Scott and the Vestry
Advent Evening Prayer Daily at 5:30 – Monday – Friday at 5:30 in the church. Please join us for a quiet, peaceful time of prayer during this busy holiday season and in this time of turmoil in our world.
It is not too late to return your Stewardship Pledge! – Help us plan better for next year by submitting your pledge as soon as possible. Thank you.
Advent Discussion Series - Please join us for an Advent discussion series again this year to be held on the 4 Wednesday evenings in Advent (December 2, 9, 16, and 23) from 6:30 pm - 8 pm in the Parish House. The format will be a loosely-structured discussion of the previous Sunday's Old Testament and Gospel readings --- touching on topics as historical background, how the readings relate to one another, what we feel in the readings specifically speaks to us, what the readings might mean to us in our greater community, why these readings may have been chosen for inclusion in the common lectionary for Advent. We will be spending 35-40 minutes on each reading and ending with Compline. There would be no books or required reading as we will be only using the lectionary scripture readings. It will be facilitated by Pete Lapre.
2015 Advent Retreat – What are You Waiting For? December 4 and 5 at Rock Point. The Retreat Leader is Ann Cooper from St. Stephen’s Middlebury and the Retreat Chaplain is Scott B. Neal from St. Paul’s. Join us for a quiet time away from the busyness of the season. Register at mhechmer @me.com
Safe Church Training – December 5 in Springfield.
Register for Safe Church Training Certification, Saturday, December 5, 9 am to 3 pm, at St. Mark's, Springfield. Contact Canon Lynn Bates for information about available online re-certification training. We plan to car pool from St. Paul's Church leaving 8:00am or 8:15am latest and returning close to 4:30.
Solstice Knit and Purl Retreat – Saturday Dec 19th, 10am - 7pm at Parish House
There will be vegetarian chili and a soup for lunch and early dinner. Please bring a pot-luck- snack to share. We are creating a place of peace where you can come and relax doing any kind of handwork including coming for the day, part of the day, or a few hours. Friends are welcome. We will set up a table to use for quilting and sewing. There will also be extra yarn to begin comfort prayer scarfs, comfort prayer shawls and mini shawls. For more information, contact Susan Pillsbury or Holly Hall.
Brookside Service- our next service will be 12/13/15.
Caring Ministry will meet next January 17th at 11:45.
Ongoing Reminders:
Haven Wish List – Top 5 food shelf needs: tuna, pasta, pasta sauce, beans, brown rice Special Thanksgiving collection: stuffing, gravy mix, pie crust mix, pie filling, and cranberry sauce. As well as: Manual can openers, Crock pots, Electric frying pans
Leadership Team Meeting – Every Wednesday 9:30am – 11:30am
Worship Team Meeting – Second Tuesday of the month in the Church Library at 4pm. All are welcome to attend.
Vestry Meeting – Third Tuesday of the month in the Parish House at 6:30pm. All are welcome to attend.
Discretionary Fund Reminder – First Sunday of every month. Be as generous as possible.
Laying on of Hands – First Sunday of every month. Please gather at the Baptismal Font immediately after you have received communion.
Brookside Nursing Home Church Services – Please join us! - Second Sunday of each month (September through June) 2-2:30pm. Scott has another commitment that day so we would appreciate someone to fill in for him and give Eucharist. If you can help at Brookside Service on 12/13, please contact Scott or Holly. Thank you.
Knit and Purl Fellowship - First and third Monday of the month at the Parish House, 6:30pm. We will next meet 12/7 and 12/19 for Solstice Knit and Purl Fellowship Retreat.
St. Paul's Fun Google Group – Join our google group to learn about fun activities. If there's a movie you are planning to see, a hike you'd like to go on, or other fun events for people to join together, this is the place to put out the word. Build our connection with one another and strengthen our community! Email Jill Fischer at jill@ positivecouples.com to be added to this list.
Upcoming Events
Please send event and prayer updates to announcements.spc@gmail.com
Monday - Friday – 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday, December 2 – 6:30 PM Advent Formation
Saturday, December 5 – Safe Church Training
Sunday, December 6 – Advent II
Sunday, December 6 - 4 PM - Service of Reconciliation
Sunday, December 13 – Christmas Caroling
Saturday, December 19 – Solstice Knit and Purl Retreat
December 24, 5:30 PM – Holy Communion with Christmas pageant
December 24 – 9:00 PM - Festive Holy Communion with Carols
December 25 – 10:00 AM - Christmas day Holy Communion with Carol