“I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.” For many of us, going home, being around family, play an integral part of how we celebrate the holidays. I remember the first Christmas I spent away from my extended family. It was 2014, I was a year and half into my studies at the Atlantic School of Theology. We had gone home to Alberta the first Christmas we lived in Halifax, but now between my school and Mike’s work there wasn’t the opportunity. I was out picking up gifts to send home when that Christmas carol started to play. It hit home in a way it never had before.
Last year many of us had modified Christmas experiences, family couldn’t travel home and we weren’t able to go to them, we were being asked to stick to our households and keep gathering to a minimum. Maybe you were one of the people dreaming about being home or having kids home for Christmas and feeling lonely. As we have watched cases climb drastically this week, I know that anxiety around what this means for Christmas celebrations has climbed.
While I cannot tell you what the next week will bring with Covid, what I can tell you that we will be marking Christ’s birth. In writing that it seems so simple, and yet is it profoundly important, for in that moment God is with us. In that first Christmas alone and years that have come and gone since, what I have learned is that this is foundational beyond everything else, and what truly is important to focus on this holiday season. Knowing that God is with us helps us to face the dark nights. For God so loved the world that he gave his son, who holds us and those we love close.
Please note that our longest night service as Downtown United is coming up on December 21st 7pm here at St Paul’s. If you are finding this season hard to deal with, if you have experienced loss, if Covid concerns have you weighted down. Know you are invited to join us for this reflective service. However, between now and then we have our Sunday to remember Love and a guest preacher Bev Sharpes.
As we make our way towards Sunday let us pray,
Faithful God, you have loved us more than we love ourselves.
That love has opened you up to the joy and pain of what it means to be human.
We give you thanks for opening up your way and truth to us in Jesus.
Help us know to open our hearts to you.
That you may hold with us the pain and joy of our lives yet again in your tender loving care.
Be with us as we take these final steps towards Christmas,
That we may know we are not alone. Amen
1) Worship announcements
2) December Services
3) Wednesday Bible Study Group
4) Brown Bag Lunches
5) Holiday FundScrip Orders
6) Upper Room Daily Devotional
7) Anti-poverty book study – “Bootstraps Need Boots”
1) This Sunday worship starts at 10:30am.
As always, if you are not ready to join us in person we hope to see you on Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86854718551 Passcode: 165090
If you are joining us on zoom please make sure your microphone stays muted the entire time – if not, we hear your conversation instead of the worship service.
Please note that because of the decisions made in September this week’s change in covid rules will have little impact on Sunday. To attend in-person worship here at St. Paul’s United Church you must show proof of vaccination. Also please ensure you are:
– Wearing a mask at all times
– Sitting in marked pews and maintaining 2 meters distance
– Sanitizing your hands when you enter the church – you will find sanitizer at all doors.
Our services are uploaded to our youTUBELINK channel every Sunday so you can view them at your convenience.
2) Upcoming December Services:
December 19 – Advent 4: Worship at 10:30
December 21 – Longest Night Service at 7pm
December 24 – Christmas Eve Services at 3pm, 7pm, 11pm
December 26 – Downtown United Worship at Wilmot 11am
3) Lectionary Bible Study: There will be no bible study the week of December 22nd but will resume January.
4) Brown Bag Lunch Program: Our shelves are extremely empty, Proteins including canned meats (with flip tops) are top of the list as well as drink boxes, desserts (pudding, fruit cups), and granola bars for our brown bag lunch program. Drop off anytime during the week or on Sunday before worship. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
5) FundScrip: Cards will be distributed this Sunday, December 19th. A reminder that there will be no orders in January and we are shifting the deadline date to the first Sunday of each month. This means the next deadline will be February 6, 2022. Remember, shopping is fundraising for St. Paul’s.
6) Upper Room Daily Devotional for January-February 2022 has arrived. It can be purchased for $2 in the Church office Monday-Friday between 8am and 3pm.
7) Anti-Poverty on-line Book Study. We’ll read together Canadian Senator (Retired) Hugh Segal’s recent book: Bootstraps Need Boots; One Tory’s Lonely Fight To End Poverty in Canada (UBC Press, Vancouver, 2019.) The four Zoom sessions are to be held on Wednesdays, January 12, 19, 26 and February 2 at 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Atlantic Time. The plan is to go through 5 chapters each evening of January 12, 19 and 26. We have Senator Hugh Segal himself confirmed for the February 2 discussion and final session. Register here by January 4, 2022. https://ucceast.ca/64326-book-study-bootstraps-need-boots-one-torys-lonely-fight-to-end-poverty-in-canada/