EVENTS AND CHRISTMAS SERVICES
ANGEL TREE
There are still names available for Angel Tree giving, on the tree in the Narthex. Please return all wrapped gifts by December 10th.
LIVING WELL THROUGH ADVENT, WEDNESDAYS DURING DECEMBER, 10:00 AM IN THE LIBRARY
Focus on Christ this Advent season by practicing wonder with all your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. Join us for the Living Compass four-week Advent Series, Living Well Through Advent on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 am in the library. Unable to make it to our in-person group, join the conversation online:
Facebook Flexible Formation Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1799191916992808/.
Living Well Through Advent booklets can be purchased at the Wednesday class or on Sunday in the Narthex for $1.00 each.
Questions: please contact Brielle Giard.
POINSETTIAS FOR CHRISTMAS ALTAR
Buy a Christmas Poinsettia to adorn the Christmas Altar for $10/ea. Dedications of the poinsettias will be printed in the Christmas Eve service bulletin. Order cards available on counter in the church Narthex/Entrance on Sundays, or in the office weekdays.
ADVENT FESTIVAL OF LESSONS AND CAROLS:
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2017, 5:30 PM IN THE CHURCH SANCTUARY
Join us for a meditative worship. Lessons from the Bible which tell the story leading up to Jesus’ birth are read. Hymns that are particular to Advent are sung. Invite your friends.
TRAIL OF LIGHTS SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS NIGHT, ZILKER PARK, AUSTIN, TX
TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 5, 2017, 6:00PM-10PM
Celebrate the Spirit of Christmas on a private evening hosted by Spirit 105.9 Radio. Ticket includes access to the Trail of Lights before it opens to the public. Spirit of Christmas hours are 6pm-10pm on Tuesday, December 5th. The evening will feature a Live Nativity, Church Choirs, faith based bands, area pastors, and a Spirit of Christmas Marketplace as well as the Tiny Chapel.
A ticket is required for Spirit of Christmas General Admission guests ages 12 and older. For more details, visit: https://austintrailoflights.org/.
CAROLING AT SAGEBROOK CARE FACILITY, DECEMBER 10, 2017, 2:00 PM
On Sunday, December 10th, we will be singing Christmas carols at the Sagebrook care facility (901 Discovery in Cedar Park) at 2:00 p.m. Following that, we will be caroling at New Hope Manor (1623 West Hew Hope in Cedar Park) at 3:30 p.m. All ages are welcome. Please join us!
SERVICE OF THE LONGEST NIGHT, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2017, 6:30 PM
The Christmas season is often marked by expressions of joy, excitement, and happiness. It’s a time for family to gather and for churches to worship pointing to the hope that is found in the coming of the Christ child. However, this time of joy and expectation can often overshadow the pain and hurt many experience during this season, when the world’s merriment puts their grief and sorrow in start relief.
One of the greatest acts of pastoral care in the Advent season is a service known as a Service of the Longest Night. It’s a worship service scheduled around the winter solstice (the longest night of the calendar year) and it just happens to fall on or around December 21st every year. December 21st is also the traditional feast day for Saint Thomas the Apostle. This linkage invites making some connections between Thomas’s struggle to believe the tale of Jesus’ resurrection, the long nights just before Christmas, and the struggle with darkness and grief faced by those living with loss.
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2017 AT 5:00 PM AND 9:00 PM
Join us for at 5 pm for our family Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, which will include a “Brown Bag Christmas Pageant”. Figures from the crèche and readings from the Gospel will be on a table as you enter the church. Whoever is moved to read the parts and to process to the crèche will pick up a “Brown Bag” from the table. There will be angel halos, animal masks, and other costume accessories for children and adults. All are invited to participate! Rite II with Communion.
Our 9 pm worship service will be a traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Rite II with Communion.
