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Sunday, December 8 is the

Second Sunday of Advent

Service at 10:00 AM, Holy Eucharist

Find this week's readings in the bulletin.

Advent Note from Marya: As we enter the season of Advent this Sunday, our worship will reflect a sense of anticipation, quiet, and hope. One way of listening for God's voice during Advent is to practice intentional times of silence. During our Sunday liturgies this Advent, (three more Sundays) we'll lean into silence in two particular ways. First, on entering the church, you're invited to maintain holy silence, using the time before the liturgy for quiet prayer and reflection. There will be no musical preludes during the next four weeks. Our posture of "holy noise," enjoying the opportunity to gather and chat with our neighbors will resume during Christmas. 

Secondly, after the readings and homily, we will observe a full minute

of silence and stillness as a way of letting God's Word soak into our hearts. May God bless us as we enter this season of joyful preparation.

Meet Rav Naomi

THIS SUNDAY Rav Naomi Gurt Lind, the spiritual leader at Temple Ahavat Achim will join St. John's for coffee hour after worship on Sunday, December 8. Marya invited her to talk about her call to be a rabbi, her school experience and her discernment to come to Temple Ahavat Achim. To learn more about Rav Naomi, read her profile.

Things to look for that are different in Advent:

1) Liturgical Color: Blue. In Advent, the color blue symbolizes hope and anticipation, representing the waiting period leading up to the birth of Jesus, often associated with the color of the pre-dawn sky signifying the coming light of Christ. 

2) Advent Wreath: There will be an advent wreath with four blue candles, one for each Sunday during Advent. The Advent wreath will be lighted each Sunday with a prayer focus.

3) In place of the Song of Praise, we will be singing the Trisagion, composed by Richard Fabian (b. 1942). The Trisagion is sung, or spoken, when the Gloria is not used in the seasons of Advent and Lent. The text, Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us, is sung/spoken three times. The term comes from the Greek, meaning “thrice holy.”

4) New Lectionary Year: We use the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) in the Episcopal Church and will begin Year C. During Advent in Year B, the Hebrew Testament readings are from the minor prophets and the Gospel readings are from Luke.

5) The Prayers of the People: are customized for the season of Advent with themes of pausing, anticipation and hope.

6) Eucharistic Prayer B: There are four different Eucharist prayers (A, B, C, D). Eucharist Prayer B was chosen because it is best suited for the themes of Advent.

7) Seasonal Blessing: The service will conclude with a seasonal blessing which will reflect the themes of the Advent season and encourage us in particular ways as we go out into the world after church.

Many blessings for you during this Advent season, and may we all wait expectantly for those things which are hidden from us, to be revealed.

A Festival of Lessons and Carols

Please join us at St. John’s Church on Sunday, December 15 at 4:00 pm for A Festival of Lessons and Carols. Our expanded choir, led by Director of Music, John Churchwell, will be joined by two trumpeters, adding to the hope and anticipation of the season. Nine lessons will be combined with familiar carols and newer choral expressions of the Advent and Christmas Season: This is the Truth Sent from Above, by Ralph Vaughan Williams; Sussex Carol, by David Willcocks; Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, arranged by Joel Raney; All is Well, arranged by Lloyd Larson; I Saw Three Ships, arranged by James Kirby; and Here is the Little Door, by Herbert Howells. 

The Middle Street Walk!

This year's Middle Street Walk is happening on Saturday, December 14, with various activities happening from 9 am to 6pm. St. John's will be open for self-guided tours of the stained-glass windows, Director of Music John Churchwell will play Christmas music on the organ, and at 2:15, the young singers of Cape Ann Arts Alive will perform a concert of holiday songs from many lands and times, entitled "“What a Goodly Thing.” Check out the whole schedule!

TOYS FOR KIDS is an annual program allowing St. John's parishioners to purchase Christmas gifts for community children. Here's how it works: people within the community phone the office with requests for toys (or other items) for their children. Marge Bishop writes those requests on notes and posts them on a tree in the office. St. John’s parishioners can select a gift then buy and return the desired item to the office by December 19. Gift wrapping and tape is optional.

THANK YOU!! - Marge Bishop, church assistant.

Christmas Flowers

If you are interested in contributing to our Christmas Memorial and Thanksgiving Flowers, the donation envelopes can be found in our pews. Please complete the information found on the envelope and return to the offering plate or the office by Monday, Dec. 16. You can also donate online here, select "Flower Donations" and email names to Marge. We suggest a $20 donation per dedication, but any amount is gratefully received. Thanks!

ACTION LUNCHES ON HIATUS UNTIL APRIL Grace Center has begun its Sunday Winter Warming Program which provides lunch to homeless and vulnerable people in our community each Sunday through March. This enables the small but dedicated band of St. John’s volunteers who provide lunches to the Action Shelter every week to take a much needed break. 

This year we have had several new volunteers join this vital ministry which has been an important part of our outreach to the broader community for thirty years. We thank you and look forward to your continued participation in the spring. 

St. John’s Lenten Retreat at St. Margaret’s in Duxbury

March 21-March 23, 2025 Spend time in silence and in prayer during Lent listening for God’s call in your life. You are invited to join fellow parishioners in silence along the ocean at St. Margaret’s in Duxbury. Or immerse yourself in the daily offices worshiping with the sisters in the chapel 4 times a day. Rest, create, rejuvenate in silence along the sea. St. John’s parish retreat is scheduled for Friday March 21, 2025 through Sunday March 23, 2025. This will be a quiet retreat with one meeting at the beginning to review expectations for retreat and one meeting at the end to gather the fruits of our retreat. St. Mariana house has 9 bedrooms, a few of the bedrooms have two twin beds or queen beds so can house between 9 and 15 people if anyone wants to share a room. The cost will be $225 per person based on 9 people attending and includes meals with the sisters. A sign up sheet will be available on the bulletin board in the parish hall. Checks can be made payable to St. John’s Episcopal Church and write "Retreat" in memo line. 

Email questions to Kim Prentice at kdprentice@hotmail.com or Rick Britton at rixowen20@aol.com. More information about St. Margaret’s is on their web site.

Fair Follow-Up Meeting

Monday December 9th at 10:00 at Connie DeSimone's house at 3 Long Beach Road. Anyone who participated in the fair or who has thoughts on how to improve the fair is welcome to attend. If you cannot attend feel free to send ideas and suggestions to Gwen Kopka at gwenkopka@comcast.net.

Got Leftovers?

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the the requests for assistance keep growing at the Open Door. If you have any unopened canned goods or other nonperishable leftovers from Thanksgiving, and you have just stuffed them into the back of the pantry, please feel free to bring them to church and put them in the basket at the rear of the church on Sunday. The items will be put to good use. Many thanks.

Music Notes 

“People Look East,” our Processional Hymn, was written by Eleanor “Nellie” Farjeon (1881-1965). Farjeon received encouragement as a writer from her parents, Benjamin Leopold Farjeon, a successful writer and novelist, and Maggie Jefferson Farjeon, daughter of an American actor. Using her vivid imagination, and from encouragement from her father, she penned the libretto for an operetta composed by her brother Harry.

Farjeon grew up in England in a home surrounded by books. She and her brothers both enjoyed reading stories to one another and writing their own. In the United States, Farjeon's best-known work is the hymn "Morning Has Broken" (later recorded by Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, in 1971); but in England, she is beloved as the author of more than eighty children's books and poem collections, most notably Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep, Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard, and The Little Bookroom.

Some of Farjeon's books won prestigious recognitions, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award and the Carnegie Medal. The artist refused another prize, Dame of the British Empire, explaining that she "did not wish to become different from the milkman." Upon her death, the Children's Book Circle established the Eleanor Farjeon Award in her honor.

"People, Look East" first appeared in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). The traditional French carol BESANÇON, which earlier appeared with the anonymous text, "Shepherds, shake off your drowsy sleep," provides a setting for this Advent text. In the last forty years, this hymn has gained increasing popularity, as evidenced by its appearance in a number of hymnals in the United States.

"People, Look East" is the direction of the rising sun and, in the history of Christianity, the direction of the coming Messiah. In stanza two, the bare earth is waiting for the seed that will flourish in the reign of the Promised One. In stanza four, the stars that guided the Magi shape the "bowl" of the heavens, giving signs of hope beyond "the frosty weather." The angels' song, in stanza five, sets "every peak and valley humming," an oblique reference to Isaiah 40:4, "Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low."

This joyful Advent hymn has the spirit of a Christmas carol, but with an imaginative Advent text. 

Your Friend,

John Churchwell

Looking Ahead!

The Middle Street Walk Saturday, December 14, 9 am to evening. The young people of Cape Ann Arts Alive will sing at 2:15.

A Service of Lessons and Carols Sunday, December 15 at 4:00pm

Holy Eucharist with Choir 

Christmas Eve Service Tuesday, December 24 at 8:00pm

Candlelit Eucharist with Choir

A Service of Christmas Carols Sunday, December 29 at 10:00am

Holy Eucharist with Choir 

First Friday Coffee House Friday, December 6 at the First Universalist Church of Essex. Doors open at 7pm, music begins at 7:30. December's guest is the Tregony Bow band. Tickets and more information here.

Handel's Messiah Chorus North Shore, conducted by Abigail Frost presents Handel's Messiah, December 7 at 7pm or December 8 at 3pm, at Our Lady of Hope, 1 Pineswamp Road, Ipswich. Buy tickets here or from Gail Crane, a CNS member.

Christmas Fair and Greens Sale All are welcome at the annual Christmas Fair at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church at 142 Prospect Street in Gloucester on Saturday, December 14th from 9:00am until 1:00pm in Our Lady’s Hall. Find special gifts, beautiful jewelry, and religious books and gifts. Take a chance to win an Apple iPad, Electric Lawnmower, or a gift card in the Super Raffle. Santa Claus will join for photographs from 10:00-10:30. Our Lady is working with Cressey & Sons in Rowley to offer for sale both Christmas Cemetery Baskets, Christmas Kissing Balls, and Christmas Wreaths. Each log-shaped basket is $30 each; decorated 15-inch kissing balls are $35 each; and decorated 26-inch wreaths are $35 each. Orders are gratefully accepted through Sunday, December 8th at noon. All proceeds support Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish. For more information or to place an order, please call Beth Fosberry by phone 978-790-0196 or email jcbf33@yahoo.com. Thank you for your support! God bless you!

On December 2, the Bishop Julia E. Whitworth sent out these Ordinary Notes.



December 8, 2024

The Second Sunday of Advent

10:00 AM

Download the bulletin to see who is participating in the liturgy.

SIGN-UP IN THE PARISH HALL! We always need people to contribute funds for the weekly burning of our sanctuary lamp and for altar flowers. Pick a date that has special meaning for you (anniversaries, birthdays, etc.)! We also always need donations of any kind for the Open Door food bank (no expired items or glass containers please). And don't forget about helping provide lunches for the Action Shelter so people can have something to eat on Sundays!

Sign up in the parish hall for future dates for flower and lamp, Action Sandwiches and coffee hour.



CONTACT MARYA (Priest-in-Collaboration) at mdecarlen@comcast.net or 978-590-1642

St. John's Intercession List: Fozzie Hill, Randy Travis, Dolores DeRuscio, Lois Lupo , Steve Jencks, Ben, Rosie, Reverend Stephen Woods, CoCo Baxter, Francisco Lococo, The People of the Middle East, Jim LaBelle, Eric Leibowitz, Ruth and Gabriel Leibowitz, Anna and Isabelle, Ondine, Don Baker, Mandy, Nina Ziv, Marjorie Frontiero, Hope, Brie-Anne Martel, Patty Reed, Marjorie Fergusson, Laurie Menard, Jeremy, Lucy,  Gaëlle K., Sean G., Josh R., Sean, Alexis Morris, Charlie Bishop, Sarah Clifford, Ace Torrence and Family, Jacoby, Jay Featherstone, Isabelle Higgins, Christopher Antonuk, Miranda Featherstone and Family, Marsha White, Claire Stahler, Carole Secrest, Chris Klosterman, Sereda Feener, Alex Furth, Simeon Teitelbaum, Miriam Teitelbaum,  Len Berry, Ellen, Wayne Martin, Ernie Runnells, Jack Ketchopulos, Michael Rocha, Liana and Joe Webb, Anne Sullivan, Linda, Malcolm Henderson, Emelia Currier, Danny, John Fleming.

Contact prayer list manager: Joan Gorga 978-283-5926 or jmgorga@yahoo.com

Please notify Joan Gorga if there is any change with the people on this list. Thank you.

WEEKLY CALENDAR

Sundays               

• 9:00-9:30 am Choir rehearsal (Sept. through June)
• 10:00 am Sung Eucharist

Mondays             

• 9-noon Church open for prayer and meditation
• 9-noon Ms. Fixits Women gathering to tend to the fabric of the church

Tuesdays

• 9-noon Church open for prayer and meditation
• 4:30 pm Women's Cursillo Reunion Group (1st and 3rd Tuesdays)

Wednesdays

• 7 am Men's Bible Reflection, (Bible study) 
• 9-noon Church open for prayer and meditation
• 10 am to 2 pm Thrift Shop and Regal Rummage Open
• 7 pm Fish City AA

Thursdays    

• 9-noon Church open for prayer and meditation
• 7 - 8:30 pm Parish Choir rehearsal (Sept. through June)
• 7:00 pm AA

Fridays

• 10 am to 2 pm Thrift Shop and Regal Rummage Open

Saturdays             

• Action Shelter Lunch-Making, Carolyn Stewart
• 10 am to 2 pm Thrift Shop and Regal Rummage Open
• 7 pm Big Book AA