Last Day to Drop Food for Reverse Advent Calendar to Benefit COPE

This year, the Daughters of the King invite you to celebrate Advent in a special way by participating in a Reverse Advent Calendar. Instead of receiving a daily treat for yourself, we encourage you to give back by donating much-needed items to COPE (Christian Outreach Program of Elkhorn), which supports our neighbors in need.

Here’s how it works:

Collect and Donate Items

Starting November 27, gather items each day and place them in a box or bag. Each week, we’ll focus on a different category of items that COPE needs the most:

• Nov. 27 - Dec. 4: Protein beans (e.g., garbanzo, pinto, kidney), canned meats (chicken, tuna, spam, sardines), and soups
• Dec. 5 - 11: Breakfast and baking items (cereal, pancake mix, syrup, canned fruit, jelly, baking mixes, oil, flour, sugar, spices, salt, and pepper)
• Dec. 12 - 18: Side dishes (noodle dishes, Hamburger Helper, rice bowls, mac and cheese, tomato products like diced tomatoes, sauce, and spaghetti sauce)
• Dec. 19 - 24: Condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo, salad dressing, BBQ sauce), as well as personal care and home items (shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, spray cleaner, etc.)

You can bring your collected items to church on January 5.

Why Participate?

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, this is a chance to show Christ’s love to others in our community. By participating in this Reverse Advent Calendar, we give thanks for our own blessings and help meet the essential needs of our neighbors.

Let’s fill our boxes and bags with love, hope, and generosity this Advent season. We look forward to celebrating Epiphany together as we deliver our donations to COPE in early January.

Epiphany Pageant 2025

Sunday, January 5

This coming year, we'll be celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany on Sunday, January 5. That morning, at 8:30 am we'll hear both stories in scripture and have a blessing of chalk that can be used to mark the lintel over your front door for the coming year. At the 10:30 Service, we will have our youth present an Epiphany Pageant! All youth attending that day are welcome to put on a costume, and process with the groups. All speaking parts are covered. Services will be at their usual 8:30 and 10:30 times.

The Epiphany Proclamation

An old tradition from times before prevalent calendars, we're adapting the Epiphany Proclamation to reflect some of our liturgical celebrations at St Augustine's for 2025!

Please know that this coming year, 

Ash Wednesday shall fall on Wednesday, March 5th

Easter Sunday shall fall on Sunday, April 20th

Pentecost shall fall on Sunday, June 8th

Trinity Sunday shall fall on Sunday, June 15th

Kickoff Sunday has been set for Sunday, August 17th

All Saints Sunday shall be observed on Sunday, November 2nd 

Advent shall begin on Sunday, December 7th

And we're planning to keep Christmas Eve on December 24th

Blessings for this coming year!

Special Collection for December is the Canned Food Tree

Our Special Collection from December will go to purchase our cans next year.

We will have a total of $1441.00 to spend on our Canned Food Tree thanks to your generosity and commitment to this annual ministry!

A big Thank You to everyone!

Church Family Dinner Back on Wednesday, January 8!

Thanks to everyone who has pitched-in to help make the Church Family Dinners a success.  We will resume on January 8 with a crock pot meal. To sign up to bring food, please CLICK HERE, or sign up in the Parish Hall on Sunday. There are a variety of ways to volunteer. We love having new people join us to lend a hand! Please let us know if you have any questions about dinner or programming heading into the new year.

Parent Meeting This Week!

Join us for a parents' meeting, January 8th, at 6:30 PM. This will be an opportunity to share hopes and dreams for our Wednesday evening programming for children and youth, and to help make plans for the spring semester. 

This week, all are invited to our crock-pot dinner at 6:00 pm. From 6:30-7:15 pm, the nursery will be open for children 1st grade and younger; 2nd-5th grade will be invited to join the youth group on an outreach project; adults can participate in the parents' planning meeting or the study on I Corinthians. Youth group concludes at 8:00 pm. 

Noon Bible Study Returns!

I Corinthians

January & February Tuesday's at Noon & Wednesday's at 6:30 PM

In January and February, we will journey through the first letter to the Church in Corinth, a Christian community seated within a large, diverse, international metropolis. All are welcome to join us as we study the trials that this community encountered and their ultimate discovery that love never fails. The same class will take place on Tuesdays at noon or Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. Here is our schedule of the study:

Session 1: I Corinthians 1-3 (1/7 or 1/8)

Session 2: I Corinthians 4-8 (1/14 or 1/15)

Session 3: I Corinthians 12 (1/21 or 1/22)

Session 4: I Corinthians 9-11 (2/4 or 2/5)

Session 5: I Corinthians 13 (2/11 or 2/12)

Session 6: I Corinthians 14-16 (2/18 or 2/19)

Introducing The Reconciliation Book Club-Thursday's from 6:30-8 PM beginning January 23

Join us to kick off the Reconciliation Book Group! St. Augustine's recent Sacred Ground Circle built community and a deep desire to continue exploring how each of us can Become A Beloved Community, supporting the Episcopal church’s long-time commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, parish, and society. To continue our rich discussions, which are grounded in faith, we invite you to join us to kick off a Reconciliation-focused monthly book group starting Thursday January 23, 2025 from 6:30 to 8:00PM, where we will brainstorm ideas, topics, and books for readings in the coming months. We will also discuss Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal by Matthew T. Martens, to prepare anyone interested in taking part in an Omaha-wide book discussion, Balancing the Scales (Episcopal Diocese Ministry) Book Study taking place at St. Andrews or on Zoom during the following times: Tuesday, January 28, 2025 from 9-10:30, and Wednesday, January 29, 2025, from 7-8:30 PM or on zoom. For information on the Reconciliation Book Group or for more details about the Omaha-wide discussion, please contact Hannah Early Gerjol or Laura Calese.  

Blood Drive

Saturday, January 18

Our quarterly blood drive for the winter will be on January 18. These were started by Amy Churchill at St A's, who decided with the best kind of stubbornness that she was going to make sure that our drives gave back as much blood as her treatments needed throughout the course of fighting cancer. Amy kicked off our drives by hosting parties around them, surprising and delighting our church family, donors from the area, and the Red Cross staff, who have called it the best party they've seen at a drive. Her goal was to give back the amount she had used. We believe that she had done all of that and more in the many blood drives she hosted.

Amy's Blood Drives have become a core ministry for us at St Augustine's, so we will continue them in her honor as long as we have friends show up to give blood. If you are able to help with this drive, or have friends who would like to give back to others by donating blood, please join us at St. Augustine Episcopal Church in Elkhorn (285 S 208th St, Elkhorn, NE 68022). We would love to beat our previous donation totals in honor of Amy!!



Appointments are scheduled in 15 minute increments(Whole Blood) and on the hour (Power Red). For eligibility requirements and to see the difference between the two donations, CLICK HERE. To schedule your donation time, CLICK HERE St. Augustine Episcopal Church should be at the top, click "see times". If you have any questions, please contact Kate

Newcomer Brunch

Sunday, February 9

In-Between Services

Please join us for a Newcomer Brunch! We love to host a brunch once or twice a year to welcome our New Members. In addition to a fabulous brunch and fellowship, we'll do a very brief presentation on ways everyone can become involved in the life of our vibrant parish community. We have opportunities that run anywhere from our Elaine Randall Book Club, to lending a hand in the garden. Parish Life will provide some egg dishes, and would love it if everyone else brought potluck breakfast sides, either sweet or savory! All members are welcome, whether new or seasoned!

Bishop Barker's Visit

Sunday, February 16

The Bishop’s annual visit to St. Augustine's will be Sunday, February 16th. This is an opportunity for us to hear from our diocesan leader, as well as participate in the renewal of our baptismal covenant, Confirmation, Reception or Reaffirmation.

•   Confirmation is for those who have been baptized and will now be making an affirmation of their own commitment to Christ. Confirmation is for those who have not been previously confirmed by a bishop in another denomination.
• Reception is for those who have been previously confirmed in a church other than the Episcopal Church and wish to make a public affirmation of their faith and commitment in the Episcopal Church.
•  Reaffirmation is for anyone who is already baptized and confirmed and who wishes to acknowledge a renewal of their commitment to Christ.

If you would like to participate in any of these please speak with Fr. Ben or Mtr. Lisa.