St. Paul's will host a table featuring a kids' craft and cider in the Carolina West Commons during the Wilkesboro tree lighting ceremony and celebration on Dec 1, beginning at 4:30pm. This is a wonderful way to be present in our community and a visible way to love our neighbors. Wont't you help us? Help will be needed to setup, breakdown, and assisting with the offered crafts.
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Las Posadas Dec. 1st - Dec. 24th
“Posadas” can mean "inn" or, in this case, lodging. Las Posadas is a traditional Latin-American nine-day celebration beginning December 16 and ending December 24. It is a yearly tradition and symbolizes the challenges which Mary and Joseph faced before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born. It is based on a passage in the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke (2:1-9). Each night a different family hosts Mary and Joseph. Here at St. Paul’s, we will join in this tradition. Each family or person is asked to take Mary and Joseph into their home by saying a short welcome liturgy provided for you. You can take them where ever you go that night: to soccer practice, Starbuck’s, to your dinner table. Imagine what they would have talked about, worried about, celebrated. You then make arrangements to pass them on to the next person on the list. On Christmas Eve they will make their way to church and into the sanctuary for our 6:00pm family Christmas Eve celebration.
If you signed up in the Commons, your dates are noted on the online sign up sheet! Thank you!
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This month we invite you to bring non-perishable food items for our Little Free Pantry and place them in our Giving Wagon. Each week, the children of St. Paul's will drive the wagon to the altar and place one item on the altar at the time of the Offertory until Christmas Eve.
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Children and Youth are asked to use the yellow paper in the Prayground to write or draw a picture of the kind things they do throughout Advent to help "soften the manger" for Jesus. The manger is empty now, but will soon be filled with kind words and actions, what a way to welcome baby Jesus!
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Coffee Club - Advent Video Series!
Coffee Club meets in the lower level of the Parish House on Sunday mornings December 9th and 16th at 9:30am. the Coffee Club will begin an Advent video and discussion series called Advent Conspiracy. Please join us!
Advent Conspiracy was founded on the radical idea that we can celebrate Christmas humbly, beautifully, and generously. Advent is the story of a wondrous moment when God entered our world to make things right. It is the greatest story ever told and it changes everything—including the way we celebrate Christmas.
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There will be an Intergenerational Advent Wreath making event between services this Sunday, December 2nd at 9:30am in the Commons. Please bring greenery from your yard to share and bring your advent wreath form. Wreath forms and candles are provided for a suggested donation of $5.00.
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As we rush into December and the holiday season, sometimes we miss out on the opportunity to live in Advent, a season of expectation and wonder. Waiting in anticipation of Christ’s birth, we, as individual households, and as a larger Christian family, can take time to reflect and slow down during this holy time.
The offering of #
AdventWord
provides a daily short reflection and visual meditation to guide Christians around the world to prepare our hearts and homes for the arrival of Christ. AdventWord started five years ago by the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, and for the second year is has been coordinated out of Virginia Theological Seminary. The daily chance to pause, reflect, and pray around a chosen word gives possibility for adoption and adaptation for households, parishes, and individuals. Christians around the world participate by reading, writing and posting their own visual meditations on how they see the word reflected in their own journey.
The short meditation and visuals begin on the first Sunday of Advent and end on Christmas Day. Sent out each morning via
email
,
Instagram
,
Twitter
, and
Facebook
; communities are found on each platform posting, responding, liking, and sharing.
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Sunday Sermon
Christ the King Sunday: If God is love, and Christ is God, every act of love could increase God's sway on the universe.
Rev. Kedron Nicholson
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Thank you to the Stewardship Committee for organizing our Harvest Celebration and to the donors of our raffle prizes- what fun!
Special thanks to Jim Sturdivant and his band, Horseplay, for their musical offerings.
Congratulations to our raffle winners: Joe and Iris Hilton, Maggie McCann, Steve Jackson, Ray and Paula Jameson, and Bob McCloskey
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Poinsettia Season - Christmas Remembrances
Look in the Sunday bulletin for inserts to sign up to give one or more poinsettias in honor or in memory of someone. This helps us fund the purchase of flowers to decorate the church throughout the upcoming year.
The cost is $17.00 per plant.
You can leave the donation in the collection plate with your information or drop it by the church office. You may also mail a check to the office at PO Box 95, Wilkesboro, NC 28697 with your request(s). Please write the check out to St. Paul's and put the person's name that you wish to honor or memorialize in the memo line. Names of the people being honored or memorialized will be published in the Christmas Eve bulletin.
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If you took a stocking to fill on the day of the ECW bazaar, please return them to the church by Monday, December 3rd. Thank you!
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The Wilkes Chamber Singers will hold their first Christmas concert at St. Paul’s on Sunday, Dec. 16th at 3:00pm.
This community group which was started by Greg Wright of the First Baptist Church in the early 1990’s consists of choir members of local churches and schools. Ann Fortuna directed the group for many years. Debo Cornett is the current conductor and she is assisted this year by Larissa Leapley, Jim Brooks, and Mike Norman.
Members from our choir are George Cox, Steve Reid, Cindy Smith, Nancy Scroggs, and Ramona Curtis
. The concert will consist of many beautiful Advent and Christmas pieces. An additional concert will be at the NW Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, Dec. 18th, at 7:30pm. Come and enjoy!
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Welcome Vanessa Greer!
Our new parish administrator began this week and we are excited to welcome her to our staff. Vanessa has lived all over NC and comes to us after living in Boone for 10 years. Her background working as an accounting clerk at Mast General and her desire to serve makes her a great fit for our parish. She is married to Nelson and is the mom to Oliver, aged 13. When you get a minute, drop by the office and say Welcome!
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Sunday, December 2nd
8:30am-
Holy Eucharist in Chapel
9:30am- Intergenerational Advent Wreath Making event in the Commons
9:45am -
Choir Practice
10:15am-
Nursery opens for children under 4
10:30am-
Holy Eucharist in the Sanctuary
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Tuesday, December 4th:
7:00pm
- Al-Anon in library
Wednesday, December 5th:
6:45pm -
Choir Practice
7:00pm -
Dick Underwood Book Club
Thursday, December 6th:
11:30-1:00-
Crisis Assistance and Step Ahead at Wilkesboro UMC
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Birthdays:
3- Sarah Fesperman
4– Cyndee Smith
8– Ryan Minick
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Anniversaries:
2– Harrold and Debbie Ferguson
3– Ralph and Rosa Jolly
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Prayer List
Please remember in your prayers:
All those who are ill or unemployed. All those who are on our prayer list.
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Illness
Rik Absher, Jim Andrews, Joe Barber, Pam Baugh, Wayne Boyd, Jacob Brown, Dan Bumgarner, Ken Canter, Billy Coles, Rancene Cook, LaMar Creasman, Ann Davis, Alvin Emmanuel, Craig Freas, Ernestine Freas, Gail Gattis, Mike Graf, Ruth Gray, Edward C. Griffith III, Janet Hartzog, Gerald Hendley, Larry Hendley, Margo Hurd, Steve Jackson, John Jacobson, Pat Jones, Joan Knox, Maggie McCann, Kay McCloskey, Susan McManus, Ann McNeill, Glenn Merritt, Donna Moore, Becky Mullins, Bertie Pardue, Curtis Parker, Ryan Rigby, Bob Skees, Ester Small, Carolyn Stephens, Marie Waddell, Robin Walsh, Dick Whittington, Susan Whittington, and Cole Younger.
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Armed Forces
Let us pray for
the safety of
all our troops
,
especially Rob Beauchaine, Matthew Cage, Alex Cline, Philip Cooney, Karl Duerk, Mike Earley, William Grant, Edward C. Griffith IV, Jacob B. Hall, Jonathan Johnson, Brandon Moore, Russ Necessary, Charlie & Lauren Pendry, Adam Pinkerton, Philip Southwell, Mark Stone, Patrick Szvetitz, Jackson Triplett, Levi Walker, Nathan Wyatt, and all others who serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout
the world.
Please send to the church office the addresses of troops with connections to
[email protected]
, especially those abroad.
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Readings: The Liturgy of the Word for December 2, 2018
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Jeremiah 33:14-16
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The Lord is our righteousness."
Psalm 25:1-9
1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
my God, I put my trust in you; *
let me not be humiliated,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
2 Let none who look to you be put to shame; *
let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.
3 Show me your ways, O Lord, *
and teach me your paths.
4 Lead me in your truth and teach me, *
for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all the day long.
5 Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, *
for they are from everlasting.
6 Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; *
remember me according to your love
and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
7 Gracious and upright is the Lord; *
therefore he teaches sinners in his way.
8 He guides the humble in doing right *
and teaches his way to the lowly.
9 All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness *
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
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Luke 21:25-36
Jesus said, "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
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St. Paul's Sunday Servants
December 2nd & 9th
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St. Paul's Episcopal Church | 336-667-4231 | [email protected] | https://stpaulwilkesboro.org
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