Wednesday, December 16: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Thursday, December 17: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Friday, December 18: Closed (staff working remotely)

Monday, December 21: Closed (staff working remotely)

Tuesday, December 22: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, December 23: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Thursday, December 24: Closed (services at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.)

Friday, December 25: Closed (service at 10:00 a.m.)

Monday, December 28-Friday, January 1: Closed

Monday, January 4: Regular office hours resume

If you would like to make a contribution to the Christmas Flower Fund as a memorial or in thanksgiving for a loved one, please click the link below and submit your information by 5:00 p.m. today. Forms are also available in the church office and in the narthex. After you complete the form, you may pay online through the My St. Philip's portal of our website, stphilipschurchsc.org, or you may drop off a check payable to St. Philip's Church at the church office or mail it to:

St. Philip's Church

Attn: Juli Garland, Christmas Flowers

142 Church St.

Charleston, SC 29401

The Home Missions Team gifted 338 cards:

It is an honor and privilege to be the caretaker of the donations from this year's gift card drive and to be blessed with my interactions with church members who used their time and resources to give to those in need. As I opened envelopes last week, I found that several parishioners had even taken time to buy multiple cards or send notes and to mail them to the office or drop them at church. Cash donations were so helpful and so generous as well. A young couple donated a $100 bill after church this week with wonderful smiles on their faces, and friends offered to purchase more cards if we feel we need them, and that restored my heart in a way that nothing else can do. We managed to surpass last year's total of 315 gift cards, which is a feat on its own but even more incredible given the pandemic and the reduced numbers in church each week. Thank you all, every person who was a part of this year's giving.

The Home Missions Team is incredibly humbled that our church family supports our mission partners so fully, and we know our light is shining brightly to the community and to the world.

Please be on the lookout for pictures of cards being gifted this holiday season and notes from our friends who receive them. Merry Christmas!

If you registered for the Christmas Eve service lottery, please check your email. If your name was drawn, you received an email notification yesterday, and you must confirm or decline your reservation by 4:30 p.m. tomorrow using the link in your confirmation email or by calling the church office at (843) 722-7734.

If there are any who decline, additional names will be drawn. All who registered for the lottery will receive an email on Friday whether or not their names were drawn.

On Saturday, the youth of St. Philip's met in the Parish Hall to pack lunches and write notes of encouragement to hand out to some of the homeless people downtown.

Many of the kids supplemented their notes with drawings and verses of Scripture so that as the group moved through the streets of Charleston later that morning, each person in need that they encountered received a unique message along with their sandwich (all made by the youth and youth leaders), fruit, snack, and water.

Youth leader Sarah Silcox snapped lots of pictures––click the link below to see more!

The Tea Room bake sale is almost here! Support your belly and the home and world missions of St. Philip's Church by stopping by the Parish Hall breezeway this Friday the 18th and picking out some homemade goodies.

There will be pies ($20), cakes ($40), cookies, and more! Miscellaneous items will be priced individually, and volunteers will be accepting both cash and checks (sorry, no cards). This sale will be first-come, first-served, so come early on if you can! If you're helping out at the greening of the church Friday morning, remember to swing by and see us on your way out. Curbside ordering will also be available.

The limited-edition Advent-in-a-Box kits went fast, and so did the "Advent@Home" packet version, but you can still participate in all the memory-making activities by downloading the digital version! Click the button below to visit the children's ministry website and download your copy!

Reservations for this Sunday's services of Holy Communion at 8:15 and Morning Prayer at 10:30 open today at 9:00 a.m.

Childcare during the 10:30 service is available for infants and young people through age five, with limited capacities within each age group. You may register at the link below after first registering to attend the 10:30 service, or you may call the church office at (843) 722-7734 to reserve space.

Please join us on Christmas Day for a service of Holy Eucharist. The Rev. Marc Boutan will be preaching, and while there will not be a choir, we will be singing Christmas hymns with organ accompaniment. Registration is encouraged.

St. Philip's own C.S. Lewis scholar, the Rev. Brian McGreevy, is scheduled to make his second appearance on "Pints With Jack," the San Diego-based podcast that seeks to discover the truth and beauty of Christianity through the works of C.S. Lewis! Hosts David Bates and Matt Bush welcomed him over the summer to introduce their new season, a series on "The Screwtape Letters," and they've asked him back to weigh in as they take a deep dive on Screwtape Letter 13. The episode will air Tuesday, January 5; subscribe to the podcast here.

Do you receive Fr. Brian's updates and weekly wrap-up emails? Click here to read the wrap-up email he sent yesterday, and if you'd like to join his email list, let him know!

Yes, this is the same headline as last week, but we mean it this time! Tune in tomorrow at noon for a bonus Rector's Bible Study, the actual last study of 2020! Even if you're joining for the very first time, just make yourself a sandwich, grab your Bible and a seat on your couch, and meet up with us on Zoom as the Rev. Jeff Miller continues his study of the Gospel of Matthew!

If you follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook, you've probably already guessed which priest's mailbox is decorated with a LEGO Christmas scene (complete with twinkly lights) and which one brought in an ornament with the University of Oxford Bodleian Library's anti-arson declaration (and anti-defacement and pro-rule-obeying) to help decorate the church office Christmas tree. You also already saw this picture of our number-one inSPIRE lady, Grace Creel, and our sexton, Ben Singleton, who knocked down a mere four staff members to get the only actual hug that Miss Grace doled out (everybody else got socially distant air hugs).

If you don't follow us, then this is all news to you. Wouldn't you rather be one of the first to know? Click the buttons below to like or follow us now!

Yesterday, the Rev. Justin Hare Justin sang a little bit of Hebrew as he shares with us one of his favorite texts of Scripture, Psalm 121, which holds deep encouragement for us today. Last Thursday, the Rev. Marc Boutan took a closer look at Isaiah 40:1-2, which may not mean exactly what you think it means.

Call Juanita Orvin, who will connect you with a prayer minister who will pray for your concerns over the phone.

juanitaorvin@gmail.com or (843) 884-4018

Call Suzanne McCord, head of the prayer chain, and she will pass your request on to members of the chain.

suzanne1959@gmail.com or (843) 224-1630

December 25 ~ Lessons and Carols (6:00 p.m., online only)

We pray for the sick: Kelsey Brockbank, Katie Burris, Elizabeth Colwell, Glenn Corley, Elizabeth Flowers, Mary Forbes, Brooks Goode, Robert Gould, Janet Hanger, Jonathan Hanger, Cecilia Hawkins, Doug Hazelton, Mac Leppard, Joe Livesay, Connor Lowndes, Doug McAdams, Beverly Melvin, Leon Patat III, Elaine Pendarvis, Deborah Pollak, Edward Pritchard, Jr., Harold Robling, Charles Truluck, Mike Walsh, Carolyn Warlick, Lindsey Wing, Vereen Woodward, and Charlie Yoho.

We pray for protection for Becca Baird, Chris and Julia Beasley, Graham Blunt, Henry Clayton, Ben Colyer, David Daughtridge, Hayes Fair, George Hoefer, Andrew Kane, Horry Kerrison, Charles Kirkman, Frazier Kulze, John Mason, Philip Middleton III, Jackson Miller, Ned Montgomery, Edward Pritchard, and David Scott serving in our Armed Forces.

We pray for our home missions: Star Gospel Mission, Tricounty Family Ministries, Lowcountry Pregnancy Center, St. John's Chapel, and the Open Door Ministry.

We pray for our world missions: For Suzy McCall and LAMB, for the medical missions to Honduras, for ministry to victims of genocide and AIDS in Rwanda, for Water Mission and the Global Water Center, and for St. Jean Baptiste, our sister church, and the schools in Haiti.