Christmas at St. Thomas

CLICK HERE now for our full Christmas schedule of events next week!

THE EPISTLE:

December 18, 2025

St. Thomas Night Presents

Christmas Pageant and Dinner THIS Sunday, December 21 at 6 PM

Make plans to join us for St. Thomas Night Dinner Theater THIS SUNDAY, December 21 at 6pm! We'll be celebrating our parish's patron saint with an evening of faith, fun, and great food. Dinner will start at 6 pm (not 5:30pm) followed by this year's show- "Christmas Snapshots," led by our children and youth! To help us plan for food and seating, free tickets will be available to pick up in Information Hall this Sunday morning or email Laura Beth Bestor at children@stthomashuntsville.org to let us know you are coming. 

We still need helpers- food prep and servers, setup, cleanup, stagehands- to pull the evening off. Check out the sign-up sheet in Information Hall or contact our St. Thomas Night coordinator, Laura Beth Bestor at children@stthomashuntsville.org.

Invite your friends and family, and join us for our annual St. Thomas Night Dinner Theater Celebration THIS SUNDAY at 6pm!

Rehearsal for St. Thomas Night AND Children's Christmas Party, THIS SATURDAY, December 20, beginning at 10am!

Saturday, December 20

10 a.m. St. Thomas Night Tech Crew Meets (Parish Hall)

10:30am- 11:30 am St. Thomas Night Cast & Crew Dress Rehearsal (Parish Hall)

11:30am- 1pm Children & Youth Christmas Party (Parish Hall)

All St. Thomas children and youth are invited to our annual Christmas party. We'll decorate cookies, make ornaments, and have fun. Please contact our Children's Ministry Coordinator, Laura Beth Bestor at children@stthomashuntsville.org if your family members plan to attend the party so we can have enough food and supplies. 

Sunday, December 21

9:30am- 10:15am Sunday School- St. Thomas Night Final Prep (Hiers Hall)

**5:30pm St. Thomas Night Cast & Crew Call Time (Youth Room)

6:00pm St. Thomas Night Dinner Theater- "Christmas Snapshots"

**An early dinner will be served in the Youth Room for the cast and crew.

Come celebrate Dcn. Jeannie Randall's new call and give thanks for her continuing ministry at St. Thomas THIS SUNDAY!

This Sunday, December 21st, at all three Eucharists, our dedicated Deacon and long-time St. Thomas parishioner and leader, Jeannie Randall, will be preaching on her final Sunday before she takes on her new call to be Deacon-in-Charge/soon to be Priest in Charge at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Athens, Alabama. We are very blessed that Jeannie will not be leaving us at St. Thomas completely and will continue to assist with Pastoral Care and our Honduras Ministry. Still, it is going to be sad not seeing her every Sunday next year, and in order to wish her well, celebrate her new call, and give thanks for her many years of ministry at St. Thomas, there will be a special reception immediately following the 10:30am Eucharist this Sunday. We will also have a basket for cards for Jeannie for anyone who can't stay or for any who would like to say a special thank you to Jeannie. You can drop cards by the church office today or tomorrow during regular office hours if you cannot be with us this Sunday.

Please join us for this special time to celebrate and give thanks for Dcn. Jeannie this Sunday at St. Thomas!

Memorial Flowers for Christmas: Deadline this Sunday, December 21

Christmas flowers are a wonderful way to remember your loved ones. You’ll find Christmas offertory envelopes in the church pews to use for your own memorials or thanksgivings. Simply fill out an envelope and put it in the offering plate or drop it by the church office. We must have your names no later than Sunday, December 21 in order for them to be included in the Christmas Eve service bulletins. We ask for a minimum donation of $30 to cover the costs of the Christmas arrangements and flowers.

Fr. Donavan's 'Prayer with Icons during Advent' Class concludes this Sunday

Based upon two books written by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, Fr. Donavan will present one more unique Orthodox icon for us to contemplate this Sunday morning. Next, he will suggest ways in which we might "read" the 2-dimensional forms of the icon in order to help us meditate more upon the Bible stories and saints the icon represents. Finally, we will talk about how icons might help us to pray. 

Through this exploration of two Orthodox icons of Jesus and two Orthodox icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we hope you will finish this Sunday offering with a new understanding of how Christian prayer can be expanded and deepened by these beautiful images from the Eastern Church tradition. This Advent class promises to provide both visual and spiritual ways to help you pray during this Advent season, so please don't miss it.

Exploring Prayer with Icons during Advent concludes THIS SUNDAY, December 21st, at 9:30 a.m. in the Parish Hall

Rosary Advent Prayers

conclude tomorrow, Friday, December 19

The Rosary is offered each and every Friday during the season of Advent at 12:05 p.m. in the Nave through Friday, December 19th.

Each prayer session lasts around half an hour and, during Advent, includes the reading of each scripture passage for the five decades of the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. And during Advent, our scripture readings for the Joyful Mysteries will be read from the King James Version of the Bible.

If you’ve never prayed the Rosary before, we always have Rosary beads available, as well as written directions to help you fully participate in this meaningful, scriptural, and contemplative prayer practice.

Your pledge is still needed!



St. Thomas is blessed in so many ways and none more so than your generous financial support. As of Wednesday, December 17, we have received a total of 148 pledges totaling $663,728.00. But in order to reach and possibly exceed the number of pledges we received last year, we are still waiting on around 15 pledges to come in! If you have already pledged, THANK YOU! If you have not, please consider getting your pledge in THIS WEEK!

Additional pledge cards will remain available in the church office and in the Narthex. OR for your convenience, you can simply call the front office and speak with our finance office directly!

OR YOU CAN FILL OUT YOUR PLEDGE CARD ONLINE RIGHT NOW! Get caught up with your pledge for 2026 by clicking the button below and help St. Thomas grow it's ministries in the year ahead! THANK YOU!

UPCOMING

St. Thomas Church Office will be closed from December 24th through January 1st

The St. Thomas Church Office will be closed December 24 through January 1 for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in order for our hard working and dedicated staff to celebrate the greatest gift of Christ's birth with their families and those dear to them. This will also allow everyone on our church staff to take well-deserved sabbath time for rest and renewal to prepare for the coming New Year. 

The Church Office will reopen on Friday, January 2nd.

For pastoral emergencies during office closure, please call the clergy directly. All clergy contact information, including phone numbers, is available through the REALM church directory. You can also call the church office for an emergency number.

Adventure Opportunities:

Galaxy of Lights Driving Tour AND US Space and Rocket Center Planetarium

Two events are available to St. Thomas Parishioners utilizing our Parish Bus. Bill Davenport has graciously agreed to drive you to the events!

Galaxy of Lights-Date TBD

The first is a tour of the Botanical Garden’s Galaxy of Lights Tour. Available dates include December 7–16 and 28–31. One date will be selected depending on interest response. This experience will be an evening drive through the beautiful, ornamental light display on the grounds of the Garden. A cost is involved for entry into the exhibit but it's around $30 per vehicle. CLICK HERE FOR PRICING INFO.

US Space and Rocket Center Planetarium

The second event is an evening at the US Space & Rocket Center’s Intuitive Planetarium during December to see the annual story of how the Star of Bethlehem probably happened. Balancing both science and religion, they explore theories on what celestial phenomenon may have led the Magi to the Nativity more than 2,000 years ago. A cost is involved with this event. CLICK HERE FOR PRICING AND MORE INFO.

Pricing and Dates

Evening Shows

Dec 18-Dec 21 all evening shows at 7 PM. Matinee at 4 on Dec 21. Prices from $14 up.

Anyone interested in attending either one or both of these events should call the Church Office at 256-880-0247 or Jack Stokes at 256-468-2743 within the next week. Scheduling depends on Parish interest.

The Feast of the Epiphany & the Burning of the Greens set for Sunday, January 4!

Bring your tree and other greens to burn for our Feast of the Epiphany "Burning of the Greens" Celebration on Sunday evening, January 4, at 6 PM! We will be collecting Christmas trees and wreaths again this year in the South Parking Lot after Christmas to be burned in this celebratory fire, as we honor the arrival of the Magi to worship and give the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus!

Join us in the church for a special Feast of the Epiphany 5pm "Come As You Are" Holy Eucharist, followed by a joyful procession to the parking lot immediately following the Post Communion Prayer for the Burning of the Greens. We will conclude the evening by feasting on King Cake (you know, "We Three Kings"), which was originally eaten on Epiphany and not Shrove Tuesday, along with hot chocolate to warm up your fingers as we bring the Christmas season to a fitting close!

Fr. Donavan will also bless chalk to be picked up and taken home to bless your house with the inscription of the New Year and the initials of the traditional names of the Three Kings, 20+C+M+B+26, over your house door!

Don't miss one of the BRIGHTEST nights of the winter season, and invite your friends and neighbors to join us for our Twelfth Night-Epiphany celebration!

St. Thomas' Annual Meeting is being moved to Sunday, February 15th

This past Tuesday, your St. Thomas Vestry, at the request of Fr. Donavan, voted to move our regular Annual Parish Meeting and Budget Presentation from January 11th to Sunday, February 15th. This change allows more time for our final stewardship drive and ensures our 2026 budget is as up-to-date and complete as possible for presentation to the parish. This year, in particular, moving our Parish Meeting to February also allows for a report on both the election of the 13th Bishop of Alabama and the 195 Convention of the diocese. A February Annual Meeting, following our Diocesan Convention, also makes it possible for St. Thomas to elect delegates for next year's convention at the same time that we elect our new Vestry members. The Vestry motion, approved unanimously, moves this year's as well as all future year's Parish Meetings to February.

Finally, because February 15th this year will be the final Sunday of Epiphany, also referred to as Mardi Gras Sunday, we hope to plan to move the Annual Meeting back to beginning AFTER the 10:30am Eucharist and to incorporate a special Mardi Gras style lunch into our Annual Meeting reports and presentations! Be on the lookout for more information on that after the start of the New Year!

Thank you to our St. Thomas Vestry for all their hard work over the past year and a special THANK YOU to our four off-going Vestry members (Grace Casey, Kathie Clayton, David Hattaway, and Richard Williams) who agreed to continue for one additional month in 2026 to allow for this Annual Meeting/Vestry Election alteration. All future elected members of the Parish Vestry will begin their three-year term immediately following the February Annual Parish Meeting and will finish their term at the February meeting three years later.

Nominations for the St. Thomas Vestry EXTENDED through January 25th!

St. Thomas is preparing to elect four new Vestry members at the upcoming Annual Parish Meeting & Breakfast, now set for Sunday, February 15th. If you or someone you know would be interested in serving on the vestry, you can now submit the name in the box marked VESTRY in the Narthex. If you'd like to nominate someone, please be sure to discuss it with that person first to be sure they are willing to serve the three-year term. 

Vestry responsibilities include:

·Attending vestry meetings on the third Tuesday evening of each month.

·Attending a Saturday Vestry Retreat.

·On a rotating basis, two vestry members count the offering and secure the building each Sunday after worship services.

·Vestry members also cook, serve and clean up breakfast on a rotating schedule, one Sunday per month. Each vestry member signs up for breakfast four times a year.

Please prayerfully consider if you, or someone you know, may be called to serve our parish in this important leadership role. Nominations will now close Sunday, January 25th, and nominations will not be accepted from the floor during the annual parish meeting.

To be nominated for the Vestry, a person must be a confirmed communicant in good-standing, known to the treasurer to be pledging, and a regular participant in the life and worship of the parish.

An Opportunity to help First Stop provide Showers for the Homeless

A group of Friends of First Stop are building an office to shelter volunteers who will daily manage the new First Stop shower facility. The Diocese of Alabama recently donated a two shower unit trailer to First Stop. Now Habitat for Humanity, a local Rotary Club, and several churches have begun building an office to protect the volunteer shower workers from the weather. A generous donor has funded all of the materials for the project.

The floor, the framework for the walls, and structure for the roof have all been fitted together. In January, volunteers will assemble these pieces to form an 8 by 12 feet air-conditioned office and a covered patio. First Stop is planning a number of workdays to finish the project. Dates and jobs will be announced soon. If you wish to help complete the shower office, contact Tim Davis at 661-618-2978 or timdavis1968@gmail.com.

ONGOING

Compline Online

Mondays at 8 PM

with Dcn. Jeannie

There will be no Compline Online on Monday, December 29th. Compline Online will return on Monday, January 5th!

Looking for a new prayer opportunity and a way to center yourself in prayer each week? Every Monday at 8 p.m., you’re invited to join Dcn. Jeannie online for Compline. Compline is a brief evening prayer service and a peaceful way to set your week with intention and to end your day with a sense of completion and stillness.

The service lasts just 15 minutes and can be accessed on St. Thomas’ Facebook page. You simply need a Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and to turn to pg. 127.

It will be LIVE every Monday at 8 PM.

Please contact jrann228@gmail.com or the front office for more information.

Morning Prayer at St. Thomas St. Anne's Chapel in Hiers Hall

Thursdays 7 AM

There will be no Morning Prayer offering at St. Thomas on Christmas Day or New Year's Day. Our Morning Prayer service led by Mtr. Katie will return to St. Anne's Chapel at 7am on Thursday, January 8th!

Every Thursday morning, join us for Morning Prayer in St. Anne’s Chapel at the end of Hiers Hall. Simply enter Hiers Hall and follow the hallway all the way to the end. There will be signs directing you. As we seek to expand our options for praying together during the week, we hope to see our early birds and any brave night owls at this service of prayer and Scripture. You don't have to know how to read Morning Prayer; we'll teach you!

Treble Choir

The Treble Choir sings approximately once a month at the 10:30 a.m. worship service and our special services this year will include Lessons and Carols and Christmas Eve. All children in 2nd-8th Grades are invited to join! Bring a friend!

The Treble Choir schedule is available HERE and is posted on the bulletin board leading to Hiers Hall, the choir bulletin board in Hudson Hall, and the St. Thomas Website. Rehearsals are Sunday afternoons 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. Please email Miss Kathy at music@stthomashuntsville.org for details!

Join the St. Thomas Adult Choir

You don't have to be a kid to sing! Click HERE to see and hear the St. Thomas choir practicing their anthem for this Sunday.

NO SUNDAY SCHOOL DECEMBER 28

Children's Sunday School Sundays from 9:30am-10:15am! Join us in Hiers Hall as we share a year of faith, love, and fun! 

Godly Play class for Pre-K through 1st graders is led by Renee' Redfield in Hiers 4. 

Storymakers for 2nd and 3rd graders is by Nichole Hargrove in Hiers 6. 

Thou Art class for 4th through 6th graders led by Laura Beth Bestor in Hiers 2.  

Our nursery is open from 7:45 a.m.-12 p.m. on Sundays for our Pre-K and under children. We have our Play'n'Worship curriculum available for those in the nursery to enjoy on Sunday mornings. Contact our Children's Ministry Coordinator via email at children@stthomashuntsville.org.

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org