Happy December St. Thomas! There's still time to turn in your 2024 Pledge Card!

St. Thomas has big, exciting plans for 2024, but we can't do it without EVERYONE lending a hand in our "Giving for Growth" campaign. PLEASE CONSIDER TURNING IN A PLEDGE CARD BEFORE DECEMBER 31ST, TO SHOW YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT FOR ST. THOMAS & TO ALLOW US TO HAVE WHAT WE NEED TO GROW IN MINISTRY, FELLOWSHIP, & FAITH NEXT YEAR!

Every pledge counts!

THE EPISTLE:

December 14, 2023

St. Thomas Night is THIS SUNDAY! Children's Christmas Pageant & Dinner beginning at 5pm



All are welcome to join us for St. Thomas Night at 5pm this Sunday, December 17!  The young folks of St. Thomas will be performing The Best Old Fashioned Christmas Pageant Ever, and supper will follow the pageant in the Parish Hall.  For those who normally attend our 5pm Holy Eucharist, there will be communion offered by Fr. Donavan immediately after the pageant in the Nave.

'St. Thomas Night' Dress Rehearsal & Children's Christmas Party THIS SATURDAY!



This Saturday, December 16 we will have a St. Thomas Night Dress Rehearsal at 10:30am in the Nave for all Christmas Pageant participants!  Please enter through the Narthex doors where our costume rack will be.  

Following practice on Saturday, we will have our annual Children's Ministry Christmas Party in the Parish Hall from 11am-1pm.  A lunch of chicken nuggets and french fries will be served. We will decorate cookies and play games. If your child(ren) is/are not in the Christmas program but would still like to come to the party, please let our Children's Ministry Coordinator, Laura Beth, know by clicking HERE so that we can have enough food and cookie decorating supplies.  

We will have Christian Formation this Sunday, December 17, but because there will only be one 10:30am morning Eucharist on December 24 and December 31, we will not have Children's Christian Formation on those Sundays. 

PRAY THE ROSARY FOR ADVENT WITH FATHER DONAVAN

During the season of Advent, Fr. Donavan is inviting you to join him in deepening your prayer life with the beads of the traditional Catholic Rosary! Fr. Donavan will open the church again tomorrow at 12:10pm, for 20 to 30 minutes of praying the Rosary with reading of scripture from the King James Version of the Bible. This scriptural Rosary will continue every Friday in Advent through December 22nd.

Each and every Advent season calls us to prayer and preparation, and the Rosary can offer you a moving, tactile way to deepen your spirituality and prayer life. Whether you've always prayed with Rosary beads or have never held a Rosary before, this is your opportunity to experience the ancient Christian practice of praying with beads.

The church will have plenty of Rosaries to give out to everyone who needs one, so you can bring your own or simply come into the church and pick one up here. And remember, Fr. Donavan is using the older, traditional 50 bead Catholic rosary and not the shorter, newer Anglican rosary. The rosaries available each Friday will be Catholic rosaries.

Memorial Flowers for Christmas: Envelopes in Pews this Sunday!

Christmas flowers are a wonderful way to remember your loved ones in the church. The Christmas offertory envelopes are in the pews to use for your memorials or thanksgiving now! Fill it out and place in the offering plate or bring to the church office no later than this Monday, December 18th. We ask for a minimum donation of $30 to cover the costs of the Christmas Flowers.

Adult Christian Formation Class for Advent:

Angels in Christian Scripture & Tradition concludes THIS SUNDAY!

What are angels and how have they been understood in the Bible and in the history of the church?  What roles do angels play in the Old Testament and where do they appear in Gospel stories of Jesus and in the New Testament? Where do our understanding of angels today move from the Bible and the church and into popular culture? And, finally, do angels still interact and impact the lives of Christians today?

For the season of Advent this year, join Fr. Donavan for a 3 week class on the place of Angels in Christian scripture and tradition at 9:30 am in the Parish Hall.  Come dive deeper into what the church knows, understands, and still proclaims about these mysterious creatures of Judeo-Christian scripture and legend and be prepared to rethink all you think you know about angels.

Nominations for the St. Thomas Vestry OPEN through

St. Thomas Night this Sunday

St. Thomas is preparing to elect four new Vestry members at the upcoming 2024 Annual Parish Meeting, set for Sunday, January 14th in the Parish Hall. Current vestry members, Mike Bestor, Linda Lou Hardison, Elysa Jones and Scott Moore, will be completing their terms, and if you or someone you know would be interested 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 the overnight vestry retreat at Camp McDowell, January 26-27.

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

·Vestry members also cook, serving and cleaning 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 be closed after the 5pm St. Thomas Night pageant and dinner THIS SUNDAY, December 17th, and nominations will not be accepted from the floor during the annual parish meeting.

To be nominated for the Vestry, per the Canons of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Alabama, a person must be a confirmed Episcopalian, a communicant in good standing, and known to the treasurer.

Final 'Wednesdays in Advent' is December 20th:

Cocoa, Cookies, & Christmas Carols

Our final "Wednesdays in Advent" program this year is set for Wednesday, December 20th. Everyone is invited to come join us in the Parish Hall at 6pm for a fun and festive "Cocoa, Cookies and Christmas Carol" carol sing. Come get your Christmas cheer revved up with your favorite Christmas carols, a warm cup of hot cocoa, and some wonderful Christmas cookies.

Flower Guild needs Little Gem Magnolia for the "Greening of the Church" this Christmas!

The Flower Guild is busy planning for the greening of the church for Christmas. We need the congregation to help by bringing us branches of Little Gem Magnolia. This is the smallish tree that has shiny green leaves that are bronze on the back side. Please bring to the Parish Hall (no water necessary) before the 23 of December. Thanks to all!

Looking for a gift to give to the church this Christmas: Make a Donation to our Clergy's Discretionary Accounts

Did you know that St. Thomas receives calls and stop-ins regularly from people in our local community seeking direct assistance for food, rent, and electric bills? It is the church's policy to never give out cash as assistance, but we can and often do call Huntsville Utilities to help with a portion of someone's utility bills, write checks to assist with rent, and give out gift cards to help with food and gas. Our clergy also occasionally get approached by people within our own parish family who need help. All of this assistance primarily comes from our Clergy's Discretionary Accounts. Clergy Discretionary Accounts, as stated in the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, are set up to allow clergy to provide direct assistance for the poor and to support church and non-profit local, national, and international organizations seeking assistance for their charitable work.

Fr. Donavan, Mtr. Ranie, and Dcn. Jeannie each have there own discretionary account for these specific reasons and those specific reasons only. If you'd like to help our clergy have funds to directly support the poor, the sick, those in specific need, and the work of the church in the world, please consider a donation this Advent-Christmas season (or anytime!) to the clergy's discretionary accounts. You can give to one of our clergy specifically, or you can simply write your check and mark the check and the envelope as a donation for "Clergy Discretionary Accounts" (make out all checks to St. Thomas) and your donation will be divided equally among St. Thomas' three clergy. Thank you!

St. Thomas Church Bus heading to "Galaxy of Lights" on December 28th!



Come see the the "Galaxy of Lights" at the Botanical Gardens in the comfort of the St. Thomas Church bus! Bill Davenport will have the bus available for boarding at 5:30 at the Church front door on Thursday, December 28th. There is seating for 15 people. We request that those wishing to go call Jack Stokes to verify seats available. Travel time is 20 minutes from Church to entry line, ~45-60 minutes to entrance, 30 minutes to drive through and 20 minutes back to Church, approaching 2+ hours total. There will be no cost, thanks to Fr. Donavan's Christmas gift. Please come join us!

Operation Santa Claus Thanks You

SANTA CLAUS SAYS THANK YOU for providing 56 WalMart gift cards for folks in Madison County who live with severe and persistent mental illness. Our previous record was 41 gifts, so we out-did ourselves!

Thank You for Donating to

Save a Life



Many thanks to all who participated in the December blood drive. St. Thomas donated 24 units of blood, an amazing Christmas gift for folks in need. Life South knows they can count on St. Thomas. You guys always step up and they always appreciate it. Me too!

Thank you again!

Betsy Hill

Christian Formation Offering for Adults: Bible Study on Romans

Each Sunday in Conference Rm 1, we will be studying Paul's Epistle to the Romans with Mtr. Ranie. Bring a Bible and all your questions and wonderment involving Saint Paul and the messy, fascinating theology his works foster. Mtr. Ranie will be leading the class. If you have any questions, please email her at associate@stthomashuntsville.org.

Children and Youth Christian Formation Information

St. Thomas' Children and Youth Christian Formation classes are now underway every Sunday! We offer five different Sunday school classes for our children and youth!



Pre-K - 1st grade: Godly Play- Renee' Redfield - Hiers 4

2nd grade-3rd grade: Love First- Laura Beth Bestor - Hiers 2 (new room)

4th grade-5th grade: Thou Art- Kathie Clayton & Lila Powell - Hiers 6

6th grade-7th grade: My Faith, My Life- Sonya Carrier & Jane Allgood - Hiers 5

8th grade- 12th grade: Youth Room

Contact our Children's Ministry Coordinator, Laura Beth Bestor, at children@stthomashuntsville.org or our Youth Ministries Coordinator, The Rev. Jeannie Randall at jrann228@gmail.com if you have questions or would like to help out with this important aspect of our ministries.

Acolyte Sign-Up Genius is now available!

Calling all youth and children 2^nd grade and older to help serve our Church by being an acolyte! Click to access the 10:30am Acolyte Schedule Sign-Up Genius which schedules through January 2024.  Please consider signing up 2-3 times to share your works.  Contact Jeannie at jrann228@gmail.com with questions.

"Come As You Are"

5 PM Holy Eucharist

St. Thomas' "Come as You Are" 5pm Sunday worship service is every Sunday. Dinner is now offered on the FIRST SUNDAY of each month. Our 5pm Holy Eucharist features simple hymns from the Alleluia III hymnal, good sermons preached from the floor, and Holy Communion. Come as you are and invite a friend to join you for the 5pm Evening Holy Eucharist EVERY SUNDAY at St. Thomas.

At A Glance: December 7th - December 13th

THANK YOU, LIPMON MOY, FOR LEADING THE TEAM THAT KEEPS ST. THOMAS ONLINE AND STREAMING, AS LIP DID FOR LESSONS & CAROLS LAST NIGHT!

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org