Sunday School and Nursery Care

Old North Church welcomes children of all ages on Sunday mornings! Children are welcome in the sanctuary for the the entirety of the service. Our nursery for children 3 months to 4ish opens at 9:50 but you may bring your little ones there at any point in the service. Sunday school (for kids aged four through 12) begins partway through the church service, following the "Moments with Children" during worship.



This week in church school Rev. Lindsay and Barbara Day will lead the class in exploring the stores of Advent.  

New Member Sunday this Week

Our church will be receiving new members during our 10am worship services this Sunday, December 8. If you are interested in joining Old North Church sometime soon, please let Rev. Lindsay know.

News from the Festival Chorus Committee! 

Tickets for Festival Chorus performances – taking place on Saturday, December 7 at 8pm, and Sunday, December 8 at 7:30pm – are priced at $35 and will be on sale in the Narthex following the 10am service this Sunday, December 8. 

Tickets are also available at Arnould Gallery, Crosby’s Marketplace, and Maria's Gourmet, or they may be purchased online anytime by clicking here.

You may also visit the Old North Festival Chorus website at www.oldnorthfestivalchorus.org, or the Old North Church website (under “Music Ministry”). Finally, you can access the “QR” code on our posters and postcards which enables online purchasing by using your mobile phone.

Thank you for your support and please help spread the word!

Poinsettias for Display

Envelopes for the poinsettia plants for our church display on December 15th are in the pews. Plants are $25 this year; checks may be made payable to Old North Church. Plants may be designated in memory or in honor of someone if you would like to do so. We appreciate your help in making the sanctuary beautiful for Christmas! You may also mail or drop off a check at the church office, 8 Stacey St with your requested designation. We must receive all orders no later than this Sunday, December 8.

Upcoming NSYM Sunday Meetings

The December schedule location for special events is as follows:

12/8- Special Group: St Nicholas Night 5-7:30 pm at Saint Andrews

Volunteers Needed! Four youth volunteers are needed to be actors for the St. Nick skit. Please email Jess if your youth would be willing/able to participate in this.

12/15 - Special Group: Joint Clifton Lutheran and Saint Andrews Prayer Labyrinth and Holden Evening Prayer service at Saint Andrews from 6-7 pm (families warmly invited) followed by discussion before pick up at 8 pm.

12/20- Friday the 20th, NSYM will be having a Christmas Party at St. Andrews from 4-7 pm. Jess will send out a sign-up sheet closer to the date for folks to bring food, drinks, decor, and/or activities. 

Jess Easter (She/Her), is our new youth pastor serving the “North Shore Youth Ministry” or NSYM for short. If finding a ride to any youth events is ever an issue, please reach out to Jess (marbleheadyouthcoopministry@gmail.com) as she can make connections between families to make sure our youth have the opportunity to join!

Every Sunday the NSYM provides food for the youth, from snacks to dinner. If you would like to contribute to this either by bringing a food or drink item or by paying for a meal (or part of one), please email Jess. 

Music at Old North in December

Sunday, December 8, singer/songwriter (and Old North Deacon!) Leah Waldo will perform a traditional advent carol as well as her own composition at the 10am service.

Our annual Longest Night Service will take place on Saturday, December 21 at 7pm in the sanctuary. This candlelit service is accompanied by classical guitar and is a time for quiet reflection and prayer including scripture readings and poetry. 

Sunday, December 22 is “Bell Sunday” at the 10 am Worship Service. The Old North Bell Choir will perform festive music and all are encouraged to bring a bell (of any size) to ring during the refrains of our Christmas hymns so we can make a joyful noise together!

Anyone interested in singing on Christmas Eve may contact Maria vanKalken at vankalken@gmail.com. The choir will gather at 7pm in the organ loft and will begin singing traditional carols at 7:30pm prior to the 8pm Service of Lessons and Carols.  There will be a rehearsal for the Bell Sunday/Christmas Eve services on Wednesday, December 18 at 7:30pm. All interested singers are welcome! 

Advent Group - Wednesdays at 7pm

Join other churches in Marblehead throughout Advent to reflect on the songs and scriptures of this season. We'll gather each Wednesday night in Advent at 7pm for an hour; we'll eat some desserts, learn the stories behind some favorite hymns, and discuss scripture and poetry about Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Come take a moment to refocus on the spiritual meaning of these seasons. The remaining sessions are:



Dec 11 -- Old North Church (8 Stacey Street)

Dec 18 -- St Michael's Church (26 Pleasant Street) 

Faith Formation

Intergenerational Longest Night Dinner and Service Dec 20th 5pm – All ages are welcome for a pasta dinner at 5pm on December 20th. We're hoping to build community across the generations. Children will make lanterns and have a short service outside (weather permitting) with music, a (brief) story, and candles. All are welcome at this child-centered event. Please RSVP here.

Bring your Creches! – We would love to display your nativity scene in the Parish Hall during December 15th and 22nd! You may leave them in Rev. Christine's office on Stacey Street anytime or drop them on the tables in the Parish Hall starting December 9th.

Monthly Bell Ringing to Call Awareness About Climate Change

Listen for the bells this Wednesday, December 11, at 11 am, for 11 minutes. It’s our monthly event with other congregations in Marblehead and across the North Shore to remind us that we are indeed in the 11th hour of creation care – a reminder that this gift of creation given to us in our lifetime is fragile and mightily impacted by human behavior. It is 11 minutes of a prayer of thanks to God for this precious gift, of confession that we have not attended well, and resolve that we will do our small part to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem of climate change. Join us in that prayer at home or at the church to take your turn at the bell rope.

Looking for Volunteer Adults for Youth Group

The North Shore Youth Ministry (the joint youth ministry we have with Clifton Lutheran, St Andrews Episcopal, and First Church Swampscott) is going strong! We have an excellent youth minister (Jess Easter) who plans and leads the weekly events, but each event needs a second adult (to comply with Safe Church policies). Could you be that adult?

Every Sunday, middle school age youth (6th-8th grades) meets from 3:30-5:30pm and High School (9th-12th grades) from 6-8 pm; there are occasional Friday evening events as well. If you'd be open to helping for one youth group once a month, that would be great! Email Betsey at halbertbam@gmail.com to get connected (we will need to run a CORI check on you!) 

Stewardship

We are midway through our Stewardship campaign now, which will help to determine our budget for the 2025 fiscal year. It is our hope to have all pledges in by this Sunday in order to make informed decisions for our budget for the next year.

As of Thursday, December 5, we have received 117 pledges, amounting to 304,000 in pledge dollars for 2025. Our campaign goal is $500,000 so we are over halfway there. We would appreciate if you could fill out and return your pledge cards as soon as possible. Pledge cards are available in the pew racks and may be placed in the offertory plate on Sundays or returned to the church office at 8 Stacey St. We also encourage filling out your pledges online at www.onchurch.org/pledge.

Your Stewardship Committee: Rick Settelmeyer, Betsey Halbert, Scott Fillenworth, Ginny von Rueden and Stow Walker

Securities Based Donation

Making a securities based donation to Old North Church this year or in 2025 might be a very reasonable and prudent idea. The process is very straight forward and can be facilitated with minimal effort. Your broker or investment advisor can help select a security, frequently a highly appreciated equity and can also provide you with supportive knowledge and the necessary form. Please contact Blair Lord, our treasurer, who has the details necessary to get started. blord@edu.edu

The Stewardship Committee

ONC Reading Group

on Preserving Our Democracy and Environment

The next meeting of the ONC Reading Group on Preserving Our Democracy and Environment will be held both in person (in the Great Room of the ONC Annex) and on Zoom, on Wednesday December 11th from 9:00 to 10:30 AM. The meeting will open early, by 8:45 AM, for solving seating and technical problems. This meeting will be oriented towards preventing a transition to autocracy in the US after the recent November 5th elections. Paul Hare will deliver a lecture for us on lessons learned from his many diplomatic experiences, e.g., how Presidents Chavez and Maduro rigged the Venezuelan judicial systems and on unprecedented factors influencing Trump’s foreign policy in his second term. (Paul was the UK’s Charge D’Affairs in Venezuela, and then the UK’s Ambassador to Cuba. He is now a Master Lecturer at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.)

To join the meeting on Zoom, just click on:

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82896213028?pwd=n0feMmXa3axBgJknqu1IUD3qTwialx.1 . 

To use your telephone for audio, dial +1 929 205 6099 (New York) and follow the operator’s instructions with Meeting ID: 828-9621-3028 and Passcode: 537613.  

Lifebridge Meals Teams Need Volunteers!

Old North has eight teams that prepare and serve a meal at Lifebridge Shelter in Salem on a Tuesday night, once every two months. We start about 4pm and end by 6pm. Teams either bring prepared food or cook a simple meal on site. We don’t even have to wash dishes! We are looking for a few people to replace team members who feel it is time to have someone else take their place. Thank you to those faithful volunteers. 



So, in short, the commitment is six Tuesday evenings (4-6 pm) a year.  

We are also looking for people who would be willing to volunteer from time to time. Please contact Judy Conner, jbc2274@yahoo.com, if you are interested or have questions. 

Scrabble Group



The Scrabble Group meets weekly on Wednesdays from 2-4pm in the Great Room at the Stacey St. office building. Newcomers are always welcome to join in the fun!

Green Tip of the Week

This week’s “Green Tip of the Week”: This week’s “Green Tip of the Week” – Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Help the kids make it an automatic thing they can do.

The Old North Church Green Team has started a new initiative – “Green Tip of the Week”. It is especially apt as we enter the “Season of Creation Care” that some places of worship are signing on to. It’s all about sharing our piece of “creation care” in the time we are each given to walk this walk of life on earth.  

Gifts of Cheer



If you know of anyone, either here at Old North or in the wider Marblehead community who is going through a difficult time, the Community Life Board would like to reach out with a little plant and a friendly note. Please contact Lynda Hare at hares8carrots@hotmail.com or 781-639-0107 if you know someone who would appreciate a little extra cheer.

Lectio Divina

A monastic practice of scripture, reflection and prayer dating back to the 4^th century, at Old North lectio divina has been adapted and practiced for more than ten years on every Tuesday morning from 9 to about 10:30 am. When Dennis was here, he led the practice. Since his leaving, we all take turns being the leader to select the readings. We have welcomed newcomers, some not from Old North, who seem to find soul food in the practice and the shared reflections that are part of it. We meet at 9 am both in person in the “Great Room” on Stacey St. and on Zoom.

We begin each meeting with a context-setting call to worship. Then we pair a scripture reading with a poem, chosen by the leader for the day and read aloud. We then move into 21 minutes of silent meditation, marked by chimes, and finally we share in “safe space” our responses – personal and intellectual. We end each session with prayers for healing and the Lord’s Prayer.



It is a rich time of being together in community and quite like no other. We invite you to give it a try.