Weekly Programming

• Music for Advent - 9:30 service, including Youth Choir
• Sunday Forum: Annual Bake and Craft Sale
• Children's and Youth Ministry

Community Events

• Gingerbread Houses
• Posada
• Mes Amis Holiday Party
• Bible Study Potluck
• Caroling
• Bible Study in the New Year
• Educational and Spiritual Formation

Outreach

• ICA Update
• Loaves and Fishes
• Hats & Mittens
• Beacon Update

Announcements and Reports

• New Office Administrator
• Missing Kitchen Equipment
• Christmas Eve Volunteers
• Bridge Lessons
• Upcoming Community Forums

Have an announcement you would like to share in this weekly email?

Send it to office@stdavidsparish.org before noon on Tuesday to be featured.

Weekly Programming

Church this Sunday

This Sunday, December 10

Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 9:30

Music for the Second Sunday of Advent

This Sunday at the 9:30 service, our choir and soloists will offer a special Advent treat: four movements from Handel’s Messiah, which are all based on this week’s first scripture reading (Isaiah 40:1-11).

Beginning with the prelude and continuing through the postlude, we’ll hear Handel’s interpretation of this comforting and hopeful prophetic text. In addition, our youth choir will lead two contemporary hymns related to that same scripture. We invite you to ponder and enjoy the different ways this Good News can be sung!

We continue to Facebook Livestream the Sunday 9:30 service and upload to YouTube.

Click HERE to view the Advent Brochure.

This Sunday's Community Forum

10:45-11:30

The annual Bake and Craft Sale will be held in the Undercroft after the 9:30 service. Early drop off will take place on Saturday, December 9th from 3 to 5 p.m.

Questions? Contact Sara Leigh at leigh.sara@gmail.com.

Children’s Ministry

This Sunday we will have Godly Play during the 9:30 service and we will continue with Godly Play work time during the forum time!

Children and Youth Ministry

This Sunday, the Youth Choir will be singing during the 9:30 service!

ALL AGES - LIFT Christmas Cookie Bake at St. David’s from 6:30-8:30pm on Wednesday, December 13th

Pasta dinner available starting at 6:00pm. 

It’s that time of year! All children and youth are invited to the Christmas Cookie Bake! These cookies will be boxed up and sent with St. David’s and Trinity carolers the following Sunday. We will bake from 6:30-8:30pm, and have pasta dinner starting at 6:00pm. We ask children younger than grade 5 bring an adult with them!

THESE ARE OUR BODIES faith and sexuality courses will be starting in January! There will be three classes taking place on Wednesday evenings, twice a month, from January through May. We will serve dinner at 6:00pm and classed will be 6:30-8:00pm.

           Intermediate: Grades 4-6 

           Middle School: Grades 7-8

           High School: Grades 9-12

We have some fabulous adult facilitators for each age group, and I highly recommend registering your child for these classes. The lessons are well-informed, developmentally appropriate, shame-free, and inclusive – the sexuality education we all maybe wish we would have received, and something we are privileged to offer these young people in our midst. 

If you know anyone who may be interested, a friend, a grandchild, a niece or nephew, please share this with them!

Please email abrock@stdavidsparish.org with any questions. 

2024 is coming up fast! See the updated but not quite finalized program calendar here.

Community Events

Last Sunday after the Forum, the Undercroft was full of happy participants in the annual building of Gingerbread Houses. See photos for the incredible works of art that were created!

Mes Amis Holiday Party



The Mes Amis Holiday Party will be held on Saturday, December 9, from 10:00-noon in the Undercroft. Director Rose Mingo-Holtz would like to invite St. David's members to join in the fun. There will be refreshments in addition to entertainment by the preschoolers, and who knows, maybe a visit from Papa Noel!

Bible Study Potluck and Presentation

Tuesday, December 12 at 11:30, Jones Room at the ICA, next door to the church. Note: As you are able, please refrain from parking in the ICA lot.

The Bible Study group is winding up before the holidays with a potluck and special presentation. Come walk the Camino Trail with Cathy and Randy Schwichtenberg on Tuesday, December 12, at 11:30 in the Jones Room (ICA Building).

This event is a potluck fashioned after First Friday (except this one is on Tuesday), celebrating Cathy and Randy's recent trek in Portugal and Spain, and the ending of our journey in John’s gospel for Bible Study.

Please use the signup sheet in the Undercroft to indicate what you will be bringing. 

Here We Come A Caroling

In the Undercroft and On the Road

Sunday, December 17

Save the date on your busy holiday calendars for one of St David’s favorite forums “Coffee and Carols”, followed by one of our favorite outings of the year, “Christmas Caroling” for our homebound friends. After the 9:30 service on December 17th, all parishioners can head downstairs to the undercroft where the coffee hour for the day will be enjoying delicious treats along with some old-fashioned Christmas Caroling. Roger will be at the piano and lead us all in holiday song. We will even FaceTime the parishioners we cannot visit in person with a carol from the Undercroft.

Those who have planned to go caroling to the homebound will then head out en masse, about 11:30 am, to our first stop, Hope Springs at Minnetonka, an assisted living facility. Here we will sing as one large group and play Santa--dropping off our Christmas gift box for all the residents. 

From there, we will then divide and conquer, with each group visiting 2 or 3 of our parishioners who also find themselves homebound this holiday season. To get a handle on the traveling carolers’ numbers, we ask you to please sign up on the signup sheet in the church Narthex/Undercroft or sign up here: SignUpGenius - Caroling

If you find at the last minute that you can go caroling and you did not sign up, no worries… there is room for everyone to participate!

Remember - no professional singing talent required, all ages welcomed, and families strongly encouraged to attend!

We hope you can join in, sing some classic Christmas carols, and partake in some real joy of the season.  

Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me, Diane Curley, at dcurley@stdavidsparish.org

St. David's Bible Study

From James to Jude

Our very own Huldah Niles is a Postulant in formation to become a Deacon and as part of her training she has enthusiastically agreed to lead us in Bible Study beginning January 9 through February 27 (Tuesdays at 11am on Zoom).

We'll be reading and reflecting on James, Peter 1 and 2, John 1, 2, and 3, and Jude. These are the last several books in the Gospel before Revelation. Come dwell in the wisdom of the disciples that knew Jesus and let your heart be inspired and lifted up by the good news!

The Truth at the Heart of the Lie 

How the Catholic Church Lost its Soul 

James Carroll 

On January 30, 2024, Rector Katherine Lewis and Scott Clark, via Zoom, will co-lead an educational and spiritual formation discussion on Carroll’s riveting book about faith and institutions.  This is not a replacement for the St. David’s book club but an opportunity to explore faith and the Church institutions that have been designed to support a Christian-based theology. Carroll’s website summation of this book follows: 

    “I am a Catholic.  I was crushed to learn about priests sexually abusing children, and bishops protecting predators instead of victims.  As a former priest and longtime commentator on Catholic issues, I grasped that the problem involved basic systems of church governance, tied to an unapologetic culture of male supremacy.  But this crisis of faith prompted my fresh examination of historic turning points, when the church chose power over service, from the ancient world to the Middle Ages, to recent years.  But I was forced into a deep personal examination of conscience, confronting ways in which my own life involved me in the structures of male supremacy, personal deceit, and distorted notions of God. 

Yet in the writing of this book, I realized that I am still Catholic to the core, resolved to advance church reform, with an anti-clericalism from within.  Even in my place of internal exile, the faith remains my permanent connection to the living presence of Jesus Christ.”

In many ways, this book is universal in perspective, although the title denotes somewhat of a singular calling out.  It is both deep and wide in discussion points, such as whether war can ever be moral, so that the reader will find something to challenge current faith and perspectives on the Church in the broadest definition. Join us for a very challenge-filled session.

For more information or questions, please contact Scott Clark at scottakafourcrows@gmail.com. If your local library doesn’t have this book immediately available, a good source to purchase a used book is AbeBooks at abebooks.com.

Outreach

ICA Update

ICA Update 12/7/23

2023 Turkey Distribution

The annual turkey distribution before Thanksgiving was a success! Eight hundred forty turkeys with fixings were given to neighbors in need. Those who didn’t get a turkey during that time will be able to pick one up now in December. Many thanks to everyone who donated to make this turkey giveaway possible.

ICA Day at Maynard’s

Did you happen to catch a bite to eat on November 27th for the ICA Day at Maynard’s? If so, you helped raise over $26,000 in sales proceeds and donations just on that day.

ICA’s Mission: To create a healthy and stable community for all.   This mission guides ICA every day as it helps to support our neighbors with food services, employment and housing assistance. Thank you for caring and supporting ICA this year.

Loaves and Fishes

Loaves and Fishes

In Thanksgiving

A card from Loaves and Fishes arrived at the office with a message to be forwarded to all who volunteer for this important outreach to the community:

"Thank you for your continued dedication to Loaves and fishes. We are so grateful for all of you."

December

Four Volunteers are needed for each date. Two for cooking with the Loaves and Fishes coordinator from 3:00-5:00 pm, and two to package and serve from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. 

Upcoming dates:

• December 12 (this will be the only date in December)

Please contact Sue or Basil Owen to sign up. Sue’s cell is 612-716-1945. Basil’s cell is 612-716-0683 or email at bowen3@fastmail.com

See the May 25th weekly news for full update.

Hats & Mittens

Hats & Mittens

Have you seen the Hats and Mittens posters and boxes just inside the two south entrances? For the next three months, St. David;s will be collecting mittens, hats and scarves in support of  the metro all-volunteer organization called Hats & Mittens Since starting in 1996, over 900,000 hats and mittens have been collected and distributed! Items collected and/or purchased through cash donations are distributed to schools, youth organizations and shelters throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul.

This year the need is greater than ever before. Usually the goal is to collect 25,000 sets of hats and mittens to meet requests received.  Already with December just beginning, Hats & Mittens has already received requests for 25,000 sets!! So far, 18,000 sets have been distributed. And “real” winter with all its snow and cold hasn’t even arrived yet.

Can you help? All sizes of hats and mittens are needed to help keep infants to adults warm.

• New or gently used, clean hats and mittens are welcome, including hand-knitted or crocheted items
• The biggest need: elementary age waterproof mittens (5-10 years old)
• Scarves or other neck warmers

There are many activities going on at St David's this month. You can drop off mittens, hats and/or scarves you want to donate anytime, not just on Sundays.  Many thanks to those who already donated some wonderful warm scarves this past Sunday.

Beacon Update

Beacon Interfaith Housing

Aster Commons receives land use approvals!

Aster Commons, a development of 38 studio apartments designed for neurodiverse young adults, has passed land use! On Tuesday, November 28, over 30 Beacon supporters gathered to witness the Richfield city council vote in favor of Aster Commons.

Without your continued time, phone calls, and physical presence, this meeting could have gone very differently. Showing up for land use demonstrates there is far more support than the small number who oppose.

Thank you to everyone who has given their time and lent us their relationships over these past months, especially the Campaign Action Team members (Ed Levin, Jackie Sullivan, Scott Dahlquist, Carolyn Anderson, Carol Johnson, Rev Hope Hutchison, Gayle Kaplan, Jonathan Stranjord, Marillene Allen, Bob Carlson, and Megan Webster).

The journey isn't over for Aster Commons - we will continue to work for all the funding and rental assistance needed to keep home affordable for residents.

Missing Kitchen Equipment

Laura Dickinson, the professional caterer who uses the church kitchen, has informed us that her commercial 7-quart Kitchen Aid stand mixer is missing.

The mixer is white with an orange heavy duty electrical cord. It used to sit on the corner counter by the refrigerators next to a couple of older mixers owned by the church.

If you have borrowed this mixer, please return it immediately and inform the office so Laura can be notified that it's been found. Thank you.

Bridge Lessons Anyone?

We have had a couple of requests for more bridge lessons and wonder if others are interested too. There are several options:

1. Bridge for Beginners
2. Bidding Refresher for folks who have some bridge experience.
3. Common Bridge Conventions for folks who have already mastered basic bidding strategies.

We are considering an all-day Saturday class or could do evening classes for several weeks. Please contact Susan Taylor (ss2taylor@comcast.net or 952-944-7241) if you are interested in bridge lessons and indicate your preferences. 

December 10: Craft and Bake Sale

December 17: Caroling

December 24: Social Time and setup for Christmas Eve

Want to view the full calendar for the week? Click here to view the St. David's website complete with a calendar to keep you updated on events and offerings! Scroll all the way to the bottom to view it.