Weekly Programming

• Sunday Forum : Rev. Katherine Lewis - Advent
• Advent Evensong
• Children's and Youth Ministry
• Nursery Open

Community Events

• Build a Gingerbread House
• Posada
• December Book Club
• Bake and Craft Sale
• Bible Study Potluck
• Caroling

Outreach

• Hope Springs Christmas Giving
• ICA Update
• Loaves and Fishes
• Hats & Mittens

Announcements and Reports

• Missing Kitchen Equipment
• Vestry Update
• Coffee Hour Hosts
• 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 3

Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 9:30

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

This Sunday's Community Forum

10:45-11:30

The Rev. Katherine Lewis will lead our forum for the start of the Advent season. She will share a Godly Play lesson and introduce an Advent devotional focusing on the poetry of Maya Angelou. 

Note: Children's/Youth Choir will rehearse during the forum time.

Advent Evensong

Welcome the season of Advent with a richly musical service of Evening Prayer, led by the St. David’s Choir along with singers from across the metro area. 

Saturday, December 2, at 4:00pm in the St. David’s Sanctuary.  

Children’s Ministry

This Sunday we will have Godly Play during the 9:30 service and Youth Choir during forum time in the choir room! 

NURSERY OPEN starting this Sunday during the 9:30 service and forum time.

Youth Ministry 

EYMF Prayer Stations - Wednesday, December 6th, we have youth group with our EYMF friends at Excelsior United Methodist Church.

881 3rd Ave

Excelsior, MN

We will meet at 6:30pm for a pizza dinner, play some games, sing some songs, and explore prayer stations. All 6th-12th graders welcome!

(EYMF stands for Ecumenical Youth Ministry Fellowship and includes Trinity, Mount Calvary, and Excelsior United Methodist)

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

Community Events

Build A Gingerbread House at St. David’s

Sara Leigh & Dean Sather will bring everything you need to build and decorate your house!

This is an opportunity for all ages!

Cost: $20.00 per person

When: Sunday December 3^rd 11:30-2:00PM

Where: St. David’s Undercroft



There are 10 openings left so don’t wait – Sign Up today!

Contact Karin Lindquist at Lindquist.karin@hotmail.com (or call 612-251-2259)

St David’s Book Club News

by Cathy Schwichtenberg

The St. David’s Book Club will be discussing Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn on Tuesday, December 5 from 6:30 pm – 7:55 pm.  

Meeting Link: December Book Club

The heart of the Native American experience: In this 1996 Minnesota Book Award winner, Kent Nerburn draws the reader deep into the world of an Indian elder known only as Dan. It's a world of Indian towns, white roadside cafes, and abandoned roads that swirl with the memories of the Ghost Dance and Sitting Bull.

Readers meet vivid characters like Jumbo, a 400-pound mechanic, and Annie, an 80-year-old Lakota woman living in a log cabin. Threading through the book is the story of two men struggling to find a common voice. Neither Wolf nor Dog takes readers to the heart of the Native American experience. As the story unfolds, Dan speaks eloquently on the difference between land and property, the power of silence, and the selling of sacred ceremonies. ~Hclib.org

We have an interesting line-up of selections this year and invite all St. David’s parishioners to participate. We usually meet via Zoom on the first Tuesday of every other month from 6:30 – 7:55. Here is this year’s schedule – please join us!

Attention Bakers and Crafters!

The annual Bake and Craft Sale will be Sunday, December 10th, after the service. It's time to work on those craft items and start stocking up on baking supplies!

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.

Thank you!

Sara

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 noon 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 17th

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

Outreach

Hope Springs Christmas Giving

ICA Update

ICA Sunday is this Sunday, 12/3

It is the time of the year when everyone is busier than usual. The theme for this month’s ICA collection is Quick Meals. Did you know that seniors are the fastest growing group accessing ICA? Being able to make an easy, quick meal is important in helping them maintain adequate nutrition. Here are some ideas for things you might consider donating with this theme in mind: 

• Ready to eat soups
• Whole grain noodles
• Canned vegetables & fruits
• Pasta sauce
• Instant potatoes
• Canned meats

In addition, ICA always needs dog and cat food as well as brown paper bags and egg cartons.

As always, anything you would like to donate is always welcome. Food insecurity is a growing problem in every town and city. If it is more convenient for you, you can drop off your donations in one of the ICA baskets located at the church entrances.

If you prefer to donate funds to ICA,  you can drop a check made out to ICA in the Sunday collection plate. Alternately, you can donate at www.icafoodshelf.org, clicking on the Donate section, then follow the prompts or use the QR code on the ICA poster at each church entrance.

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 L&F coordinator from 3:00-5:00 and two to package and serve from 4:30 to 6:30. 

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

For the next few months, St. David’s will be collecting hats and mittens to help ensure that children and young adults in the metro community will have access to warm hats and mittens during our cold Minnesota winter. Over 150 organizations in the Twin Cities will be recipients of warm hats and mittens this winter through Hats & Mittens, an all volunteer organization founded in 1996. Hats & Mittens works to keep every child warm, so they can play, learn and grow.

Please consider helping us collect hats and mittens.  All sizes of hats and mittens are needed to keep infants to adults warm.

• Elementary aged waterproof mittens (5-10 years old) - biggest need
• Teen mittens (11-17 years old)
• Adult mittens
• New or gently used, clean hats and mittens are welcome as well as knitted or crocheted items
• Scarves and other neck warmers

Think of what a difference having warm mittens, a hat or scarf would have made for a child or young adult who had none earlier this week during the brutal cold we all experienced.

There will be a Hats & Mittens box at the two south church entrances. Please consider dropping off any hats, mittens or scarves no longer being used or needed at your home. Thank you for helping to keep our metro community warm this winter season.

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.

November Vestry Meeting Recap

The St. David's Vestry met on Monday November 20th. After sharing a delicious pizza dinner courtesy of David, and hearing a bit about Cathy's epic travels in Spain, we launched into our meeting.

We started with an update on the Endowment Committee from Vida Edmond. We all agreed on the need for more clarity around what endowment funds can be spent on and what conditions will trigger spending of endowment money. Look for more information in the coming months.

This month's discernment topic was Vestry roles and responsibilities. We had a fruitful discussion on the topic that will be revisited as we plan for the new year. We are starting the process of identifying potential Vestry members for next year. If you are interested or want to learn more, please reach out to Diane, Kristina or Katherine.

We finished up with our standard business of reviewing and approving last month's minutes, finances, Rector's Report, and Wardens' Report. We will meet next on Monday December 18th where we will focus on planning for the Annual Meeting.

Please mark your calendars for the Annual Meeting on Sunday January 28th!

Blessings,

Allison Ferro

Sr. Warden 

Coffee hour hosts needed!

Please check the signup sheet in the Narthex the next time you enjoy coffee hour. There are numerous opportunities to serve in November and December.

There’s a nice assortment of treats in the freezer which you can use to make it really easy! We all love coffee hour and we all say thank you for stepping up!

Sharon

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 3: Rev. Katherine Lewis, start of Advent season

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.