December 31, 2020 Dear Friends in Christ: Though I promised not to write to you until the New Year, I decided to send this a day early, in case you want to join us for a very brief service this evening at 7pm. More details below . . .

WORSHIP You can find this week's bulletin insert HERE. Things are a little unusual over the next couple weeks, and we will reorganize things a bit as we head into the new year. For now, here is what is on the schedule in the immediate future . . . Tonight 12/31, 7pm We will stream a very brief service of Evening Prayer, Rite I at 7pm, on Facebook and at our website. You can find the service outline HERE. Sunday 1/3, Christmas II 10:00 am we will stream a Rite II service of Holy Eucharist, at our website and on our Facebook page, using Choirmaster Andrew Bolden's "Third Street Mass," which can be found HERE. This week's service outline is HERE, and hymns are HERE. Wednesday 1/6, Epiphany At 7pm we will stream a service of Lessons and Carols for Epiphany, at our website and on our Facebook page. The current service outline can be found HERE, but there will likely be some changes. You will be able to find the final version the day of at our website.

ANNUAL MEETING We will hold our Annual Meeting online, using zoom, on January 17th, at 11:30am (immediately following our online worship service that day). If you have never used zoom before, you'll want to download the application in advance by visiting their website. I will send the specific details of the meeting in the weeks ahead. The two things we need to do are to elect three new Vestry members, and approve the budget for 2021. We currently have two potential candidates for Vestry, so we need at least one more. If you are interested in serving on Vestry, or would like more information, please contact any current Vestry member, or the Rector (that's me).

BIRTHDAYS and ANNIVERSARIES Lots of folks celebrating birthdays this week: Cathy Ripich (1/3), Jim Jobe (1/3), Jason Smith (1/5), Katie Miller (1/5), Doreen Pennington (1/6), Evan Smith (1/7), and Brian Fichter (1/8). No anniversaries of which I am aware. Be sure to send happy thoughts and good wishes to all who celebrate this week!

PRAYERS REQUESTED Please keep these friends and parishioners in your prayers. David Wigginton, Anne Smith, Bob Meyer, Chris Lane, Judy Wigginton, Priya Kurian, Chuck Tilley, Michael Flamm, Bob Long, Chester Brumbaugh, Stormi, Dave Cottrill, Jeff Frank, Shari, Margaret Fowlar, Bobbie Muhlbach, Isaac Leggett, Erin Wiley, Charlene Lochland, Dan, Brian Dorosch, Charles Conner, Alan Baughman, Marlene, and all those affected by COVID 19. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that our dear Pete Keplinger passed away Sunday morning. He was well cared for by the nuns at House of Loreto, and will be sorely missed by a grateful congregation. Pete will be laid to rest on Monday afternoon, and a celebration of life is planned for later next year. Please keep Connie, Helen, Elizabeth, and their families in your prayers.

FREE PLANTS! Thanks to all who contributed poinsettias to beautify our virtual worship space during the Christmas season. You can find a list of those dedications HERE. Also, after this Sunday, we will have 50 poinsettias looking for a home. You are welcome and encouraged to stop by and take home as many as you can carry next week, starting at noon on January 3rd. Please call ahead, to ensure someone is here to open the door for you. But seriously, please come and get 'em.

WEEKLY PUZZLE I've decided it's time for some closeup photos for puzzles. This week, we feature the Christmas pall. The pall--for those who don't know--is a square piece of stiff fabric or cardboard that sits atop the chalice. The purpose of a pall is simply to keep bugs and dirt out of the the wine. And that's the amazing thing about the palls at St. Timothy's: they don't have to be anything other than a piece of cardboard, but instead we get something like what you'll see when you finish the puzzle below . . .  You will find the puzzle by clicking HERE. You can choose your background color, number of puzzle pieces, and even set it to display just the edge pieces. Plus, you get a very affirming crowd reaction once you have completed it! Also, for your Year in Review, you can find all our previous puzzles collected in one place right HERE.

OUR NEW AWNING Thanks to the diligence of our Jr. Warden Terry Conner, and your support through our Capital Campaign, our new awning has arrived and been installed. It is an immediate and noticeable upgrade, and will look especially lovely once the wood siding has been replaced and the doors are painted. (Plus, water won't drip on your head when you try to open the door.)

HINTS FROM UP NORTH I've been pestering the Bishop's staff to get some sense of the timeline as far as lifting the suspension of in-person worship. I received something of a response this week, and it is essentially this: They don't expect to be making any changes toward opening the buildings until at least February. And, should a COVID surge from Christmas and New Year's materialize, we might actually end up moving backwards. (Obviously, we're hoping for no surge, for more important reasons, as well.) Meanwhile, tonight we move into a new year, and leave 2020 behind. Some very good things that happened this year: babies born, couples married, music made, and new friendships forged. And, along with our faith in God, those joys have kept us afloat in the midst of the challenging and horrible events of this year. Along with all of you, I hope and pray that 2021 will be a better year, and our hearts will be opened to continue to serve our neighbors and worship God together, as we have been doing for 184 years. Let us cling to God's promise in Revelation 21:5--Behold, I am making all things new. Faithfully, Fr. George