Keeping Connected January 17, 2025 | |
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Bulletins
Saturday
January 18, 2025
5:00 PM - The Second Saturday after the Epiphany
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Sunday
January 19, 2025
8:00 AM - The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
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There will be no 10am service of Holy Eucharist at Christ Church on Sunday 1/19. Instead, please join our wider community at a 10:30am interfaith service of prayer honoring Martin Luther King, Jr at Church of the Pilgrimage, 8 Town Square in Plymouth.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Click Here to View Announcements
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Connect Virtually
We will continue using our new live streaming equipment. You may access our Sunday morning worship service via our YouTube Channel and our Facebook page.
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Notice is hereby given of the Annual Meeting of Christ Church Parish of 149 Court Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The meeting will be held in the Parish Hall on Sunday, February 2, 2025 at 11:30 AM.
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Dear Ones of Christ Church,
In our lectionary readings this weekend is the story of Jesus turning water to wine at a wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-11). Over the past few months I have been re-reading the great novel The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. My favorite passage is when Alyosha, the youngest brother, is grieving and keeping prayerful vigil in a monastery church by the body of his teacher and spiritual mentor, the monk and elder Father Zosima. Another monk is standing by the coffin and reading aloud the gospel of John (it was customary for the monks of this order to continually read the gospels over their dead during the vigil before the funeral). The passage being read while Alyosha prays is the wedding feast at Cana. Alyosha falls asleep on his knees and has a vision, in which he hears and sees his beloved deceased elder Zosima at the wedding feast with Jesus. In the dream, Zosima invites Alyosha to look at Jesus:
“Do not be afraid of him. Awful is his greatness before us, terrible is his loftiness, yet he is boundlessly merciful, he became like us out of love, and he is making merry with us, turning water into wine, that the joy of the guests may not end. He is waiting for new guests, he is ceaselessly calling new guests, now and unto ages of ages. See, they are bringing the new wine, the vessels are being brought in….” (translated from the Russian by Pevear and Volokhonsky)
Alyosha awakens and has a life-changing mystical experience—he is overcome with a sense of great love and interconnectedness with all things and rushes outside to look all around him at the stars in the heavens, the flowers, the church, until suddenly he falls to the earth and embraces it, kisses it, and waters it with his tears.
How does it feel for you to consider that Jesus came to live among us that we might have joy? That he is welcoming us and welcoming all, again and again, to the wedding banquet, to make merry with us? Amid the suffering and difficulties and blessings of our lives and the world, how do we hear, accept, and respond to Jesus’s invitation to joy?
One possible response to Jesus’s invitation is to choose to live a life of great love, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. Another possible response is to fall to the earth and kiss it, as Alyosha does. Another possible response is to break out in song—to that end, click here to listen and see Johnny Cash’s performance of “He Turned the Water into Wine,” live at San Quentin state prison.
Yours in Christ,
Melissa +
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Resources for Families in Church: Just a reminder that there are activities for kids, including a small table and chairs, in the back of the church. We are also providing special bulletins for kids that are aligned with the week's lessons at the front and back entrances. These bulletins have a variety of coloring, brain teasers, puzzles, and other fun activities. For students in grades PreK-1, Su will be available in the nursery to monitor young students who need a separate space during the church service. We hope that these resources will support family attendance at the 10 am service. Please let us know if you have any other ideas for ways to welcome children and families at Christ Church: education@christchurchplymouth.org
Church School Registration: Registration for Church School is open throughout the year. Click the registration form link to sign up or email education@christchurchplymouth.org for more information. Church School Registration Form
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A Note to Parents and Caregivers with Children in Church
Thank you for bringing your children to church. We are so glad you are here!
We know it can be difficult at times to manage little ones during the service.
For that reason, we have provided some resources which we hope will make it easier for you and your family to enjoy worship together.
You will find books and coloring pages at the back of the Mary Chapel. Please feel free to utilize these at any point during the service.
We have installed a TV in the nursery! You are welcome to visit the nursery with your child during any portion of our service and join us via our livestream.
It is okay to take breaks. If you need to step out with your child, our parish grounds are a great place to get the wiggles out.
Above all, please remember: You and your family are very welcome here!
Your children may be squirming, talking, or making noise, but they are also observing, copying, and learning. Children are a gift and an important part of our community; we are grateful to have them worship with us.
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Adult Sunday School! Sundays, 9 to 9:45a | |
Join us in the parish hall or hospitality suite for a time of wondering, discussion, listening, fellowship, prayer, and sharing. No sign up or registration is necessary. Come as you are. Come for one week or every week. There will be coffee (or bring your own!).
For questions or more information, please contact Rev. Melissa.
| Religious Life Sunday - January 26, 2025 | |
Our preacher at both Sunday services on 1/26 will be Sister Helen Agnes from the Society of St. Margaret.
Go to https://www.religiouslifesunday.net to learn more about Religious Life Sunday and religious vocations and ministries in the Episcopal Church.
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Overnights of Hospitality Update
Thus far, we have hosted the Overnights of Hospitality for three weeks this season. Our next two weeks will begin on Sunday, Jan. 26th through Saturday, Feb. 8th. The good news is that all meal slots and shelter volunteer slots are filled for those two weeks!
Thank you to Alex Manchester and Dave Greene for assisting in the setting up of the cots and mats for our guests each evening. Thanks to John Steele and James Elksnin for procuring and installing a storage cabinet. Thanks to Kat for continuing to be our Site Coordinator and thanks to Danielle Eocabacci and Deborah Dines, for serving meals and volunteering as shelter volunteers. So far this season.
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Bedtime Chapel Podcast
Nightly Family Prayer & Weekly Bible Study
Deuteronomy 11:18,19
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Bedtime Chapel helps families draw nearer to Jesus by gathering for nightly prayer and deepening their understanding of the Gospel. The podcast includes:
- A 5-Min nightly prayer service
- Weekly companion episodes that explore the themes of the gospel readings of the upcoming week for family members with longer attention spans
Pray with Us Apple, Spotify, Amazon and most other Podcast Servers
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Christ Church Thrift Shoppe | |
Yearly Financial Report 2024
Proceeds $82,132
Expenses $5,177
Hall House Repairs $10,431
In-reach (transfer to CCP budget) $30,000
Outreach $34,759
- Christ Church Food Pantry
- First Parish Church Kingston
- Salvation Army Summer Camperships
- Salvation Army Christmas Program
- Episcopal Relief and Development Fund
- Taskforce-to-End Homelessness
- Hope Floats, Inc
Shoppe leaders and volunteers extend their heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed to another successful year in support of the Thrift Shoppe ministry. If you donated items, shopped with us, or volunteered in 2024, we are most grateful for your support.
Please consider donating your clean, in good repair and in style clothing, gently used household items in working order, fiction books, small furnishings, art, and jewelry from non-smoking homes. Items can be donated during shop hours.
Volunteers are always welcome. Please leave your contact information at
Office.christchurchplymouth@gmail.com
Shoppe Hours
Thursday and Friday 10-4
Saturday 10-1
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Christ Church Food Pantry | |
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This month we especially need:
Baked beans
Chef Boyardee canned meals
Small bottles of dish soap
Pasta sauce
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All are welcome to the Christ Church Food Pantry!
We are open by appointment:
Tuesday 4:00-5:15
Thursday 12:00-1:15 and 4:00-5:15
Saturday 10:00-11:15
Call the pantry message line: 508-746-4959, ext 6, BY 1 PM THE DAY BEFORE YOU WISH TO PICK UP YOUR ORDER. Our volunteers check messages and return your call from their homes to ask you what you need.
Leave a message if you wish to donate non-perishable food and household items, or you may leave your donations under the mailboxes outside the office or in the front entrance to the sanctuary. Squirrels like to get into any bags left on the porch of the food pantry!
If you wish to volunteer, contact Eileen Paris at eileenpca@aol.com
For more information, please contact Barbara Wojtklewicz at 617-291-4634, or by email at barbara.wojtklewicz@gmail.com
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Pastoral Care
For any pastoral care needs of Christ Church, please call Robin Nielsen (774-454-2776) or email robinmarianielsen@gmail.com ~ A home visit, a home visit with holy communion or a phone call can be arranged. Although a small group, our Pastoral Care Ministry team meets monthly in confidence.
For any pastoral emergencies, please call Rev. Melissa Howell 508-746-4959 ext 4, and follow the instructions in her voice message.
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We want to keep you in the loop regarding the happenings at Christ Church. Please send your announcements for the weekly bulletin and Keeping Connected, to the office by 12 Noon on Wednesday. They should include date, time, place, description of event, contact information and should be written exactly the way you want them to appear.
The Church Office will be closed on Monday, January 20th.
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