This Sunday: Socks, Shoes, and Songs!
This Sunday we will be blessing all the socks we’ve collected to support the People’s Place Project Santa Sock Drive. But you can still contribute! If you don’t want to do the shopping, give your money to Deacon Sue and she will be happy to purchase socks on your behalf. Or, bring the socks by the Rectory on or before December 9. Let’s help keep our neighbors warm this winter!
We will also be celebrating St. Nicholas during our All Ages Worship. Rev. Michelle will tell a story about St. Nicholas that involves shoes. Yes, shoes! So EVERYONE, please bring an extra shoe or boot to leave at the door on the way into the church building… or leave your shoes or boots at the door and wear your socks to worship.
After worship, we will have hot chocolate ready so Terry can lead us in a carol sing in the Parish Hall. Bring your voices and your festive spirit. Also, all are welcome to help the Pastoral Care Team write Christmas cards. Cards, pens, stamps, and labels are all set and ready to go!
Plenty of fun and meaningful activities are planned for the seasons of Advent and Christmas. Come and join in the celebration. Sundays are in bold.
Dec 11, Advent III: St. John’s Harvest Sale after worship, Rock Academy Concert from 3-5 and Youth Project from 5-7 pm
Dec 18, Advent IV: Godly Play offered for kids during worship and the Greening of the Sanctuary after worship – Plus: Cookie Exchange! Bring 2 dozen of your favorite cookie and take home a variety plate of cookies.
Dec 20: Longest Night Service 7:00 pm A space for grief, sorrow, and woundedness. Join us in person or online for a service of quiet prayer, readings, music, and healing.
Dec 24, Christmas Eve: Family Worship, 3:00 pm; Choral Festival Worship, 8:00 pm
Dec 25, Christmas Day: Morning Prayer, online at 10:00 am
Jan 1: Come as You Are Sunday. It’s New Years’ Day so come as you are for a relaxed worship service.
Jan 6, Feast of Epiphany: Epiphany Celebration 7:00 pm. Come for a Friday evening celebration of light and love. Firepit, hot chocolate, singing, and storytelling – activities for all ages!
Tomorrow! The Bishop Coadjutor Election
Tomorrow on December 3, all eyes will be on the Diocese of New York as we elect our next Bishop Diocesan. Maybe not “all eyes,” but many eyes will indeed be watching from across the Episcopal Church and the larger Anglican Communion. The Diocese of New York is well known, and the election of a new bishop always creates a flurry of interest. You can watch the event here: Special Convention to Elect the Bishop Coadjutor.
Eucharist begins at 9:00 am. This is followed by some reports and instructions (I’ll be making a brief report as the Secretary of the Committer to Elect a Bishop!) and then we start voting. Vestryperson Paula Wisneski was elected by the Vestry to be the lay delegate for St. John’s at convention and, because I am clergy, I am required to vote. The election may be quick or it may take a long time because we go through as many ballots as it takes to elect someone to be our Bishop Coadjutor. (Now, what does “coadjutor” mean? It simply means that this person will assist the current Bishop Diocesan until he retires at which point they will become his successor as the 17th Bishop.)
What slips the minds of many people is that the Episcopal Church is so named because another word for the office of the bishop is the “episcopate.” Why does the Episcopal Church name itself after this office? The bishop is, essentially, the epicenter of ministry for a particular region of the Episcopal Church. The bishop, along with advisement from others in the diocese, sets the vision and missional agenda for the region.
In a diocese as diverse as New York (Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx, Sullivan, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster), setting a singular vision can be quite a challenge because the issues we have here in the Hudson Valley are not the same as those in Manhattan, for example. We have more small churches than any other diocese in the Episcopal Church and we have the most well-resourced congregation in the entire Anglican Communion – Trinity on Wall St. It’s a diocese of extremes and, therefore, a diocese of great abundance. Being a bishop in any diocese is a big job, but in the Diocese of New York, it is also quite challenging.
Advent is a time of beginnings and endings. A transitional time. A liminal time. So, as we begin this second week of Advent it is fitting that, as a diocese, have this before us – a beginning and an ending happening simultaneously. The final year of Bp. Andy being our bishop begins just as the first year of episcopal ministry for another person begins. The season of Advent brings this aspect of our human experience into focus for us because the truth is that things are always ending and always beginning.
I ask your prayers upon our 5 candidates for bishop – Matt Heyd, Stephanie Johnson, Matt Mead, Steven Paulikas, and Jemonde Taylor. And I ask your prayers for Bp. Andy Dietsche and the rest of the electing convention tomorrow.
In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle
Announcements for Advent II
December 4, 2022
THIS SUNDAY: After worship, Terry will lead us in a carol sing in the parish hall. Hot chocolate will be served! And Pastoral Care Meeting – Join the Pastoral Care Team today as they gather after worship to sign and address Christmas cards.
Sock Drive! Today is the FINAL SUNDAY. Let’s help People’s Place with their Project Santa this year by buying all the socks! We need socks for ages infant through 16 years (adult)… all ages, all genders! If you still want to contribute, give money to Deacon Sue or bring socks by the Rectory on or before Friday, Dec. 9.
Become a UIDN Food Sponsor: The Ulster Immigrant Defense Network needs help in providing food to the most vulnerable in our midst. They are asking people to adopt a family for one, two, three, or four weeks a month, as you are able. The need is $45.00 per week for 175 families with the goal of raising $37,500 during the coming year. Please seriously consider making the gift of food available thru donating $45, $90, $135, or $180 per month from now thru the end of 2023. You can send your tax-deductible gift to: UIDN, 30 Pine Grove Avenue, Kingston, 12401. Please write “FOOD SPONSOR” in the memo. Visit the St. John’s website to download a pledge form here: UIDN – Ulster Immigrant Defense Network.
Page Turners Book Club Meetings are on the first Thursday of the month at 2 p.m., in the parish hall. Here’s what we selected for the next few months: January 5: Trust, by Hernan Diaz; February 2: The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz; March 2: Inside the O’Briens, by Lisa Genova. If we have bad weather during the winter, we will switch to a Zoom meeting. Interested in joining? Talk with Lynn Dennison.
Have an announcement for the bulletin?
Please send by Wednesday at noon to stjohnskingston@aol.com