Thursday, December 19th   

Pageant rehearsal 4:00-5:00 pm Speakers Only

Saturday, December 21st   

Pageant rehearsal for All at 10:00 am 

Please join us this Sunday, December 22nd for our Annual Christmas Pageant at 10 am.

 Please join the Altar Guild, on Sunday, December 22nd after the 10 am pageant as they prepare the church for Christmas.  Help decorate trees, hang wreaths, and stay for refreshments. Altar Guild members should plan to gather on Friday, December 20th at 9:30 am to prepare the decorations for staging on Sunday.

Tuesday, December 24th  

Eve of the Nativity

5 pm Christmas Eve Family Service with Building of the Crèche 

The Festive Christmas Eve Holy Eucharist with the Intergenerational Christmas Choir  will include the Building of the Crèche. Families with young children are invited and encouraged to celebrate the Nativity with us.  Children who would like to participate in the Procession should arrive by 4:40pm and gather in the chapel.  Childcare is available.

 10:30 pm Carols by Candlelight 

11 pm Christmas Eve Festival Holy Eucharist 

Join us in the church beginning at 10:30 pm with Carols by Candlelight, followed by a Christmas Eve Festival Holy Eucharist.

Wednesday, December 25th 

Christmas Day

10 am Holy Eucharist for Christmas Day

Join us in the chapel for Holy Eucharist.

St. John on the Mountain invites you to join our new Intergenerational Christmas Choir.  The vested members of both the Treble Choir and the Adult Choir will sing a simple anthem together during the Offertory at both the Pageant on Sunday, December 22nd and at the 5:00 pm Christmas Eve Eucharist. The choristers are inviting their siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, grown children, and care givers to simply walk up and join them around the piano to sing an anthem together. Visiting singers are not required to vest, sit with the choir or process (unless they want to) and can simply return to their seats after singing.  Visiting Choristers are invited to practice the anthem with the choir at 11:15 am on December 15th, 9:30 am on December 22nd, and at 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve.  Copies of the Anthem can be picked up in advance in the Choir Room piano or in the Parish Office.

Help bring joy to a struggling family's Christmas by providing an uncooked meal for their Christmas Dinner.  It's easy!  Just buy the makings for a meal, and deliver it uncooked to your Adopt-a-Family.  A sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board near Parish Hall.  Please call Sue Kennedy at 908-234-0267 or email with any questions.  If you have a particular family you have been supporting in the past, please let Sue know so that she can inform the Food Bank.

Pledge payments for the calendar year 2013 will need to be received in the office or post marked by December 31, 2013 in order to receive tax credit for the current year.

A Holiday Festival for Organ and Brass

'Tis the season for celebration and music, with a concert the whole family will love! Join organist Brian Harlow and the Somerset Hills Brass Ensemble for a delightful program of holiday music by Gabrieli, Praetorius, Bach and others, contrasting the brightness of St. John on the Mountain's Petty Madden pipe organ with the mellow sonorous tone of brass instruments. And come ready to join us in an old-fashioned carol sing-along!  To purchase advance tickets visit http://musicsh.org/concerts/.

Join us as we prepare and serve lunch from 10 am - 1 pm at Grace's Soup Kitchen in Plainfield.  We help on the last Friday of each month.   The kids are not in school on Friday, December 27th.  This is a great day for them to earn community service hours.  For more information contact fennironia@earthlink.net or Sally Hespe sallyhespe@aol.com. 

Join us on Sunday, December 29th at 10:00 am when we will continue to celebrate the Christmas season with the reading of the nine lessons.  The Choir of St. John on the Mountain will lead us in the singing of our favorite Christmas Carols.  It is truly a family service as we begin with the journey of Adam and Eve in the garden, hear the promise of the prophets and are once again inspired by the birth of Jesus as told to us in the Gospels.  Many familiar carols, sung by all of us, and a few remarkable new ones, sung by The Choir, are interspersed with the readings.

We baptize primarily on those dates set aside for baptism, as listed in the Book of Common Prayer.  Since the presence of the community of faith is essential for welcoming the newly baptized into the church, baptisms take place in the principal service on the appointed Sunday. The next day for Baptism is Sunday, January 12th at 10:00 am.  Questions about baptism?  Please contact Mo. Susan at rector@sjotm.org.