You may wonder why we are holding the pageant on Epiphany rather than in early December, as in years past. As you may know, the season of Christmas lasts 12 days in the church and concludes with the visit of the Wise Men to the Christ Child. Their arrival symbolizes the revelation of God's love to all people. The arrival of the Wise Men at the manger concludes the Christmas story, and allows us to celebrate the fullness of the Nativity together.

 

Moving the pageant to Epiphany also allowed us to wait with eagerness for the arrival of Christmas, much the way new parents wait for their child's birth. Advent, the season preceding Christmas, is marked by eager anticipation and preparation for the birth of Christ in our world, and in our hearts and lives. In previous years, our Christmas pageant took place during the season of Advent, which is kind of like planning a premature C-section. The culture around us clutters our lives with Christmas preparations as early as Thanksgiving (if not the day after Halloween). In this rush toward Christmas, we lose so much of the true meaning of Christmas revealed in God's self-giving love to us, and the preparations needed for us to welcome God-with-us are crowded out.

 

My hope in moving our annual pageant to Epiphany is to have given us all the gift of Advent by taking one thing off the to-do list so that we could slow down, and focus our hearts and minds of the deeper meaning of Christmas. To that end, we introduced a new tradition, St. Nicholas Day, where our children were invited to learn about the life of St. Nicholas and his generous giving to people in need. St. Nicholas's witness leads us all to follow God's self-giving love made known to us in the incarnation, so that by Christmas we may have prepared a place within ourselves for God's love to take root.

 

Now, on Epiphany, our children will have an opportunity to lead worship during our Epiphany Pageant, as we hear God's love story one more time.

 

I hope to see you there!

 

So far we have received 196 Pledge Cards. 78 of these have made an increase over last year and 19 of these pledges are from brand new pledgers. The dollar total so far is $736,988.00. If you haven't turned in your pledge card yet, please feel free to drop it in the offering plate or mail/bring it to the church office.

Sunday, January 10th is All Saints' night to make and serve dinner to the residents at Transition House. Food donations (or financial) are needed to help make this dinner complete for the expected 57 deserving family members who will enjoy it. Volunteers are also needed to help prepare the food and to serve it. Please contact David Boyd if you can help at [email protected] or find him at the Information Table after the service this coming Sunday. 

Our next All Saints Book Group will meet on Monday, January 11th in the Parish House for potluck and discussion at 6:00 p.m. The book we will be discussing is Brussels to Beirut to Bali: The 1958 World Travels of Four Girls in a Second-Hand Chevy by parishioner Dana Kent. We are delighted that Dana will joins us that night to talk about her adventures. We have several copies of of her book at church which can be purchased after services at our Book Table, or you can find her book locally at Chaucer's and Tecolote book stores, and of course online. Dana tells the story of her travels with three other young women who drove through Europe, Turkey and into the war-torn Middle East. When civil upheaval in Iraq threatens to disrupt their plan to circle the globe, they sell their car and travel by an means available through 26 countries. Join us for a delightful evening. [email protected]

Because we all deserve a chuckle now and then...