On  Sunday, December 10 , St. Nicholas will visit us at the end of the 10am service.  All are invited to bring a small  unwrapped gift (book or toy) to donate to children at Harbor House in Appleton.  

For those not familiar with it, the visit of St. Nicholas on a Sunday near his feast day (December 6) is a long-standing All Saints tradition.  St. Nicholas will arrive at the end of the service, give a brief speech to the young children, and present them each with a cookie or piece of candy.  

 

The endowment will provide support to the music program of the parish as well as community musical activities or programs. Some examples that might receive support include a Frank Rippl Music Scholar (a paid chorister or musician); honoraria for musicians at events; rental of musical equipment for events; scholarships for students learning to play the organ, just to name a few. The scope will only be limited by the size of the endowment. The larger the endowment, the more that can be accomplished! Specific use will be determined by the All Saints Vestry.

 

You can help build the fund by placing a check in the offering plate (payable to All Saints with "Rippl Fund" in the memo), sending it in the mail, or even by giving online. Learn more and give by visiting the All Saints website.

The beginning of the Church Year was on Sunday, December 3, the first Sunday of Advent. It is a new beginning of the cycle of the church Lectionary - Year B.

 

  An exciting new beginning this Advent is that each of the children in the parish is receiving  Let us pray: A little kid's guide to the Eucharist . This wonderful book by Jennie Turrell helps children to follow the Eucharistic service. The book combines visual art and Ms. Turrell's poetry with Eucharistic Prayer B. The accompanying photos are from Let us pray . In order to give our children a good foundation in following the liturgy, we will use Eucharistic Prayer B from Advent 1, December 3 through the Last Week after the Epiphany, February 11, 2018.  

A second  thing of note for Advent this year is that our wreath lighting at the 10am service is being led, each week, by a different Christian Formation Classroom. It began with the Godly Play class on December 3, to be followed by the Multi-age 1 class on December 10, the Multi-age 2 class on December 17, and the Adult class on Advent 4, December 24. We have a new Advent Banner which contains candles to be 'lit' during the opening liturgy led by the classes. (Our Advent wreath will be lit prior to the service.)

 

An Advent Prayer:

 

God of new beginnings,
you draw near to us in word and sacrament
to strengthen and renew us;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit,
may your light so shine through us
that all may welcome your Son at his coming.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Emmanuel. Amen.