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December 7, 2017 Emmanuel's E-News
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Greetings from
Emmanuel Episcopal Church!
This Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent.
Rev. David Jackson will celebrate and Rev. Ellen will preach.
We look forward to seeing you in church!
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What is Advent?
The Christian season of Christmas actually begins on Christmas Eve and lasts for twelve days, ending on January 6. (No, the twelve-day season of Christmas did not start with the song. It was the other way around.) The time before Christmas is Advent, a season of preparation for Christmas. Christians prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus by remembering the longing of the Jews for a Messiah.
In Advent, we're reminded of how much we ourselves also need a Savior, and we look forward to our Savior's second coming even as we prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas. The word "Advent" comes from the Latin word adventus, which means "coming" or "visit." In the season with this name, we keep in mind both "advents" of Christ, the first in Bethlehem and the second yet to come.
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THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10th:
Get your chance to grab a goodie from the "Awesome Bucket of Candy!"
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Sunday, Dec. 10: 2nd Sunday of Advent
8:00am Holy Eucharist, Rite II
10:00am Choral Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Sunday, Dec. 17: 3rd Sunday of Advent
8:00am Holy Eucharist, Rite II
10:00am Choral Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Thursday, Dec. 21
7:00pm Blue Christmas
Sunday, Dec. 24: 4th Sunday of Advent
9:00am Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Sunday, Dec. 24: Christmas Eve
2:00pm Family Service with Nativity Play
10:30pm Singing of the Carols
11:00pm Midnight Candlelight Mass
Monday, Dec. 25
10:00am Christmas Day
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Advent Weeknight Series
"Get Your Stuff Together"
Our Advent weeknight series will be held on Mondays (December 11, and 18) with dinner at 6:30pm and program at 7. Entitled "Get Your Stuff Together", it aims to provide information about planning for death, to ease the practical burdens at a difficult time for your nearest and dearest, and including topics like:
- What happens when we die?
- Funeral planning
- Wills and estates
- Dealing with grief
- Working with a funeral home
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Singers needed for Christmas Eve
Throughout the month of December, Wednesday choir rehearsals will focus on music for Christmas Eve Midnight liturgy. If your schedule does not allow you to sing in the choir throughout the year, consider a 1-hour rehearsal each Wednesday (8-9 pm) leading up to Christmas. What's more, first Wednesdays are pub nights for Emmanuel choristers.
Join us Wednesday, December 6th and the choir director will buy you a drink at Palmer's Place following choir rehearsal!
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UPDATE: POP For a Cookie!
Attention all bakers and cookie eaters! We will be having a holiday cookie decorating party on Friday, December 15th at 6.00pm.
Dinner will be provided - feel free to invite friends!
We are looking for people to bring several dozen (or more) of their favorite Christmas cookies to donate.
Since we are providing dinner please RSVP by clicking HERE. The form also lets us know what you can bring to help in the decorating process!!
The Cookie Sale will be after both services on December 17. Cookies $5 for a Dozen our goal is to raise $150!
All proceeds will be donated to the organ fund.
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THIS SUNDAY:
Lawrence Hall 
Youth Services
Holiday Gift Giving
Once again we are collecting gifts for Lawrence Hall students, boys and girls, ages 12 to 21. Tags can be found on the tree at the back of the church or on the tree just inside the sanctuary. Please bring your new, UNWRAPPED gifts to church by December 10th.
Suggestions for gifts include: books, sports equipment, gift cards (Target, Best Buy, grocery stores), hats, gloves, basic clothing (i.e. socks, underwear), blankets, games, art and craft supplies, DVDs, bath and body items. If you would like to include wrapping supplies, they would be welcome.
If you have any questions, please call Ellen Busch, (708) 354-5847. As always, thank you for your continued support of this very important child-centered Episcopal Charity.
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Christmas Music and Flower Dedications 
Once again plans are in place to celebrate Christmas with beautiful music and flowers in the church. We can only provide these extra seasonal adornments with your help.
Please use the insert in the bulletins to celebrate the life of your loved ones, both past and present. Your dedication will be published in the Christmas Bulletins. You may also email Judy in the office
admin@eeclg.org
or call with your dedication and IOU on tel. (708) 352-1275.
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Blue Christmas
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2017 Christmas Services
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Pipe Organ Restoration Project
THE INSIDE SCOOP
Please click on the POP logo for the Inside Scoop on the latest Pipe Organ Project excitement!
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Short Takes
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Send us your news! We would like to celebrate your and your family's achievements. Did your child get into the college he/she wanted? Did they make the honor roll? Are they performing in a concert or play? How about a work promotion or achievement for you or your spouse? Let us know so your church family can celebrate with you.
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Join Us for Morning Prayer
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Emmanuel Weekly Schedule
Monday
9:30 am- Morning Prayer
Wednesday
9:30 am- Healing and Anointing Service
Thursday
7:15 am- Contemplation & Meditation
8:00 am- Said Mass Rite II
10:00 am- Choral Mass Rite II
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Planning an Event? 
All event dates MUST be sent to the Parish Administrator so that they can be entered on the website calendar. This is the master calendar. If you are planning an event, click on the calendar graphic to find out if your event conflicts with other activities.
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Saint of the Week:
Nicholas of Myra, Friend of Children, Giver of Gifts, Climber of Chimneys
6 December 326
The story of St. Nicholas offers a possible way of dealing with the "Santa Claus" problem, to parents who do not want to lie to their children, even in fun, but do not want to say simply: "Bah, humbug! There is no such thing as Santa. Forget about him."
Nicholas was a native of the western part of what is now Asiatic Turkey. He became Bishop of Myra in the fourth century, and there are many stories of his love for God and for his neighbor.
The best-known story involves a man with three unmarried daughters, and not enough money to provide them with suitable dowries. This meant that they could not marry, and were likely to end up as prostitutes. Nicholas walked by the man's house on three successive nights, and each time threw a bag of gold in through a window (or, when the story came to be told in colder climates, down the chimney). Thus, the daughters were saved from a life of shame, and all got married and lived happily ever after.
Because of this and similar stories, Nicholas became a symbol of anonymous gift-giving. Hence, if we give a gift to someone today without saying whom it is from, it can be called "a present from Saint Nicholas (or Santa Claus)." Some parents explain this to their children and invite the child to join them in wrapping a toy or an outgrown but not shabby item of the child's clothing, or a package of food, and then going along to donate it to a suitable shelter that will give it to someone who will welcome it. This gift is then called "a present from Santa," so that the child understands that this is another name for an anonymous gift given to someone whom we do not know, but whom we love anyway because God does. (Presents within the family can be "From Santa" or "From Santa and...")
Pictures of Nicholas often show three bags of gold next to him, and often these bags have become simply three disks or balls. Nicholas became the patron of an Italian city (I think Bari, which is where his body is now buried) that was a center of the pawnbroking business, and hence a pawnbroking shop traditionally advertises by displaying three gold balls over its front. It is thought that some persons looking at pictures of Nicholas confused the three round objects with human heads.
Hence there is a story of a wicked innkeeper who murdered three boys and salted their bodies to serve to his guests, to save on the butcher's bill. Nicholas visited the inn and confronted the innkeeper, who confessed his crime, whereupon Nicholas prayed over the brine-tub and the three boys leaped out unharmed. Other stories have him saving the lives of three innocent men who had been condemned to death. Still other stories have him coming to the rescue of drowning sailors (could this be related to the brine-tub incident?). Nicholas has always been popular with children, mariners, pawnbrokers, the Dutch, the Russians, and recently, the department-store owners.
In many countries, Nicholas visits children on his feast day, 6 December, and brings them gifts then. In these countries, there is usually no exchange of Christmas presents, but there may be gifts again on January 6, the feast of the coming of the Wise Men, who brought gifts to the Holy Child of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In America, it may be thought necessary to yield to outside pressure and let Nicholas distribute gifts on December 25.
If you want to show your children (or yourself) how Nicholas is remembered by Christians with a background different from your own (unless, of course, this Is your background), you might want to attend an Eastern Orthodox service at this time. Many Eastern Orthodox congregations have services on the evening before 6 December that feature "visits from Saint Nicholas." He appears as a bishop, with no red suit. The faithful leave their shoes outside the church door, and find in them afterwards gold coins (actually chocolate wrapped in gold foil) representing the gold dowries of the three daughters.
We are told, but it is uncertain, that Nicholas was imprisoned for his faith before the accession of Constantine, and that he was present at the Council of Nicea in 325. We may note in passing that the picture of him as roly-poly is a late development. Early stories indicate that he was generous to others, but not given to self-indulgence. Indeed, even as an unweaned infant, he fasted regularly on Wednesdays and Fridays...
Adapted from justus.angican.org
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Vestry Minutes
Click on the dates below to view the minutes of the respective Vestry meeting:
July- no meeting
June- no meeting
February- Vestry Orientation
July- no meeting
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Dick Best Organ Concert
Join our very own Dick Best in concert at
Plymouth Place, 315 N. La Grange Road, on Wednesday,
December 20th
, at 7 pm in
Dole Hall
. See you there!
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TONIGHT: LTHS Madrigals Holiday Concert
 The LTHS Madrigals are coming to Emmanuel again with their Christmas Program. We all love their music and want to support our neighbors, so please come out and represent the Parish on Thursday, December 7th @7.30pm. There is no entrance fee, but freewill donations for the school program and for our Organ are always welcome. Thank you.
Many of our parishioners are alums of this and other wonderful LTHS choir programs.
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In the Moon of Wintertime
Hear the William Ferris Chorale in a winter concert like you've never heard us before. The acclaimed William Ferris Chorale, a 20-voice professional choir, returns with a program celebrating the season of winter.
Under the direction of guest conductor Carling FitzSimmons, the chorale will perform music exclusively by contemporary composers, singing works that explore the darkness and light, solitude and companionship, and cold and warmth of this beautiful season.
Special promotion for Emmanuel members: now through December 8, use the code "Emmanuel" at check out to receive $5 off regular ticket prices.
Sunday, December 17, 2017 @ 3:00 PM
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Click on the poster to purchase tickets.
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We Are All Bearers of Light and Hope
Gifts to the Bishop's Advent Appeal help light flourish
News from the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
Click
HERE
to read the latest issue of
News from the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church
(708) 352-1275
Helpful Links:
(The Episcopal Church's national website)
(The Diocese of Chicago's website)
(Emmanuel's website)
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This Sunday is the
Second Sunday of Advent
Lessons appointed for
the day:
The Old Testament:
The Response:
The Epistle:
The Gospel:
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Meetings and Special Events
December 7
December 10
December 11
December 17
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QUICK CONTACTS
Emmanuel Staff
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