Beginning next week and through the remainder of December, the church office will move to a Tuesday–Thursday schedule. The staff will work remotely on Mondays and Fridays.

The office was recently equipped with a new phone system, and we anticipate that during regular office hours on Mondays (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) and Fridays (8:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.), you will be able to reach staff working remotely via the main office line, (843) 722-7734. You may also reach staff via email.

We hope that this reduction in office hours will help keep the clergy and staff healthy as we move ahead with our Advent and Christmas offerings. We thank you for your understanding.

If you were in church on Thanksgiving or the First Sunday of Advent, you saw the Home Missions Team's lovingly decorated angel trees in the narthex! Did you pick out an ornament? The Team is continuing its tradition of partnering with Tricounty Family Ministries to help brighten Christmas for Charleston families by collecting $25 gift cards to Walmart, Family Dollar, Big Lots, and Dollar Tree so that parents in need can have the joy of purchasing a gift for their child––and these beautiful ornaments are the Team's gift to you to serve as a thank-you for your $25 gift-card donation or a reminder to bring a gift card back with you next time.

This year, the Team is also working in tandem with St. John’s Chapel, a mission church within our diocese, to provide $25 gift cards to Walmart or Target for the hardworking teachers of Simmons-Pinckney Middle School, the only stand-alone middle school on the Peninsula. In years past, our generous St. Philippian families and friends have donated enough gift cards that we've also been able to bless another home mission partner, Star Gospel Mission, with gift cards for the men who are in residence there as they transition from homelessness to employment and living on their own. This year, we hope to be able to do that again, and maybe even to go above and beyond and bless the new and expectant parents who seek help from our newest partner, Lowcountry Pregnancy Center.

The limited-edition Advent-in-a-Box kits went fast, but if you didn't get one, don't worry––you can still participate in all the memory-making activities with the "Advent@Home" packet version, available while supplies last in the church office!

Dessert-lovers, stock up on whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or whatever completes your favorite dessert, because the Tea Room Bake Sale is coming soon!

We missed out on our annual Tea Room this year, and it will still be a while before we can get a plate of curried chicken salad or a bowl of okra soup, but from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on December 18, the Parish House breezeway (on the corner of Church and Cumberland Streets) will be full of the delicious homemade desserts you've been craving all year! Support your belly and the home and world missions of St. Philip's Church by coming by and picking out some goodies!

Bakers, we need your help! We are especially looking for homemade pecan pies, but we are also very happy to accept whatever you love to bake. Please bake and freeze your items before bringing them to the church office; you may also drop off fresh items the morning of the sale.

If you have questions or would like to volunteer to bake, please email Hope Gamble.

If you would like to make a contribution to the Christmas Flower Fund as a memorial or in thanksgiving for a loved one, please click the link below and submit your information by Wednesday, December 16, at 5:00 p.m. Forms are also available in the church office and in the narthex. After you complete the form, you may pay online through the My St. Philip's portal of our website, stphilipschurchsc.org, or you may drop off a check payable to St. Philip's Church at the church office or mail it to:

St. Philip's Church

Attn: Juli Garland, Christmas Flowers

142 Church St.

Charleston, SC 29401

The deer on Wadmalaw may have been enjoying the Rev. Marc Boutan's time away as they got accustomed to safely criss-crossing the country roads, but we at St. Philip's have missed him greatly and are so happy he's back from his sabbatical!

Chris Walchesky, Assistant Director of Music, will lead the praise team one last time at tonight's Wednesdays Alive! service before Fr. Marc steps back into that role next week. Thank you, Chris! And we are so grateful for all that the Rev. Gerry McCord, Deacon, has done for our St. Philip's family pastorally in Fr. Marc's absence––what a blessing he has been!

If you'd like to welcome Fr. Marc back, click the button below to send him an email.

Reservations for this Sunday's services of Holy Communion at 8:15 and 10:30 open today at 9:00 a.m.

Childcare during the 10:30 service is available for infants and young people through age five, with limited capacities within each age group. You may register at the link below after first registering to attend the 10:30 service, or you may call the church office at (843) 722-7734 to reserve space.

Youth of St. Philip's Church, come to the Parish Hall at 9:00 a.m. next Saturday, December 12, for a bagged lunch service project! We will be baking cookies, putting together sandwiches, making Scripture cards, writing encouraging notes, and then bagging everything together so that (weather-permitting) we can hand them out and show the love of Jesus Christ to the homeless in downtown Charleston. Remember your mask!

Do you receive Fr. Brian's updates and weekly wrap-up emails? Click here to read the most recent wrap-up email (note that there was no class last week), and click here to read the message he sent on Sunday in honor of C.S. Lewis's birthday. If you'd like to join his email list, let him know!

Did you know that you are more than welcome to join in the Rector's Bible Study on Thursdays at noon, no matter where you go to church or where in the United States or the world you live? Even if you're joining for the very first time, just make yourself a sandwich, grab your Bible and a seat on your couch, and meet up with us on Zoom as the Rev. JeffMiller continues his study of the Gospel of Matthew!

Welcome to another episode of "Lost and Found: St. Philip's Church" (which the fans refer to as LAF:SPC). Unfortunately, it's not as exciting as last week's episode, which had an additional layer of mystery ("Where's the other shoe?" you might have wondered), but this is real life, not scripted, and this is just how it happens sometimes. If these are your keys, please come to the church office to claim them! And if you'd like to be among the first to hear about new LAF:SPC episodes and other happenings at St. Philip's (such as visits from puppies or retired clergy), click the buttons below to like or follow us now!

Yesterday, the Rev. Justin Hare encouraged us to prepare our hearts for God with self-examination––a personal audit of sorts. Using Justin Whitmel Earley's book “The Common Rule” as a guide, he showed us how to adopt daily and weekly habits that will allow us to close the gap between what we know we should be doing and what we are actually doing.

Call Juanita Orvin, who will connect you with a prayer minister who will pray for your concerns over the phone.

juanitaorvin@gmail.com or (843) 884-4018

Call Suzanne McCord, head of the prayer chain, and she will pass your request on to members of the chain.

suzanne1959@gmail.com or (843) 224-1630

December 6 ~ 20s and 30s Oyster Roast (Registration now closed)

December 25 ~ Lessons and Carols (6:00 p.m., online only)

We pray for the sick: Kelsey Brockbank, Katie Burris, Elizabeth Colwell, Glenn Corley, Elizabeth Flowers, Mary Forbes, Brooks Goode, Robert Gould, Janet Hanger, Jonathan Hanger, Cecilia Hawkins, Doug Hazelton, Mac Leppard, Joe Livesay, Connor Lowndes, Doug McAdams, Beverly Melvin, Elaine Pendarvis, Deborah Pollak, Harold Robling, Charles Truluck, Mike Walsh, Carolyn Warlick, Lindsey Wing, Vereen Woodward, and Charlie Yoho.

We grieve with and pray for Franny Slay and Elise Kennedy and families on the death of their father, Thomas Rivers, on November 30.

We pray for protection for Becca Baird, Chris and Julia Beasley, Graham Blunt, Henry Clayton, Ben Colyer, David Daughtridge, Hayes Fair, George Hoefer, Andrew Kane, Horry Kerrison, Charles Kirkman, Frazier Kulze, John Mason, Philip Middleton III, Jackson Miller, Ned Montgomery, Edward Pritchard, and David Scott serving in our Armed Forces.

We pray for our home missions: Star Gospel Mission, Tricounty Family Ministries, Lowcountry Pregnancy Center, St. John's Chapel, and the Open Door Ministry.

We pray for our world missions: For Suzy McCall and LAMB, for the medical missions to Honduras, for ministry to victims of genocide and AIDS in Rwanda, for Water Mission and the Global Water Center, and for St. Jean Baptiste, our sister church, and the schools in Haiti.