A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough. "Dad, what are you talking about?" the son screams. "We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this!" She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up. The man slowly hangs up his phone with a smile, and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way!"

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Join us for weekly worship during Advent at Christ Church. Regular weekend worship services take place on Saturdays at 5:30 pm at St. Ignatius Chapel, on Demere Road, and on Sundays at 8:00 am, 9:15 am*, and 11:15 am at Christ Church, Frederica.  Kidurgy, our Liturgy of the Word for younger children, takes place during the 9:15 am worship service at Christ Church. On Wednesdays, at 12:00 pm, a Healing service is held at Christ Church and at 6:30 pm, X Church takes place.  

(*During Advent, there will be only one 9:15 am service in the church.)

You may purchase beautiful memorial poinsettias to remember a loved one and decorate our worship spaces for Christmas. The cost is $30 per poinsettia and checks should be made payable to the Christ Church Flower Guild. Please send checks and the names of those you wish to honor to Ethel Horton, at 402 Palm Court St. Simons Island, 31522 by Sunday, December 15.

Beginning December 5, at 11:00 am, Randy Siegel will lead a weekly contemplative group in the Vestry Room of the Christ Church Parish House. Contemplative practices help us know God. Through prayer, worship, scripture, meditation, and silence, we experience God's presence and are healed, renewed and transformed by God's love. The group will meet for five Thursdays from 11:00 am to Noon on December 5, 12, 19 and January 2 and 9. (We will skip the week of Christmas.) Come when you can! For more information, contact Randy Siegel at 828-301-0819.

Families! Please join the Christ Church Families Facebook group to keep up with all the latest events and activities. Find us on Facebook here !

Our friends in the Media Center at Burroughs Molette Elementary are having a Book Fair from December 9-13 and could use some extra help.  If you have  an extra hour or two and could help out any time in the morning hours on Monday, Wednesday or Friday of that week, or during the afternoon on Tuesday or Thursday, please contact  Sarah Kreimborg at  [email protected]  or 912-222-6960 or Tisa O'Cain at  [email protected]  or 912-230-6563 .

In addition to their many other projects, the Christ Church Comforters have been creating beautiful knit caps in various sizes. If you are planning to make a box for the International Seafarers Center - Christmas at Sea program, knit caps in adults sizes, made by the Comforters, will be available for you to add to your box. If you'd like a cap, please contact Mtr. Ashton at [email protected] or Gay Barron at [email protected].

You can help Burroughs Molette Elementary School every time you shop at Harris Teeter. Simply tell your cashier (during check-out) that you want Burroughs Molette's account number (6700) linked to your Harris Teeter VIC card. Once the account number is linked, every time you shop during the program, 2% of your Harris Teeter brand purchases will be contributed by Harris Teeter to the school. It's that easy! 

Last spring, 29 agencies primarily serving women and children in need, benefited from ECW's Annual Tour of Homes, and from the sale of our Christ Church Cookbook. This fall, we again are asking for generous donations that will help in so many lives. We look to our church family, and beyond, to make it happen. If you'd like to be a patron or volunteer on Tour Day, March 21, please contact Susie Henning at  [email protected]), or Tami Black at  [email protected], or visit christchurchtourofhomes.org.

J oin us on Sunday, December 1, at 10:30 am, for a wonderful Advent kick-off featuring making Advent wreaths with your family and a Living Advent Wreath ceremony. Join us in the Parish House, where we will provide you with the materials to construct a wreath to take home and use for family devotion during this watchful season. Volunteers from the Flower Guild will be on hand to help, too. A continental breakfast will be served. Contact: Mother Katie at [email protected].

On Sunday, December 8, at 4:00 pm, the Coastal Symphony of Georgia will present the musical magic of Terry Readdick in a Family Christmas Concert in the Christ Church Parish Hall. Terry is an accomplished and delightful piano recitalist who will bring us familiar pieces ranging from Joy to the World to Jingle Bells with updated, creative arrangements and seldom heard piano selections from the Nutcracker! This promises to be a very popular concert, so be sure and order your tickets now. Contact  [email protected] or order online at coastalsymphonyofgeorgia.org.  Bring the family to enjoy the music of the Christmas season!

Christ Church Gift Shop

The Christ Church Gift Shop has a wide assortment of unique items, including handmade jewelry to benefit House of Hope and Faithful Love, the Christ Church history book, local honey and all natural bath and body care products from Thistle Farms.  

Just in time for Christmas giving, we've got beautiful Christ Church Christmas mugs and ornaments in stock! Share the beauty of our historic church with friends and family with these special holiday items.  The gift store is in the parish hall across from the church office and is open on Sundays 10:30 am until 1:00 pm and Tuesday-Friday 2:00  to 5:00 pm. Contact: Ellen Kuehm at 912-996-3392 or at   [email protected] .

In this season of giving, and as we wrap up 2019, we've got some information to share about making charitable donations from the required distribution of your IRA, should it apply to you.

Did you know that you can make a donation of all or a portion of the Required Minimum Distribution from your retirement account to Christ Church, and your donation will be tax-exempt? Here's how it works.I f a person is at least age 70½, they must take at least a minimum distribution from their IRA or incur a penalty equal to one-half of the otherwise required minimum distribution amount. They may take more than the minimum at their discretion. These individuals may instruct their IRA account manager to distribute any amount of their choosing to one or more tax-exempt charities such as Christ Church.

When that is done, it is considered to be a tax-exempt contribution. Christ Church would acknowledge to the giver the receipt of that contribution from their IRA. Also, this contribution is tax-exempt even if the individual does not itemize deductions for income tax purposes because the IRA account manager would not identify this to the IRS as reportable income in accordance with the tax code. For more information about Qualified Charitable Distributions, check out the Internal Revenue Service Publication 590-B, "Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)" or speak with your tax advisor.

We are in the process of adding emergency contact information for parishioners into the Christ Church Realm database. When you log into your Realm profile, you may enter the information yourself. If you need help with Realm, please contact Glenn at [email protected]. If you prefer not to use computers, call Mother Ashton at the church office, at 912-638-8683, and she will happily take your information and enter it into the database.