Please use the Schedule of Services and Sunday Morning Reminder to tune in.

for you to enjoy here, on YouTube.

Thanks to everyone for sticking with us through our recent Sunday livestream sound travails. We think we have finally ironed out the problems with the radio microphones, so I look forward to a trouble-free Eucharist livestream this Sunday. We’ve also been working on how to translate our traditional liturgy for the livestream medium. My own experience of viewing the livestream is that, while slow and dignified is great for in-person worship, it does not translate well for virtual viewing. You will notice some tightening up this coming Sunday to produce a more immediate continuity of experience.

On another note, remember the warning cry from Game of Thrones: Winter is coming! With the current spike in the virus nationwide, and with local restrictions re-imposed in RI, it feels like winter’s coming and it’s not going to be pretty. What I notice in the face of new restrictions is that my anxiety again increases and I feel a compulsion to do more to sustain the community as a spiritual leader. We are all tired and strung out by overexposure to our computer screens, so our focus must be to practice the mantra "less is more" in order to give ourselves a necessary break. In this break, let us contemplate the powerful message of Advent hope in the midst of crisis.

As it becomes necessary to do less under greater personal and social restriction, let us welcome the restrictions as an invitation to slow down and take a fresh look at the priorities that drive the way we live. Instead of anxious resistance or despair, let the restrictions act like a great search light, revealing deep cracks and fissures in our social fabric, and illuminating the ways we distract ourselves.

Physical distance does not mean social isolation. Please remember our community is geared to support each and every one of us. Reach out, speak out, let us ( Linda+, Susan E, or myself) know how we can support you.

Be safe and stay sane,

Mark+

As of this week, we have received 76 pledges for $282,938 of our goal of $405,000.

If you haven't already pledged, please do so as soon as possible.

The ‘Our Hearts Are Open’ Advent Project is virtual this year. We are buying gifts for 50 children under the care of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Please click here or call the office to sign up by December 6th. Bring your wrapped and labeled gifts to the church during office hours by December 13th.

This Advent we unite in prayer with expectation:

As the seasons turn and the light changes, we pray:

In a time of widespread illness, we pray for all those touched by Covid-19:

We pray together for the dawning of a bright new day - in our world, in our nation, in our community, and in ourselves.