November 24, 2021 Highlights Newsletter

November 24, 2021

Message from Rev. Paula

Beloved Community,

As Covid levels are raising (up 500% in Essex County since October 21st) please enjoy a safe holiday with family and friends. For those who will have either literal or metaphorical empty seats at the table, know that I am thinking of you as I pray for peace of heart and mind.

This is a poem from one of my favorite poets, Malcolm Guite from his book, Sounding the Seasons. May it bring you joy and a sense of blessing.

3 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving starts with thanks for mere survival,

Just to have made it through another year

With everyone still breathing. But we share

So much beyond the outer roads we travel;

Our interweavings on a deeper level,

The modes of life embodied souls can share,

The unguessed blessings of our being here,

Threads of connection no one can unravel.

So I give thanks for our deep coinherence,

Interwoven in the web of God's own grace,

Pulling us through the grave and gate of death.

I thank him for the truth behind appearance,

I thank him for his light in every face,

I thank him for us all, with every breath.

Peace & Blessings,

Paula+

Happening at St. Stephen's This Week...

Please join us for our Fourth Sunday of Advent worship on November 28th at 10:00am.

ALL are welcome!

WELCOME!

Join us as we continue our observation of an extended Advent of seven weeks, rather than four. This is a return to the Advent observance of the Church from its beginnings until just a few hundred years ago. Extending Advent in this way moves it from the "season of preparation" for Christmas to an observance of the full promise and realization of God's dream, helping us to engage more fully in Christ's mission of peace, justice, and the integrity of creation. We enter the new year mindful of God's work in creation through all time as we look ahead with hopeful anticipation to a more peaceful and just world and the fulfillment of God's promise to all people.

REMINDERS: We continue to follow safety precautions and lovingly require that you wear a mask over your nose and mouth at all times while in the building and maintain physical distance. Enter at the Narthex door (Christian Education building). Someone will welcome you and take your temperature. An usher will assist you with seating in the church.

Live-streamed to YouTube, Facebook, and via Zoom. Bulletins are available on the St. Stephen's website. All links can be found at the bottom of the newsletter.

Zoom passcode is SSM119.

The Sunday service will also be broadcast on HTTV (Comcast TV 36 and Verizon TV 33) on Tuesday at 6 AM and 3 PM.

ADVENT TO EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS

St. Stephen’s is a member of the Evelyn Underhill region- a small group of congregations in a geographic area gathered together by a bishop to support and care for one another in their ministry. This year, the congregations of our region are collaborating together in a shared Advent Devotional: Advent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by Christopher L. Webber. Daily during Advent and Christmas (November 7th – January 5th), a recorded devotional will be emailed out to everyone in our parishes via a special email group, so that we may pray and reflect together, wherever we may be. These will be about five minutes long. If you don’t want the daily devotions, let us know. For those who wish to purchase the devotional to follow along, you may do so through Church Publishing at www.churchpublishing.org or from Amazon.

In addition to the daily devotion recordings, our region’s clergy will host a weekly Zoom group to discuss and reflect on the week’s reflections. These Zoom gatherings will occur on the last four Thursdays of Advent (Dec. 2nd, Dec. 9th, Dec. 16th, and Dec. 23rd) from 7pm-8pm. To access the Zoom meeting, please use the link provided in the weekly newsletter.

WEEKLY WOMEN'S LECTIONARY

STUDY

Please join us for a weekly study of

a new lectionary available to the Episcopal Church and approved by Bishop Hughes. Beginning November 30th, we will meet on Tuesdays via Zoom from 5:00 to 6:00 pm to study

A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W by Wilda Gafney.

This thought-provoking lectionary invites and challenges us to explore

differently the familiar stories of Scripture and how they shape and inform our faith today, while also expanding our understanding of what

it means to be made in the image of God through the use of non-gendered language for God.

The Gafney lectionary YEAR W is available at BN.com, Amazon, and ChurchPublishing.org. If you want to participate in this discussion and find the cost of the book prohibitive, please talk to Rev. Paula. No one should sit this out because of the cost of purchasing the book.

Looking Ahead

PLEASE CHECK WEEKLY BECAUSE EVENTS MAY BE ADDED OR CHANGED

NOVEMBER

NOV 28

4th Sun of Advent

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30 am - Advent Series

NOV 30

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

PLEASE NOTE:

The Church Office

will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26 for Thanksgiving.

DECEMBER

DEC 3

9am - Interfaith Bible Hour

DEC 5

5th Sun of Advent

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Advent Series

DEC 7

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

DEC 12

6th Sun of Advent

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Advent Series

DEC 14

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

DEC 15

7:30pm - Finance Committee Meeting

DEC 16

7pm - Preschool Committee Meeting

DEC 19

7th Sunday of Advent

Communion for All

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Vestry Meeting

DEC 21

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

7:30pm - Blue Christmas

DEC 24

Christmas Eve Services

5pm & 9pm

DEC 25

10am - Christmas Day Service

DEC 26

10am - Sunday Worship

DEC 28

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JANUARY

JAN 2

10am - Sunday Worship

JAN 4

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JAN 7

9am - Interfaith Bible Hour

JAN 9

10am - Sunday Worship

11am - Epiphany Open House at the Rectory

JAN 11

7pm - Worship Committee Meeting

JAN 16

Communion for All

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Vestry Meeting

JAN 18

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JAN 19

7:30pm - Finance Committee Meeting

JAN 20

7pm - Preschool Committee Meeting

JAN 23

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Reading with the Rector

JAN 25

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JAN 30

10am - Sunday Worship

Other Happenings...

GIFT CARD COLLECTION FOR OUR DRUMMING CAMP FAMILIES

Due: Sunday, December 12, 2021

As part of our Christmas celebration,

we are delighted to be supporting our

Drumming Camp children!

We are kindly requesting donations of VISA or TARGET gift cards

(denominations of $10, $20 or $25)

this year for approximately 10-13 children.

Please forward your gift card donations to the

St. Stephen's Church Office

(119 Main Street, Millburn, NJ 07041)

by Sunday, December 12th.

If you have any questions, please email Maryalice at maryalice_chech@yahoo.com.

Many thanks!

Your generosity is greatly appreciated and will help bring joy

to these children during the Christmas season.

HELP Needed: Family Promise (IHN) Holiday Party

Family Promise is hosting a Holiday Open House for its guest families on Friday, 12/17 and are looking for:

Santa Claus

If you happen to own a Santa suit and want to help from 3:00pm to 6:30pm on that day, Family Promise would really appreciate it. They are observing social distancing and mask wearing. Each family will sign-up for a specific time slot to avoid overcrowding at any given time.

Volunteers to help parents and children choose holiday gifts and direct them to gift wrapping tables. Additionally, volunteers will be needed to help families bring the items to their vehicles that afternoon.

Greeters to welcome guests and track the number of guests on the 2nd floor.

Volunteers to wrap gifts – Gift Wrapping during the actual Open House 3:00pm to 6:30pm (gifts that parents and children pick out at the Open House) OR Gift Wrapping earlier that day – 12:30 to 3:00pm to wrap gifts that are in the office for clients. All volunteers who are wrapping should bring scissors, tape, ribbons, name tags, wrapping paper, bows, etc.

Assistance with decorating and setting up the office AND the upstairs room where the holiday festivities will take place. Family Promise would like to schedule a day for decorating the week of December 6th.

Assistance setting up the day of the festivities – set-up would take place the morning of Friday, December 17th.

This event will take place at Family Promise Essex County, 46 Park St, Montclair, NJ 07042.

If you would like to volunteer,

please contact Melissa Perales at 973-746-1400, Ext. 104, or email melissa@fpessexnj.org.

DONATIONS FOR CHRISTMAS FLOWERS

Due: December 15, 2021

Please help make St. Stephen's festive this Christmas!

All donations will assist in the purchase of flowers for our Church and

all donors will receive acknowledgement in our Christmas bulletin.

Donations can be sent to the St. Stephen's Church Office

(119 Main Street, Millburn, NJ 07041)

by Sunday, December 15th.

If you have any questions, please email

church@stsstephensmillburn.org, or call 973-376-0688, Ext.32.

Prayer List

Please keep the following St. Stephen's family

members and friends in your prayers...

Peggy Thompson

Felder Dorn

Donna Riggi

The Blanchard Family

The McManus Family

Bernard & Nathan

The Fitzgerald Family

Lucille B.

Jack Moreno

Jim Freeman

The May Family

Mary Jo Zarance

Joseph G.

Kelly Olson

Jane Rossiter

Linda Moran

Greg Shuss

Nicole & Emma

Ningyu Liu

Jamie Stack

KT Thalin

Mike Losito

Cara Lynn Cavin

Evan D. & Family

Alexandra Shuss

Harold Williams

Ruth Pitts

Donna Stadler Hostetler

We give thanks for the lives of Gary Montefusco and Paula Williams who have entered

into greater glory.

If you would like to add someone to our prayer list, please email us at church@ststephensmillburn.org, or call (973) 376-0688 Ext. 32.

Anyone for whom we are praying will be on our prayer list for six weeks. If prayers are still needed beyond that time period, please let us know. Thank you.

Sunday Lectionary

ADVENT 4

ROOT OF JESSE SUNDAY

November 28, 2021

First Lesson: Genesis 3:1-22

Second Lesson: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Third Lesson: Micah 5:2-4

Fourth Lesson: Zephaniah 3:14-18

Fifth Lesson: Luke 1:26-28

Giving with Tithe.ly

TITHE.LY

Giving with Tithe.ly is easy with options for recurring donations or one-time use for when you are away or not able to be in church (like all of us now due to COVID restrictions).

You can access Tithe.ly via their website or their app on your smart phone. Be sure to search for the correct account - "St. Stephen's Church Millburn." Once you have accessed the account page with our address, you will be instructed to follow the prompts.

Office Notes

Due to COVID restrictions, only teachers and staff are allowed to be in the building during school hours. If you need to visit the parish office/building for any reason, please contact us for an appointment. Thank you.