Offerings or Special Gifts of cash/check must be dated and postmarked no later than December 31, 2022, to qualify as 2022 charitable contributions. Please note the Parish Office will close at noon Saturday, December 31.

2022 Giving Statements will be mailed not later than the end of January.

Your generous non-pledged offerings (cash and designated checks) on the first Sunday each month support our clergy’s Discretionary Account. Fr. Biddy uses these funds to meet urgent needs within our community, to further the ministries of the church when other funds are not available, and to support community programs and institutions that serve those in need.

11 AM Lessons and Carols

11 AM Facebook Live

Christmastide is the joyous and short season between the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and the Feast of the Epiphany. On the First Sunday of Christmas, we continue to celebrate with A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at 11:00 AM. This beloved tradition helps us to set the mystery of the incarnation into the larger sweep the biblical story of God’s salvation for the world. These are the stories that shape our lives as we pass through the church’s year of grace, year after year, season by season, and Sunday by Sunday.

Children's choir rehearsals, children and youth formation, breakfast, and adult formation will return January 8.

Celtic Evening Prayer and Communion is a candle-lit service that emphasizes the contemplative side of worship, features some of Augusta’s best Celtic musicians, and offers prayers for healing for those attending, for others, and for the world. Come as you are and enter into a place of rest, prayer, and reflection.

This week, Carl Purdy, will be our guest musician.

The Parish Office will observe regular Saturday hours 8 AM-12 noon on New Year's Eve.

The Parish Office will be closed Monday, January 2.

Our next Men’s Monthly Meal (Mmm!) is scheduled Wednesday, January 4 — (Men gather at 4 PM to cook, the parish gathers at 6PM for dinner.) On the menu: sausage tortellini soup, potato leek soup, salad, and dinner rolls. There are two sign-ups. Please RSVP for dinner and men, please sign up for this fellowship and cooking team (separate sign-up from dinner reservations). Donations welcomed. Contact Eric Friedman for more information.

Our online formation book studies continue in January with Practicing our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People by Dorothy Bass. Books are available from Amazon and many book sellers and in the Narthex on Sunday and in the parish office during the week. ($20 donation). Sign up online using the link below.

“Practicing Our Faith offers help to Christians who are asking how our faith can help us discern what we might do and who we might become.

How can we live faithfully and with integrity in a world where the pace of existence is so fast and life's patterns are changing all around us? Can we conduct our daily lives in ways that help us not just get by but flourish--as individuals, as communities, and as a society in concert with creation and in communion with God?

These questions are on the hearts and minds of many seekers who are exploring spirituality today. They are also at the heart of Practicing Our Faith.”

 – Practicing Our Faith, back cover

A mid-week Eucharist in the Chapel begins at 11:30 AM. Lunch in the Berlin Room follows at 12 noon with a weekly Bible study (more information below.) Join us as your schedule allows: Come for Eucharist and lunch, lunch and Bible study, or stay for all three. (So that we may honor mid-day schedules, lunch is scheduled for 15 minutes and will continue through the Bible study conversations.)

This small group format begins with lunch. As we continue sharing a meal, three biblical lessons are read by aloud by members of the group, followed by a reflection from Brian McLaren’s We Make the Road by Walking. We conclude our time together engaging with the reflection. Much of the work of the Holy Spirit in formation is in forming relationship. We invite you to join this small group as your schedule allows.

You may bring your own lunch or share in the meal provided. Donations accepted.

Questions? Contact Kitty Gordon.

Thursdays begin in the Chapel with a reading or other offering to enhance this space before the “Sit” begins. After the 20-minute Sit, an open discussion follows until 8:00 PM. This is an open group with no limit on the number of participants. Please email Suzanne Pursley-Crotteau or contact by phone at (706) 910-9331 for further information and/or to enroll in the sit.

The Prayer Book notes Holy Baptism is especially appropriate on four dates: at the Easter Vigil, on the Day of Pentecost, on All Saints' Day or All Saints' Sunday, and on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord.

We will celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism on Sunday, January 8. All who wish to be baptized are invited to contact Fr. Eric.

If so, please join the vestry on the next two Sundays, January 8 and 15, during Adult Formation for an assessment of the progress the church has made in meeting the goals and objectives that were set out in the plan. We will meet at 9:30 AM in the Berlin room.

If you’ve been baptized but not confirmed, or were confirmed elsewhere and now consider the Episcopal Church your home, join us to take the next step of Confirmation or Reception. Confirmation classes are also a wonderful opportunity if you have questions and just want to know more. Signal your interest by emailing Fr. Eric. Classes begin January 8, 2023. Bishop Logue will next be at Saint Paul’s on Sunday, February 26, 2023, for the Annual Episcopal Visitation.

Youth Confirmation for grades 9-12 will begin Sunday, January 22, 4 pm. (Please note the change of date.) More details forthcoming. If your student is interested in being confirmed next year, please contact Kim Butler.

January 8 - Vestry Presentation at the Sunday Forum

January 8 - Confirmation Classes begin

January 10 - Tuesday's Music Live Resumes

January 15 - Vestry Presentation at the Sunday Forum

January 19 - Manna Pantry

January 22 - Youth Confirmation Classes begin

January 22 - Vestry Presentation at the Sunday Forum

January 26 - Caregivers' Support Group

January 29 - Annual Parish Meeting

January 31 - Deadline for Summer Mission Trip

January 29, February 5, and February 12 are open Sundays for altar arrangements. If anyone would kindly like to sponsor a Sunday in honor or memory of someone or “many” someones, please contact the Parish Office at mailbox@saintpauls.org. The normal charge is a minimum of $100.

Tuesday’s Music Live continues its 34th season Tuesday, January 10, with a free concert by Eriko Izumida, piano, and Andrew Sords, violin. More information at TuesdaysMusicLive.com or by calling the Box Office at (706) 722-3463.

Volunteers are needed for our next Manna Pantry, Saturday, January 21, 8:15-11:30 am in Tyler Hall. With your help we will unload the groceries from Golden Harvest, pack food boxes, reload the truck, and deliver all food boxes on Saturday.

Manna Pantry is an outreach ministry of Saint Paul’s that provides food to 150 families and individuals on odd-numbered moths throughout the year. For more information contact Melissa Friedman. This is an especially good opportunity for youth and older children with parents who need to complete service hours.

Caregivers’ support group will meet Thursday, January 26, 1:30 PM in the chapel. This group provides support for people caring for people they love (our first thought is ailing spouses, aging parents, children who need extra attention, and other relations of mutuality in which one-way care has grown), but anyone who is a caregiver for another is welcome. Contact Fr. Eric for more information.

You are invited to join Saint Paul’s parishioners, family, and friends on a mission trip this summer to Ecuador, June 7-17, 2023. Please prayerfully consider joining us as we reach out to people in need and serve as the hands of Christ.

An information sheet is available here. If you would like additional information about Quito, Ecuador, the mission work, and trip details, please contact Gene or Rose Helmich, or call 803-640-3405. The deadline to join the trip is January 31, 2023.

The Vestry Nominating Committee is seeking candidates whom you believe would make outstanding Vestry members for Saint Paul's. If you'd like to suggest someone, including yourself, please contact retiring Junior Warden Catherine Boardman. Prior to nominating someone else, please discuss with them their interest and willingness to serve in this role.

The basic responsibilities of the Vestry are:

We expect to elect for three full three-year terms. If the new junior warden comes from the current vestry, we may have an additional unexpired term to fill.

To be eligible for the Vestry, a nominee must answer "yes" to all of the following questions.

Each nominee slated to run for election to the Vestry will be invited to share a profile with the parish via our regular parish communications including the weekly newsletter.

A Note on Eligibility: Those eligible for election are those “confirmed adults in good standing eighteen years of age or older enrolled in the Congregation” (Canon 2.1). Those eligible to vote in an election are “those confirmed adults enrolled in the Congregation who are in good standing and who have reached the age of sixteen” (Canon 2.3). Those already in the process of being confirmed or received and otherwise eligible, are eligible to run and vote while waiting for the bishop’s next visit. If you are interested in being confirmed when the Bishop visits next year, please contact Fr. Biddy.

The Diocese of Georgia will offer daily devotions written by Bishop Frank and Victoria Logue for a 7-week study from Advent through Epiphany. The short daily readings use the lens of Franciscan ideals including humility, simplicity, and peace as a focal point of each week.

You do not need to buy anything to take part in this study as the Diocese of Georgia Facebook page will offer the content daily. Each week the Facebook page will also feature a companion video that is posted on the diocesan YouTube Channel that expands on the theme of the week.

The reflections will also be posted on the Diocese website each day as well as their Facebook and Instagram accounts.