Staying Connected as a Faith Community
Thursday, December 3, 2020
We apologize for not being able to send out our weekly e-newsletter last week. Our email distribution system was down and was only fixed this past Tuesday! We hope you had a blessed and safe Thanksgiving!
CHRISTMAS SEASONAL SHARING
There are a variety of ways to share the joy of the season this year! You may pick one or all of the options below! Once again we will support our partner school Bennet Academy and MACC Charities. Please drop off all donations at the office or in the bin/mailbox on the office porch no later than Dec. 19th (gift cards Dec. 15th)

  • $25 gift cards to Stop & Shop or Walmart (due: Dec 15th)
  • Non-perishable food items
  • Stocking stuffers for senior shut-ins (masks, lotions, socks, chapstick, sugar free candies, etc)


***NEW***

Drive-Thru Food & Toy Drive
Saturday, December 19th 9-10am
St. Mary's Parking Lot

We will be accepting all non-perishable food items, new unwrapped toys and shut-in stocking stuffers to be delivered to MACC later that morning!
Inside Worship Opportunity

Morning Devotions on Thursdays @ 9:30am

If you are interested in joining Morning Devotions next Thurs, Dec. 10th at 9:30AM please RSVP by calling Sandy in the office 860-649-4583 or email sandy@stmarysct.org
Message from the Tech Team

We are progressing nicely setting up our livestream capabilities. Our laptop and software have been purchased with a nice discount from holiday sales! We have run the hardwiring into balcony and have the internet services set up. We are hoping to begin the installation of the camera and sound equipment sometime in the next 2 weeks. We are once again grateful for the bequest from the Haugh family which has enabled us to pursue this option and for Gene Marinelli for spearheading the project. Please prayerfully consider if you are able to be a part of the Media Ministry team and support our livestreaming capabilities in the future.
CLICK HERE to view the December Happenings- with a complete list of Advent & Christmas services
Contemplative Prayer for Advent: Watch, Wait, Wonder, and Worship

Sundays @4pm

CLICK HERE for the bulletin

CLICK HERE to Join the Meeting

Meeting ID: 845 4337 8082
Passcode: 0000

Dial in:
1 646 876 9923
Bishop's Visitation
Bishop Laura Aherns will be joining us this Sunday for Zoom worship. She will be preaching and afterwards will hold a time of conversations with the vestry. Please join us at 10am by computer or phone!












Sunday, December 6th 10AM



CLICK HERE for the bulletin



Permanent Meeting Code

 Meeting ID: 823 2447 0555
Password: 0000


     
Join Zoom Meeting:

or
Dial
1 646 876 9923

WEEK NIGHT COMPLINE


Join fellow parishioners:

Monday: Karen A
Tuesday: Andrea
Wednesday: HOLDEN EVENING PRAYER ( see different link below)
Friday: Sharon


This short service from The Book of Common Prayer can be found in the BCP on page 127 or you may access the prayer book online at www.bcponline.org.



Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 856 0827 5573
Passcode: 41Park

To dial by telephone call +1 929 205 6099 

Meeting ID: 856 0827 5573
Passcode: 555650
HOLDEN EVENING PRAYER
Wednesdays in Advent @ 7pm

We will join with our friends from Concordia on Zoom to celebrate this service in a lovely musical setting of vespers which follows the traditional form while using contemporary and inclusive language.

CLICK HERE for the bulletin

CLICK HERE to join the Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 824 9334 8865
Password: 0000

Use your telephone to call this number and enter the ID and Password. You will be able to speak and to hear the service.
+16468769923,,82493348865#,#,0000# US (New York)
Risking our lives to find them

How do I find greater meaning and purpose in my life? Why is happiness so fleeting and a lasting joy so elusive? Who am I and what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?

These are some of the big questions of life, and many of us begin to wrestle with them as we reach middle age and beyond. The best-selling book The Second Mountain, by David Brooks, suggests that we come to these questions most urgently when the “first mountain” of our life fails us either because we discover it to be ultimately unfulfilling (such as a life focused on financial success or career goals) or when it crumbles beneath our feet (as the result of a divorce or a life-changing health crisis).
According to Brooks, most of us don’t come looking for the “second mountain” of our lives until we’ve been thrown off the first somehow. Until then, when life is still going our way, we don’t have the eyes to see or the ears to hear. But when we finally are forced off our perches, we have the chance to discover for ourselves what Jesus has tried to tell us all along — that meaning and purpose come not from our accomplishments, our perfect families, or even perfect health, but by risking all that we are and all that we have for the sake of others.
If you are someone looking for the second mountain of your life, the question at the heart of our Gospel this week offers all the directions we need:
How will I risk the gifts I’ve been given, to do the work God is calling me to do?
Notice that the story turns on risk. Playing it safe, worrying about ourselves and what others will say about us, is the first mountain all over again. And a life of tepid generosity, one that is constrained by fear and our need for control, leaves us languishing in the valley.
Unless we are willing to risk it all for the sake of others – to take a leap into a Faith-Filled Generosity – we never reach the summit of a truly abundant life.

Chris Harris is Associate Rector of Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He serves on the board of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship and the steering team for Invite-Welcome-Connect, a national evangelism ministry, and is creator of Living Wi$ley, a faith and personal finance ministry.
Stewardship Reflections & Tips
• What is the “risky generosity” that God’s is nudging me to try on?
• What’s the best thing that could happen if I said, “Yes!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THANK YOU     THANK YOU     THANK YOU
to those who have returned their pledge certificates. 
If you have not already, please return your completed pledge certificate as soon as possible. If you need one please contact Sandy in the office 860-649-4583 or sandy@stmarysct.org
 
Consider Online Giving through your Bank
Make your life easy and checkless – consider setting up recurring auto payments online through your bank. Set up St. Mary’s like you would any other bill. You can send your payments weekly, monthly, or one time. If you have questions, reach out to Mechelle for instruction on how she sets up giving to St. Mary's with her bank.
Celebration of Deacon Karen
CLICK HERE to view the Zoom service.
Last Sundy we joined with people all over the world (literally) to say thanks to God for our beloved Deacon Karen on her 30th anniversay of ordination! It was a beautiful service and testimony to God's faithful servent.
Support St. Mary's while you Shop

We are a registered charity on Amazon Smile. A portion of your purchases made through Amazon Smile (not regular Amazon) will go directly to our online fundrasier line item in the budget! If you are shopping online for Christmas gifts please consider supporting us! So far, we have recieved $330 through parishioner's purchases.
CLICK HERE to learn how to support St Mary's in this unique way!
TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF AND OTHERS

COVID-19 Testing
CLICK HERE for ECHN's Covid-19 testing sites and information

Jazz Concert
Saturday, Dec. 5 (7:30 p.m.) -- Beth Sholom B’nai Israel’s Fifth Annual Jazz Concert goes virtual The festival will take place on Saturday, December 5th, 7:30-9:30pm. To purchase tickets, visit: www.myshul.org/jazzfest2020 Tickets are $20 per household.

Art Show on Main Street
The Galleries at WORK_SPACE will present Perspectives of a Pandemic, Saturday, November 28, 2020 thru Sunday, January 31, 2021. Featuring art created between March – November 2020, this exhibit will illustrate the diversity of lived experience during the pandemics of COVID-19 and our national reckoning of structural racism. CLICK HERE for more info.

Critical Need: There is an increased need for blood donors!
Come to give blood, platelets or plasma at one of these sites:
Dec. 3 from 1:30pm-6:30pm at North United Methodist Church, 300 Parker Street.
Dec. 7 from 8:00am-4:30pm at Manchester Church of Christ, 595 Tolland Turnpike
Dec. 11 from 7:30am-12:30pm at Manchester Memorial Hospital, 71 Haynes Street
Dec. 17 from 1:30pm-6:30pm at North United Methodist Church, 300 Parker Street.
For more info and to schedule your appointment, call 1-800-RED CROSS or visit us online to find drives in nearby towns:  http://www.redcrossblood.org

Ann's Zoom Coffee Shop on Fridays at 1pm

Join Zoom Meeting
or
Dial +1 929 205 6099
Meeting ID: 873 0224 9184
Password: 958202
Virtual Prayers of the People

CLCK HERE to view the list and to take a moment to lift these names up in your prayers. If you have people you wish to add please contact Rev. Ann. NOTE: THE PRAYER LIST WAS REFRESHED FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

We have a NEW address for SPC Darrium Bedell, a parishonier's co-worker who is currently deployed, He has given word that he is receiving them and is so appreciative!

Darrium Bedell
168th ECC
Unit 61371
APO AE 09877