December 8, 2021 Highlights Newsletter

December 8, 2021

Financial Stewardship Pledge Campaign

By now, you should have received this year's pledge campaign letter. If you have not, please let us know and we'll be sure to get a copy to you.

The long and the short of it? We cannot be the faithful, vibrant community we are without all of us doing our part, including financially. Pledging so that we have an idea of how to build our budget for next year, is essential. The easiest way if you have a computer and access to the internet is to pledge online here. You can also give online, using Tithe.ly. If you'd rather submit a pledge by mail or in the offering plate, let us know. We'll be sure you have a pledge card.

As of today, we have 14 pledges totaling $64300. It's a good start, though we have a long way to go to meet out 2021 pledge of $120,705 and even further to meet our 2020 pledge of $132,000. This year, in addition to regular pledges, we have about $10,000 in gifts to help offset flood recovery costs. The generosity of this parish is beautiful and faithful and is a major reason we are able to live our faith in the ways that we do.

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

Please join us for our Sixth Sunday of Advent worship on December 12th 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.

EVELYN UNDERHILL ADVENT DISCUSSION

In addition to our 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, enter:

Meeting ID: 899 6538 6150

Passcode: 034756

AA MEETINGS

Weekly AA meetings resume on December 12th at 1pm.

Weekly meeting times are:

Sunday at 1:00pm
Monday at 7:30pm (NEW)
Wednesday at 8:00pm
Saturday at 7:30pm

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.

Looking Ahead

PLEASE CHECK WEEKLY BECAUSE EVENTS MAY BE ADDED OR CHANGED.

DECEMBER

DEC 9

7pm - Evelyn Underhill Advent Discussion

DEC 12

6th Sun of Advent

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Advent Series

1pm - AA Meeting

DEC 13

7:30pm - AA Meeting

DEC 14

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

DEC 15

7:30pm - Finance Committee Meeting

8pm - AA Meeting

DEC 16

7pm - Preschool Committee Meeting

7pm - Evelyn Underhill Advent Discussion

DEC 18

7:30pm - AA Meeting

DEC 19

7th Sunday of Advent

Communion for All

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Vestry Meeting

1pm - AA Meeting

DEC 20

7:30pm - AA Meeting

DEC 21

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

7:30pm - Blue Christmas

DEC 22

8pm - AA Meeting

DEC 23

7pm - Evelyn Underhill Advent Discussion

DEC 24

Christmas Eve Services

5pm & 9pm

DEC 25

10am - Christmas Day Service

7:30pm - AA Meeting

DEC 26

10am - Sunday Worship

1pm - AA Meeting

DEC 27

7:30pm - AA Meeting

DEC 28

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

DEC 29

8pm - AA Meeting

JANUARY

JAN 1

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 2

10am - Sunday Worship

1pm - AA Meeting

JAN 3

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 4

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JAN 5

8pm - AA Meeting

JAN 7

9am - Interfaith Bible Hour

JAN 8

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 9

10am - Sunday Worship

11am - Epiphany Open House at the Rectory

1pm - AA Meeting

JAN 10

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 11

7pm - Worship Committee Meeting

JAN 12

8pm - AA Meeting

JAN 15

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 16

Communion for All

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Vestry Meeting

1pm - AA Meeting

JAN 17

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 18

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JAN 19

7:30pm - Finance Committee Meeting

8pm - AA Meeting

JAN 20

7pm - Preschool Committee Meeting

JAN 22

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 23

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Reading with the Rector

1pm - AA Meeting

JAN 24

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 25

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

JAN 26

8pm - AA Meeting

JAN 29

7:30pm - AA Meeting

JAN 30

10am - Sunday Worship

1pm - AA Meeting

JAN 31

7:30pm - AA Meeting

FEBRUARY

FEB 1

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

FEB 2

8pm - AA Meeting

FEB 4

9am - Interfaith Bible Hour

FEB 5

7:30pm - AA Meeting

FEB 9

10am - Sunday Worship

1pm - AA Meeting

FEB 13

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Reading with the Rector

1pm - AA Meeting

FEB 14

7:30pm - AA Meeting

FEB 15

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

FEB 16

7:30pm - Finance Committee Meeting

FEB 17

7pm - Preschool Committee Meeting

FEB 19

7:30pm - AA Meeting

FEB 20

Communion for All

10am - Sunday Worship

11:30am - Vestry Meeting

1pm - AA Meeting

FEB 21

7:30pm - AA Meeting

FEB 22

5pm - Women's Lectionary Study

FEB 23

8pm - AA Meeting

FEB 26

7:30pm - AA Meeting

FEB 27

10am - Sunday Worship

1pm - AA Meeting

FEB 28

7:30pm - AA Meeting

Other Happenings...

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.

COMMUNION FOR ALL

Communion for All is available on the third Sunday of each month.

If you would like Communion to be delivered to you or to be provided to you after church service on Sunday, December 19, please call or email the Church Office by 11:00am on Friday 12/17.

Rev. Paula or another member of the congregation will deliver Communion and a prayer to you on Sunday afternoon.

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. Our next session is on Tuesday, December 14th. We will meet via Zoom from 5:00 to 6:00 pm to study A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W by Wilda Gafney.

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.

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.

BRUNCH & LEARN EVENT

"Everything You Need to Know About Preplanning a Funeral or Cremation" on Wednesday, December 15 at 10:30am at Bradley, Smith & Smith Funeral Home located at 415 Morris Ave. in Springfield.

All guests will enjoy a complimentary brunch, receive free resource materials, giveaway items, and a chance to win a $25 Dunkin Donuts gift card raffle prize.

Seating is limited! RSVP by 12/14. For more information, call (973) 635-2428 ext. 140.

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

Mary Jo Zarance

Joseph G.

Kelly Olson

Jane Rossiter

Linda Moran

Nicole & Emma

Ningyu Liu

Jamie Stack

KT Thalin

Mike Losito

Cara Lynn Cavin

Evan D. & Family

Alexandra Shuss

Ruth Pitts

Donna Stadler Hostetler

Brian Roland

Renee Kleppinger

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 6

MORNING STAR SUNDAY

December 12, 2021

If you'd like to read the full lectionary for the week, you may do so here.

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.