12/8—The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) will hold their annual Christmas Craft & Bake Sale Sunday December 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Please stop by the parish hall before or after the 10:00 a.m. service. The proceeds from our bake/craft sale support our service projects during the year. Login to Realm to contact Kathleen Rinehart if you would like to contribute an item to this event.

On Sunday, our children's formation classes will celebrate the feast of St Nicholas! Children ages 3 to 5th grade are welcome to join this event taking place in Room 203.

Youth are invited to attend and to help stuff children's shoes with clementines and chocolate coins. 

On Sunday, the youth are invited to attend Lessons and Carols and to participate in the service. Contact Taylor Irwin if you are interested in serving.

12/8—The Epiphany Choir, Beginning Choristers, Junior Choir, and Epiphany Ringers will present Advent Lessons & Carols on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. in a liturgy much like Christmas Lessons & Carols made popular in the 20th century by Kings College, Cambridge. The promise of the coming Messiah is told in lessons from the Old and New Testaments interspersed with Advent carols, hymns, and choir anthems. The service takes place in the nave followed by a reception in the Parish Hall.

Livestream Options:

YouTube Link | Zoom Link

12/10— Join us for a Family Eucharist (6:15 p.m.) after choir practice or the Family Service project. Arrive by 6:00 p.m. if you’d like to eat pizza together, or come at 5:00 p.m. to take part in the Family Service Project.

Epiphany’s Art Ministry welcomes paintings and small works by Sherry Cook. Her show in the gallery features Angels from her “Growing Toward God” series. Items from the tables may be taken home when purchased. Hanging items need to remain in place until the close of the show on December 18.

Remember, 25% of all sales benefit Epiphany. 

Payment Method: Please sign up on the price sheet then use the QR code to make an online payment or write a check.

Learn more about the Artist and the Art Ministry >>

If you are looking for a Advent devotional to read as a spiritual practice during Advent, pick up one of the Living Compass booklets in the gallery: Living Well Through Advent 2024: Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind.

Prefer a digital practice? A free PDF version is also available at livingcompass.org. You can also sign up to receive a daily email of each reflection for free.

In our narthex, 23 nativities are arranged to illustrate the birth story in Luke and in our gallery, 35 nativities are arranged to illustrate the birth story in Matthew. There are scripture and hymn texts that accompany the crèche scenes. This is part of a larger collection that began with a bequest of a collection that was bequeathed to Epiphany in 1995 by Dr. William Lemonds in loving memory of James Lattimer Anderson Belcher.

New This Year: A curated selection of additional nativities from the larger collection have been put on display in the parish hall.

If you’d like to help with taking them down on Monday, January 6, please sign up at epiphany.org/rsvp.

Week of 12/8/2024

12/9—Epiphany Book Group—2nd Mondays at 7:00 p.m. • location varies

12/10—Men’s Breakfast Group—Tuesdays following the 7:00 a.m. service

12/10—The Episcopal Church Women (ECW)—2nd Tuesdays: This month at 10:30 a.m.

12/10—Choirs for Children & Youth—Tuesdays at 5:00/5:30 p.m. • Music Suite

12/10—Trivia Group—Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. • Wild Heaven in Avondale Estates.

12/11—Epiphany Ringers—Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. • Choir Loft

12/11—Epiphany Choir—Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m. • Music Suite

12/11-13—Gateway Center Meal Ministry—meals served 2nd Fridays of the month

12/12—Contemplative Book Group—Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. • Room 201 (rsvp)

12/13—Caregiver Group—2nd Fridays at 11:45 p.m. • Zoom

Upcoming Ongoing Meetings and Programs

12/18—The Munch Bunch—3rd Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. • Thinking Man Tavern

12/16—Community of Hope’s Circle of Care—Third Monday for December at 6:00 p.m.

1/2—The Grief Pastoral Care Group—1st Thursdays at 12:00 p.m. • Zoom

1/12—Contemplative Practice—2nd Sundays at 4:00 p.m. • Choir Loft

Eleven households participated in the Advent Wreath Workshop this past Sunday.

Dear People of Epiphany,

I am so incredibility grateful for the two formative years I spent with you. I now work for Laura & John Keys' nephew Hendree Harrison all the way up in Kentucky! I wanted to cordially invite you either in person or online to my ordination.

The service will be live-streamed on Good Shepherd Lexington's Facebook page and on YouTube. I look forward to to being with y'all for Peter Waggoner's ordination to the Diaconate the following weekend.

Emily Badgett

Epiphany’s Earth Guild invites you to join us for a site visit to Oakhurst Presbyterian to learn more about their recent solar installation. With the assistance of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL), Oakhurst now has the capacity to produce 20.6 kW of its own power thanks to 51 newly installed solar panels on the congregation’s roof.



These panels are a witness to the church’s work as stewards of Sacred Earth. Following our site visit, we’ll gather for coffee and conversation at Oakview Coffee in Oakhurst.

Please contact Carol Bartlett or the Rev. Carmie McDonald if you have questions and RSVP in Realm if you plan to join us.

12/15—The youth group will be attending worship at the church of the Common Ground. This "church without walls" is located downtown and focuses on ministry to unhoused individuals. We will gather after the 10:00 a.m. service at Epiphany to ride together. Worship is at 1:00 p.m., followed by lunch. Please note this is an outdoor event so dress warmly! All are welcome to join.

Learn more about Church of the Common Ground >>

Deadline by 12/16—If you would like to make an offering in thanksgiving or memory of someone for Christmas, please fill out the form at epiphany.org/Christmas-flowers-music. From there you can choose to make your donation via online giving, or if you can also mail a check payable to Church of the Epiphany noting Christmas Flowers and/or Christmas Music in the memo line. To be printed in the Christmas Eve bulletins, submissions must be received in the parish office by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, December 16.

12/19—The ECW we will host a luncheon for the Emmaus House Seniors. This is an annual event and a lot of fun for the seniors and the ECW Members.

Login to Realm to contact Kathleen Rinehart if you would like to help with this event.

12/22—The Christmas season is a time of joy and expectation but it can also deepen the pain and isolation experienced by those who are grieving. The Service of Light is a worship service with Holy Eucharist meant to speak to the needs of those experiencing grief and loss. It offers a time of prayer and meditation and a reminder that we are not alone. It is is scheduled around the winter solstice (the shortest day and longest night of the calendar year), which occurs around December 21 each year. 

This service is hosted by the Grief Group, the Pastoral Care Committee and Community of Hope, all of whom provide care to Epiphany parishioners who would like pastoral support. 

The service will also be live-streamed. 

1/5/25—The Annual Epiphany Pageant will take place on Sunday, January 5 during the 10:00 a.m. service.

Children, youth, and adults are invited to participate in the retelling of our Feast Day! Rehearsal will be January 5 at 8:30 a.m. Contact Taylor Irwin with any questions.

1/12/25—The sacrament of Holy Baptism for adults, infants and children will be administered on on Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Contact the parish office by Monday, December 23 if you or a member of your family desires to be baptized.

1/12—Come gather with us in the Choir Loft at 4:00 p.m. for a time of reflection, meditation instruction, and gathering with others seeking a more grounded way of being in the world. Led by Bobbi Patterson, Elizabeth Ura and Amy Dills-Wright. Contact the Rev. Amy Dills-Wright if you have any questions.

12/16—If you have expenses that should be reimbursed in this fiscal year, they must be submitted and approved by Monday, December 16. Any expenses submitted after the December 16 will be applied to the 2025 budget.



Click here for the reimbursement form >>

Deadline 12/31—Pledges and contributions need to be received at the church or postmarked by December 31, 2024 and stock contributions must be delivered to the church brokerage account by December 31, 2024 to be recorded for 2024.

Parishioners are invited to express their gratitude to clergy and staff for their work this year by making an offering online or by check. To give online click the button to give through Realm. To give by check, please list “Staff Christmas” in the memo line.

STEWARDSHIP

Make a Pledge

Love in Action has been our theme for the 2025 Stewardship Campaign. We want to thank everyone who has made a pledge so far. Your generosity enables us to do all that we do and hope to do at Epiphany.

If you have not yet made your pledge, please consider doing so today as the Vestry will soon complete budget planning based on committed expected income. Pledge cards are available in the narthex and gallery, or you can make your pledge online by clicking the button.

12/11-13—Volunteers cook in the Epiphany kitchen and then serve the meal at Gateway Shelter on 2nd Fridays.

12/15—This Christmas, we have the opportunity to share God’s love with the children and families of Peoplestown. Our donations of unwrapped gifts or gift cards for infants through teenagers can help bring joy to the over 500 children served by Emmaus House. Click the “Toy Drive” button on the home page for the complete list of gifts by ages. Bring unwrapped gifts to Epiphany by December 15.

Through Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD), Gifts for Life gives communities all over the world the chance to transform lives. Empower a community in need while honoring a cherished loved one with a gift today. To see all the Gifts for Life options, please click the button. Your gifts are fully tax deductible.

12/24—Childcare will be provided in the nursery for children ages 4 and under for the 4:00 p.m. service.

• 4:00 p.m.—The Celebration of the Nativity of Jesus with a moment for children, music of the season by the Epiphany Children & Youth choirs, and Holy Eucharist.
• 7:30 p.m.—An extended prelude begins at 7:30 p.m. and will feature the Epiphany Choir, flute, and strings.
• 8:00 p.m.—The Celebration of the Nativity of Jesus with incense, music of the season, and Festival Eucharist.

Join us at 10:00 a.m. via Zoom to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas morning. Take a moment to pause this day and give thanks for the glorious arrival of the Word incarnate among us. The link for this service will be on the home page.

12/29—On this festive day, we continue to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas with Christmas Lessons & Carols. Come and continue our gratitude for the birth of Christ in word, music, and Eucharist.

The weekly deadline for submission of announcements for the Friday Morning eNews

and the Sunday bulletin is Wednesdays at Noon. Please send your submissions

ready to go to the parish office.