Online Tidings
The Second Sunday of Advent, December 9th, 2007
P.O. Box 548, Colorado Springs, CO 80901
www.graceepiscopalcolosprings.org
grace.episcopal.church@gmail.com
719/328-1125
Prayer of the Week
For Vocation in Daily Work
Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Book of Common Prayer page 261
Table of Contents
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Diocesan Cycle of Prayer
In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, today we remember All Saints' Church in Denver, the Church of the Ascension and Holy Trinity in Pueblo, the St. Francis Center in Denver, St. Stephen's Church in Aurora and the Church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle in Estes Park.
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Weekly Calendar
| Friday, December 7 | Quiet Day | 9:00 am |
| Solemn Evensong | 6:00 pm |
| Sunday, December 9 | MOPS Christmas Bazaar | 8:00 am |
| Adult Education in the Fellowship Hall | 11:30 am |
| Choral Eucharist at FCC | 12:45 pm |
| Children's Sunday School | 1:30 pm |
| Youth Group | 2:00 pm |
| Monday, December 10 | Communications Committee | 7:00 pm |
| Tuesday, December 11 | Holy Communion | 10:00 am |
| Fr. Michael's Bible Study | 10:40 am |
| Brown Bag Lunch at FCC | 12:00 pm |
| Worship Committee | 5:00 pm |
| Grace Notes Handbell Choir | 7:15 pm |
| Wednesday, December 12 | Grace and St. Nicholas Choir Rehearsal | 4:30 pm |
| St. Cecilia Choir Rehearsal | 5:30 pm |
| Taylor and St. Stephen's Choirs Rehearsal | 7:00 pm |
| Thursday, December 13 | Healing Service | 12:00 pm |
| Graceful Hands Christmas Ingathering | 1:00 pm |
| Friday, December 14 | MOPS Christmas Party | 9:00 am |
| Sunday, December 16 | Adult Education in the Fellowship Hall | 11:30 am |
| Choral Eucharist at FCC | 12:45 pm |
| Children's Sunday School | 1:30 pm |
| Youth Group | 2:00 pm |
| Parish Meeting on Finances | 2:00 pm |
To see this in a printable calendar layout, click here.
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Manger Mission in Advent
Our traditional Manger Mission begins on December 1st and runs through Christmas Day. There will be a manger in the Fellowship Hall where we will be collecting new baby items to give to the Life Support Center. The center supports emergency and transitional needs of families in crisis, including clothing, formula and diapers. Services are not intended to be long-term. Items for you to consider for donation could include blankets, clothes, diapers, bottles, jackets, formula, toys, etc. Please bless an infant this season in the honor of the Christ Child.
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Christmas and Beyond for ESM
Any donations you can make to the Ecumenical Social Ministries food pantry will be gratefully received. Christmas baskets will be assembled and distributed December 19th - 21st.
We are also looking for donations of winter coats and winter jackets for our clothing closet. Right now, donations for these items are down and with colder weather looming on the horizon requests for these items will grow. We are looking for mostly men’s coats and jackets, but women’s coats and jackets will also be accepted. The items should be clean and in good condition. Donations of hats, gloves, scarves and warm socks would also be appreciated
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Parish Meeting on Finances
We will be having a meeting after services on December 16th in the Fellowship Hall at FCC to discuss parish finances and the Every Member Canvass. Please plan to attend this important meeting.
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Annual Meeting and Vestry Nominations
The vestry is working on setting a date in January for our annual meeting. To make it a more social event, and to avoid the time constraints inherent in the Sunday-after-services format, this year we will hold the meeting in conjunction with a potluck dinner. The purpose of the meeting is to review the budget, receive reports on the various activities and ministries of the parish, and to elect vestry members.
If you are interested in being nominated for the vestry, please contact Fr. Michael or any current vestry member. We will let you know next week when the deadline is for consideration of nominees. According to our current (1974) bylaws, the nominating committee is limited to nominating a single slate of candidates, but additional nominations can be submitted by members of the parish. "Additional nominations can be made [of a] member of the congregation in writing by three (3) communicants in good standing (other than the nominee) together with written consent of the nominee and presented to the clerk of the Vestry at least 21 days prior to the Annual Parish Meeting."
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Parish Directory Update
An insert page for our parish directory of new members and corrections will be published in mid-January. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to verify your listing in the directory. All corrections must be submitted by email to grace.episcopal.church@gmail.com or phoning Marti in the office at 328-1125. All submissions must be made by December 31st.
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Every Member Canvass
Ed Brown has agreed to chair the Every Member Canvass committee, and the campaign will start this week. The Canvass is your opportunity to discuss and understand the proposed budget for the coming year, to prayerfully consider your pledge and how your time, talent and treasure can support the mission of the parish. Watch your mailbox for a letter from Ed and the committee with an enclosed pledge card.
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Contribution Statement Updates
Parishioners will be receiving statements showing their offerings to Grace Episcopal Church from April 1st through November 30th of 2007. We have tried to record accurately your contributions and designations. Please look over your statement carefully. You may note any errors, omissions or corrections to your statement and place it in the Sunday collection or mail it to our PO Box address. You may also contact Bill Marbaker with changes at marbaker@yahoo.com or by phone at 593-8894. You will receive a final statement from April 1st to December 31st of 2007 in January, 2008. Statements for the period January 1st through March 31st, 2007 should be furnished by the office at 601 North Tejon Street, as we have no access to those records.
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Gifts of Securities
Grace Episcopal, in cooperation with the Colorado Episcopal Foundation, is able to receive gifts of appreciated stock or other securities for the benefit of the parish. As you review your year-end tax planning, a donation of securities may be an effective way to manage your overall tax situation. There is a simple form with straightforward directions on how to donate to the parish. Please see Junior Warden David Watts (389-0050) if you have questions about the program, or Fr. Michael to discuss the designation of a gift to a specific purpose.
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Haitian Project Needs our Help
Marti O’Dell from the Colorado Haiti Project, an outreach program of the Colorado Diocese, and Susan Day, Parish Nurse at Chapel of Our Savior, are asking for our help in raising funds to purchase “Physical Assessment Kits” that are desperately needed to serve the healthcare needs of this impoverished country.
With help from the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, a new nursing school is set to graduate its first class of students next year. Upon their graduation, many of these nurses will return to their villages but without the basic equipment that nurses need. A provider of healthcare equipment has generously agreed to supply “Physical Assessment Kits” at a reduced rate. The goal of Marti and Susan is to provide 110 kits.
Monetary gifts of any amount will be greatly appreciated. You may make checks out to the Chapel of Our Saviour and clearly marked “For Physical Assessment Kits” and place them in our offering plate or deliver them to Jill Wasinger, our Parish Nurse. You may also send checks to Chapel of Our Savior, 8 Fourth Street , Co Spgs, CO 80906. All donations must be received before December 15th.
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Post Office Box Updated
Please note that the official address for our parish has been changed to P.O. Box 548, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80901. The previous post office address will remain valid for several more months, but parishioners should update their records as soon as possible.
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Martin Nussbaum Presented Legal Update
Our thanks to Martin Nussbaum of Rothgerber, Johnson and Lyons, who graciously spent several hours after services last Sunday presenting information about our legal situation, the Johnson report, and the request to extend the lawsuit to include individual CANA leaders. If you have questions about information presented, or were unable to attend, please contact any vestry member.
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Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols
Advent is a penitential season, the first of the liturgical year. In Advent, Anglicans meditate and pray for peace and goodwill on earth and the unity of the Church for which Christ died, as they prepare to hear again at Christmas the message of the Angels, and to go in heart and mind to Bethlehem to see the son of God lying in a manger. The liturgy for the four Sundays in Advent makes vivid its preparation for Christmas; with readings that tell of God’s loving purposes in Christ from the Creation and the first days of disobedience to God’s promise to Abraham and the Annunciation to Mary, with hymns and anthems that call upon the Lord to come and deliver his people, and with the progressive lighting of candles on an Advent wreath. The season of Advent is observed with restraint and solemnity, the darkness of its days illuminated by expectant longing for the coming of Christ’s kingdom of light and peace.
The Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols is an Anglican liturgy traditionally celebrated in the evening with the reading of nine lessons interspersed with Advent hymns sung by the whole congregation and anthems sung by a choir. It begins in darkness with a bidding prayer and ends in a candlelit church with a collect and blessing for Advent. The Episcopal liturgy for the Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols derives from a service first performed on Christmas Eve, 1918, in the chapel of Kings College, Cambridge University. Since that time Kings College has celebrated its Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols annually on Christmas Eve. Through BBC broadcasts and recordings of the festival, the service is known and anticipated throughout the Anglican world.
St. James Episcopal Church in New London, Connecticut initiated an Episcopal tradition of celebrating an Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols on the first Sunday in Advent, a custom which has become widespread in the US. The National Cathedral, St. John the Divine in NYC, and St. John in the Wilderness in Denver (the Cathedral home of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado) all celebrated an Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols on December 2, 2007, keeping this American tradition, but the Advent festival can be celebrated on any Advent Sunday or on Christmas Eve.
In recent decades, Grace Episcopal discontinued its evening celebration of the Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols (a service which used to be broadcast to the community of Colorado Springs by KRCC) and replaced it with Grace Family Christmas and a Christmas Festival of Lessons and Music during regular worship on the Sunday which fell during the twelve days of Christmas. For those who long for an illumination of heart and mind through the traditional Advent liturgy, St. John's Cathedral in Denver will be celebrating the festival with the nine appointed lessons and traditional music on Saturday, December 15th at 4:00 pm and The Chapel of Our Saviour in Colorado Springs will celebrate the festival at 6:45 pm on Sunday, December 16th.
May your observance of Advent be a time of quiet reflection and hope, as we wait expectantly for the coming of our Lord.
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