Cookie Decorating this Sunday

This final Sunday of Advent we’ll enjoy an intergenerational project immediately following the service: we’ll be decorating Christmas cookies for our friends at Community Meals to serve to the hungry up in Waukegan.

Next Community Meals: Dec 22

We are grateful for the people who have volunteered to help prepare and distribute food in Waukegan on Sunday, December 22nd! We need YOUR HELP decorating the cookies after the service this Sunday. Dan will be bringing them to Waukegan after the cookies are decorated.

No Class for the rest of 2024

Just a reminder that there will be no Blessed Little Adventures held for the remainder of 2024, as our after-service activities are for all ages. All parents and kids are invited to decorate cookies this Sunday.

2024 Donations Due by Dec 31

Don’t forget: Donations that need to be recorded on your 2024 tax statement must be received by Tuesday, December 31. As always, you can donate via the offering plate (by Sunday, Dec 29), you can send a check via snail mail, or donate online.

Thank you!

Christmas is Almost Here!

Christmas is a special time at StGs, with many opportunities to worship together.

• Join us at 4pm on Christmas Eve for an intergenerational festive Eucharist with extra special music (a big choir, brass quintet, and timpani/percussion). Our nursery will be open for this service.

• Join us at 10am on Christmas morning for a casual, come-as-you-are service filled with fun and jazzy Christmas carols!

Both services will be accessible on Zoom as usual via the “Sunday Worship Online” button above, or by using Meeting ID 842 861 148, passcode 414299.

In addition to all our special musicians at our Christmas Eve service, we’ll have gorgeous, abundant flowers decorating our altar for both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. If you’d like to make a donation toward the music or flowers (or both!), you can use the button below. While it is unfortunately past the deadline to have your “in memory of” or “in thanksgiving for” attributions listed in the bulletin, you are still welcome to donate via the green envelopes in the pew or via the website.

Livestreaming: now Zoom + YouTube!

Because Facebook has been less-than-stellar lately in recording our Sunday services, we have decided to switch our secondary livestream to YouTube instead.

Don’t worry, Zoom users: you will still be able to watch and participate in the service via Zoom as always….. but now instead of offering secondary live-streaming on Facebook, it’ll be hosted on YouTube instead! You can access the StGs YouTube channel anytime via this link (watch past services and sermons there too!), and on Sunday mornings you can click the button that says “live” to tune in to our livestream! Easy-peasy. :) If you’d like, you can hit “subscribe” to be notified via email anytime we go live or a new video is uploaded!

New Baritone: Ryan Wolfe!

We are thrilled to welcome baritone Ryan Wolfe as the newest member of our professional quartet at StGs! An Arlington Heights native who has been singing opera in Los Angeles for the last several years, Ryan has just recently moved back to Arlington Heights with his new wife. He will officially join us starting Sunday, January 19 - please give him our standard warm StGs welcome!

Epiphany Breakfast Pageant!

We’re trying something new and crazy this year to end the Christmas season. On Sunday, January 5, we will gather at 9:30am in Founder’s Hall for some prayer and carols. We will share a bountiful potluck breakfast. And then, we will ALL put on an Epiphany Pageant together, adults and children alike. Scripts, costumes, and scene directors will all be provided. There will be roles with many lines and roles with few or no lines. The important thing is that everyone will have a part – including online folks! 

The idea here is to have a fun, silly, and joyful morning together. Getting playful together is one of the most important ways of creating deeper connections with one another, and opening ourselves to the playfulness of God. We’re taking a bit of inspiration from the English custom of the Christmastide pantomime, when families gather in local theaters to tell familiar stories with comedic twists – all to keep the gloomy cold of winter at bay with mirthful spirits. Let’s do the same! 

So before January 5:

• Think you’ll feel awkward and shy about participating? Of course you will. Take the next month to mentally prepare and remind yourself that most of us will feel the same way… but that’s what will make it fun! :)

• Sign up to bring food or drink for our potluck breakfast on the sheet in the Sign-Up Center.