| Weekly Newsletter for December 4, 2025 |
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| What Shall We Call Him? Rev. Dan Puchalla
We all love to sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” during Advent … but where does that hymn get all those different names for Jesus?
This Sunday, I invite all of you — children, youth, adults — to a special spiritual growth activity right after church. We’ll have an interactive gallery about the names of Jesus, helping us to reflect on what are our deepest hopes that we bring to Christmas.
By the end, everyone will have made their own “Garland of Hope,” suitable for decorating a tree or mantle.
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| Join us for Sunday morning worship online at 9:30am
Meeting ID: 842 861 148 Passcode: 414299 |
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| | Sunday bulletins are posted online every Saturday morning. |
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| | | | | | The Journey to Hope:
Advent at St. Gregory’s
Every Sunday (Nov 30, Dec 7, Dec 14, Dec 21)
Come for gorgeous music that brings us into the mystery, expectation, and peace of this season.
THIS SUNDAY, December 7 | 10:45-11:30 What Shall We Call Him?
All ages are welcome to this fun and interactive event where we find out how the many names of Jesus help us to have a more meaningful Christmas.
Dec 14: Nicasa Wrapping Party | 10:45-11:30 Join our own Youth Service Corps, Scout Troops 50 & 52, and other parishioners for a fun morning of wrapping all our presents for the Nicasa client families.
Coffee with Pastor Dan This can be a tough season for many reasons. If you want to talk about anything, drop by to talk with Pastor Dan at the Starbucks at Deerfield and Waukegan at any of these times: Wednesday, Dec 10 | 11:00 - 4:00 Monday, Dec 15 | 1:00 - 5:00 Wednesday, Dec 17 | 11:00 - 4:00
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| | NICASA Christmas Gifts!
Update: We still have 9 families left who need to be sponsored for Christmas! All remaining are families of 5 – so if that’s too much for one household to cover, we encourage you to join forces with others to sponsor a family.
As is our annual custom, StGs will provide Christmas gifts for 40 Nicasa families! Click the button below to sign up to sponsor a whole family (2-6 people). Once you've signed up, Janet Foltz will email the family's wish list and all of the details to you. If you don’t have time to do the shopping, she is willing to do it for you.
If you're unable to provide gifts for a whole family, please consider making a donation to St. Gregory's and indicating that it is to be used for Nicasa Christmas Gifts. If you have any questions, please contact Janet (847.477.5629) or (jfoltz1004@hotmail.com. Thank you for your generosity! |
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| | Next Community Meals: December 28
We have opportunities for volunteers for our December 28th Community Meals. We have 2 bakers but could use some more. We are looking for nut-free cookies. Bake some extra holiday cookies to donate – they would be greatly appreciated by our guests! If you’re able to join us, please email Barb via the button below, or sign up in the Sign Up Center. |
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| | December 10: Donate while you dine!
On Wednesday, December 10: support Scout Troop 50 when you dine in, carry out, or drive-thru at Culver’s in Lincolnshire or Northbrook! If you mention Troop 50 when you checkout, both locations will donate 25% of sales back to the Troop. |
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| | StGs Christmas Spotify Playlist is here!
Kathryn has compiled your submissions into this StGs Christmas Spotify Playlist, and it is a delightful variety! If you’d like your favorite Christmas songs included on this list, it’s not too late – email Kathryn via the button below and she’ll add them in. |
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| | Donate to Christmas Worship
In addition to the special musicians at our Christmas Eve service (bigger choir! brass! percussion!), we 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!), please use the button below. You may specify that your donation is “in memory of” or “in thanksgiving for” someone, and those attributions will be listed in the Christmas bulletins. If you would prefer to give in person, please use the green envelopes that will be in each pew. To have your attribution listed in the bulletin, you must have it submitted no later than Sunday, December 14! |
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| | Christmas Eve & Day Services:
Christmas is a particularly wonderful time at StGs, with special liturgy, music, and flowers! Join us at 4pm on Christmas Eve for an intergenerational festive Eucharist with extra special music (a big choir, brass quintet, and timpani/percussion) and gorgeous flowers and decor throughout our space. Our nursery will be open for this service. (Please note that we will NOT have our usual 8am Wednesday morning healing service on Christmas Eve - plan to attend the 4pm service online instead!) 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.
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| | Save the Date: January 4 will be our second annual Epiphany Breakfast Pageant!After last year’s hilarious success (it truly was beyond our wildest dreams – this congregation really knows how to have fun together!), we are bringing back our Epiphany Breakfast Pageant!
More details to come, but save the date: you will NOT want to miss January 4 at StGs!
If you need some big laughs, watch last year’s pageant here!
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| | | | | Midweek Prayer Every Wednesday | 8:00am
Need a midweek spiritual boost? Join a lovely small group of folks who gather online every week for spiritual renewal and to pray intentionally for everyone in our community who is in need. |
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| | Meeting ID: 750 552 357
Password: 587299 |
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| | Common Threads Second Tuesday of the month | 7:00pm
Bring a new or ongoing craft project to work on while you enjoy fun and fellowship with other parishioners. Whatever your craft - whether your medium is knitting, embroidery, painting, calligraphy, etc - and whatever your skill level, all are welcome! We meet in the Parker Room. |
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| | Book Club3rd Wednesday of the month | 7:00pm
Note: A reminder that we take December off, but will resume in January!
January 21:
James by Percival Everett
A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.
When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature. |
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| | Meeting ID: 817 1184 3180
Passcode: 893734 |
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| | | | | For healing in mind, body, or spirit: Synda Nelson, Darrell Groves, Michael Tetrick, Rick & Esther Rose
In thanksgiving for…
For the departed… Suzy Laureus
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| | | | | | | | | | Announcements are for church-related matters only. Deadline for announcements is Monday at noon. Please send announcements to Kathryn Kinjo Duncan. |
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