Weekly Newsletter for December 18, 2025 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hopes and Fears of All the Years Rev. Dan Puchalla
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” is definitely in my Top 5 Christmas Carols.
It was written in 1865 by Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest (!) and rector of Trinity Church in Philadelphia. As the story goes, Brooks was inspired to write this carol while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and after seeing the real, living city of Bethlehem.
However, I can’t help but think that the end of the American Civil War in 1865 — and the uncertain future of the newly reunited republic — had something to do with the words he chose. That may be especially so when we recall that line from the first stanza:
Yet in thy dark streets shineth The Everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.
Even as a child, I can remember being intrigued by, moved by, and drawn to these words. The birth of Jesus is not just about unbridled joy. Rather, somehow, hope and fear are united in this birth and in this baby.
What is the role of fear in Christmas? How is fear untied to hope in Jesus’ birth? What hopes and fears do we bring to this year’s Christmas? This Sunday, we will ponder these questions with our friend St. Joseph, that dreaming carpenter who had to face his own fears in order to be part of the story of salvation.
|
|
|
Join us for Sunday morning worship online at 9:30am
Meeting ID: 842 861 148 Passcode: 414299 |
|
|
|
Sunday bulletins are posted online every Saturday morning. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you to all who were involved with our 2025 Nicasa Gift drive - the generous and joyful heart of StGs has made a huge difference to the 40 families we sponsored! Thanks to all who sponsored families or donated funds, and also to all who helped wrap and box up hundreds of presents last Sunday, including Troop 50 and the Youth Service Corps! Extra special thanks to Janet Foltz for organizing this massive effort every year. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Great News!
Better Neighbors Project Update
Bishop Paula Clark, with the recommendation of the diocesan Standing Committee, has given us her consent to sell the Rectory house and adjacent property, according to the resolution we approved this past fall. We can now negotiate in earnest with the Park District for a sale.
On the Parking Lot front, we also have forward movement: the Park District will soon be conducting comprehensive engineering assessments of our parking lot in preparation for bidding out the work. Once we have solid dollar figures, we will negotiate an equitable cost-sharing of this project and future maintenance. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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, Dec 21: Help us Decorate for Christmas! While we have no official Spiritual Growth Session following the service, if you are able we invite anyone who would like to stay after the service to help decorate the sanctuary for Christmas! There will be jobs for all abilities – from getting on ladders to help hang the big wreaths and bringing the creche down from storage, to decorating the Nativity display and putting candles in the candelabras. Many hands make light work! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Next Community Meals: December 28
We have volunteer opportunities for Community Meals on December 28th. Please consider this important ministry outreach that St. Gregory's Church has been supporting for over 30 years. If you’re able to join us, please email Barb via the button below, or sign up in the Sign Up Center. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. While it’s now officially past the deadline to have your attribution included in the Christmas Eve/Day bulletin, you can still make a donation toward the music or flowers (or both!), via the button below! If you would prefer to give in person, please use the green envelopes that will be in each pew. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2025 Donations due by December 31
Don’t forget: Donations that need to be recorded on your 2025 tax statement must be received by Wednesday, December 31. As always, you can donate via the offering plate (by Sunday, Dec 28), you can send a check via snail mail, or donate online. Thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
| | Meeting ID: 750 552 357
Password: 587299 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
| | Meeting ID: 817 1184 3180
Passcode: 893734 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For healing in mind, body, or spirit: Michael Tetrick, Rick & Esther Rose, Jill, the Stover/Wyatt/Martin family
In thanksgiving for…
For the departed… Jan, Ann Stover-Wyatt
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Announcements are for church-related matters only. Deadline for announcements is Monday at noon. Please send announcements to Kathryn Kinjo Duncan. |
|
|
|
|
