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 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 remaining times:

• Monday, Dec 15 | 1:00 - 5:00

• Wednesday, Dec 17 | 11:00 - 4:00

NICASA Christmas Gifts: LAST CHANCE!

Final update: it’s not too late to donate toward giving Christmas to a family in need! Click the button below and make sure you add a note that the $ is to be used for Nicasa.

If you have any questions, please contact Janet (847.477.5629) or  (jfoltz1004@hotmail.com). Thank you for your generosity!

Next Community Meals: December 28

We have volunteer opportunities to serve at Community Meals in Waukegan on Sunday, December 28th. We currently have 2 volunteers and need several more. Thanks to the 4 cookie bakers - we are all set. If you’re able to join us, please email Barb via the button below, or sign up in the Sign Up Center.

Thank You!

Thank you to all the participants in the class studying gender and theology, including Bill & Janet Foltz, Bruce Moore, Sue Koy, Karen Nicholas, Annette Baez, Linda Honour, and Paula Hamilton. Special thanks to Dan Nicholas for leading the class! We will continue our discussions and education around LGBTQ+ issues in the future, so keep an eye out. 🌈

Looking for a beautiful holiday concert?

Come support parishioner Kristen Logas singing in the Chicago Master Singers Christmas concert this Sat, Dec 13 (7:30pm) or Sun, Dec 14 (3pm). ​In a word, this year’s CMS Christmas concerts are all about warmth. Accompanied by strings and piano, the chorus will sing lush pieces that will illuminate even the longest, darkest nights. Familiar carols and our popular sing-along are coupled with choral favorites to provide a magical experience that is sure to get you in the holiday mood. Perfect for families and friends, these concerts are an annual tradition you don’t want to miss!

Service Opportunity to Support Veterans

If you’re looking for a service opportunity this week amidst the holiday bustle, Senator Julie Morrison is hosting a donation drive and blanket-making event to support our veterans this Saturday, December 13. You can drop off non-perishable food, new blankets and new games that will be donated to the Midwest Veterans Closet. If you’d prefer to donate your time, you you can attend the event anytime from 10am-1pm at the Highland Park Police Station Training Room (1677 Old Deerfield Rd) and help tie provided no-sew fleece blankets! Find more info on the event here.

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. 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 THIS SUNDAY, December 14!

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!

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 Club

3rd 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