News

We are so excited to have so many children signed up to participate in the Annual Christmas Pageant! We would love more non-speaking shepherds, animals and angels, so please be sure to turn in your child’s participation form by Dec. 4 (participation forms are attached)! No prior acting or Christmas Pageant experience is necessary. All are welcome!

Children’s Ministries News

• Children’s Chapel will be held Sunday at the 9am service only. Children’s Chapel is for children ages 3 through 2nd Grade. Please follow the children’s cross processional to the Youth Wing.
• Sunday School and Children’s Chapel will be on vacation next Sunday, Nov. 27, for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Instead, please join Children’s Ministries at the Craft and Cookie Coffee Hour on Nov. 27. Come eat freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and make an ornament for your Christmas tree!
• The 2016-2017 Children’s Collection Basket is collecting funds to host a Note in the Pocket Sort Day on June 4, 2017. So far we have collected $663.95 toward our $3000.00 goal.
• Christmas Pageant Participation Forms are available in the Narthex and at the Children’s Ministries Bulletin Board in the Ed. Bldg. All non-speaking forms are due by Dec. 4.
• Pre-EYC meets Sunday in the Parish Hall at 11:15am. All 4th and 5th graders are welcome to join us for a “Thankful” Meeting.

Sunday School Lessons this Week

The Lesson is “The Season of Advent”

Summary: Advent is the first season of the Church year, because as Christians we begin with Jesus Christ. Advent means coming. During this season, we anticipate and prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ in our lives. In this lesson on the season of Advent you can focus on the meaning of the season, its symbols and traditions and the kinds of stories that are told and why they are important for us. The scripture readings focus on the expectation and fulfillment of God’s promises to us.

The themes include:

■■ the coming of Jesus Christ as a baby in Bethlehem

■■ the second coming of Christ at the end of time

■■ judgment on the nations and on individuals for their behavior towards others (Matthew 25)

■■ preparation for Christ’s coming, including repentance for our sins, helping other people and “making our paths straight”

Episcopal Thread: As a liturgical church, the Episcopal Church follows the liturgical calendar closely in its worship, so Advent is a familiar and well-loved time. Often there are church-wide activities during Advent to prepare the congregation for Christmas. One church has an Advent event every year on the first Sunday in Advent, an intergenerational program of service and craft-making using Advent themes of joy, peace, love and hope. In another church, each family makes an Advent wreath to take home. In another church, members make Advent candles. Many churches will offer an Advent Festival of Lessons and Music, often as an evening service. Guidelines for this service can be found in the Book of Occasional Services (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2004, p. 31). (St. Paul’s will host a Lessons and Carols Service on Dec. 18 at 4pm).

Despite the cultural tendency to begin celebrating Christmas right after Thanksgiving, the Episcopal Church is careful to keep the season of Advent from merging into Christmas. Advent hymns, not Christmas carols, are sung. Scripture readings prepare us for the birth of Christ, but wait until Christmas to tell the story of the nativity. It is a time of expectation and anticipation, not yet celebration. Christmas will come soon enough.

Things to wonder with your children:

■■ What was today’s lesson about?

■■ What stories did we hear about today? What do they tell us?

■■ What did we learn about the season of Advent?

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about Children’s Ministries.

See you on Sunday!

Christine

Christine Ingram
Parish Administrator & Director of Children’s Ministries

Children’s Calendar

Nov. 20 Pre-EYC meets 11:15am-1pm/No 11:15am Chapel

Nov. 27 Craft and Cookie Coffee Hour/No Sunday School/No Children’s Chapel

Dec. 3 Pre-EYC to Note in the Pocket 12-1:30pm

Dec. 4 St. Nicholas Sunday/Last Day of SS/Pre-EYC Christmas Party 11:15am-1pm/No 11:15am Chapel

Dec. 9 Christmas Pageant Rehearsal 5:45-8pm

Dec. 10 Christmas Pageant Rehearsal 9am-12pm

Dec. 11 Christmas Pageant 9am Service/No Children’s Chapel or Sunday School

Dec. 18 No Children’s Chapel or Sunday School/No Pre-EYC

Dec. 24 Christmas Eve Service for Young Families- 4pm

Dec. 25 No Children’s Chapel or Sunday School/No Pre-EYC

Jan.1 No Sunday School/No Children’s Chapel

Jan. 8 Sunday School, Children’s Chapel and Pre-EYC resume