a note from rev. sharon

Dear St. John’s,
   The wait is almost over! After weeks of lighting Advent candles and singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” Christmas is nearly here.
  Depending on how much cleaning, shopping, baking and present-wrapping we want to accomplish before it arrives, this realization may spark anxiety as well as joy within our hearts.
   But here’s the thing: Christmas will arrive whether we have bought the right gifts, prepared a sumptuous feast, decorated the tree – or not. The greatest gift of all, the birth of Baby Jesus as God incarnate, is coming. There’s nothing we can do to earn or deserve it, and there’s nothing we can do to halt it. God loves us, full stop. And God is determined to come to us, wherever we are in our lives, whether we think we’re ready or not.
   I hope your holiday preparations have gone as planned, or close to it. But even if they haven’t, it’s okay. Jesus came to us as an infant born in a stable; Jesus will not mind if our house is messy and the cookies are a little burnt.
   Let us open our hearts to the miraculous gift of the incarnation, as we enter into the true joy of Christmas.
    Rev. Sharon
   P.S. We’d love to worship with you during this holiday season. Here’s a list of our services, from the last Sunday of Advent through our Epiphany celebration.
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 24 at 10:30 a.m. Deacon John will lead a quiet Morning Prayer service.
Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. We will celebrate the miracle of Jesus’ birth with a musical prelude at 9:45 p.m. and a choral Eucharist at 10 p.m.
Christmas Day, Dec. 25. We continue our celebration with Christmas carols and Eucharist at 10 a.m.
First Sunday after Christmas, Dec. 31 at 10:30 a.m. Deacon John leads Morning Prayer.
Epiphany Sunday, Jan. 7 at 10:30 a.m. We celebrate the arrival of the magi at the manger and present our own talents and talent stories during a festive choral Eucharist.​