This 4th week of Advent, I read David White's poem (below), asking me to consider how everything is waiting for me…by the same title.
It made me realize that everything waiting for me includes salvation. Jesus’ foremost desire is to save us. He wants to give us everything, I believe God’s gift to us is much more than just a trip to heaven after we die. I am challenging myself during this last week of Advent to dwell on the gift of salvation. We are called to recognize that God did not redeem us in a vacuum. God brought about the birth of Jesus through the cooperation of a human woman with the life-giving Holy Spirit. Mary’s vocation was not only to bear the God incarnate, but also to be the inspiration for us as we all become “God-bearers.”
God’s time breaks into our time whenever we, in prayer or worship or ministry, cooperate with divine will. Before Covid, and in Advent years past, we prayed these words from Eucharistic Prayer B:
We give thanks to you, O God… For in these last days you sent Jesus to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world. In him, you have delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand before you. In him, you have brought us out of error into truth; out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
Everything is waiting for us…This last week of Advent, I want to hold near to me that God adores and cares for each of us through any darknesses into every joy.
I want to live like a child of the light…I want to follow Jesus. Blessings to you this week.
Everything is Waiting for You
Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.
As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions.
To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice.
You must note the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last.
All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
Join us on Christmas Eve, December 24th
5:00pm for an extended Musical Prelude of Christmas Music
5:30pm Christmas Eve Service for Families
Our Christmas Eve family service will continue with a few adjustments for 2021...
We invite your whole family to come enjoy the sweetness and beauty of a Christmas Eve service, with no pressure and no stress. No lines to learn. No rehearsals.
This year there will be two processionals.
The first processional will be with the living creche (the Holy Family), followed by a processional with Santa and all the children at the end of our worship.
Families will also be invited to to listen to the story of Jesus’ birth as presented by Chloe the Camel. (The Rev. Marya DeCarlen!).
This much-anticipated event is a special time in the life of All Saints and our community. Invite your family and friends to witness this prayerful, beloved story unfold as we embrace the mystery of God’s love.
We look forward to being with you.
Join us on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82704451104
or via phone +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 827 0445 1104
Christmas Flowers
Please turn in your Christmas Flower envelopes to the Parish Office by Monday, December 20. Envelopes are available in the narthex.
The Twelve Days of the All Saints Giving Tree
On the first Day of Christmas our giving tree appeared
On the second day of Christmas brightly lit it was
On the third day of Christmas the decorating began
On the fourth day of Christmas bulbs, thirty-five in all were hung
On the fifth day of Christmas the bulbs began to disappear
On the sixth day of Christmas gifts under the tree, oh my
On the seventh day of Christmas bulbs 36 through 50 graced the tree
On the eighth day of Christmas more gifts under the tree
On the ninth day of Christmas surprise no bulbs left on the tree
On the tenth day of Christmas family gifts filled the ground
On the Eleventh day of Christmas Santa came to deliver the gifts
On the twelfth day of Christmas... A huge THANK YOU to All Saints parish members and friends who
donated. I am speechless (and for those who know me that is a
miracle) at your generosity to our DCF family. I heard from DCF that
Mom, Michael, and Benjamin received a tree and have decorated it.
Again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for helping this family to have a
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Carol
Leave taking of Chris Walker
For the last 7 years, Chris has entrusted us with his gifts of reviewing and analyzing monthly budgets, investing our income, inspiring us to give our time, talent and treasure, and assisting us with an entrepreneurial spirit, even on Zoom during a pandemic. His hope has been that we would use these gifts for the building up of our beloved faith community to ever seek the kingdom of God, both in this place, and beyond our walls. With his loyal and dedicated service as a Counter, as a member of the Finance Team, the Stewardship Team, the TELL Team and the Entrepreneurial Team, we give deep thanks for his abiding faith.
Please join us in saying farewell to Chris as he returns home to his family in England, and works remotely!!! He prefers to say “au revoir,” rather than goodbye, since he will return for business a few times a year!
We are so very grateful for his presence in our midst!!!
Beloved family of All Saints,
I am humbled and excited to invite you to my ordination to the priesthood on Saturday, 8 January, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. Because of COVID protocols, the service will be offered in our usual hybrid way: one congregation in three “pews” (platforms: Zoom and Facebook). There are limited seats in person. If you would like to attend in person, we are requiring reservations by December 20th. Please click here to email your reservation. It will be first-come, first-admitted to this list. I wish it were not so, but am grateful to be ordained by you, my church family, gathered in whatever way you can attend! I am grateful, also, to Fran Weil for agreeing to be the Zoom Host; it will feel like “home."
I am excited that the next day, Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 9:30, I will officiate over the Agape meal/Holy Eucharist at All Saints for the first time as an ordained priest. It is my deep honor to call you my chosen family. You have raised me up since September, 2019. During the season of pandemic, God called me to be a parish priest through our lives together, beloved siblings in Christ. I am profoundly grateful to God for you. There will be a reception after the Sunday service on January 9th.
IV Advent, December 19, 2021
9:30 am, Hybrid Eucharist and Agape Meal
(Facebook Live Streaming, Zoom, in-person)
Christmas Eve, December 24, 2021
5 pm, Extended Musical Prelude, Images of Christmas
(Facebook Live Streaming, Zoom, in-person)
5:3 0 pm, Hybrid Eucharist and Agape Meal, with children's sermon and reverent visit from Santa
(Facebook Live Streaming, Zoom, in-person)
I Christmas December 26, 2021
9:30 am, Hybrid Eucharist and Agape Meal
(Facebook Live Streaming, Zoom, in-person)
II Christmas January 2, 2021
9:30 am, Procession of Wise People and Hybrid Eucharist and Agape Meal
(Facebook Live Streaming, Zoom, in-person)
Stewardship Update
A heartfelt thank you to all of you who have already pledged. As of December 15, we
have received 59 pledges, for a total of $142,682! We are hoping for another 30-35 pledges, so if you have not yet pledged, please consider doing so. There are several ways by which you can pledge – fill out a pledge card and mail it to All Saints or deliver it to the office, pledge on-line or by automatic deduction. If you are unsure of anything concerning pledging, please contact our Parish Administrator (978-774-1150 or allstoffice@gmail.com
Thank you again for your support.
Parish Office Hours
The office is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30-1:30. The administrator works remotely Wednesdays and Fridays, and is available via telephone or email.
The parish office will be closed the week of December 26, but you can still call or email with questions or concerns.
Inclement Weather
Should inclement weather cause in-person worship to be cancelled this winter, an email will be sent out on Sunday morning by 6 a.m. Please join us via Zoom for safe, virtual worship!
As you begin to think about holiday shopping this year, please remember our Amazon Smile site. All Saints receives a portion of the proceeds for certain items, all at no extra cost to you. Click here to start shopping: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/22-2508310
Stay Connected to All Saints via Computer or Phone
The Danvers People to People Food Pantry is requesting the following items for December. Please consider adding a few items to your shopping cart and dropping them off at church on Thursdays between 8:30 and 1:30 pm, or on Sunday Mornings, or at the pantry itself.
December collection includes toothpaste, shampoo and hot cereals.
Thank you for your generosity!
Tis the season to be a blessing to others! Are you looking for a way to put God’s love into action? Essex County Habitat for Humanity may be the place for you. You can help us build affordable housing without lifting a hammer! The Essex County Habitat for Humanity ReStores are looking for enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers to join us on a regular basis at our stores. Just a few hours a week or a month can make a difference. The ReStores play a crucial role in building, rehabilitating and repairing safe and affordable homes in your local community. Sales of donated items at the ReStore help fund everything that goes into our build projects, such as materials, staffing, land and more. All of this would not be possible without the help of our volunteers. We are looking for people to help organize the houseware and tools departments, assist customers and/or accept donations and more at both of our ReStores. Every volunteer is an essential part in the operations of the store. See below for more information on each of our ReStores, and how to get involved. Lawrence ReStore: 647 Andover St. Lawrence, MA; Peabody ReStore: 58R Pulaski St. Peabody, MA. Both stores are open from 10 am-5 pm on Tuesday through Saturday. Volunteers can stay anywhere from 2 hours to the whole day.
"In the midst of blue": An Advent reflection for 2021 from Bishop Gates
I am thinking about blue, a color of sadness.
In common parlance, blue is associated with sorrow and discouragement. A blue mood is a gloomy mood. In my childhood, there was a popular song called “Love is Blue,” in which the singer pines for his departed sweetheart. Curiously, though the song is entitled “Love is Blue,” its lyrics never say it’s the love that’s blue: “Blue, blue, my world is blue / Blue is my world since I’m without you.” It’s his life without love that is blue.
As we move through the season of Advent, towards Christmas, many of us are feeling blue. So many things right now are occasions for sorrow and discouragement. From global challenges to national scourges, from family crises to our own personal wounds, we are beset by endless sources of worry and dismay. High on that list is our shared grief at the unimaginable loss of life to the ongoing pandemic, and the continuing restrictions which have dashed our hopes for a Christmas unlike the one we marked a year ago. Blue is the color of melancholy and woe, and we are blue.
I am thinking about blue, a color of trust and serenity.
