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December 11, 2020
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The Fair Closes Tomorrow!
Don't miss out!
Visit our website to shop crafts & bid at the silent auction!
Throughout Advent and Christmastide, St. John's will offer a virtual Holy Eucharist service at 8am on Facebook and a Participatory Sunday Worship at 10am on ZOOM. To join the ZOOM worship, use the meeting ID: 883 0267 7388 and the Passcode: 175371 or you can clink the link below.
Join us Tuesdays & Thursdays at 7pm during Advent and Christmastide for a virtual service of Compline with a scripture reflection via ZOOM. To join this ZOOM service, use the Meeting ID: 833 2904 6468 and Passcode: 465757 or clink the link below.
Advent Prayer Resources
We invite you to explore St. John's Advent Prayer Resources on our website. The page is a compilation of resources we thought might help you enter into the spirit of Advent. This Sunday we will post a resource made available from the Joint Education and Advocacy effort of the Episcopal Networks Collaborative: "O Antiphon Reflections."

The Great O Antiphons are Antiphons sung before and after the Magnificat at vespers on the seven days before Christmas. The texts are of unknown origin and date at least from the ninth century. Each antiphon begins with the letter "O" and a name or attribute of God from the Hebrew Scriptures: O Sapientia, "O Wisdom"; O Adonai, "O Sacred Lord"; O Radix Jesse, "O Root of Jesse"; O Clavis David, "O Key of David"; O Oriens, "O Rising Sun"; O Rex gentium, "O King of nations"; and O Emmanuel, "O Emmanuel." In the Roman rite the antiphons are sung from Dec. 17-23, but in the medieval Sarum use they began on Dec. 16, adding on Dec. 23, O Virgo virginum (O Virgin of virgins). The Great O Antiphons have been adapted as a popular Advent hymn, "O come, O come, Emmanuel" (Hymn 56), whose verses may be used as antiphons for the Magnificat on the appropriate days.

You are invited to read and ponder the reflections on the O Antiphons written by individuals across the country fostering the hope Jesus brings to despair everyday as we encounter people in our daily lives: immigrants, low wage workers, targets of hate crimes and those fighting corporate greed which threatens sacred lands with environmental destruction. 
Prayer Shawl Ministry
A Prayer Shawl is a wonderful gift to those in any kind of bereavement, or who have experienced a medical, surgical, or life changing event. They are knit with love, blessed and can be gifted to anyone as a sign of God's healing presence. Do you know someone who would be blessed by receiving one? Prayer Shawls are available through the office. Call or e-mail Ben to schedule a time to pick one up.
e-Mail Phishing Scam
We are, yet again, experiencing e-Mail Phishing Scams impersonating Rev. Julianne. Please know that Julianne or any staff member of St. John's will never contact you by e-mail to ask you to buy iTunes or other types of gift cards. These scams are becoming more sophisticated and harder to identify, but be easiest way is to look at the email address it is being sent from. As you can see in the example below, there is a fake email address that the scammer has made to impersonate Rev. Julianne.
 

If the message does not end in "@stjohnsnorthampton.org," don't trust it! If you ever are not sure, please give Julianne or Ben a phone call directly to sort it out. Do not respond to a phishing scam e-mail. Please report it, delete it, and change your password if possible. Thank you!
Christmas Joy for Grace House
Help us bring Christmas Joy to the 12 Mothers and 17 Children of Grace House!

Donations can be made through our website (click the tree or visit stjohnsnorthampton.org/stewardship) or by mailing a check written out to St. John's with "Grace House" in the memo field.

Please make your donation by December 13th to allow us adequate time to shop, wrap, and deliver gifts by Christmas.
 
THANK YOU!
Each year the people of St. John’s have brought Christmas Joy to the residents of Grace House.  

Since we are restricted in our social interactions this year so that we can all have a healthy, safe Christmas Season, we have come up with a plan to continue our tradition.  Instead of selecting name tags from our Giving Tree, we are requesting cash donations, and will use the money to purchase the gifts from a local retail store to support our community, and then have them gift-wrapped and tagged for delivery to Grace House.

You can make your contribution by mailing a check to the office, indicating that the donation is for Grace House, texting "GIVE" to (774) 298-0388, or using our website. We would appreciate receiving your contributions any time before December 13th.  This date will give us time to shop, wrap, prepare name tags for the gifts, and enough time to deliver them for Christmas.

Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions. We pray for abundant blessings to all during our health emergency, for care and concerns for ALL God’s people.

Michelle Burgess (Nouchelle@comcast.net)
Helen Engeseth (heleneng37@gmail.com)
Worship Opportunities

 
SUNDAYS
Virtual Holy Eucharist
8AM on Facebook
Participatory Zoom Worship
10AM on ZOOM

TUESDAYS
Compline
7PM on Zoom


WEDNESDAYS
Taize
7PM on ZOOM Webinar & Facebook
(first Wednesday of each month)

THURSDAYS
Compline
7PM on Zoom



 
Office Hours

The Office remains closed to the public. Our Administrative Assistant, Ben is working remotely and can be reached:

Monday -Friday
9:00am-3:30pm
Ministerial Staff


The Rev'd Dr. Julianne Buenting
Interim Rector
jbuenting@stjohnsnorthampton.org

The Rev'd Dr. Michael Ramsey-Musolf
Priest Associate for Global Mission
associate@stjohnsnorthampton.org

Grant Moss
Organist & Choir Master
music@stjohnsnorthampton.org

Olivia Leone
Christian Education Director
education@stjohnsnorthampton.org

Benjiman Durfee
Administrative Assistant
office@stjohnsnorthampton.org

Cole Dvar
Sexton
sexton@stjohnsnorthampton.org
You can contact the office
at 413-584-1757 or
office@stjohnsnorthampton.org
Copyright © 2020 St. John's Episcopal Church, All rights reserved.


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