Sunday, December 23 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
8:00 a.m. Spoken Holy Eucharist
10:30 a.m. Christmas Pageant
If you requested weekly offering envelopes for your 2019 pledge, you may pick them up in Hubbard Hall. The envelopes are in alphabetical order by last name, in a box on the windowsill just outside the entrance to the nave.
*The parish office will be CLOSED from Monday, December 24 through Thursday, December 27 and again on Monday, December 31 and Tuesday, January 1*
Click here for this Sunday’s lectionary readings
Click here for a service preview – Besides a preview of the service music and bulletin for upcoming services, this link also provides access to sermon texts, podcasts and live-stream service videos.
Christmas Pageant
The Christmas Pageant will take place during the 10:30 a.m. service this Sunday, December 23. A mandatory rehearsal is this Saturday, December 22, 9 to 11 a.m.
2020 Holy Land Pilgrimage
Do you want to travel to the Holy Land? If enough people show interest, Bill and Hope Eakins will lead a 12-day pilgrimage from November 27 to December 8, 2020. The trip would be similar to the parish trip in September 2018, with guide Iyad Qumri. The land portion of the trip would cost approximately $2,500 (double) to $2,950 (single). If you might want to join the group, please contact Ellen Dollar in the church office and ask to be put on the Holy Land pilgrimage list.
Important year-end contribution information
For financial gifts or pledge payments to be included in your 2018 giving history, they must be received in the office no later than tomorrow, Friday, December 21. This is to ensure that they can be deposited by year end, given the staff’s limited office hours between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Donations deposited after January 1 can still be applied to your 2018 pledge, but will be included on your 2019 giving statement instead of 2018.
If you plan to donate stock, please contact Peggy O’Toole, financial administrator, ahead of time so we know how to apply the donation. Gifts of stock often arrive without a name on them. Please also contact Peggy if you have any questions about your pledge or contributions. Thank you for your generous support of St. John’s!
Beware of scam emails! 
Recently a scammer obtained e-mail addresses for parish volunteers by searching e-newsletters posted on the web site, and then sent messages that appeared as if they were from the rector, Susan Pinkerton. This is a common phishing scheme. If you receive an e-mail from the rector or any other St. John’s staff member or volunteer that seems odd or out of character, it’s probably a scam! Even if you recognize the name in the “FROM” field of the message, the name may be cloaking a scam e-mail address. You can find out what the originating e-mail address is by clicking on the “FROM” name. If you receive one of these messages, do not respond, and simply delete it.
Twelfth Night Potluck on January 4
Bring the Christmas season to a festive close with good food and company at the annual Twelfth Night potluck supper. The evening closes with a spectacular bonfire outdoors, where we burn the St. John’s Christmas tree (with permits and safety measures). St. John’s has welcomed many new people in the past few months — if you’re relatively new to St. John’s, please join us for this fun tradition, and if you’re not new, come welcome our newest members! Please bring a main dish, side or dessert to share if you’re able.
Pipes Alive! Organ Concert on January 6
Pipes Alive! is a series of half-hour concerts by regional organists, on the first Sunday of the month January through June, following the 10:30 Sunday service. Join us for the first Pipes Alive! of 2019 on Sunday, January 6 featuring Diana Chou. A soup lunch will be served between the service and the concert.
Hala Kattoub presents her original poem at school
In August 2016, St. John’s and St. James’s welcomed the Kattoub family — who had been living in Jordan for four years after fleeing their native Syria — to West Hartford. Hala Kattoub, the oldest of the family’s four children, was six years old at the time and knew only a few words of English. Thanks to their family, their schools, and regular tutoring from volunteers, Hala and the other children have made amazing progress in learning English, and this week, she read her original poem “When the Tooth Fairy Came” to her classmates at Whiting Lane School. Congratulations to Hala!