Dear Friend of St. Philip the Deacon:
This coming weekend we will celebrate worship with our annual Service of Lessons and Carols. Please join us for this wonderful opportunity to hear and sing some of the Christmas season's most beloved music. Also, please note our upcoming Christmas Season Worship Schedule on Christmas Eve and following:
Christmas Eve -- Holy Communion at All Services
- 11:00 a.m. - Children's Worship with Storyteller and Children's Choirs
- 2:00, 4:00, 5:30 p.m. - Worship with Orchestra and SPD Quartet
- 7:00, 9:00, 11:00 p.m. - Candlelight Worship with Orchestra, SPD Quartet (7 and 9) and Sanctuary Choir (11)
Christmas Day:
- 11:00 a.m. - Worship with Holy Communion and Norah Long, soloist
Saturday, December 27
- 5:30 p.m. - Worship with Holy Communion
Sunday, December 28
- 8:30, 9:45, 11:00 - Normal Sunday morning worship schedule
- 7:00 p.m. - The Quarter
Monday, December 29
- 7:30 p.m. - Worship with Holy Communion
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Giving Opportunities for Christmas
 We still have opportunities for SPD members to adopt sixteen adults this Christmas. Please stop by Fellowship Hall to sign up to offer your gifts and prayers. While you are there, you can also check out the Alternative Giving opportunities for people on your list who say they don't want you to get them anything. Perhaps instead of a gift to them, you could give a gift to a great ministry in their honor. Find info on Heifer International, Caring for Kids (local), The Kasambala Medical Center, and Interfaith Outreach. |
Opportunity to Assist at Christmas Worship Services
We have many opportunities to serve as an usher or communion server at our multiple Christmas Services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If you are interested in helping out with this important ministry of hospitality, please e-mail Cindy Carlson.
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IOCP Clergy Sleepout
 Pastor Strand will participate in the Clergy Sleepout for Interfaith Outreach on Thursday night, December 11. The Sleep Out raises funds for families in our community who need assistance with housing. To donate online, go to www.IOCP.org, and indicate The Clergy Sleep Out and Pastor Strand. Gifts in any amount are greatly appreciated. The goal is to be able to help 939 families expected to need housing assistance in the coming year. Donations for 334 families have been received so far. |
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If you have questions about anything you've read here, or want to know more about St. Philip the Deacon and its ministries, please contact us at info@spdlc.org or 763-475-7100.
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An Unexpected Gift
Among the most familiar Christmas texts is the one in Isaiah: "The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). Less familiar is its context: Isaiah has been pleading with King Ahaz to put his trust in God's promise to Israel rather than in alliances with strong military powers like Syria. "If you will not believe, you shall not be established," Isaiah warns Ahaz (7:9). Then the prophet tells the fearful king that God is going to give him a baby as a sign. A baby. Isn't that just like God, Ahaz must have thought. What Ahaz needed, with Assyria breathing down his neck, was a good army, not a baby.
This is often the way God loves us: with gifts we thought we didn't need, which transform us into people we don't necessarily want to be. With our advanced degrees, armies, government programs, material comforts and self-fulfillment techniques, we assume that religion is about giving a little of our power in order to confirm to ourselves that we are indeed as self-sufficient as we claim.
Then this stranger comes to us, blesses us with a gift, and calls us to see ourselves as we are -- empty-handed recipients of a gracious God who, rather than leave us to our own devices, gave us a baby.
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William Willimon, in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas
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