Parish Reminders and Announcements:
1. Wednesday Midday Prayer 12:30pm on Zoom.
2. Sunday Bible Study on Zoom from 9-9:45 am.
3. Sunday Church School in-person from 9:30-10:15a.m.
4. UPDATE to PayPal: When submitting your tithes and offerings using PayPal please add the transaction fee to your offering as PayPal will no longer accept the “Friends and Family” option to bypass the fee.
Christmas & New Years Services:
Dec. 24, 2023, 10:30a.m.: Holy Eucharist—Regular Sunday Service
Dec. 24, 2023, 6:00p.m.: Christmas Eve Service
Dec. 31, 2023, 10:30a.m.: Holy Eucharist—Regular Sunday Service
Dec. 31, 2023, 8:00p.m.: New Years Eve Service
All are welcome: we invite our Siblings in Christ, especially St. Martin’s and St. Stephen’s, as well as the wider Hartford, Bloomfield & Windsor communities. Please share with those unable to read or hear our news.
Wine & Wafers: The wine and wafers are offered today to the Glory of God and in loving memory of the birthday of our Mom Julia Rankins on December 20th and in thanksgiving for the 95th birthday of Ivy Anderson on December 16th. Bob and Pat Nelson
Thank you to Mercury Cleaners for cleaning our draperies for free with the request that the cost be donated to our outreach programs. Anyone who wanted to help with the cost of the drapery cleaning might offer it to our Food Pantry, Your Place Hartford, or our youth outreach to the seniors at St. Monica's Apartments.
Plants for Christmas: The Altar Guild is requesting donations for the cost of providing live poinsettias to adorn the church on Christmas. The request is the same: $20.00 per plant and your name and thanksgiving or memory will be listed in the Christmas Remembrance booklet. Please see any member of the Altar Guild, fill out and return the form with your donation to any Altar Guild member: Edwina Tuning, Hyacinth Tate, Euna Farrell, Lucy Fuentes, and Mary Pinnock. For questions or special requests, call or text Lucy at 860-205-5912 or Edwina at 860-478-9909. You may also email Lucy: 107fuentes@comcast.net, give your name, phone, and request in thanksgiving and/or memory, and mail your donation to St. Monica's Church, Attn: Christmas Flowers. Deadline for entry in the Christmas Memorial Booklet is Sunday, December 17, 2023.
Thinking about what to put on your Christmas list? When someone asks you “what you want for Christmas”, reply with “a donation to St Monica’s”!
Our finance team will record the donation as a gift and alert you that someone has made a gift in your name, so that you too can acknowledge their gift!
2023 Advent Book Study began December 6, 2023. This year's book is Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark. Where’s the baby? The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have a nativity story―so where’s the Advent message? It’s in every aspect of Jesus’ life, to his death and beyond.
The Incarnation―God came to earth in human form to be baptized, teach, heal, eat, and die―is what we celebrate at Christmas, and Mark shows us just how radical and celebration-worthy it is!
Come join us as we meet and explore how Holy Disruption presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded, not in a conventional cozy Christmas message, but through Mark's disquieting gospel which invites its readers to experience God's disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.
Wednesday – 6p.m. – via Zoom
Parish Initiatives: The vestry would like to formulate some new committees to help revitalize the church. If you have interest in being involved with any of the committees please contact, Stephanie Lightfoot or send an email to the bulletin committee. The committees are,
1. Membership Committee – with the aim toward reactivating existing members and attracting new members.
2. Rental Committee – with the aim of seeking ways in which we might be able to rent out our space and to develop a rental agreement.
3. Fundraising Committee – to help supplement our annual budget
ECCT & AROUND THE PARISH ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Women Together is a group that gathers weekly to explore our Christian faith and practice through book discussion, prayer and fellowship. We meet on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:15pm in the reception room at St. John’s (679 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT).
On Tuesday November 28, 2023, Women Together began discussing Living Buddha Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh. “Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between two great contemplative traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider. In lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and he reawakens our understanding of both. "On the altar in my hermitage," he says, "are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors."” Don’t worry if you haven’t received your book yet, just read what you can and join us for discussion.
Resources from the Ministry Network to help us acknowledge and confront systemic racism, white supremacy, and anti-black bias in our nation and in The Episcopal Church in Connecticut. Blessings, The Racial Healing, Justice, and Reconciliation Core Team
Critical Race Theory Network Gathering: Video Link and Worship Service
Save the Date
AROUND OUR COMMUNITY
The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Zion Church is sponsoring a Respite Care Program for Caregivers that will bring much needed relief to caregivers who are caring for their loved ones and other care recipients under a caregiver’s custody. if you are aware of Caregivers at Saint Monica’s who are,
1. Caregiver Caring for a Loved One Suffering with Dementia or Alzheimer's Disease,
2. Caregiver Caring for a Relative 60 Years Old or Older,
3. Grandparent or Older Relative Caring for Children Under 18 Years of Age
4. Caregiver Caring for an Adult between Ages 19 And 59 With a Disability,
They are eligible for the Connecticut Statewide and the National Family Caregiver Support Respite Care Programs (see attached flyers).
In addition to the information on the flyers, respite care services can also be delivered by someone the caregiver or care recipient hires and manages directly. Should the caregiver or care recipient choose this option, the North Central Area Agency on Aging will be responsible for paying the respite Caregiver of your choice. If a Caregiver at Saint Monica’s is Interested in these Respite Programs, Contact Rev. Patricia Flowers or DeNette Johnson at (860) 527-7087 or email us at Communityrespiteprogram@gmail.com.
NOTE: A few copies of some announcements are available on the Stewardship and Outreach Table to share with others.