December 22, The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Sunday December 22:  The Fourth Sunday of Advent 

10:15  a.m. Advent Lessons and Carols with the Holy Eucharist. 

            We conclude Advent with our Liturgy of Lessons and Carols.  The Liturgy of the Word contains the stories of Creation and the Fall, and the Advent Prophecies from Catechesis of the Good Shepherd;  the Star, the Light, the City, the Mother and the Names, followed by the Annunciation Gospel from St. Luke.  Between the readings we will sing hymns reflecting what we’ve heard.  This is always a powerful way to close Advent and make us ready for Christmas. 

Decorating the Church for Christmas

We will decorate the Church for Christmas on Saturday, December 21 at 9:00 a.m.  There is a lot to do and we need a lot of volunteers.  We’ll set up the Christmas trees in the Sanctuary and decorate them.  This is especially fun for children and young people.   We give the Church a good cleaning, put up the candles, the wreaths, and other decorations, and just make the place look fabulous.  We need people of all ages to come out and help.  It takes a couple of hours and is a lot of fun. 

Music with the Angels  December 22, 4 p.m.   Ensemble Hotteterre

Inaugural concert of Holiday music.: Paul Sherman (Baroque oboe), Aki Nishiguchi (Baroque oboe), Asuncion Ojeda (Baroque flute), Charles Koster (Baroque Bassoon), Jason Yoshida (Theorbo), Arthur Omura (Harpsichord).

The Concert is Free of Charge 

Hillsides Toy Drive for Christmas  Mission Giving

Thank you to everyone who has taken a gift card from the Christmas tree for The Hillsides Christmas Toy Drive   This is one of our regular Mission Giving activities.  This year, Hillsides has given us a list of generic, normal, regular, whatever word you like, toys so that you don’t have to be an engineer from MIT or spend all your time watching MTV to figure out what the gifts are.  The Christmas tree will be on the patio Sunday.  We collect the toys at the Children’s Christmas Eve Service.  There are still some gift cards on the tree which you can take the next two Sundays.

 Annual Giving for 2014 underway

Thank you to everyone who has sent a Pledge Card for Annual Giving for 2014 

With All Saints we begin our Annual Giving Pledge drive for 2014.  We ask parishioners and friends to make a pledge to support the parish financially for the year to come.  Annual Giving Pledges fund the operation of the Parish.   .  With a  parish this size it is imperative that everyone participate.  Everyone’s gift matters.  Bill Woods tells us why.   

The generations that preceded ours built COA and held it in trust for the generations, like ours, that followed them.  We hold it in trust for the generations that follow us.  The best way to make sure that COA will be there for future generations as it has been there for us is to make sure that it is in at least as good a spot as the church we received from the generation that preceded us.  So how are we doing on that score?

COA's expenditures have declined from where they were before the Great Recession, and have stayed flat since then.  COA's Finance Committee reviewed COA's books for places where we could economize, and could find nothing of any size.   The revenues on which we rely to operate COA on a day-to-day basis (our contributions and the movie money) have fallen since the Great Recession.  The Great Recession contributed to this reduction in revenue, but it isn't the only reason.  COA has lost generous members to transitions out of the area and to death, and we have not yet replaced them.

Historically, COA paid its current expenses out of current revenues, and left its endowment for improvements and major items.  However, COA has spent about $30,000 more each year since 2008-2009 than it has taken in from our pledges and movie shoots.   We have paid for this shortfall out of COA's endowment because we didn't want to cut more from COA's mission than was appropriate.  COA's endowment can handle spending at this level.  But it means that we are taking from the patrimony left to us by the generations that preceded us to pay for our daily operations.  We are taking from COA's endowment not because we want to or because it's the right thing to do, but because we have to in order to continue to fund a very lean operation.

The Great Recession has ended for none of us, and continues to weigh heavily on many of us.  COA asks that each of us do for it only what we are comfortable doing.  However, please consider our stewardship of COA as you consider the pledge letter that is on its way.  

We are about half way through the Annual Giving Drive.  Please return your pledge card as soon as you can

 Altar Flowers 2014

Thank you to everyone who has signed up for giving Altar Flowers on the Sundays of 2014.  There are several dates still open.   You can email your date and memorial into the Church Office.  

 Open Dates for Altar Flowers 2014

January 19 & 26,  February 2, 16, & 23,  June 15 & 22, July 13, August 24 & 31, September 14, October 5 & 12, November 23 & 30, December 7, 14, 21