Please pick up your envelopes for 2008 in the Narthex of the Church. Everyone who has completed a pledge should have a box of envelopes for the coming year. These help the Parish Office record your contributions accurately and supply you with a quarterly statement of your giving. “Thank you” to everyone who has committed to a pledge for 2008.

If you know of parishioners who would like to make their Communion during these Twelve Days of Christmas and could not attend one of the Christmas Communion Services, please call the Parish Office or speak with Father James. They will be able to make arrangements for the parishioners to make their Communion privately.

Our delegates to the Diocesan Convention are Jim Caldwell, Kathryn Carroll, Cathy Elsea and Mike Spencer. The 2008 Convention is January 18th-19th in Greensboro. Please keep them in your prayers and thank God for their willingness to represent St. Timothy’s in this way.

We will no longer have a public service of Evening Prayer at 6 PM daily as not enough layreaders have come forward to volunteer. We hope that at some point we may be able to resume public services of both Evening Prayer and Morning Prayer, but for now our schedule of service will not include the morning or evening office. We will continue to say Morning Prayer each Sunday at 8:30 AM.

We will resume our study of The Book of Genesis on Monday, January 7th at 7 PM in the church parlor. Clarence Bunting will lead the study from Chapter 26. The study is designed so that people may begin attending at any point. Just bring your Bible, and perhaps someone you know , to the study and see how the Holy Scriptures will speak to us in 2008. It will be helpful if people will have read Genesis Chapter 26 and even Chapters 27 and 28.

The first ECW meeting of 2008 will be Tuesday, January 8th at 7 PM in the church parlor. We will be planning for our annual chili cook-off, which will be held on Sunday, February 3rd. Start going through your recipes now so you can try for a spot as St. Timothy’s Chili Master! We will also be discussing Chapter 6 of our book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. We hope to see you there! If you have any questions about the ECW, you can contact Elizabeth Bunting at ebuntingecw@hotmail.com.

Volunteers are needed to help in the Children’s Chapel. Please contact Father James or Grace Hurst if you can give an hour on a Sunday morning.

Christmas Eve - Monday, December 24th
5:30 PM - Sung Family Service of Holy Communion with Christmas Pageant
10:30 PM - Christmas Music
11:00 PM - Sung Service of Holy Communion, Solemn Procession and the Blessing of the Creche

Christmas Day - Tuesday, December 25th
9:00 AM - Said Service of Holy Communion

Feast of St. Stephen - Wednesday, December 26th
10:30 AM - Holy Communion

Feast of St. John the Evangelist - Thursday, December 27th
12 Noon - Holy Communion

Feast of the Holy Innocents - Friday, December 28th
12 Noon - Holy Communion

We have been invited to attend a Service of Evening Prayer by the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge. The service will be held at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Friday, January 18th at 7 PM. The week between the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul has traditionally been the week that we are asked to work and pray for unity among all branches of the Catholic and Protestant churches. Our Lord established that there should be One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism. Father James will be attending, and it would be good for a delegation from St. Timothy’s to accept the Bishop’s invitation to pray and worship with him.

This year we will decorate the Church for Christmas (traditionally this is The Hanging of the Greens) on Sunday, December 23rd immediately after the 11:00 AM Service. We will need many hands to hang the greens, set up the Christmas Creche, put lights on the trees, and do everything else we need to do to be ready for our first masses of Christmas on Monday the 24th. The more hand we have from the little elves, the faster it will go and the better it will look. If we can count on you to help, would you please place your name on the poster outside the Parish Office? Thank you!