Advent calendars are a favorite tradition with many of us. We offer you an online calendar to visit each day of Advent starting Sunday, November 27.
The Advent Calendar can be found via this link or by clicking the link under Worship – Seasons of the Church Year – Advent Calendar 2011.
Our annual Christmas Fair, organized by the Episcopal Church Women, will be held on Saturday, December 3rd from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Come join the fun and browse the tables, get a wreath or centerpiece, have lunch by the fire in the Parish House! Here’s the list of tables at the fair:
Andy Williams tells us that Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year.” And indeed, the celebration of Christ’s birth and the festive atmosphere is our culture does make this a wonderful time for many. But for many others, the holidays can be a sad, difficult, or solemn time. While the world around us smiles and sings, we might mourn spouses or children or friends whom we wish we could see again. Often at Christmas, more than any other time, we remember with fondness and sadness the loved ones we have lost and the friends we’ve seen pass by. And with everyone telling us it’s supposed to be a wonderful time, we sometimes don’t feel free to express that sadness to others.
But we can always share it with God, so this year, on December 18 at 4 pm, St. Barnabas will host a “Blue Christmas” service in cooperation with Waquoit Congregational Church and Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole. The service will be held here at St. Barnabas. During this quiet service of prayer and remembrance, we will offer to God our mixed feelings of sadness and hope; remembrance and anticipation at this challenging time of year. As we wait for the arrival of Jesus, we will pray to God for ourselves and our loved ones. If Christmas sometimes brings you feelings of sadness as well as feelings of excitement or happiness, please consider joining us on December 18.
This Advent season, Patti and Matt will be offering a series of Wednesday evening worship services with special devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. In this annual time of expectation and anticipation before Christmas, we will remember Mary who also waited with expectation and anticipation two thousand years ago. As she waited for Jesus, we will also wait with her for the arrival of our Lord this Advent. Worship services will consist of a quiet, contemplative Eucharist with special prayers and reflections on Mary, motherhood, and the patience of love. Mothers and the children of mothers are especially welcome and encouraged to attend! Services will be held in the chapel on Wednesday evenings at 6 pm, beginning on November 30.
Thanks to our new editor, Sheryl Seyfert, the paper Banner newsletter is back!
You can read the November-January issue here.
GIVE THE WORLD A GIFT . . .Saturday, Nov.12 10-3
Sunday, Nov.13 11 -3
ST. BARNABAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
91 MAIN STREET, FALMOUTH
Choose from more than 40 gift ideas from
20 LOCAL and GLOBAL charitable organizations
INCLUDES GLOBAL BAZAAR & BAKE SALE
Sponsored by: Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole, Falmouth Jewish Congregation, First Congregational Church of Falmouth, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Falmouth
An Alternative Gift Market is a community fair where you can purchase non-traditional gifts to give to family and friends. Rather than buy one more necktie for Uncle Fred, honor him instead by giving in his name, a life-sustaining gift that will help alleviate poverty and disease, renew our planet’s environment, or promote education, sustainable development and peace.
You might choose to buy food for the shelves of the local food pantry or purchase a bicycle for a health care worker in Kenya or provide a month’s salary for a teacher in rural Nepal – all in the name of a friend or family member.
When the shopper buys an alternative gift, he or she receives an attractive card with an insert to send or give to the recipient. The insert is a printed announcement which describes the project for which a donation has been made. The insert describes the project but does not include the prices on the shopping list or the amount of the donation.
The gift market also provides the opportunity to purchase fair trade items for gift giving. In 2009, our fair trade partners included Equal Exchange selling coffee and chocolate, SERRV International with handcrafted items from artisans around the world, and The Sharing Foundation with beautiful handbags and scarves made by young women in Cambodia. New to the gift market this year will be the work of Haitian artists. The handpainted silk scarves by the Atis Fanm (Kreyol for women Artists) are stunningly beautiful. The artists paint stories from their lives, the Bible, the Vodou religion and from memories of flora and fauna that are fast disappearing from their world.
History of the Upper Cape Cod Alternative Gift Market
The Upper Cape Cod Alternative Gift was first organized in November 2007 by the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Falmouth, Now in its 5th year, the gift market is held at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Falmouth center and is sponsored by a coalition of five Falmouth congregations whose members come from Falmouth, Bourne, Sandwich, Mashpee and beyond. Volunteers from all five congregations work together to put on this festive and increasingly popular event each November.
