All Souls Weekly                 
Volume 3, Number 4, December 20, 2009

LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRISTMAS

We’re almost ready. We have completed our Advent Wednesday evening series.  The leaves on the Advent wreath are beginning to fade and the Christmas tree is waiting outside. Greens are ordered and music rehearsed. We are almost ready for Christmas. 

Thursday is Christmas Eve. At 4 p.m. we celebrate the Children’s Mass with the Blessing of the Crèche and Holy Communion. It’s not just for children, so if you prefer an earlier service, by all means, join us.  We will sing familiar carols, bless the Crèche (or nativity scene), read the Gospel with sound effects, and celebrate the first Christmas Communion.

 
At 10:30 p.m., prelude music for the Midnight Mass begins. The choir will offer Conrad Susa’s 1992 composition, Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest. The composition includes a medley of traditional Spanish carols from Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Parts are sung in Spanish, Catalán, and English. A marimba will add percussion!

High Mass begins at 11 p.m. This year, we begin with the celebrant chanting the Proclamation of the Birth of Christ, a traditional text that has been used by the Church on Christmas Eve for centuries. It situates the birth of Jesus Christ within the context of salvation history, beginning with the creation of the world, including certain key events in the history of the people of Israel, and concluding with the birth of Jesus during the Roman Era. As Mass continues, the choir sings Canzonen Messe,  by Fridolin Limbacher, a twentieth century German composer.  Throughout the service, we will hear familiar scriptures and sing some of our favorite Christmas carols and hymns.

 
On Christmas Day we celebrate a Low Mass at 10 a.m. and on December 27, the First Sunday after Christmas Day, we will have our usual Low Mass at 8:30 a.m. and offer Christmas Lessons and Carols at 11 a.m.

Join us when you can, and bring friends, family, and neighbors. May Christmas joy and peace be with us all.  John Beddingfield

Around the Parish . . . The Parish office is closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, but all scheduled liturgies continue . . . The Adult Forum meets at 10 a.m. in the undercroft and today focuses on Hinduism.  Dr. D.C. Rao retired early from the World Bank in 1995 to pursue an intensive education in his own spiritual tradition. He is a trustee at the Chinmaya Mission in Washington and actively associated with the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy at Honesdale, PA. He is a member of the board and former president of the Inter Faith Conference of Metropolitan Washington . . . Special thanks to Marcia Anderson for coordinating the children’s St. Nicholas party last Saturday . . . Thanks to Robin Jones who coordinated and cooked our Advent Wednesday evening dinners.  Thanks also to those who attended and helped us prepare more deeply for Christmas . . . Attendance on Sunday, December 6, at the 8:30 a.m. Mass, 31; attendance at the 11:00 a.m. Mass, 155 . . . Total pledge offerings this week were $12,735.00. The plate offering this week was $913.43.

Your prayers are asked for . . . Louise Schalk Osborne, Ann Dixon, Lorenzo Martinez, Family of Tom Martin, Hugh Yeomans, Cielito Pilar, Helen Horne, Pat Latin, Erling Hansen, Tim Dill, Mark Hoffman, Mona Bauer, Mary Backus, Sandy Jenkins Dixon, Steve Collins, I. Kathryn McKewen, Lexi Ball, Thais Blanchard, Bruce MacDonald, Bob Colburn, Elizabeth McKee, Freddie Cameron, Robert Long, Barb Chaffee, Harriet Martin, Chris Cobb, Landis Vance, Vickie Drell, Stephanie Russell, Ruth & Fred Huber, Jim St. George, Mark Henderson, Sheldon Odland, Martha Holdgate, Chip Meyers, Walter Jason, Arthur Andrew Warren, Louise and Robert Osborne, Mary Beth McCutcheon, Bryan Powell, Regina Dading, Julia Gutierrez, Ted Field . . . Pray for members of the parish in the foreign service and others who are working overseas, especially Chuck Hunter, Steve Kerchoff, Brad Moore, and Michael Pate . . . Pray also for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Jack Severson, and Timothy Zlatich . . . If you wish to participate in our ongoing Internet Prayer Circle please contact Vicki Lowe at lowevg1@verizon.net.

Liturgical Notes . . . On Thursday, December 17, we were blessed to have the Rt. Rev. James W. Montgomery, 9th Bishop of Chicago (retired)  as our celebrant for the 7:30 a.m. Low Mass.  This was the 60^th anniversary of Bishop Montgomery’s ordination to the priesthood . . . This morning, Father Worthley preaches and celebrates at both Masses while the rector visits family in North Carolina. The rector will be back in the office on Wednesday, December 23.

Year-end Financial Alert on Contributions . . . If you wish to make additional contributions to All Souls in 2009, please be reminded that IRS rules are very specific. Contributions must be credited in the year in which they are received.  The only exception is at year-end when a contribution is postmarked by December 31, 2009 and received in 2010.

Endowment Grant Applications . . . Applications for grants from the All Souls Endowment Fund for 2010 are available in the parish office and on the bulletin board in the undercroft. Grants may be made for projects in ministry or mission as well as for capital improvements. All applications are due in the office by January 29, 2010 and will be acted upon by the Board and Vestry.

Stewardship update . . . To date, we have received 145 pledges, totaling $452,946.00. The Vestry passed a continuing resolution for parish spending into January.  The finance committee meets again in January and will recommend a final budget for vestry approval on January 17, 2010.

Around the Building . . . Oscar Prado has been painting our hallways . . . Some of our “diamond-trellis” windows have been removed for repair . . . Gutter and roof work began this week.  We are hopeful that more adequate gutters and clean drains will help us avoid some of the water that continues to seep into the building after heavy rains.  All of this work is covered out of the 2009 budget for repairs, or from reserved funds set aside for capital improvements . . . Architects this week were measuring and sketching our building in preparation for our visioning process beginning on January 8-9 with MTFA Architects.

All Souls Memorial Episcopal Church

The Reverend John Beddingfield, rector; The Reverend Christopher Worthley, adjunct clergy; Mr. Seth Walley, seminarian; Mr. Isaac Borocz, parish administrator; Dr. Philip Cave, director of music and organist; Mr. Oscar Prado, sexton

2300 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008-1505

Voice: 202-232-4244, Fax: 202-232-8593

Email: allsouls1@aol.com

www.allsoulsdc.org

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