Each day in the Advent season and the Christmas season offers opportunities to rejoice in the anticipation and celebration of God's greatest gift: Jesus.
Advent and Christmas at St. Paul's
ADvent & CHristmas Worship Schedule
please scroll down to find special activities.
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Sunday, December 1
Worship with Communion at 9:00 & 10:30
Welcome the first Sunday of Advent by picking up devotional guides or other resources available for free in the Narthex and begin your advent journey towards the joy of Christmas.
After services, visit our poinsettia coordinator, Betsy Sanford, in the Narthex to order poinsettias using check or cash, or scroll down for the online poinsettia order form to pay by credit card. Poinsettias will grace the Sanctuary at Christmas Eve and may be dedicated in honor or memory of someone special.
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Sunday, December 8 - Music Sunday
Worship with Communion at 9:00 AM.
Worship with Choirs, Bells, organ, and guest instrumentalists at 10:30 AM.
The second Sunday of Advent is our annual Music Sunday celebration at 10:30 AM. Our Sanctuary Choir will be a featured part of worship at 10:30 AM, along with our Joyful Ringers bell ensemble, our Children's Choir, our magnificent organ, and twelve guest instrumentalists enriching worship with the magnificent music of John Rutter's Gloria and Glenn Rudolph's The Dream Isaiah Saw, plus hymns for the season.
The 9:00 worship service will offer a smaller, more contemplative community worship experience with communion.
Our poinsettia coordinator will be available following each worship service for those who wish to order poinsettias and make dedications.
Stay for a special Sipping Ministry coffee hour in the Octagon following the 10:30 worship service, sponsored by the Ministry Table team. They will have a station for members and friends to write personal notes for our neighbors in need who we support through the Holiday Giving Project.
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Sunday, December 15
Worship with Communion at 9:00
Worship with Sanctuary Choir at 10:30
Enjoy the continued journey through the advent season with worship in the Sanctuary. Instead of shopping this weekend, consider our Scattered for Service "alternative giving" program, and make a donation to one of our selected charities in honor of a loved one. You will receive recognition cards that can be presented to honorees.
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Sunday, December 22
Worship with Communion at 9:00
Worship with Sanctuary Choir at 10:30
Join us for Sunday Worship for the 4th Sunday in Advent. Representatives of the Scattered for Service program will be available for the last of the Alternative Giving program orders.
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Tuesday, December 24: CHristmas Eve
This year we will hold one Christmas Eve worship service in the Sanctuary.
Join us at 7:30 PM for an organ prelude, then worship with communion at 8:00 PM.
This service will feature the Sanctuary choir and we will offer holy communion. It will also be family-friendly, with the option to have candlelight or flame-free glow-sticks to light the final moments of the service.
Poinsettias will decorate the Sanctuary and wreaths will brighten our doors. (Please note: poinsettia orders must be received by December 15.) A souvenir bulletin listing dedications will be available at worship. To request a copy by mail, contact the church office.
Poinsettias & Wreaths
Poinsettias in red and white will grace the Sanctuary at Christmas. These plants and the wreaths on our doors may be dedicated in honor and memory of loved ones and to the glory of God by members and friends of St. Paul’s.
Poinsettias are $20 each. To pay by cash or check, please see Betsy Sanford in the Narthex following worship on December 1 & 8, 2024. To order online by credit card, click the button to go to our secure form. Online poinsettia orders will be accepted until December 15.
You may take your plants home to enjoy following the 8:00 PM Christmas Eve worship service, after the 10:30 AM worship on Sunday December 29, or during office hours (10AM-3PM) on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
The Poinsettia and Wreath Dedications will be shared in a special souvenir bulletin available on Christmas Eve.
Music Sunday
December 8, 2024
December 8, 2024
10:30 AM worship
An Invitation to Music Sunday, by Tom Pedersen, Director of Music
As is our tradition, for Music Sunday, our 10:30 worship service transforms into a musical celebration of the Advent & Christmas seasons, by turns joyful and contemplative.
The Sanctuary Choir, Children’s Choir and Joyful Ringers will be joined by twelve brass and percussion players in a service of music and the spoken word. Featured this year will be John Rutter’s Gloria which the composer has described as “exalted, devotional and jubilant.” This exciting work for Choir, Organ, Brass and Percussion opens with “incisive, punchy, syncopated music for the brass and strong rhythms and triumphant shouts from the Chorus.” Because of its relation to the angelic annunciation, the work is often included in Advent and Christmas services. Reviewers attribute Rutter's popularity to the fact that he “writes music that people want to perform and hear.”
By popular demand, we will also feature The Dream Isaiah Saw by Glenn Rudolph. Dedicated to the memory of those who perished on September 11, 2001 this powerful and gripping anthem, with text taken from Isaiah 11, imparts Isaiah’s prophecy looking beyond his own time to the day when God would reveal a new leader from the lineage of David.
Our Joyful Ringers bell ensemble will ring out good tidings of great joy, adding sparkle to the day.
Plus, our Children’s Choir is working hard on music for Christmas and they are excited to join the Music Sunday festivities this year!
Traditional Advent and Christmas Carols will also bring the community together in Worship. Get this on your calendar and invite your friends to join you as we celebrate the journey to the Savior's birth.
You can read more about music at St. Paul's and our year-round contributions to enlivening worship on our MUSIC page: https://stpaulsk.org/worship/music.
Advent Devotionals
Advent begins December 1, 2024 and ends on Christmas Eve. Journey meaningfully through the season using one of the free Advent resources now available in the Narthex.
Advent 2024: A Calendar of Devotions, published annually by Abingdon Press, provides devotions, prayers, and reflections for each day of the season.
Words for the Beginning, printed through special arrangement with Sanctified Art, lets you look, read, and sing your way through the pages of this creative guide at your own pace.
You will also find a kid-friendly Bible-reading plan for the season, instructions for creating an Advent wreath at home, and other guides to making the most of Advent.
Children's Advent & Christmas Craft Workshop
Children’s Advent & Christmas Craft Workshop
Held in conjunction with the December Pancake Breakfast each year!
Saturday, December 7, 2024
9:00-10:30 AM
Fellowship Hall
After you enjoy the pancake breakfast, enjoy this opportunity to make a variety of Advent and Christmas-related crafts. Children, their friends and adults, and youth helpers will all be making projects together. This workshop is free of charge, but donations are welcome.
For more information, or to volunteer, please contact Meg Baker at mbaker@stpaulsk.org.
Gathered for Worship,
Scattered for Service
We are happy to offer the 2024 version of Scattered for Service Alternative Giving Program, through December 20.
Instead of giving more “stuff” this year, you can give the gifts of help and hope in your loved one’s honor.
Click HERE to go to the Charities Catalog on the Scattered for Service page.
Choose which organization is a good match for someone on your Christmas list. For example, you might donate to Heifer International in honor of your aunt who is a beekeeper, donate to the Oakleaf Club at Walter Reed in honor of your cousin who served in the Army, or donate to Imagination Library in honor of your sibling who loves books! There are local and international organizations serving in a variety of ways.
Scattered for Service volunteers will provide personalized acknowledgement cards for each item, ready for you to send to your loved ones.
You may make your selection online using a credit card, or you can order by cash or check using the Scattered for Service form found in the December edition of The Epistle newsletter.
After the order period closes, the Scattered for Service team will compile all of the receipts and send 100% of the donations we've collected to the organizations as directed.
Questions? Please contact Scattered for Service coordinator Lyn Walker directly or reach Erin Steele in the office at stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org
Christmas Special Offering
As in years past, 100% of the funds raised through St. Paul's Christmas Special Offering will be go to organizations and efforts providing food, material aid, advocacy, and support to help lift up people outside the walls of St. Paul's. Past offerings have gone to support UMCOR's Emergency Relief in the Area of Greatest Need, UMCOR's Refugee & Human Migration programs, the UMC Baltimore-Washington Conference's Adrienne Terry Affordable Housing Fund, UMC Volunteers In Mission, and St. Paul's Hunger Ministry feeding hungry neighbors in the 20895 ZIP code.
For 2024, the SAM leadership has designated that half of the Christmas Special Offering will go to provide food and comfort to our economically disadvantaged neighbors in the 20895 ZIP code through St. Paul’s Hunger Ministry, and half will be directed to the Reconciling Ministries Network, reflecting our community’s commitment as a Reconciling Congregation to intersectional justice, boldly shaping the emerging future of the UMC, and ensuring equity and dignity for all.
Your generosity allows us to continue bringing hope and love to our community and beyond. Thank you for being a part of this important work.
To give, please use the button below, the blue Christmas Offering envelopes provided at Christmas Eve, or write “Christmas Special Offering” in the memo line of checks made out to St. Paul’s UMC. If you wish to give to another purpose, including general offering or pledged giving, please use an envelope other than the blue Christmas Offering envelope.
To contribute to the Christmas Special Offering online, please click the button.
