December 15, 2022

  

 

Holy Comforter

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

| Newsletter |

The Familiar Question: What is Essential?

 

Dearest Holy Comforter Family,

Last Thursday, I tested positive for Covid. So did Sherod, my husband. Because of our ages, we immediately reached out to our doctors and got on the antiviral medication that helps mitigate the severity of the illness.  We have been fortunate, our symptoms have been quite mild. The worst is the sense of having been draped in a lead blanket of exhaustion. I continue to test positive but am feeling better today than I have since this started.

 

Boy did this throw a wrench in my life plans for this Advent. I watched Sunday’s service on livestream and ached because I couldn’t be there. I had planned to spend this week visiting and bringing communion to the members of our parish who struggle to make it to church and now have had to settle instead for writing Christmas cards to each of them with the promise that I will be by to visit in January.  As tired as my spouseman and I still get, I am not sure just how much decorating for Christmas I’ll get to do. It seems like this Advent, the faith and hope are all in my willingness to find Christmas even without the rhythms, the ‘homescapes,’ and the fellowship that usually give this time its shape and meaning.

 

I must also confess I am thankful for this enforced time of slowing down. The small preparations I have been able to make bring me great delight. I took down the mugs Sherod and I only use at Christmas. I lit the “Gaudete candle” on my Advent wreath, along with the ones of the first two weeks while it was still quite dark in my house, with the dogs napping and Sherod not yet awake.  It’s amazing, isn’t it, how candlelight can be both so peaceful and such a reminder of God’s call to us to, “set the world on fire with love?” Each year, a dear, dear friend gives me an Advent Calendar from Jacquie Lawson. Once I have my Christmas mug filled to the brim with coffee soon after I wake up, I open the calendar app on my iPad and click on the correct day. A sweet, wonderfully creative little tableau unfolds, again, filling me with delight. 

 

I share all this by way of encouragement. Are you beginning to feel ragged and stressed already? How much is enough to get our hearts ready for Christmas? How do we slow down and savor each beautiful moment of time we are given by God? How do we allow anticipation and joy to guide our days? I know these questions can get annoying—“But Rosa,” you may be thinking, “wouldn’t you be running around like a chicken with her head cut off if you weren’t sick?”  Of course, the answer is, yes I would. It’s just that from my vantage point this year, I get to see what Advent and Christmas might be instead.

 

I don’t wish Covid on anybody. I hope you are taking the precautions that are necessary for your particular health situation. And I hope and pray for you, a gentle, slow end of the Advent season that allows you to savor the wonder of the absolutely cosmic, transcendent moment that we mark by remembering the birth of the Christ Child.

 

With my love, Rosa+

18ᵗʰ *Holy Eucharist 10 AM, Caroling & Hot Chocolate 11 AM

24ᵗʰ *Christmas Eve Festal Eucharist 5 PM

25ᵗʰ Christmas Morning Eucharist in the Chapel 10 AM

* also streamed live on our Facebook page

✠

Flower Guild Christmas Flowers

Friendly reminder to please send your names to Terri and

give Diane your contribution (any amount is acceptable).

The deadline is Friday, Dec. 16th

WEDNESDAYS 

 • Morning Prayer | 10:30AM

Randy Woodland is the officiant

 

 

 

• Compline | 8PM (New Time!)

Holy "Comfort Bags"

Fleece Blankets for the Homeless

If you would like to donate a blanket(s), please leave in the basket

at the back of the church.

ECW Christmas luncheon

the Food Pantry donations: all non-perishable food items,
toiletries: shaving cream/razors, deodorant, toilet paper, diapers, etc...

Donations can be left in the bins outside McMaster Hall.

Please leave donations (pudding cups, small cans of beef stew, chili, soup, or pasta, cheese/peanut butter crackers, snack bars, etc...) for the Backpack program in the basket outside the front office window.

Thank you for your support!

DATES to REMEMBER

december —

6ᵗʰ, 13ᵗʰ, 20ᵗʰ Food Pantry

18ᵗʰ Caroling & Hot Chocolate 11 AM

24ᵗʰ Christmas Eve Festal Eucharist 5 PM

25ᵗʰ Christmas Morning Eucharist in the Chapel 10 AM

january —

3rd, 10ᵗʰ, 17ᵗʰ, 24ᵗʰ, 31rst Food Pantry

1rst The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ Eucharist & Caroling 10 AM

Staff

Rector: Rosa 

Rosa@holycomfortermgm.org 

 

Deacon: Lee

tleewgirl85@gmail.com

 

Choirmaster/Organist: Randy

 Randy@holycomfortermgm.org

 

Parish Administrator: Diane

Admin@holycomfortermgm.org

 

Parish Life Coordinator: Terri

Office@holycomfortermgm.org

 

Parish Media: Missy

hcepiscopal.media@gmail.com

 

Vestry

Senior Warden 

Steven Speaks 

Junior Warden 

Randy Bryan

Treasurer 

Mary Lois Monroe

Clerk

Jeri Tippit

Members:

Kathy Albree

Haynes Kelley

Rand Neeley

Amy Seanor 

 Please pray for

 

  Parishioners — Libby Bryan, Ann Carlton, Rob Dailey, Fred Earle,

Sidney Hennessey, Jason Hicks, Lamar Higgins, Melanie Kelley,

Julia Neeley, Jan Pope, Mac & Douglass Porter, Lea Russell, Ami Simpson, Claudene Thomas, Judith Granger Ward 

Friends — Megan Alley, Tracey Bailey, Eileen Black, John Conway,  

Jim Corsaro, Gay & Harry Curlin, Todd Daniels, Jayce Davidson, Casey Dodd,

Mike Duncan, Rosamary Duncan, T. J. Esco, Julie Gantt, Linda Garrett, Judy Glanzer, 

Rosine Hall, Alison Hill, Roland Hutchinson, Tom Hyde, JoAnn Ivey, Dorothy King,

Jon Kusa, John Nelson, Sharon M. Nelson, Nanette Olson, Liliana Orozco, Dusty Pouncey, Samuel Purcell & family, Arthur Segal, Joe Soliday, Riley Soliday,

Taylor Scroggins, Michal Slovic, Isaiah Taylor, Paula White,

Joe Wilkins, Patsy Wilkins, Ben Winbury

Students — Emma Franklin, Will Franklin, Addie Hoffman,

Taylor McLemore, Michael Moore, Rachel Moore, Charles Speaks, Thomas Speaks, 

Connie Tapia, Braxton Trest, Aiken Via

Merry Christmas!
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2911 Woodley Rd, Montgomery, AL 36111, USA
334-281-1337

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