OUR JOURNEY INTO ADVENT CONTINUES
Are you able to find some familiar symbols of the season in the artwork at right titled "The Gift?" Is anything missing? How do we keep ourselves centered in such a time? St. Bart's invites you to explore with us as we journey towards Christmas:

THIS WEEK
Power and might are the symbols that surround our church here at 325 Park Avenue. "The crux of us however lies in the bottom-most layer, our Food Pantry, " states our Deacon, J.D. Clarke. "This is the foundation -- where we help our less fortunate neighbors." 

This Sunday, Kathy Bozzuti-Jones leads our children to ponder how we can create a space to see the Christ child in the midst of secular holiday symbols.

"Don't just do something, STAND THERE." Julie Ross's homework for Youth @The Center this week might be good for all of us: "Do nothing for five minutes."

Symbols are easy to define which is why St. Bart's isn't. We're old, we're new, and lots in between and yet all who come here sense that special something. We'd like to invite you into it... follow the green welcome button.

Action is what makes HOPE believable. Join Habitat for Humanity's St. Bart's chapter and give someone the hope of their own home this Christmas.

This season like this image, is a mixture of things. It helps to talk about the sorrow. We do that every third Wednesday of the month in our Grief Group where sharing the real stuff brings a certain joy beyond the glitter.

Get beyond the shopping frenzy and give the gift of welcome. Become an usher or greeter today!

Our special sermon series for Advent, "LIVING IN THE NOW," continues this Sunday with Buddy Stallings preaching at the 11 am service and then leading a discussion group afterward about it at 12:30 pm. Please join us. Listen in to Bill Tully's sermon last week here where he encourages us to go beyond the lure of symbols, to stop and see the possibility of one's inner life.

For those who attended (LOTS!) Advent Lessons and Carols truly became that "Time Out" that Bil Tully keeps talking about. This treasure was preserved by the National Episcopal Church's Media Communications Division who filmed live last Sunday. We will share that video recording with you soon!

Click the image above to enter the season's journey into Christmas in a new way. if you wish to share with others, invite them to go online to stbartsgift.org