Hello –
There are three steps to Christmas at St. Paul’s. These are an optional brief service tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 5pm. Pick up or delivery of TrueVine communion mini-chalices is on Thursday during the day and our Christmas Eve service is at 5pm.
1. Tomorrow, Wednesday at 5pm we have a brief Eucharist service, probably just over half an hour, where I will bless all the TrueVine chalices. We conclude with three verses of O Come O Come Emmanuel. It will be on both our Facebook Page and our new YouTube channel. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwdMKliDwgkJ7b-gqXpbS-A)
2. Come by anytime after 9am on Thursday to pick up your chalices on the pews outside Duncan Hall. I will be there from 9am to 1pm with the church open if you’d like to either have a brief outdoor visit or go inside to pray. Email me at c.h.mrtn@gmail.com if you’d like us to deliver to you.
3. The Christmas Eve Service is at 5pm. The bulletin is already up on our Website, (http://stpaulssanrafael.org) The bulletin has all the responses for the service. You can download or print it ahead of time if you like. We’ll be singing all the classic carols. The service begins with a brief choral concert from the courtyard at 5pm and concludes with a brief video from the families wishing all of our greater St. Paul’s family Merry Christmas.
The climax of the service is when we all eat and drink communion at the same time. If you haven’t gotten a TrueVine by Thursday at 5pm, you can still participate by gabbing a little bread and some wine or juice. Even if we can’t share communion in the same space, at least we can share it at the same time. This reminds us that despite all the challenges of 2020, we remain one body in Christ Jesus, the baby born fully human and fully divine.