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On the first Sunday in Advent, we pray to God to give us the grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. After these past 20 months, we are experiencing this prayer differently - it seems more embodied and real to us; with the coming of shortest day of the year and the long winter nights, we feel the darkness around us and many of us are struggling with depression, anxiety and stress. We can forget to ask God to help us see us through the darkness and point us to the light and the hope that we find in Jesus. Advent is a time in our church year that reminds us of God’s presence and the promise of new life, new hope in Jesus - and we remember to ask for God’s help.

Join us this Advent as we journey through the darkness and the wilderness to the light of Christ. Advent begins Sunday, November 28th

Worship: Sundays

8:30am This Little Light (a service for 0-5 year olds and their families)

10am Main service

Worship: Christmas Eve

In person Christmas Eve service with carols, the choir, candles and communion.

Join us as we come together in person to celebrate the Incarnation with a traditional Christmas Eve service filled with the joy and the sounds of Christmas. We are excited to welcome folks back into the church this year for this beautiful service.

This year we will have 2 identical services, 4pm & 6pm with a limit of 85 parishioners at each service. Preregistration is required HERE.  Vaccines are Required for ages 5 and up, and Masks are Required for all.  Due to COVID, we will not be able to accommodate those who have not reserved in advance. We continue to keep the safety and health of all our neighbors as our top priority and thank you in advance for following the guidelines.

Reflections: Daily

Daily Advent reflections by members of Holy Apostles. Reflections are emailed out daily and can be listened to on Spotify or iTunes (Holy Apostles Brooklyn Podcast). Join our mailing list.

Contemplative Prayer: Wednesdays

A weekly virtual Zoom prayer practice where we pray scripture together in the ancient form of Lectio Divina. Wednesdays at 7:30am: November 24th, December 1st, 8th, 15th & 22nd. Please sign up by emailing Mother Kimberlee.

Book Group: Saturdays

This Advent we will read With Sighs Too Deep For Word: Grace and Depression by A. Robert Hirschfeld (available on Amazon and eBook). Stay in your PJs, bring your coffee or tea and come meet on Zoom Saturdays, December 4th, 11th & 18th at 8am. Please sign up by emailing Deacon John: click here. To buy the book at amazon you can click here.

About the book: The stigma around mental illness in our culture has had a damaging effect on those who suffer from its grip. As a priest and bishop, Hirschfeld has quietly and secretly been in treatment for depression for decades but now shares his own experience publicly. In this book, he offers short meditations, prayers, and suggestions of how one can follow and call upon Jesus for strength and peace during times of emotional upheaval. Christians often feel that their experience of depression or mental illness is a reflection of a deficit in their faith. As a result of seeing depression as a moral shortcoming or spiritual failure, we risk more damage to ourselves and even hurt those around us by denying what is really going on. This book, with its prayers and practical suggestions for spiritual and creative practices and resilience, can be a companion for those who suffer so that they may know more deeply the resilient love of Jesus.

Art: Sunday late afternoon

This Advent, our friend, artist, iconographer and priest, Regan O’Callaghan will return and lead an online group reflecting on Biblical scripture with reference to hands. We will be invited to explore and meditate on different scripture each week through drawing and mark making using pencil, charcoal and pastel. Open to all skill levels. Materials will be provided ($50 class and materials fee). Sundays at 5pm November 28th, December 5th, 12th & 19th. Please email Mother Sarah to sign up.

Crafts: Sundays after the 10am

We are offering two fun in-person opportunities to gather and craft. Wreath making will be on Sunday, December 5th ($25 fee per wreath). Ornament making will be Sunday, December 12th (no fee). Advance sign up is required. 

Church & Community Events

Funeral Service for Ron Metzler this Saturday at 11 am at the church.

All in our church community are welcome to join us for the funeral service of Ron Metzler, beloved parishioner of Holy Apostles. There will be a concurrent broadcast of the service on Facebook Live. If you wish to view the service, please visit the Church’s Facebook page: Church of the Holy Apostles.

Blessing of the animals this Sunday at 11:30 am

After the 10 am service, bring your pets for our annual blessing of the animals. Like last year, we will celebrate on the steps of the church offering individual blessings to your pets, photos of deceased or pets that cannot attend, and even your child’s favorite stuffed animal!

Coffee Hour

One of the joys of being back in person is the fellowship that follows both services. For the foreseeable future, we will host coffee hour outside on the landing in front of the church. Ann Mellow has graciously volunteered to coordinate volunteers for the 10 am service and Denise Oliviera for This Little Light. For the 8:30 am service, we need one family to host weekly. Responsibilities include: for TLL: setting up the small folding table, bringing something (i.e. coffee cake, banana bread) to eat possibly along with some easy fruit (clementines) setting up coffee cups, putting out the milk and sugar and making sure there is a garbage bag; for the 10 am we need 2 volunteers to bring the same type of food and then doing clean up (cleaning and putting the folding table away, clearing the garbage).   Email Us to Volunteer.

A Requiem for All Souls, Tuesday, November 2nd at 8pm on Zoom

A service for All Souls is the time we all come together to remember those dearly departed in the last 12-months. It is a beautiful service of music, meditation and features a Necrology which includes photos of our dearly departed. If you would like to include a photo of a loved one that you have lost in the last 12-months, please email us a photo and include the person’s name, their relationship to you (friend, aunt, brother, etc), the date of their birth and the date of their passing. Photos and emails should be sent to Mother Kimberlee.

Baptism: All Saints, Sunday, November 7th

If you, your child or someone you know are interested in receiving the sacrament of baptism, our next baptismal date is All Saints, November 7th. Baptism is offered freely to all who seek it, and we prepare ourselves for the sacrament with a time of study and prayer. The 6-week preparation course begins this Wednesday at 9:15 pm. If you are interested in baptism, please email us HERE.

Adult Formation

How Then Shall We Live? Discipleship in the post-Covid era reading and reflection group. Wednesdays from 8-9 pm via Zoom.

The last year and a half of COVID 19 outbreak has revealed so much about the world and community in which we live. There are frayed edges on our social contract and new questions about the world we want to live in and the world in which we now live. These questions were present well before the pandemic, but have been placed in sharp relief by our shared worldwide experience.

What then does the Christian faith have to say about ethics - our obligations to one another - and discipleship - how we are invited to live as followers of Jesus? We will explore these questions using the the book by Dr. Sam Wells, “How Then Shall We Live?” as our guide throughout the year. The book is available for purchase on Amazon in various formats.

Join the Mothers and their colleague the Rev. Gideon Pollach for a weekly reading and reflection group. Interested in signing up or leaning more email us HERE.

Choir

We are so excited to welcome Saya and the choir back to in person singing in the church! Have you wanted to join the choir - all are welcome and it is a great time to join as Saya begins to plan for All Saints and the Advent and Christmas seasons. Interested in finding out more about the choir, please email us HERE.

Housekeeping

Reader sign up back of church

Folks who are interested in reading during the service can now sign-up in the back of the church - the reader sign up is on the podium.

Collection

We have place the collection plate in the back of the church for those who choose to give in person rather than online. If you would like to give online, please email us here and we can get you set up with OnRealm for either one time or recurring donations.

Pastoral Care

Prayer List

If you have a prayer or thanksgiving that you would like to include in our weekly parish prayer email, please email us HERE.

Coffee, lunch or meeting with the Mothers

If you wish to meet with us to talk about your spiritual journey, a pastoral issue or just because you want to catch up, we would love to spend time. Email us HERE.

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday, September 19th we are so excited to see so many of you in person and to continue to welcome many of you on Zoom. We move forward changed people – because the last 18 months have changed us individually and as a worshipping community and we have begun to reflect on our need to heal and how God’s love factors into that process.

We have journeyed and continue to journey together through this pandemic, through the election, through the fight for racial and economic justice, through our support of the families at PS 15, through the birth of babies, through weddings, through separations, through job losses and transitions, through remote schooling, through moves, through birthdays and anniversaries, through the illnesses and deaths of beloved family members and friends. When you see each other in person this Sunday, know that you look into the eyes of your brother or sister, that person too has changed, just like you have.

We come from people who know what it is to journey: from Moses and the Israelites to Joseph and Mary to Jesus and his disciples. And just as it was for them, God has been here with us, even in those moments when we haven’t felt God’s presence, or have been disappointed or have been too tired. We too have been here for each other, we have loved each other, prayed for each other and learned to be Christian community in a much deeper way. Let us take this learning forward with us – to connect with, care for and love each other as Jesus continues to teach us.

In peace with love,

The Mothers

Please see the Zoom & In-Person guidelines below for each of the services:

This Little Light @ 8:30am  - A service for children 0-5 with their families

Weather permitting we will continue to worship on the lawn. We are requiring that all people over the age of 2 wear a mask in order to ensure the safety of all present. RSVPs are no longer necessary and the bathrooms are open. Get ready to dance & sing!

Please bring:

• A mask to wear;

• A blanket to sit on;

• Instruments and

• A joyful spirit of participation!

If you or your child are feverish, coughing, sneezing, achy or sick in any way, please stay home. Err on the side of caution. We are here every weekend, missing one service is OK.

Main Service @ 10am in person & on Zoom

The Sanctuary:

• Opens 10 minutes before the service;

• There are two hand sanitizing dispensers at the entrance of the church;

• Masks are available for folks who do not bring their own;

• All windows will be open;

• The fan will be on;

• Seats are placed at least 3 feet from each other. Please do not move them.

In Person:

We have room for 65 people in the church.

• Doors open: Folks will be allowed in the church 10 minutes prior to the service. We know folks are excited to be here, but we want to limit the amount of time we are indoors.

• Masks: All persons inside the church building are required to wear a mask at all times, included while singing.

• Seats: We are excited about our new padded, super comfy cathedral chairs! Seats are spaced at least 3 feet apart. We ask that you do not move them.

• Pews: If you are a family unit or couple coming, we have reserved pews for you all to sit together. We ask that individuals allow families and couples to sit in the pews.

• Bulletins: We will have printed bulletins with all of the music, readings and prayers. If you are coming with someone and can share, that would be great.

• Singing: Singing is permitted.

• Communion: Communion in one kind (the bread) will be distributed to all who want to receive. Parishioners will remain in their seats and the clergy will come to them.

• The Passing of the Peace: In the past, the passing of the peace has been a raucous joyful time in the church. For now, we will be passing the peace from our seats, with no physical contact (no hugging or hand shaking) and move quickly to the offertory.

• The Offering: While most folks now give online, if you wish to give in person there will be an offering plate near the doors of the church. We will not be passing an offering plate.

• Exiting the Church: We ask that folks not stay in the church after the service. Please be patient and let the folks in front of you leave so we don’t congregate by the doors.

• Bathrooms: Our bathrooms are now all unisex. What was the women’s bathroom is open to all and also functions as a family bathroom with a changing table.

• Stairs: If you need to access the bathrooms downstairs, please use the stairs near the entry to the church. The stairs near the organ will not be accessible for use.

• Food & Drink in Church: Because we are keeping our masks on at all times, there is no food and drink allowed in church, even for our youngest friends. If your child needs a drink of water or a snack, please bring them outside.

• If you are not feeling well, please choose to stay home and join us on Zoom. We continue to put the wellbeing of everyone at the center of what we are doing.

The Zoom:

We are really excited to let folks know that our Zoom run through this week went really well! We have a great microphone that picks up the music, the readings and you will get to see Deacon John, The Mothers, Saya, the readers and the Choir. Deacon John will be welcoming you to the Zoom and hopefully as other folks enter the sanctuary, they will get a chance to say ‘hello.’ The service will feel different because it is the service of Holy Communion, whereas we have been doing Morning Prayer. The first part, The Liturgy of the Word will look and feel most like Morning Prayer and include all of the readings, the Prayers of the People, the Sermon and some hymns. You are welcome to stay for the whole service but also want to say that if you choose to leave after the peace before The Holy Communion begins, that is ok.

• You will receive a weekly Zoom link and link to the bulletin;

• We recommend you print the bulletin out so you can follow along;

• Deacon John will share the lyrics to hymns and prayers;

• We encourage you to type your prayers into the chat during the Prayers of the People and Deacon John will share them with the congregation;

• We want your feedback! Please let us know how you are experiencing the Zoom moving forward.

If any of you have questions about our protocols or there is something we have not addressed, please be in touch with us. We have tried to cover all the bases but we may have missed something that is important to you so please let us know. You can contact us here.