Catholic in Tradition, Biblical in Faith, Sacramental in Worship

Your prayers, support and contributions will help us keep a faithful Anglican presence and traditional Anglican worship alive and kickin' here in the Texas Hill Country. We have a lot to do to bring our parish mission to this part of God's world: to be "Catholic in Tradition, Biblical in Faith and Sacramental in Worship." Your generous (and tax-deductable!) donations will help fund that mission and keep us movin'!
Our Sunday Schedule is:
9.00 AM Morning Prayer
9.30 AM Holy Eucharist (sung with sermon)
10.45 AM Fun, Food and Fellowship
As much fun, food and fellowship as Anglicans allow themselves to have
11.15 AM Class (first, second, fourth and fifth Sundays; the parish Vestry meets on the third Sunday)
1.00 PM - Evening Prayer during the summer
4.00 PM - Evening Prayer rest of the year
4.00 PM - Evensong on the Second Sunday of each month
Our Sunday morning Liturgy (Morning Prayer followed by the Holy Eucharist) is live-streamed on our parish Facebook page beginning at 9.00 AM each Sunday morning. www.facebook.com/stjosephsnewbraunfels
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
11:45 AM - Morning Prayer
12:00 noon - Mass
7.00 PM - Evening Prayer
Holy Days as above
For each week's schedule of Saint's Days & Holy Days, and the Epistoller's Schedule, see the schedule on our "About Us" page
Parish Dates to Note in December/January:
Vestry Meeting: Our Vestry usually meets on the third Sunday of each month at 11.15 AM; in January, 2023 we meet on the 15th
Parish Women’s (Healthy!) Breakfast: meets next on Saturday, January 14 at 10.30 AM (after Morning Prayer at 10.00 AM)
Parish Men's Not-So- Healthy Breakfast: Saturday, December 31 in David Hall at 10.30 AM (after Morning Prayer at 10.00 AM)
Bishop Peter Ng'ang'a will be with us on Sunday, December 18 for the Festival of Lessons and Carols at 4.00 PM
Sunday, December 18 - the Fourth Sunday in Advent
9.00 AM - Morning Prayer
9.30 AM - the Holy Eucharist & Sermon (Fr Wilcox, celebrant & preacher)
10.45 AM - Treats & Teas in David Hall
11.15 AM - Greening of the Church and David Hall
4.00 PM - The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols followed by Wassailfest
This Sunday...
…by the decree of this year’s calendar, there is a whole week between the Fourth Sunday in Advent and Christmas Day, which falls on a Sunday this year; that being so, we’ll do our Christmas decorations of the hall and preparation of the church a week before the feast arrives: Sunday’s Eucharist will take us outdoors in what’s projected to be a chilly morning. We’ll do the Advent Prose – brief chants and short readings for the final week of Advent – in front of the shrine and then return to the warm church for the Liturgy, passing by the Orthodox icon of the Holy Ancestors (of Christ) when we return. The rest of the Liturgy is appropriately Adventish, but afterward we’ll retire to the hall and get instructions in the “Greening of the Church”, which we’ll then proceed to do. Placing the more than 2 dozen poinsettias will be a task for several of y’all...when all the wreaths are in place (including the 8 foot wreath for the front of the church), we’ll turn our attentions to the Trees; while the tree in the church is under the direct control of the Women of the Parish, the tree in the hall is a decorating free-for-all; I’ll be at a table with supplies to make handmade ornaments: colored construction paper, safety scissors and a bunch of bottles oof Elmer’s Glue. I’m holding a contest for the best hand-made decoration honoring Joe Gardner…at 4 o’clock we’ll have the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols; Bishop Ng’ang’a will be joining us for the service, which takes just under an hour (there’s no sermon but a lot of singing!) after which we’ll retire to David Hall to admire the day’s work and enjoy wassail, eggnog, seasonal treats and our obligatory Advent vegetables…in this Sunday’s bulletin there are TWO envelopes: one for our parish Christmas expenses (those trees came at a cost!), the other labelled “Christmas Cows for Kenya!” During the Twelve Days of Christmas we’ll be raising money for the bishop to assist in the purchase of a couple of cows for a young Anglican farmer struggling in Kenya to buy a few cows for his farm. Let’s see if during the twelve Days we can be of some help! …2023 church calendars are still available in the narthex, and they still cost $10 (they were $6.50 last year but that’s inflation for you: at least they’ll last longer than a carton of eggs) so drop your bucks in the basket beside them and take one home… …
Upcoming…
The Festival of Lessons and Carols…
…which is technically called The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (because there are nine lessons read – though there are, as I recall eleven carols) will be on Sunday, December 18, at 4.00 PM. We need eight readers from the congregation (one of the lessons is traditionally read by a clergyman), so sign up on the list in the narthex, collect your reading and help us usher in the week before Christmas. After the service we’ll have a reception in David Hall with wassail, eggnog, Advent cookies and assorted seasonal treats. The service lasts just about fifty minutes and there’s NO sermon, so bring along a couple of friends!
Greg Essington and Blue Water Highway present the Grand Ol’ Christmas Show: this coming Wednesday & Thursday, December 21 & 22, Blue Water Highway will be performing their Grand Ol’ Christmas Show at the Brauntex. Lindsey Sabina is organizing a group of Josephites to attend; she’s already purchased tickets for those who’ve said they’re interested, so let her know if you want to be among that number! These tickets are going fast…The Brauntex is at 290 W San Antonio Street. (830) 627-0808.
St Joseph’s Twelfth Night Celebracioun
In jolly olde England, the Twelve Days of Christmas culminated with the celebration of what came to be called “Twelfth Night” (Shakespeare’s comic play “Twelfth Night” was written as a Christmastide entertainment). Twelfth Night was a time for fun, games and a feast marking the end of the season. Nobody here wants to be left out of a party we’re entitled to, so on Saturday, January 7, we’re going to throw a Twelfth Night party with some music, a bit of Elizabethan dancing, and a final Christmas feast that Henry VIII might envy. We have some medieval recipes and Old English cookbooks, patterns for making yourself a Twelfth Night hat, and a couple of online instructional videos about simple English Country dances. On January 7, from 1.30 PM till 5 o’clock we’ll set back intime a bit for some real “old-fashioned” fun, frolic, and feasting! So, choose a recipe, make yourself some antique headwear and practice a few dance steps online. Who will be the Lord of Misrule? Wait till you learn!
Finally…
“The great majority of people will go on observing forms they cannot explain and do not understand; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day, suddenly, one of them opens his eyes, wakes up and discovers what he is doing and why.” – G K Chesterton, “On Christmas” from Generally Speaking, 1928
See this week's Liturgical Schedule on our "About Us" page
Parish Food Closet
We collect non-perishable food items throughout the year and every two months we caravan the donations to the New Braunfels SOS Food Bank. Our current food collection is continuing till Sunday, September 5, so please remember to bring something for one of our collection baskets by then. We have one collection basket by the front entrance of David Hall, just ot the right of the door. The other basket is in the back of the church on the Gospel side. Thanks to your ongoing generosity, st Joseph's is one of the major contributors to our local food bank.
Options for Life
Throughout Lent we've been raising money for an annual gift to the New Braunfels "Options for Life" Program, supporting young, single mothers struggling to raise their children. The garishly-colored plastic baby bottles lined up on the narthex table are for you to take home and fill up as part of our common parish Lenten Alms program. We also have an OfL Collection Jar in our parish hall for through-the-year donations. We'll being collecting bottles on Easter Day and on Whitsunday present our check to the office of OfL.
Veterans' Charities
On Memorial Day and Veterans' Day we take up special collections for the "Wreaths Across America" program. At Christmastime, we participate in this by laying wreaths at the graves of veterans in New Braunfels and Comal County. For more information, contact Tanya Wilcox.
Most-Needed Items at Food Bank
The brochure for our local Food Bank lists the following items as their greatest needs: Canned meats, tuna, chicken or salmon; Meals in a can (soup, stew, chili); Low-sodium canned vegetables; Canned fruit in its own juice or water; Peanut butter; Olive or canola oil; Spices (cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, salt-free spice blends); Canned foods with pop-top lids; Low-sugar whole grain cereals; Healthy snacks (granola bars, nuts, dried fruit).
Their brochure goes on to say: “Please avoid items packed in glass. No candy or sugar-sweetened drinks. We request that you do not donate bulk quantities of rice, flour, or sugar. Although we appreciate and can utilize every donation we receive, the Food Bank does not have the repackaging facilities needed to properly distribute such items.”
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