What's New Advent-Christmas-Epiphany 2023–24

Blessed  Season of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Gathering community,

Many of us are starting to plan and prepare for the Advent and Christmas season. Luckily, the ACE issue of Gathering is packed full of great resources that you will want to mark as Favourites,* such as “Welcoming Children into the Music of the Church” (to read and share it with other members of your community!). You can also add Richard Bott’s, “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentle Ones” hymn text to a Custom Service** for Christmas.

This issue also highlights Then Let Us Sing!,the United Church’s exciting new music resource that will help us sing into the church (and people) we wish to be. In the Exploring section, read about the theology that is grounding the work of the Then Let Us Sing! Development Committee, and then sing through two of the advent pieces, “The Giver” and “We Wait For God,” that the committee is working on for the final collection.

Lastly, a friendly reminder to use our robust search menus to find resouces. Search by Category (Prayer, Complete Service) and Special Occasion (Winter Solstice or Blue Christmas; Longest Night) to find new prayers and resources for your Longest Night or Blue Christmas Service. Search by Christian Calendar (Season of Advent, the Season of Christmas, Epiphany Day) for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Epiphany resources. Search by Special Occasion for New Year’s resources (New Year), and even for new prayers for Annual Meeting Sunday (Annual General Meeting).

More worship resources for Advent season can be found on the United Church website and through the Advent Unwrapped newsletter – sign up here!

As always, please keep in touch (at @email) as we grow Gathering together!

Sincerely,

Alydia

*We just fixed this  tab, by the way!

**We have just improved this feature, thanks to your feedback!