The Rt. Rev. Victor Scantlebury, the Assistant Bishop of Chicago, will make an Episcopal visitation to St Nicholas with the Holy Innocents on Sunday, December 3. Bishop Scantlebury will be at the St Nicholas building, and there will be no liturgy in the Holy Innocents building that day so we can gather as a single community to celebrate with the bishop. 

Generally, one of the bishops makes a visitation every two years so the congregation and the bishop can share and celebrate the life of the congregation. Because St Nicholas and Holy Innocents are in the process of combining, this will be a particularly special visit. Parishioners are urged to invite friends and family to join us on that day.

We expect a quite wonderful celebration. There will be no church school that day, as the bishop will be meeting at 9:30 a.m. with those to be confirmed and received. The liturgy will begin at 10:30 a.m. and at its conclusion Bishop Scantlebury will lead us in procession into the neighborhood.

There, some of us will join him in distributing shopping bags to our neighbors with a note inviting them to participate in our Second Family Christmas Present collection.

We will then reassemble at St Nicholas at 12:30 for a reception and lunch to honor the bishop and his wife, Marcia. Parishioners are asked to bring a side dish, salad, or soup for the lunch that day. 

In order to save on postage costs, most of our regular communication is now by email, inlcuding our interesting weekly email newsletter, OneBread, OneBody. To make sure you know everything that's happening, send your email address  to stnicholas1072@sbcglobal.net

There are lots of details in this month's newsletter (which was sent out by mail) explaining what's in the works in the combining of the congregations of the Holy Innocents and St Nicholas. 

The new congregation will be housed in the St Nicholas building and will be known, at least initially, as St Nicholas with the Holy Innocents.

This is a big change for both congregations, and like all changes, it is not without its pain. But it's also a return to the past–both congregations were built by the architect Ned Dart and first served by founding Vicar Ted Gracia.

Most of all, it's a promise of a bright future. The congregation will be strong enough to engage in innovative life-transforming ministry to our neighbors, offer many more opportunities for spritual growth to our members, and welcome many, many new members. 

Most of those receiving this newsletter have been part of (either) Holy Innocents or St Nicholas in the past. We hope you'll take the time to visit us again in 2007.

Our first liturgy as a combined congregation is at 10:00 a.m. on January 7. On the 14th of January, we begin our regular schedule, with worship at 9:00 a.m. (traditional) and 11:00 a.m. (contemporary), with church school for children and adults at 10:00 a.m.

Hope to see you again!

—One Bread, One Body Advent Newsletter