Advent and Christmas photos

ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS AT ST. STEPHEN’S CHURCH

The Rev. Michael Sweeney, our former director of family ministry and now middle school chaplain at St. Christopher’s School, was ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests during Advent, and celebrated the Holy Eucharist for the first time here at St. Stephen’s on the Fourth Sunday of Advent (top left and bottom right). While we did not have a white Christmas, we did get snow soon after Christmas Day (top right and middle left). The youth pageant returned after a year off (center photo, middle row). The flower guild did their usual stellar job of decorating the church for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services, and our dedicated altar guild prepared the church for the whirlwind of services in Advent and Christmas (right photo, middle row). In 2020, we didn’t have a children’s pageant because of the pandemic, but held a live nativity outdoors. It was so lovely and well-received, we repeated this practice in 2021 (left photo, bottom row).

Photos of Michael Sweeney and youth pageant by Jay Paul. Photos of snow by John Jenkins. Photos of baptismal font and and live nativity by Sarah Bartenstein.