TURNING POINTS

All find a welcome:
Merilyn Adams comes to Oakmont from Mexico and other places.
Jim and Linda Rawls from Trinity, Sonoma.

For this, much thanks:
To Vic Howard for the gift of a handheld microphone and amplifier which will not clash with the existing mike at the lectern.

Relocation:
Thank you for Christmas:
Thanks to all who supported our Christmas celebrations in so many various ways:
All who gave money to buy the poinsettias, Christmas flowers and other decorations.
John Heidel helped erect the tree.
The Cranes and the Salanders decorated it.
Fran Crane and the Altar Guild decorated the Church with some helpers.
The children and their families took part in the pageant, directed by Raymond Skipp.
Robert Young and our choir provided music at our services.
Acolytes, ushers, readers and chalice bearers and all who assisted with our Christmas services.
Marcia Ronchetti, our administrative assistant who duplicated innumerable bulletins, the annual reports and the January Grapevine.
Our team of collators and folders.
Angela and I thank you for the cards, good wishes, and expressions of love. Hugh

Thanks to the outgoing ECW officers:

Cynthia Pennington	President
Audrey Jaynes	Program chairman
Minerva Haddad	Secretary
Alice Fielder	Treasurer

And blessings on the new ECW officers:

Audrey Jaynes	President
Vickie Ward	Program chairman
Minerva Haddad	Secretary
Josie Ross	Treasurer

We will exalt you, O God, our King:
Dallas Casey has returned safely from Iraq.

We ask God's protection of:
those serving in the military overseas

Dan Whitwright	Sam Jackson
Mike Bennett	George Sutherland

May they know God's healing power:

Lolita Seguin,	Linda Belding
Hertha Brown,	James Landon
Eleanor Anderson,	Al Cook
Gordon Gary	Marge Ward
Alec	Dolores De Vito
Dr. Marshall Marchbanks	Willis Rives
Shirley Pippin
Janet Robbins, cousin of Jill Hunting
Nancy Lathrop mother of Kathy Littman
Michael Steele, husband of Brenda	Maureen Thompson, wife of John
Harry Fry, husband of Barbara	John Phillips, son in law of Barbara Jones
Carolyn Harper, wife of Dave	Matt Harris, son of Ninon Cabrales

Deepest sympathy:
Liz O'Brien, married at St Patrick's in 1995, mother of Turner (aged 10) and Walter and Lee (aged 3). Liz died on 12/10.

PARISH PROGRAMS

COFFEE "BARISTAS"/MAKERS
Sign up sheets for people to make coffee and provide cookies for all the coffee hours, January through June, are on the table in the Parish Hall. Now is your chance to get on board early and pick your favorite dates!

After each Sunday service, there is an opportunity for a time of fellowship. At St. Patrick's we call it "Coffee Hour". Church is many things to many people and we pray that here at St. Patrick's you are getting your spiritual needs nurtured. We feel that community is also important in feeding our needs to both give and receive. When you sign up to host a coffee hour on Sunday, you are contributing to all of your fellow parishioners. This is not merely through food and coffee but by creating an opportunity for fellowship.

We are hoping to make it a bit easier for all to participate in the gift of "Hosting". So, to that end, we are asking that the food offerings at coffee hour be limited to either fruit and cheese and crackers, or fruit and cookies or muffins. Of course there may be exceptions to that rule on major Liturgical holidays or Christenings, just check with the church office.

Around the first of the year, there will be new and updated info on "getting to know your way around the parish hall kitchen". For anyone that has not "Hosted" in the past, we hope this will be helpful.
Cathy Landon

MEALS ON WHEELS
Council on Aging (Sonoma) is requesting volunteer assistance at Vintage House, Sonoma. Help is needed in both the Meals on Wheels Program and the Senior Day Programs. Must be in good health, and work well with seniors.

JOHN BOGART LIBRARY
Those of you who are fans of Jan Karon will enjoy her new series. Home to Holly Springs is the first of her Father Tim novels. We will add this series as they are published.

Karen Armstrong has written a new book, The Bible. This is a history of the Bible. She discusses "the conception, gestation …analyses the climate in which oral history turned into written scripture, how the scripture was turned into one work and how it became accepted as Christianity's sacred text."

Why another book about the Bible? Armstrong wrote this to counter the current explosive issue that scripture has become. Terrorists use the Qur'an to justify their atrocities, Christians take the creation story literally, Jews use God's promise of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham to justify their policies against Palestinians. Armstrong sets forth what the Bible is and what it is not.

For a visual treat Mike and Sylvia O'Neill have given us a beautiful coffee table-type book of Irish Cathedrals, Churches and Abbeys. The pictures are truly lovely, many different styles and periods covering the period from 1312 to the present day. Whether or not you have been to Ireland, this book is a wonderful read.

JAN JOHNSON'S NEW BOOK
I met Jan and Chuck in Sequim WA during the summer. She was a member of St Patrick's during the '80s. She wrote a biographical book, The Daughter Lost and Found, which is in our library. Jan has now written a fictional work, The Adventures of Harry and Claire. She says it is probably available at Amazon (or similar) and she wishes us all the Warmth, Joy, and Love that is Christmas. (HS)

AROUND ST. PATRICK'S

December 30: On the Sunday after Christmas there will be three services: at 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. All will be services of Lessons and Carols and Eucharist.

January 5: 6:00 p.m., Cursillo Potluck supper in the parish hall. All "cursillistas" are invited to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.

January 6: Feast of the Epiphany. We remember the arrival of the Wise Men, and the Light of God that has come into the world.

The Daughters of the King may meet after the 10:30 service.

January 13: Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, when, after Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan, the voice from heaven affirmed him, "This is my beloved Son!" The Baptism is one of the great Epiphany events. If there are any baptisms, please call the parish office (833-4228).

January 20: Parish Annual Meeting takes place after the 9:30 a.m. Eucharist. There is only one service on this morning-an opportunity for those who attend different services to greet one another. Will you, please wear your nametag!

January 27: The first of this New Year's Adult Ed courses. We will read and discuss James Griffiss' book, The Anglican Vision. 9:45 am in the Common Room. If you need a copy, please see the Rector. This is a preparation for responding to our Bishop's call to "vision" our future, both as a parish and as a diocese.

COMING UP
February 6 is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

February 11-13. Bishop's conference for all clergy at Sacramento. The Bishop will talk about our visioning process.

FINDING IMMANUEL AS IMMIGRANT, WANDERER, CHILD
The Presiding Bishop's 2007 Christmas message

In what form will you find the Christ child this year? The fact of the Incarnation in a weak and helpless babe says something significant about where we focus our search. I am convinced that it is part of our call to exercise a "preferential option" on behalf of the poor, weak, sick, and marginalized. The long arc of biblical thinking and theologizing has to do with seeing God's care for those who have no other helper. Indeed, Jesus is understood as that helper for all who fail, by the world's terms, to save themselves. More accurately, we understand that Jesus is that helper for all.

One of the great gifts of the way in which those in our cultural surroundings celebrate Christmas is the focus on children and on those who have few human helpers. We delight in the wonder of children as Christmas approaches, and many of us make an extra effort to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for the needy. The challenge is to let our seasonal "seeing" transform the way we meet our neighbors through the rest of the year, and through all the coming years. How might we begin to see that child in those around us: strangers and aliens (both Immanuel and Immigrants); wanderers (Homeless, like Mary and Joseph, for whom there was no room); widows and orphans (Social Outcasts); babe born in Bethlehem (Palestinian and Israeli alike; or the boy babies whom both Pharaoh and Herod sought to kill); divine feeder of thousands (Soup Kitchen worker); and savior of the world (Peacemaker, Bringer of Justice for All, Reconciler, Just and Gracious Lawgiver...). If God comes among us as a helpless child, then the divine presence is truly all around us. Where will you meet Jesus this Christmas?
Katharine Jefferts Schori

ST. PATRICK'S BUSINESS

ANNUAL MEETING This important meeting takes place on Sunday, January 20, 2008.

• Four new vestry members will be elected. The outgoing vestry members are Wendy Wood, Jean Meyer, Judy Buff and Michael Petersen. The continuing members are Margaret Merchat, Jill Hunting, Vickie Ward, Becky Jenkins, Cathy Landon, Hutch Gibb, John Thompson and Bill Ward.
• Chuck Chapman, the treasurer, will present the accounts for 2007 and the proposed budget for 2008
• With your consent, we will change the parish bylaws to move the date of the Annual Meeting to the 4th Sunday of January.
• There will be reports about programs for the New Year.
• Packets of reports will be available from December 30. Please pick one up and read it before the meeting. We may be able to post them on our website. If you have questions or comments bring them to the meeting.

Vestry start-up
There is a brief meeting of the new vestry, right after the Annual Meeting on January 20, to organize dates and times. This is for all vestry members (new and continuing).

Offering envelopes
These are available in the parish hall in bundles of 4 (quarterly), 12 (monthly) or 52 (weekly). Please pick up your packet. If you don't find your envelopes there, please call the parish office (833-4228)

It is not necessary to write your number on a check. Your donation will be posted using the name on the check.

If you are making a cash donation, please write your name on the envelope, so that your donation will be posted to the correct account. Please call Marcia in the office if you have questions.

DECEMBER VESTRY
Because of sickness and travel, we did not have a quorum. However we covered a lot of ground.

• We reviewed the Every Member Canvass. We are a little behind last year.
• We have transferred the church's accounts to the Sonoma National/Sterling Bank in Oakmont which is more convenient for the church and lets us do business on line.
• Cathy Landon prepared a statement on the coffee hours. It is more important to welcome the stranger in our midst than provide an elaborate display (the policy is included in this Grapevine, page 3). Will you watch out for newcomers during coffee hours, find out who they are and make them welcome.
• We decided to purchase a defibrillator with money from the memorial fund.
• Wendy Wood reported on Diocesan Convention
• Xavier Cabrales is taking over as property manager and supervisor for our sextons. He has prepared a list of preventive maintenance that we need to do around the building. Jose and Maria are doing good work around the church and the landscaping is in great shape.
• The Holiday Bazaar was a big success.
• We are looking for four good people to serve on the vestry 2008-2010.
• Guests from St John's (continuing congregation) Episcopal Church in Petaluma accepted our invitation to Evensong and supper in November. We hope to develop our contacts with them in the New Year.
• The Outreach committee is going to make the grants, which are currently being made by the Designated Funds Committee. The DFC is to become the parish's Finance Committee.

All of this-and more-we did in under two hours. This has been a good vestry. Our last meeting to approve the budget will be held on January 8, 2008.