St. Matthews Episcopal Church

Episcopal Church in Snellville, GA

 “Open for me the gates of righteousness; *
I will enter them; I will offer thanks to the Lord..” Psalm 119:19

A Word From Mother Pat+: INCENSE – Fun Trivia for the Holy Days

The Church has long used incense for special celebrations much as it was used in the Jewish tradition of Jesus’ time. Scripture refers to incense as a sign of the presence of the holy and the smoke goes up like our prayers ascending to God. Incense will only be used at the 11:00 pm service on Christmas Eve. If you have allergies to incense, then please join us for the 5 pm Christmas Eve service.

In the Revelation to John, chapter 8:1-4 we read “the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints.” In the Old Testament we find numerous references to the use of incense as a part of worship. Incense has long been associated with prayer and with special times of celebration. The magi brought fragrant frankincense as one of the gifts for the infant Jesus.

The use of sight, sound and smell in worship have long been used to connect us to each other and to God. We offer our bodies in prayer and thanksgiving – kneeling, bowing, walking, standing, sitting and other postures of praise and prayer. We see and taste the elements of consecrated bread and wine allowing God to fill us. We lift our voices in prayer, praise and song offering our gifts to God; and when we use incense it involves our sense of smell and sight allowing us to experience visually our prayers ascending to the heavens and we smell the fragrance of frankincense reminding us of God’s gift to us in the person of Jesus.

Merry Christmas, Mother Pat+



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A Word From Mother Pat+: Perseverance

How long Lord, do we have to wait?

I am not good at waiting! If someone puts me on hold on the phone, I look around for something else to do. But in every day there are times when we must simply wait. When night comes, we can’t rush the dawn – it simply is not in our power to do so. We can get up and turn on all kinds of electric lights, but we can not make the daylight come any sooner than God plans.

In this season of the Church year that we call Advent, we enter a season of waiting. Many of you are like me and you dislike waiting in line or waiting in traffic and you may even dislike waiting for dinner to cook. That is why I like to microwave everything! Sometimes we are so impatient that we try to figure out which grocery line is moving the fastest or which lane of slow traffic will get us there more quickly. But Advent is not like that. Waiting in Advent can’t be rushed. Advent is always four weeks in length and no amount of hoping and praying will bring Christmas any sooner.

So here we are in the third week of waiting and perhaps we have already fallen into the chaos of the world rushing to buy presents and hurrying to get decorations up? As Christians, we are supposed to prepare for Christmas in a different way. We are invited to slow down, not speed up. We are invited to wait to light that beautiful green tree until Christmas actually arrives. We are encouraged to prayerfully seek out gifts for others which remind them of the love God has for us.

The primary reason for gift-giving at Christmas time is to remind us of God’s great gift of love to each of us. Perhaps you can slow down enough to pray each day and to attend worship each week. Come and slow down for just a few minutes in the presence of God. Then you can go out into that busy world renewed and refreshed. The waiting of Advent is somewhat like the waiting of a couple for that new baby – it is the waiting of anticipation and it is the waiting of mystery and hope.

Light your Advent wreath candles (one each week, so we are up to three) and say a short prayer every day recognizing that each candle represents the Light of Christ coming closer and closer to our hearts and lives. May this season bless you with a sense of God’s peace and may you find yourself ready to welcome the Christ Child this Christmas with an open heart.

So how long Lord do we have to wait? Just long enough, God tells us, so that our hearts once again become mindful of Christ’s love and just long enough so that we become a hopeful people ready to light up the world for God.
God’s peace, Mother Pat+



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A Word From Mother Pat+: The Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath is a circular ring symbolizing the unbroken and unending love of God. The green symbolizes life everlasting and the four blue candles mark our earthly time of waiting and anticipating the coming of Christ.

In the last 20 years, the Church has elected to use sarum blue in Advent instead of purple to mark the difference between the purple of Lenten penitence and the Advent season of waiting and preparation. The tall white center candle focuses our attention on the light of the world, Jesus, whose presence is central to our lives. The white center Christ Candle is not lit until all the other candles are burning, so in a way it reminds us how important our own lives are in helping bring light to the world while we wait on Christ’s return. The Advent wreath continues to be used through the Feast of the Epiphany, with all the candles blazing to mark the light of God in the world during the season of revelation – Epiphany.

The four blue candles can symbolize many things; however the themes of each week tend to reflect the lectionary readings – Week 1: Anticipation of the coming Messiah – Christ child; Week 2: Preparation for the Light of Christ coming into the world; Week 3: Rejoicing for God is near us; and Week 4: Hope for the Prince of Peace comes into the world. Others see the four candles as reminders of the four gospels or the ever brightening light of Christ coming into the world to banish sin and darkness. When purple and pink candles were used, the purple was for penitence and the third week pink candle was a “lighter” purple to allow for Joy to lessen the penitential nature of the season.

Since the change to Sarum Blue for the Advent season, the focus has been one of anticipation, preparation, joy and hope that we might wait expectantly for God to act in our lives and in the world. May this Advent provide you a quiet space so you can prepare your heart and mind for the gifts God has for you. In this first week of Advent simply take time to wait in prayer for God to guide you – Anticipate with joy the days to come.
Have a blessed and holy Advent. Mo Pat+



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Sunday Worship Services Christmas Day 2020 Through January 3, 2021

On Christmas Day (Dec 25) , 10:00 a.m . we will gather via Zoom from the Coil chapel. Drive-by Communion will be available for 45 minutes after the service at the back entrance to the church.
Zoom link https://zoom.us/j/5572242746
Meeting ID: 557 224 2746

Christmas I (Dec 27) : 10:00 a.m. One service, Holy Communion via Zoom . Drive through Holy Communion from the back church entrance for forty five minutes following the service.
Zoom link https://zoom.us/j/5572242746
Meeting ID: 557 224 2746

Christmas II (Jan. 3, 2021): 10:00 a.m. One service livestream from the sanctuary with music (carols). Drive through Holy Communion from the back of the church for forty five minutes following the service.

2 Services Online 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. with SS and CE resumes Jan 10, 2021



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Drive Through Nativity December 20, 4 – 5:30 p.m.

Drive-Thru Nativity – December 20th @ 4 pm – Experience the story of Christmas from the comfort of your car. A drive-thru nativity is a live nativity experience with actors and “animals” and all the sights and sounds of the birth of Jesus, but you drive past while practicing safe protocols. If you and your family are interested in participating in the Drive-Thru Nativity please contact Liz Livermont or Fr. Tommy.



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Musings: Advent 2, The Coming of Jesus In Our Midst

December 4, 2020
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in Germany during the time of Hitler. Bonhoeffer worked with the resistance to try and overthrow Hitler and he was arrested and sent to one of the camps. That did not stop his voice, however. He wrote to family, friends, and to his fiancée from prison and many of his writings are still with us. Bonhoeffer was executed in prison, about two weeks before US troops liberated the camp.
In two books that I read and meditate on during Advent, there is an excerpt from one of his writings that I would like to share. The title is called “The Coming of Jesus in Our Midst”, and it is found in a book called, “Watch for the Light.”
Bonhoeffer writes,
“We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience. Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness”. 
These words grab my attention. They affirm what I know deep down – that from time to time I fall short of being Jesus’ hands and feet in the world. At times, I know the right thing to do, and yet fail to do it. And if you read the Letter of James, you will realize that this is his definition of sin (James 4:17). What is amazing to Bonhoeffer, and to me, is that knowing that God loves me without restraint, even as imperfect as I am, is cause for both deep gratitude and overwhelming hope.
As we move into this season of Advent, I encourage you to take time to read and digest these words that Bonhoeffer wrote from prison, and that you may feel inclined to do your own inventory of areas that I fondly call “growth opportunities”. The goal of the reflection time should not be to come away feeling badly, but rather to realize the gift of God’s love, which is unconditional and infinite. That is our hope as Christians, that the God who loved us first and loves us still, wants us to prepare a sacred place in our hearts to receive him, not only at Christmas but throughout the year.
Mother Liz+



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Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Worship Schedule

We invite you to worship with us this Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ:

Christmas Eve — Tuesday, December 24

— 4:00 p.m. Family Eucharist with Christmas Pageant

— 7:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist with Incense

–10:30 p.m. Christmas Music

–11:00 p.m. Festive Holy Eucharist with Incense

Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25

10:00 a.m. –Holy Eucharist

Sunday, December 29 

Holy Eucharist  10:00 a.m.



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At St. Matthew’s, our MISSION is to continue the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, by serving the greater community through loving its children, caring for the unfortunate and witnessing to the healing power of God’s love.