harry potter hilarity

"This boy will be famous. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know his name."

(thanks to Sean Patrick for creating this awesome flyer!)

Our first event for 2009 is THIS FRIDAY (Jan 2nd) when we begin our Harry Potter movie series! We are starting from the very beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, #1, and we will work our way through to #5 over the next few months, as we get ready for the release of #6 on July 17th, 2009!!! The parish hall will become our movie theater with a huge screen on the wall and surround sound. Get ready to be amazed. We'll begin at 6 and be done at 9pm (the movie is 2.5 hours long!). This is not just an opportunity to watch a movie but a chance to celebrate Harry Potter with HP-inspired costume, food, and games. Come in costume if you wish! We won't be providing dinner this time, so please eat dinner beforehand, but any snacks or drinks you can bring are welcome. If any of you want to provide Harry Potter inspired food/drink, please let me know! I will be making pumpkin muffins to share (they are really good!). Some other ideas are: root beer in bottles (a la butterbeer), acid pops, or licorice wands (this webpage has some great ideas you can use: http://www.yumsugar.com/383049). This event is open to middle and high school students or any lovers of Harry Potter. Please feel free to bring your friends with you who don't normally attend St. Thomas! If you can't attend this one, don't worry, because we will be watching the other movies over the next several months.

Are you ready for Winter Jam?

Winter Jam is a national tour of some of the best Christian music groups out there, and they're coming to Tampa on Saturday, January 17th! Tickets are only $10, and we'll get to hear 5 or 6 groups. It's at the Sun Dome in Tampa, and doors open at 5pm.

If you want to learn more and hear some of the music groups that'll be at Winter Jam, head over to the Winter Jam website:

http://www.hearitfirst.com/jamtour/

hark the herald carolers sing

Last Sunday we made merry by going Christmas caroling in the neighborhood around our church.

Practicing our carols before heading out... everyone has their Santa hats on, ready to sing.

caroling at a very Christmas-y house.

surprising our friends Walt and Karilyn Jaap with some Christmas cheer.

We had a great time! More pictures to come.

tis the season

seen the youth room yet?

maybe you've seen it, maybe you haven't... here are a couple of pics of the progress we've made in setting up an awesome youth room!

our room has black and red chairs, black chalkboard walls, a huge red futon, and a tv. if you have ideas about how to decorate it more, share them with Sarah!

coffee and church

If you were in the Harmony service this morning, then you saw this video Fr. Chris used in his sermon about church and Starbucks. It's funny and thought provoking.

Narnia mania

Thanks to all who came to our movie night the other night! We ended up watching Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I have a long history with the stories about Narnia. The college I went to in Illinois had a whole museum devoted to CS Lewis, the author of Narnia, and some of his author friends. They even had on display an original wardrobe owned by Lewis' grandfather that Lewis used to play in when he was a kid! (see below.)

Looks a lot like the wardrobe in the movie, huh? It's pretty cool to see it in person. This morning at 9am our youth group followed up on the movie by talking about how the Narnia story is similar to the stories in the Bible. We noticed some ways that Aslan is like Jesus... and how the story of his dying on the stone table and coming back to life is like Jesus' death and resurrection. Pretty cool! We'll keep on talking about Narnia again next week, Sunday December 21st, at 9am - any middle schoolers are welcome to join us! We'll also plan on watching Prince Caspian some time in the next few months.

If you want to learn more about the Narnia movies (including when the next one will come out!) I would suggest visiting NarniaWeb. If you want to learn more about the author CS Lewis, try Into the Wardrobe.

Disclaimer: I've checked out both of these links and they appear to be fine for youth to visit. However, I cannot guarantee the quality of every single subpage or of every link from this website. Please use your own discretion on the web!

follow along with advent

http://www.paperlesschristmas.org.uk/

Paperless Christmas isn't your typical Advent calendar - it's paperless and fun! (sorry, it doesn't have chocolate inside.) Click on the link above and check it out each day to see the new video!

lunch for high school students

pizza. games. movie. friends. fun.

Come and join us this Friday, Dec. 12th!

Please talk to Sarah Kerr if you have questions!
sarahkerr@tampabay.rr.com
or call me at the church office:
727-896-9641