When the Rev. Greg Tolaas arrived at the Church of St. Philip in 1997, average attendance at Sunday mass was between 40 and 50 people. By the time of his death in 2003, it was not unusual for 500 people to pack the Minneapolis church to hear his homilies.

As impressive as that was, it turned out to be just a hint of his popularity. When he was hospitalized in the last stages of his long battle with cystic fibrosis, his CaringBridge Web page recorded 240,000 hits.

Thanks to the work of his parishioners, now everyone can have a chance to hear some of his sermons. A collection of his Advent homilies from 2001 and 2002 has been assembled on CDs and in a book.

Called "Pay Attention" -- one of his favorite expressions -- the collection was created by volunteers. As a result, all the money will go to two charities: 20 percent to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the rest to St. Philip.

The collection (one book and three CDs) is available for $45, with a $5 handling fee. Write to: The Church of St. Philip, 2507 Bryant Av. N., Minneapolis, MN 55411. You can save the handling fee by buying the collection at the church. They are available at masses, which are at 4 p.m. Saturdays and 10:15 a.m. Sundays.

Early-bird service Are you going to be taking your lead from the well-known holiday song and be on your way to grandmother's house on Christmas Eve? You can still attend Christmas Eve services at Wooddale Church -- it just won't be on Christmas Eve.

To accommodate all the families that travel on the holiday, the church's Eden Prairie campus is offering an early Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m. Monday. It will be identical to the candlelight service held Thursday, including a full choir and the Rev. Leith Anderson's Christmas sermon. The church is on Shady Oak Road just east of its intersection with Hwy. 212.

Hmong minister With his ordination Sunday, Nengyia Her will become the first Hmong pastor in the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Rev. William Siong, pastor of Hmong Central Lutheran Church in St. Paul, is the only other Hmong ELCA minister in the Twin Cities. There are a number of Hmong clergy in other denominations, however, including Alliance, Roman Catholic, Baptist, United Methodist, Evangelical Free and a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church. Her's ordination is at 2 p.m. at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, 3751 Sheridan Av. N., Minneapolis, followed by his installation as pastor of the congregation.

The Twitter gospels In the beginning was the tweet. A throng of nearly 3,000 Germans spent 10 days retyping the Bible on Twitter. With a limit of 140 characters per tweet, it required a lot of messaging, and even then it had to be abridged.

The tweeters also converted the good book into hip Twitter-speak, so now the Creation story says that on the seventh day, God "decided that it was time to chill." They were so impressed with that turn of phrase that they used it for the name of their project: "Und Gott Chilte" (And God Chilled). You can read it online at twitter.com/ralpe/status/2100929442.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392