November: Religious Exploration

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. – Hamilton Wright Mabie

We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. —Anton Chekhov

It’s ironic. Sometimes it feels like in our fervor to celebrate and cram as much love and goodwill as we can into the winter holiday season, we strip away room for some of the hopefulness, peace, and joy the season is often proclaimed to be all about. We are trying to be mindful here at church about keeping the activities we plan meaningful but simple and trying to stagger our events so that everything doesn’t hit all at once, stressing everybody out and draining our energy and resources:

November 4th – December 2nd: Guest at Your Table Boxes. The boxes were distributed at the November 4th Stone Soup service. If you didn’t get one, there are more on the table just before you enter the sanctuary in the narthex- please feel free to take one. The idea is to set the box on your dining table at home and take a few moments at mealtime to remember the people in this world who are less fortunate than we are and the kinds of issues they face. More information can be found at http://www.uusc.org/guest. GAYT boxes and donations will be collected at the December 2nd worship service. For those who would prefer to simply write a check or make a cash donation, there are envelopes available, also in the narthex.

Children’s RE for November will be spent examining the justice issues highlighted by GAYT and working on our holiday pageant. People who are interested in participating in JusticeCON in February at CONtagious, but still haven’t signed up need to move very quickly, as I need to know no later than this Sunday, November 11th who is planning to attend. Reminder: there will be a planning meeting with DYSC members to work on our JusticeCON in February at CONtagious, so it’s important we have good representation.

November 25th: Children will remain in the sanctuary during worship service
December 2nd: As part of our GAYT wrap-up, families are asked to bring mittens, scarves, or hats for our children to decorate the mitten tree during the Time for All Ages portion of the worship service that Sunday. Our collection will go to the families participating in LUM’s Jubilee Christmas.

December 16th: Holiday Pageant during our regular worship service
December 23rd & 30th: Children will remain in the sanctuary during worship

Finally, I want to offer a quick shout-out to the many adults and kids who helped out with Stone Soup Sunday on November 4th, from the readers and kids who took a part during the worship service, to members of the congregation who brought veggies for the stone soup, to members of the fellowship team who managed the extra work in the kitchen. Like the story, it just goes to show that we can all offer something to make the delicious offerings to be found at our church home.

See You In Church,
Sheila