I don’t know about you, but I continue to have a hard time keeping up with the weeks and months and what special days they bring. My memory seems to be frozen in Spring! But, the falling temperatures and the changing colors of the leaves are a reminder that fall is indeed here! In church life, that means Annual Church Conference, fall programs, assessing the budget for next year and planning for Advent and Christmas season.
We have already shared with you that our Annual virtual Church Conference will be on Monday, October 19th at 6:30pm. We will share the zoom link for the meeting as we get closer to the meeting. And, while there is not much we can offer in the building right now, the Ministry Advocates (lay leadership of the church) have decided to virtually study together a book by Layla Saad, titled “Me and White Supremacy.” If you have another book suggestion, or if you would like to start a book study group, please let Satia Orange know.
We will work on the budget for the church next month, but this month we kick off our stewardship campaign! Our October sermon series is titled, “A Wonder-full Life: Looking at Money and Meaning,” prepared by worship designer Marcia McFee.
In the classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a crisis of money creates vastly diverse reactions from several characters that can hold up a mirror to our own relationships with money. In the four weeks of October, we will “look” squarely in the face of our money issues in compassionate ways that can offer more depth of meaning, healing, and wholeness and a whole new “outlook” on what constitutes a wonderful life.
In the 4 weeks we will ‘look back,’ ‘look in,’ ‘look out,’ and ‘look with gratitude’ at our lives and our relationship with money. During this month you will also be hearing from lay leaders of our church -- about their relationship with the church, their love for you, and how they see God present in our world today!
Beloveds, as we look deeper into our lives and our relationship with money -- let us not forget all the other concerns and needs that we are surrounded with -- this year more than ever before. If you have not filled the Census 2020 form yet, we have till October 5th to do so. You can complete the form online by clicking here. I also hope that you are paying close attention to the Presidential debates and all other information that is available to us for matters related to our state and communities. Let us prayerfully and intelligently make our decisions, for our choices will impact the life and well-being of our children and the future generations.
I pray that you are doing well, taking good care of yourself -- washing your hands, wearing a mask, maintaining safe distance when seeing family and friends, and doing all you can to keep our infection numbers going down. May God give all of us the strength we need for each day. And remember, I am always your partner, in justice and in ministry,
