Dear friends in Christ,
I hope you’re all doing well this lovely day. We have a quieter weekend at church than last week, but there are some upcoming things I’d like to highlight:
Thank You Volunteers!
In the past five weeks we’ve had five memorial services at the church and the book and bake sale. All of those things have involved volunteers, and I want to thank everyone who has ushered, baked, donated books, sorted books, cooked, volunteered at the book sale, and helped setup and clean up everything. All of you are what make our church community possible.Thank you.
Book and Bake Sale
I haven’t gotten the exact final figure yet in terms of what we raised, but I know it’s somewhere north of $600. In addition to the money, I really appreciated the opportunity to just put on an event at church again after over a year of being so restricted in what we could do. Plus, I picked up a couple books and some yummy baked goods.I’ve included a couple pictures from the fundraiser on Saturday.
Reformation Day/Halloween
This year October 31st, Reformation Day/Halloween, falls on a Sunday, so we might as well have a little fun. Children (and older children of God) are welcome to come in costume or in Halloween/fall themed attire. If you want to go all in, you can dress up as your favorite Protestant reformer/theologian.
Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg on October 31st, the eve of All Saints’ Day, in 1517. This event marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The word Halloween comes from the church feast of All Hallows’ Eve. Hallow is the old English word for saint/holy. So, the word Halloween is saying All Saints’ Eve.
All Saints’ Observance: 11/7
On November 7th, we’ll be observing the feast of All Saints’ during worship. In many Protestant churches like ours, the emphasis of this festival is on the ongoing sanctification of the whole people of God. We use this opportunity to give thanks to God for the ordinary, holy lives of believers in this and every age, especially those who have died in the past year. So, during worship, we’ll be reading the names of people who have died that we’d like to give thanks to God for.
Please let me know if you have the name of someone you’d like included in worship. (I’ve already included the names of everyone who died in 2020 and 2021 where I officiated the funeral/memorial service.)
Livestream FixedWe can confirm that we can successfully stream worship again after our internet service provider replaced their modem. You can find both the Sunday morning worship service and the memorial service for Lori Giannini from this past Sunday on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/c/middleburycongregationalchurch
General Comments
I’m taking some study leave this week, which I’m excited about as I didn’t take any study leave in 2020. I have a backlog of books/magazines to get through, and I’ll have gotten through at least little of the pile by the end of the week. I’m still checking my email, but I’m not in the office as much. If you need me, you can always email or call. (Also, I’ve attached a picture of the sunset at the church from last week.)
Peace,
Pastor Katrina
