UPCOMING EVENTS

Our next potluck will be December 21 after morning services.

Leftover potluck will be today after services.  Join us for the leftovers form the community dinner.  

Magi Project donations for November:  We are still collecting toothpaste and toothbrush holders.  See the sign up sheet in the back for clothing needed.  If you want to contribute, but you don’t want to shop, see Amy or Diane.  Thank you for your generosity!

WE ALL JOINED IN
By John Kerr

            We recently went to Michigan to see our youngest granddaughter compete with her cheer leading team.  They did well, coming in second place.  Eighteen teams of cheerleaders competed, entertaining mostly families, in a full gymnasium.  They began the program by playing a recording of the Star-Spangled Banner.  Something went awry and the music stopped about halfway through.  When it became evident that the recording wasn’t going to start back up one person began, “and the rockets red glare…”  By the time we got to “proof through the night”, everyone had joined in.  What a moving experience it turned out to be.  It brought tears to my eyes.

            I thought about a parable Jesus told of how the kingdom of God would start small and grow large.  Mark 4:30Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

            The apostle Paul was exemplary in his mission work, beginning small and bringing many to Christ.  Acts 17:1When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

            Joining in with others in obedience to Christ is a moving experience. 

LUGUBRIOUS - mournful.  Interestingly, the last six letters of this word can be scrambled to spell my last name (if using one of them twice),