Bulletin for November 22, 2009
Thanksgiving Service will be held on Wed. evening at 7pm.
Blanket Sunday will be held on Nov. 29th and Dec. 6th.
Rotary Christmas Tree Project: There are still tags on the Rotary Christmas Tree in the vestibule. Please take a tag/s and follow the directions. If you wish to make a monetary donation please make the check payable to the Oakland Rotary Club. If you have any questions, please contact Jim Carmack. Delivery will be on December 12th.
Thank you to all who made it possible to make 191 children smile when they receive their shoe box from Oak Grove. All the boxes and monetary contributions are greatly appreciated. Thanks also to those who helped with the “Packing Party” on Monday to get the boxes ready to be sent on to the next step of their journey.
Attention Sr. Youth: There is a sign-up sheet on the back table for anyone interested in attending National Youth Conference next July 17-21st in Colorado. Age requirements are as follows- must have completed 9th grade at time of conference up through 1st year of college. We need to get a count of the number who are seriously interested in order to make monetary preparations.
Just a reminder that Children’s Church is held each Sunday in the church basement for children ages 3-11. Dismissal is during offering.
Are we losing Thanksgiving? That’s the question posed a lot as people worry that football and commerce have overwhelmed the Thanksgiving holiday. As stated by one person; “I don’t mean to sound like Chicken Little (or Turkey Lurkey?), but the one day set aside to contemplate our blessings and their divine origin has, in one generation, been reduced to a football orgy and now, for football widows, a jumpstart on the biggest shopping day of the year as more stores open on the sacred Thursday.” However, Thanksgiving services can be an important ministry opportunity.
The pastor of an Atlanta church stated that Thanksgiving was becoming for them the new seeker’s holiday. They found that people curious about faith would attend thanks-themed worship services with their believing friends. For seekers, Thanksgiving is a less demanding holiday than Christmas, which requires belief in the improbable (a Virgin birth?), or Easter, with its claims to exclusivity (must Christ be the only Way?). Everyone has something to be thankful for, and most people recognize that something beyond themselves must be credited with their blessings.
As we interact with family, friends and co-workers this Thanksgiving, let’s be mindful of that point and share our gratitude for the amazing God who is the source of all our blessings.