I’ve always been partial to the fall season. It’s the time of harvest, of more brilliant sunrise and set, and when the north wind finally chases away summer’s heat. Fall is when the squirrels are busy collecting all they can in order to make it through the lean winter months.
In the fall, we approach the end of the church year with a series of Holy Days: Reformation, All Saint’s, and Christ the King. Then we join in a national Thanksgiving celebration followed immediately by the start of Advent on the last weekend in November.
And like the squirrels, we will be busy collecting items as fall moves into winter. Ours is a generous congregation, blessed with the resources to help many others as winter makes its approach.
You all have done a FANTASTIC job gathering items for 300 school kits! Thank you so much for giving children around the world the tools to learn with. But keep your shopping sense about you because between now and Christmas, there will be THREE more opportunities to make tangible offerings. More information will be coming but I wanted to give everyone a ‘heads up’ so that you can take full advantage of this opportunities when they arise:
1: Very soon, we will collect items for the Refugee team to furnish a house with everything a family might need. Vicar Callie is coordinating this effort.
2: During November, Kountze Pantry has again asked us to help put together 300 personal care kits. The list of items will be coming out soon but it will be similar to what we did last year. On Thanksgiving Eve, there will be a special time to present these items as an offering during worship.
3; During Advent, we will be collecting “Winter Wear” items such as hats, gloves, coats, socks and blankets to give away during the night watch of the Salvation Army. More info will be coming but start planning for it now.
Fall is also the time when we focus on our stewardship of the resources God has placed within our care. Our stewardship theme this year is “Together”. In Christ, all things are held together and together, we are the body of Christ in the world. Now more than ever, the world needs examples of “togetherness” that work to bridge divides and heal wounds between us. Together, we are able to do far more than any of can imagine doing on our own.
So let the harvest begin!