This month, of Thanksgiving and our Stewardship drive in our congregation, we turn our attention to the importance of thanksgiving and thankfulness... I ask each of you as well as myself... “How thankful are you?”

Now the reason why I think this is a legitimate question is because sometimes as human beings we have a tendency to believe that things are owed us as that is the way we think life should be.

Yes, ideally we should all have health, money, happiness, companionship, love and on and on. But in the real world sometimes life plays hardball with us and at the very least throws us a curve that makes our life go in a different direction. When that happens how thankful are you?

When life is bleak the last thing we feel like being is thankful. We might be angry with life, with God, with others who seem to have what we lack, be it a job, money, a close personal relationship, health, etc. It is much easier to be thankful when life is easy and good. The scripture which we find at the top of this newsletter, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good” states that we give thanks to God because God is good not that life is good or our personal circumstances are good. I believe that is something that we need to highlight in each day of our lives.

An anonymous writer once wrote “Ingratitude is a mask of selfishness.” If we cannot be thankful it might be because of our selfishness to have more and more because of our sense of what is owed us in this life.

In a real sense life owes us nothing... anything we receive is a gift, not an entitlement. Look at the vast majority of people in the world who have almost nothing. Back in 1983, I had the good fortune of having the congregation that I was serving send me to the Holy Land. Now... I must confess that I have never ever thought of myself as wealthy, but when I came back from that trip I knew I was wealthy, I had so much of this world’s goods and freedom to express myself.

So how thankful are you? If this Thanksgiving season finds you with a changed financial picture or a change family structure or a need for changing residences or an illness...can you still be thankful for what God has done for you?

The harvest is in, for another year, it is Thanksgiving time once again but I wish to turn our attention to the parable in the Gospel of Mark 4: 3, “A sower went out to sow.” However, the parable we examine today speaks truly of the harvest for what we sow is meaningless if there is no resulting harvest. So, also, that which Jesus Christ sows in our lives is meaningless, unless it comes to harvest and shows in our day by day living.

What kind of soil are you? Clean, fresh, committed soil, where God can grow and faith can mature and there will be plenty? Or dry, drought-ridden soil...? A sower went out to sow... and is still sowing here today.

What do you expect from Church? I believe it depends on what you are looking for. Is God’s spirit going to be poured out upon any person or the congregation? Are we hopeful of that or are we like a lot of people... we just don’t expect anything to happen at all. In life we sometimes get what we expect.

Do you expect you are going to hear a good sermon? Is it going to be just another run of the mill Sunday message? Someone said that “great preaching depends upon great listening.” Preach and people need a listening ear for the Word of God.

Do you expect prayer to be both meaningful and helpful? We need a worshipful setting when we wait upon the Spirit of God to bestow His Presence among us.

Do you expect God to be present? It doesn’t do much good to preach or to pray unless the Presence of the living God comes into our hearts.

The Sunday School is sponsoring a used toy booth at the church fair. Donations of used toys, games, puzzles and children’s books would be appreciated. Items may be dropped off at any time before the fair and left in the large basement room. Children may volunteer to work in the booth on either Friday or Saturday,

We are collecting drawings from students to be used as possible covers for the church bulletins for November 18 and 25. The topic is “Giving Thanks” – the children are asked to draw a picture of something they are thankful for. Drawings not used for the bulletins will be displayed on the bulletin board.

The Christmas program will be held during the regular church service on December 16 with a snow date of December 23.

Calling all 007's

Mission: Operation Christmas Child

Objective:

#1 - choose a boy or girl

#2 - choose an age group

#3 - fill a shoe box with age-appropriate goodies

and make a child’s Christmas dreams come true.

Restrictions:

No liquids, glass, chocolate, or war-related toys

E.T.D.

Boxes will be collected at the church on Sunday,

Nov. 11 and Sunday, Nov. 18.

Contact:

Should you encounter unforseen difficulties,

contact Lisa Machione at 246-9262.

Should you choose to accept this mission...

Yes, you should!!!

Good luck and Godspeed.

Stewardship

“Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” Deuteronomy 15:10.

Stewardship will begin on Sunday, Oct. 28, when pastor will deliver a special sermon. Then on Gratitude Sunday, Nov. 4, please stop at the table set up in the narthex and pick up your Stewardship Packet. You may turn in your Offering Cards by completing your card and placing it in the Offering plate. On Consecration Sunday, Nov. 11, all cards received to date will be blessed during the service. Gerry Rosenberger will be delivering the sermon on that day. Following the service, we will have a

covered dish luncheon celebration.

Please remember that after the luncheon we will be setting up for the church fair. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yours in Christ,

Kim Heuvel

Stewardship Committee

We are asking for donations of NEW, UNWRAPPED items for infants through eighteen year olds. The donations will be collected through Wednesday, December 5^th. Please place your donations in the collection box located in the narthex.

We would also greatly appreciate any volunteers to help with this worthy project. Help is needed for set up of the store on Thursday, Dec. 6^th at 2:00 p.m. and to man the store on Friday, Dec. 7^th from noon to 3:00 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 8^th from 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Please feel free to contact Sue Andersen at 247-3330 if you have any questions or would like to volunteer.

Church Fair

Friday, November 16, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 17, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

We will have:

– Crafts including new handcrafted jewelry

– Baked goods and other homemade food items

– Recycled treasures, including household goods

– Recycled jewelry

– Recycled toys and games

– Used books

– Pecans and walnuts

– SERRV gifs from around the world

From the Kitchen: on Friday - hot dogs, chili, and homemade soup will be available. Donations of chili would be appreciated – contact Brenda Mentz. On Saturday a luncheon will be served from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., which will include homemade soup and sandwiches.

MYF will sponsor a Children’s Activity Room where parents can leave their children while they enjoy shopping.

Donations of crafts, baked goods or other homemade food items, or of any recycled items would be appreciated. Recycled items can be left in

the basement.

Set up will take place after the Service on Nov. 11 and during the week.

Help will be needed to set up, at the various booths during the Fair and to clean up on Nov. 17. Sign up sheets will be on a table in lobby or speak with one of committee – Diane Lisle, Marilyn Bucher, Joan

Robinson or Brenda Mentz.

1-Jar Peanut Butter
1- Grape Jelly (Small jar)
1-Strawberry Jelly (Small jar)
4-Jars Miracle Whip
1-ketchup
1-mustard
1-relish (small)

1-Jar Sauerkraut
3-Variety of Salad Dressings (French, Italian, Ranch)
8- Large cans V-8 juice
1-Small bag of Walnuts (1½ cups)
1-Box Croutons
Powered sugar
Cinnamon

Variety of 2 liter bottles of soda:
5-Coke
3-Diet Coke
Sprite
Root Beer
Orange

All items must be sealed and in original containers (Board of Health). If you would like to make a monetary donation that would also be appreciated. The money will go toward purchasing the following:

Hot dogs, Hot dog rolls, Salad, Onions, Lemonade, Ice tea, Paper goods, Fried dough makings,
Sandwich makings (cream cheese, olives, onions, celery, eggs, bread), Soup makings (carrots, potatoes, parsley, stock, juice).

Please call if you have purchased items so we do not have doubles. Thank you for your generous help. You may reach me at 246-0271, leave a message.

Our Sympathy

goes out to...

✞Mary Wiedemann on the death of her two month old great granddaughter on Sept. 23, 2007. Little Katie Elizabeth was the daughter of Christine and David Wiedemann.

✞The family of Vera Van Tassel who died on Sept. 27, 2007 at Ferncliff Nursing Home in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Her funeral was held on Oct. 2, 2007.

✞Bob Yattaw on the death of his wife Lois at 66 years of age on October 9, 2007 after a short illness. She joined our church in 1967.

4 - Matt Bazzani

8 - Jacob Gilmore

18 - Melissa Schupp

21 - Erin Kozlowsky

27 - Lana Machione

7/ 1998 - Melissa & Rich Jacob

As in past years, our congregation will be ‘adopting’ Head Start families this Christmas. Individuals or groups in the church will have the opportunity to ‘adopt’ a family and provide gifts for all the children in that family. Gifts should cost no more than $20 each. Sign up in the narthex and have gifts in by December 16.