Hi, Everybody. To make up for last week’s “short and sweet,” this week I’m making it “long and blathery”:
This Sunday, January 30, is the 4th Sunday after Epiphany and Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Sunday. The RIC Program helps Lutheran churches celebrate and advocate for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. We’ve been an RIC member church since waaaay back in the year 2 BC (Before COVID-19 [really, just five and a half years ago]) when we approved our inclusive Welcoming Statement. The schedule for everything this Sunday is as usual. Will there be rainbow-colored treats that stain your mouth with food coloring for the rest of the day? (Gosh, I hope so!)
Also this Sunday, after the 10 am service (about 11 am), the Helping Hands crew of Sunday School children will be setting up tables at the far end of the parking lot (in front of Holland Hall) and putting together snack bags and personal care bags for drivers at Abode to deliver to homeless camps around the Bay Area. This is funded by Marielle’s Winter Relief Project, which was December’s Cause of the Month (thank you to all who contributed!). Marielle and the Miedema family will bring all donations and additional supplies and provide guidance. Anyone who would like to join them is welcome! In the past it has taken them about an hour to put bags together. They hope to make 125 snack bags and about 100 personal care bags.
You may not know it, but our congregation, along with other local ELCA congregations, is participating in ACTS for Vitality. ACTS for Vitality (Adapting, Connecting and/or Collaborating, Transforming, Sustaining) is a journey intended to help congregations renew their vitality. It was developed within the Sierra Pacific Synod for congregations of the Sierra Pacific Synod. Here’s where you come in: As part of this program, each congregation is asked to name their top three core values. Probably the easiest way to participate is to email me or Pastor Tim your three most important personal values, but we will also have slips of paper available this Sunday for you to write them on (or on which to write them – if one of your core values is grammar). You can place them in our boxes or in the offering tray if you prefer to remain anonymous. So, what are your core values? They could be faith, generosity, honesty, compassion, hope, or whatever else is important to you (mine are eating, sleeping, and napping). Need help? Here’s a list to get you thinking: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-core-values.html. Looking forward to hearing from you all!
(What? Sleeping and napping are the same thing? OK, my core values are eating, sleeping, and snacking! [Gluttony and Sloth? Never heard of ’em!])
Remember the Christmas ornaments Pastor Tim was handing out at Christmas? Well, if you didn’t get one, or didn’t get the one you wanted, PT has bought up all they had (there weren’t many) and put them on the Usher’s Table in the narthex for you to pick up (or up with which for you to pick), along with ribbons up with which to hang them up with.
The Souper Bowl of Caring is coming up on February 13th! On Super Bowl Sunday each year we join other groups in collecting donations of food and funds for local food charities. According to Terri, the teams that are playing are “either going to be SF 49ers or LA Rams vs Kansas City Chiefs or Cincinnati Bengals. But we all win when we support Souper Bowl of Caring!”
– Keith
your friendly Parish Life Coordinator (i.e. Church Secretary)