November 19,2019
Family,
There is reason to be grateful following this past Sunday’s congregational meeting. We adopted a realistic budget which supports the ongoing ministries of LABC. We elected a good team of officers and leaders for 2020. We have some folks thinking seriously about emergency preparedness. We are developing a staffing plan to attend to our ministry of Christian Formation/Education as Pastor Tanner continues to focus on the work of justice both locally and globally.
November 24th will be Thanksgiving Sunday as well as Pledge Sunday at LABC. There will be time in worship to present both our Time and Talent Pledges and our Financial Pledges. I will preach from Philippians 1:1-6, in which Paul, writing from prison in Ephesus, chooses to begin his letter by giving thanks for the kindness of the Jesus followers in Phillippi. In so doing he demonstrates for us the power of gratitude, the dynamism of giving thanks in all things.
I see that same power at work in words of my colleague Joe Kutter as he lives with terminal cancer.
My continuing prayer is that God will grant
Wisdom to meet the choices that are ahead
Courage to meet the unknown
Strength to meet the hard days
Faith to honor the one I have tried to follow through the course of my life.
Gratitude has an impact on every life it touches.
Prayers of the Congregation
Those devastated by the shootings in Saugus, San Diego and Fresno; Sheila Sims for her sister Anita, a teacher whose school had been threatened with violence; The people of Hong Kong, Haiti, Nigeria, Chile, Bolvia, Venezuela and Syria; Peace with Justice in the Middle East; A safe and prosperous holiday season for the merchants of Lakeshore Avenue and Oakland; All who are searching for housing; Dustin and all who live very precarious lives; All who are grieving; All who are healing; All who care for another person; Hospice patients and hospice providers
Announcements
Please join us to fill the Hunger Task Force Thanksgiving Baskets following worship this Sunday. Many hands are neeed!