November 24, 2015
Happy Thanksgiving,
I am grateful for the very skillful response of our ushers, headed by Ruben Artery, along with some of the medical professionals in our congregation, to the medical emergency one of the worshippers experienced toward the end of our service on Sunday. He has been released from the hospital and I anticipate seeing him sometime today.
I am also grateful for the caring ministries of our Hunger Task Force. Putting together and distributing 65 grocery bags and turkeys is no small endeavor. It is an act of kindness that helps make this week a little easier for sixty-five households in our community. All who are involved in this effort headed by Sheila Sims are to be applauded.
In your Thanksgiving Day Prayers, as we give thanks to God for the many blessings which mark our lives, let us remember to include a thought like this, “We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.” Such a prayer fits my experience very well.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, as, with our young people, we consider the fragile promise spoken by the prophet Jeremiah to his people that God was at work to heal their shattered lives. Please stay for the “Hanging of the Greens” following worship and help us decorate for Advent and Christmas. (Be among the first to see the beautiful banners that Pat H., Gail C., and Karen H., are making!)
Peace,
Jim H.
Prayers of the Congregation
- Linda Earl for friend Steven recovering from a stroke
- Jim Dorr for Francis White recovering from a stroke
- Doris and Ted Evans and family. Doris is home after surgery on Friday
- Nedra Hathaway (surgery on December 1)
- Dale and Alice Edmondson for their neighbor Jack Yuen as he mourns the death of his wife
- Carol Leichter for Steve in Alta Bates Hospital and her mom who is home from the hospital
- Paul McClendon (health concerns)
- Marie Johnson for Dahlia, Dilcie, Cameron, Shari, Matthew, Jamani and family
- Joan Patten for Peter and Paula
- Kay Baxter for her family and herself
- All the recipients of our Thanksgiving food baskets
- Ruben Artery for his brother who is now at home
- Sydney Webster for Tatiana and for those who struggle through the holidays
- Helen Harrison for the family and friends of Mike Casey as they grieve
- Jesus Portillo for the people of Haiti, the LABC Staff and the LABC family
- Jesse Lucas for all who will participate in the 2016 Bible Camp
- Larry Sims as he remembers Leona on their wedding anniversary
- Virginia McClow for our troubled world
- Karen Okusu for her mom
- The people of Burma and the members of the San Francisco Kachin Baptist Church
- Charlene and Jerry Wolf for Charlene’s mom
- All the caregivers of our congregation
- Dave Robinson and the staff of Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy as they minister to the incarcerated and the prison personnel in Santa Clara County
- All who are traveling
- Thanksgiving with Paul Keener and FBC Alameda as Paul begins as Interim Pastor
- Thanksgiving with Don Johnson Jr. and Nicole, and families, as they anticipate the birth of Donald Lee Johnson III
- Thanksgiving with Jim Jeffery for all the support he has received from the LABC family
Announcements
LABC Reads will meet this Saturday morning at 9:00 to discuss “The Orphan Train.”