Thanksgiving Week 2016
Dear LABC,
Thanksgiving Week Greetings.
I found our worship on Sunday to be deeply moving as we all gave thanks and grieved loss. Thanks to all, especially our youth, for their grace-filled participation. We continue to hold the Brown family, and all who grieve, in love and prayer.
From Pastor Tanner’s 11-20 Sermon
1 — Being thankful does not negate the struggles we face, nor should it silence our pain.
2 — It’s o.k. not to feel thankful, knowledge of our many blessings is enough.
3 — It’s important to be part of a community that is grateful – for they remind us of this deeper truth, that God strengthens those who struggle, God comforts those in pain, God blesses us whether we can appreciate it or not.
Closing Words — As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for, AND we have so much grief, so much work to do, so much healing to receive. Amidst it all, let us give thanks that the God we worship is a God who heals, a God who is at work in the world, and a God who gives us strength to go on. Amen
This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. Sydney Webster will be our preacher. Throughout Advent we will be reading the prophet Isaiah and learning of his call to the people to embrace a defiant hope. Of this hope Stacey Simpson Duke, Co-Pastor of FBC Ann Arbor, MI writes, “Isaiah is clear that we are not the ones who usher in a new era; it is God who brings it forth. Some would therefore say that Isaiah’s call is not to action but to hope; but hope, in the end is action, with the power to overturn old assumptions and sad cynicism, to give new eyes, and to heal our warring hearts.”
As part of worship there will be an adoption celebration for the Picou-Broadnax family. Following worship, I trust that you will be able to stay and help decorate the Sanctuary and Family Room for Advent and Christmas.
A Prayer for Your Thanksgiving Table
Lord, thank you for walking with us through the seasons of our lives.
For the winter, when we are held safe in your arms through the darkness.
For the hope of spring, as we are filled with new promise and life.
For summer time, full of warmth and colour
And for autumn days as leaves fall to seed new growth.
You are always with us.
Amen.
Prayers of the Congregation
- All who are grieiving
- All who are traveling
- Jeanette Paige as she cares for her father
- The Wilkinson family for Gloria (Creekside Convalescent Hospital, San Pablo)
- Joan Thatcher (Piedmont Gardens, SNF)
- Sheila Sims for her mom, Helen
- All who are worried
- All who live with depression
- Thanksgiving with Helen Harrison on good news from a friend
- Rick Mixon for his sister, Charlotte (health)
- Kay Baxter for her family and herself
- Rita and Irene Jennings (Piedmont Gardens SNF)
- Rafael Soto for Sarah’s mom (health)
- Edie Parrott (health)
- Mary Karne for Maryla (health)
- Chuck Johnston for Nancy Strange (health)
- Sandra Dunn (health)
- Barbara Bowman (health)
- Katrina Lau (health)
- Cheryl Gattey (health)
- Jo Robinson (health)
- Jessie Guiton (health)
- Ruth Ann Crawford (health)
- All who grieve following the train wreck that killed over one hundred people in India
- Our nation in this time of transition
- The Evans family
- The Parker family
- The Martin family
- The Fields family
Announcements
Declan Brown thanks everyone for their expressions of love and concern in his time of loss. He is very appreciative of Sunday’s service and all who were able to attend. He had thought about hosting a memorial reception in early December but has decided to postpone it for now.