Newsletter time! The first Sunday of Advent is in the books and we are moving steadily on towards Christmas. This will be our Third Christmas in the former Sheridan Country Club that has become our new home. As we discussed in our annual meeting a couple of weeks ago, our identity has grown and changed from a group that was trying to survive to a group that has a desire to impact our community. Honestly, I feel that our goal should be to become a church so integrated into the social fabric of our community that Sheridan would significantly mourn our loss, if Grace Anglican were to go away. We have become a congregation with a serious desire to reach out. Our Back to School Bash and Easter Egg Hunt have become fun, effective, annual outreach events in our neighborhood. We have always done something at Christmas and this year will be no exception. Last Christmas we put together Christmas food baskets to give away to families who could use a boost. We put together 25 food baskets and invited families to come join us on Christmas Eve for Soup, worship, and a basket. Unfortunately, our turnout from targeted families was disappointing, but has shaped what our plans are for this year. Once again, well be putting together food baskets. This year we are shooting to get 40 baskets out to the community. However, our distribution will be different this year. We are going to take the baskets out to be delivered on the last Sunday of Advent, December 21st, after Church. We will have our monthly brunch that day and then deliver baskets afterwards. And here is my appeal to have everyone in the church help out. We will be collecting non-perishable food items to load into the baskets. You can bring whatever you would like. Here are some of the items we used last year: Meats & cheeses Nuts Dried fruits Christmas cookies Soup mixes Cookie/cake mixes Stuffing mix Pie filling Chocolates Canned smoked oysters Jellies Rice/beans Powdered milk Coffee/tea We will include a Christmas card in each basket that will express to the recipients our joy at Christmas and inviting them to join us for our Christmas Eve Service that coming Wednesday. We will also be contributing a protein food of some sort (Ham, Turkey, etc) in each basket. Please bring any items you would like to contribute to the Church beginning this Sunday as well as the names of any families you know of who might like to receive a food basket. This coming Saturday, Mulligans Thrift store will be open from 9-2. The guest artists will be Kathy Mott and Carol Doughty who will be selling their beautiful glass work in the back area. Two weeks later (Dec 20) Chuck and Betty Wendtland will be selling their homemade jellies at Mulligans. In addition, we are supporting the work of Pamba Toto through the selling of some African gift items in the church. All proceeds go to help the Sanctuary of Hope home for orphans we help support in Nairobi, Kenya. Take a look at the items on the back tables in the coming weeks. There are many great Christmas gift ideas right here at Grace. Finally, I want to encourage you in this season of Advent to continue preparing your hearts for the coming of the Messiah. We think in two ways of Jesus coming during Advent. First, we think of his incarnation. Jesus taking the form of human flesh in order to identify with his lost creation so that he could redeem it is perhaps the greatest miracle outlined in the bible outside of The Passion. Spend some time each and every day reflecting on the wonder of God becoming Man so that Man could return to God. Second, we think of the Second Coming of Jesus. As Jesus stated in the Gospel reading from yesterday, Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matt 24:42-44) We become ready when our first thoughts center on how we can glorify God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with our lives. I look forward to seeing you soon. By Grace, Kevin
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:43:59 +0000
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