October 2021 Newsletter
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As many of you know, I am not a fan of winter. I love summer. What I have come to realize is that I have been too hard on fall. I guess I have been blaming fall for winter.
We have a lot of geese around our home and when they leave for the winter, I am known to shout, “Don’t go!” When the leaves start to fall, covering the yard, I have been known to shout something similar, “Just hang on a little longer. Come on; you got this. Stay on the tree!” But in God’s grace, the trees listen to their Maker rather than my foolish whispers.
In God’s perfect plan, there is a season for everything under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die. And that plan is not just for humans, but also for nature. In order to bloom again in the season of spring, the trees must let go of their leaves, they die and fall to the ground. They have done their job for this time, and now the time is over and a new time is coming.
As I enter the season of autumn this year, I have a different attitude. I plan to spend time watch the swirling leaves and I will let them teach me the lesson they know about the seasons. And, there are some lessons that we can learn from nature. will take that message and try to apply it to my life. The trees know that they cannot hang on to their leaves, they must let go. How often do we hold on to things in our lives that are unnecessary weights and should be dropped?
What are you holding on to that may prevent you from starting fresh? If we are able to drop the things in our life that weigh us down, God can use the season of winter to refresh and renew us, so that when we again enter the season of growth in the spring, we will be open to the new things that God has planned for us.
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31,32 (NIV)
In Christ,
Pastor Bonnie
October 31 All Saints Day Celebration
The Bible doesn’t teach us to pray to the saints (Matt. 6:6), through the saints (1 Tim. 2:5) or for saints who have already gone to heaven. Instead, we remember the saints and to allow the memory of their faith spur us on to deeper worship and greater service to the Lord. All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, or Hallowmas, is a Christian celebration in honor of all the saints from Christian history. We will be celebrating All Saints Day on Sunday, October 31 during worship. We are going to honor the saints in our lives. Please send a picture of a saint in your life (either living or dead) along with a sentence or two describing why they are a saint for you to Pastor Bonnie. We will include all the photos during worship. Some of the saints may actually be there that day.
October Bible Study
We continue our Bible study on Zoom and Facebook live on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. “Words of Life – Jesus and the Promise of the Ten Commandments Today” by Adam Hamilton. The book is available on Amazon.com; Cokesbury.com or Christian Book Distributors,cbd.com for anyone who would like to purchasw it, but you don’t need a copy to participate.Call the church office and leave your name and email address to receive a Zoom invitation.
October 1 & 2 Quilt Show
The 25th Annual Mayfield Presbyterian Quilt Show is October 1 & 2. There will be so much business going on this week. Come join the fun! Beginning Friday at 4:00. Please stop and look at the beautiful array of quilts that will be on display. Lunch will be served on Saturday and the show is open until 4:00 when the prizes will be given out and all quilts returned to their owners. If you have a quilt in the show, please remember to be there at 4:30 to pick it up.
October 3 World Wide Communion Sunday
On Sunday, October 3rd we will join with Christians around the world at the Lord’s Table during worship at 10:30 am. We will be using prepackaged elements to avoid unnessary contact during the service.
October 10 CROP WALK FOR HUNGER
On Sunday, October 10, we will gather in the parking lot after church services and walk the same route as we have been doing. From church down to the school, around the track and back to church. Not long and certainly not a difficult one. However, if you can’t walk but would like to be part of our Walk, you can donate to someone who is walking, make a donation on line or contact me at 518-567-8341. We will have water and a snack available for walkers. Please come and join us or make a donation, or volunteer to hand out water and a snack, or register folks who are walking. Last year we did great with our donations. Let’s do it even better this year. We will pray for a beautiful Fall Sunday. Any questions please contact: Mary Seaman at 518-567-8341 Hope to see you there.
October 13 &27 Men’s Group
A new men’s group is forming and will meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 6 pm at church. A wide range of toics will be discussed. The group will be led by Greg Hitchcock. All men are welcome.
Octobern19 Interfaith Tea
The annual Interfaith Tea will be held on Tuesday,October 19th at 12:30 pm at the Church of the Holy Spirit, 161 So. Main St., Gloveraville. Everyone is asked to bring their own lunch and beverage. Individually wrapped cookies and bottled water will be available. Don Fleischut will speak about Friday’s Table and a freewill donation for Food Pantries will be received.
October 20 Presbyterian Women
The Presbyterian Women will meet on Wednesday, October 20 at 4:00 pm to assemble Care Packages to be sent to our college students. The Bible verse letter is “B“. All women of the church are invited to join us for this fun and worthwhile project. If you have cartons suitable for mailing (corrugated shoeboxes with an attached lid are great) we would appreciate having them. We will be sending homemade cookies, candy, gum, snacks, tissue packets and anything else someone away at school may need. There are about 10 packages to be sent out this year.
October 27 Session Meeting
The Session will meet on Wednesday, October 27 at 6:30 pm on ZOOM. Please let Janis Frisch know if there is anything to come before the Session at that time.
October 28-29 Rummage Sale
Many people have promised to help with a Rummage Sale so we are going ahead with it on Friday, October 29 from 7:00 am until noon and Saturday, October 30 from 8:00 until noon. Set up will be on Thursday, October 28 at 9:00 am. PLEASE NO RUMMAGE UNTIL AFTER THE QUILT SHOW!
October 31 Trunk or Treat
Please join us for Trunk or Treat on Sunday evening, October 31 in the church parking lot from 5 pm to 8 pm. We need a few cars with trunks decorated and some pumpkins decorated so that we can hand out candy to the kids as they come through. A Trunk or Treat is a Halloween activity, usually hosted at a church or at another community location where people park their cars in a large parking lot. They open and decorate the back of their vehicle in order to hand out candy to children. Often the trunks are decorated with a theme, such as spooky, superheroes, Disney, or another childhood favorite theme. A trunk or treat is a growing popular method for kids to safely collect candy on Halloween. Parents will bring their children to their church or another community event where people will have their trunks open and hand out candy. Children are encouraged to follow the path of cars to collect their Halloween candy. It is also a way to have engage neighborhood kids and families who may not be familiar with the church. If you would like to participate, please check with Pastor Bonnie.
LOOKING AHEAD
November 6 Harvest Ham Dinner
The Harvest Ham Dinner is an annual event occurring the first Saturday in November. This year will be the 29th year it has been offered. Due to COVID-19 and the need for the health and safety of our community the dinner will be available for TAKE-OUT ONLY. The dinner includes baked ham, scalloped potatoes, squash, cabbage salad with onions and fresh parsley, homemade rolls, and gingerbread or apple crisp for dessert. The cost is $12.00 for adults and $4.00 for children ages 5-12. Volunteers will be needed on Friday, November 5th at 1:00 PM to help with the cabbage and onions and on Saturday, November 6th at 9:00 AM to peel potatoes. Additional volunteers will be needed for baking gingerbread or apple crisp. To sign up to help or for further information, please contact either Colleen Ulrich (518-774-4627) or Janet Kucel (661-7682). Many thanks in advance for all of your help!!
November 22 Fund Raiser for Deb Blazor
On Monday, November 22, we will be baking apple and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. All proceeds from this fundraiser will be donated to Debbie Blazor who is on a costly journey to defeat her cancer. Please consider donating your time, needed ingredients and/or buying a pie for your Thanksgiving dinner. More information to follow in the church bulletin and next month.
SUNDAY SCHOOL NOTES
Sunday School classes have started at three levels – preschool, elementary and young adults. The elementary students have been doing a lot of crafts to go along with the Bible verses and stories they are learning. They will be having a “trunk” on Halloween in the parking lot and hope to have a Sunday School Fun Night this month. The Young Adults would like to get a youth group going again.
FRIDAY’S TABLE
Due to Covid Friday's Table will continue to only have 4-5 people preparing and serving the take-out meals. Everyone genuinely appreciates the meals and it is good to touch base with them as they pick up their dinners. The Mayfield Group will be serving again on Friday Oct. 1st. Please let Mary DiSanto-Rose know if you would like to help by email: mdisanto@skidmore.edu or phone 518-224-2080.
WORSHIP COMMITTEE
On the same Sunday as the CROP Walk, we are asking members to bring to church with them something Fallish that we can add to our display which will be on and around the Communion Table for several weeks. Donations must be long lasting - nothing that will spoil quickly please. We are excited about this new beautiful display. Examples might include squash, pumpkins, gourds, corn. We will be giving Thanks to our Lord for all of the bounty he provides for us.
And PLEASE bring a picture to share of someone who has been a saint in your world. Please include a little note explaining why this person is so important to you. It can be sent digitally or brought in your hand. Pastor Bonnie would like to get started getting a display ready to share with all on October 31 - All Saints Day. This will just be such a special display and we encourage as much participation as possible. You can hand your picture to the elders, to Pastor Bonnie or leave it on one of the tables. You could also just send it in the mail. However you can get it to the church will be so very appreciated. Thank You.
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS NOTES
We are excited because this Advent we will have real trees to light up! Four baby Alberta Spruce trees have been planted by the big mother Blue Spruce. Many thanks to Betsy T. and Pat C. for their contribution towards this project. Goderie’s tree farm transplanted the hydrangeas to the labyrinth and some to the front of the church. Thank you, Mary D-R, Betsy T., and Kate L., for your gardening expertise!
Thanks to Larry Washburn, all the bricks have been placed along the labyrinth walkway. There are also instructions and information sheets about the labyrinth at its entrance. Please take some time and remember the special people in your life as you walk and meditate around the labyrinth.
We are looking for some more volunteers to help with audio-visual during Sunday service. Please contact me or Rev. Bonnie if you would like to help.
We will have a work morning, 9:00 am to noon, on Sat. Oct. 23rd to weed and move Gary’s dirt pile and mulch the new plants at the labyrinth. Please let me know if you can help.
Thanks! Gary
PS. On Oct. 9th I will be biking 75 miles to raise money for multiple sclerosis. Anyone interested in donating can text me at 518-224-2081. Thank you.
FOOD PANTRY
The dedicated team of the food pantry are in full swing preparing for a very busy holiday season.
In September we served 40-plus families both weeks. This has left some empty spots on our shelves temporarily but I am working hard to get restocked. If you are able to help us with a donation or a bag of food we could use your help!
In October please consider donating cereal, canned vegetables, flour, brown sugar or soup. Thank you! Lists will be posted in late-October for specific items we will need for our Thanksgiving baskets.
Thank you for your continued support helping those in our community in need of food.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Debra Hall October 2
Kelly Wagar October7
Bill Wemple October 7
Bart Warner October 8
Merry Dunn Brown October 8
Trevor Ruberti October 11
Doris Howard October 12
Christine Gerber October 15
Laura Hime October 18
Brian DeFeo October 19
Sara Schopmeier October 19
Maggie Kline October 23, 2012
Jill Kaczor October 25
Deerek DeJaeger October 27
Susan Cichy October 29
Noranne Marcellus October 29
Lorna E. Johnson October 30