From the Rector

Happy November everyone, I pray that your fall continues to be blessed with natural beauty, family connections, and the warmth of our community as the weather turns cooler. From everyone who remains in (or returns to) the Northwoods to all of you who are making your way to places where summer lingers, we wish you safe travels and times of joy in your winter church homes. For those who cannot imagine being anywhere else than this place of awesome beauty here are a few things you might like to know about local goings on!

First, as you may have noticed, we are blessed to be this year's winter home for the Minocqua Farmer's Market! The farmers began sharing their delicious goods from our parking lot on the 1st, 2nd, 4th (and occasional 5th) Tuesdays from 11-5:30 at the beginning of October. When the weather grows less friendly a smaller number of local farmers will move into the Parish Hall. The market through the winter will include about 6-8 tables selling fresh lettuces, peppers, squash and winter vegetables from farms with year-round greenhouses, sustainable pork, chicken and eggs, breads, jams, syrups and jellies, breads, plus wonderful soaps and lotions handmade by local artisans. The farmers and artisans are making gratitude donations to our church for the space, and are also interested in volunteering or making food donations to Gail, Tom, and Betty for the Community Table meals each 3rd Tuesday. We are blessed to be able to welcome them into our common life and to support local farms in this way.

Next, I know you are a little confused about Adult Forum. Here is the happy news: Yes! Yes, we are having Adult Forum. While we wait for a new coordinator to answer the call of the Holy Spirit and replace Marcia, who has her hands full with the choir, I have been choosing ChurchNext classes and seeking volunteers to help schedule forum leaders you feel would bless our congregation.

A few speakers have come forward already -- thank you! I even led a session which came out of our Parish Read of Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, called "A Loving Gift to your loved ones: Planning Your Funeral". The workbooks resulting from that session are printed and are now being put together for everyone who would like one.

Topics between scheduled speakers have recently come from my personal ChurchNext subscription. ChurchNext offers wonderful classes on faith and life which are led by nationally known teachers in our church and other learning denominations similar in belief systems to the Episcopal Church. The first class was led by Parker Palmer, the second by our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry. Next we were tremendously blessed by an in-house session on holistic wellness by our own Pastor Dick Bruesehoff who, with his wife Naomi, comes to us with a wealth of spiritual leadership experience on a regional and national scale with the Lutheran Church. Dick and Naomi are seasoned workshop leaders and have kindly committed to leading one forum a month. We are also working on a Lenten Series based on the Wellness Labyrinth he introduced in brief during October.

So far all of the sessions have been well received and we hope to see you there one Sunday when you wake up early and think, "I'd love to go to Adult Forum today!" While I am not so organized as to be able to give out topics weeks ahead in general, I will say that for Advent we will be exploring a series called "The Four Directions and the Magnificat." It was developed by the Episcopal Church in 2011.

Here at the church, we are also preparing for the upcoming Advent season in December (not far away now!) with a mix of social and worship opportunities that we hope will warm your hearts and feed your souls. I believe there are other articles about that schedule in the rest of this newsletter, so for now I ask for your prayers and as always keep you in mine with love and blessings.

Erin +