Dynamic, meaningful, engaging, and welcoming worship has long been a foundation for our life together at Sunnyvale Presbyterian. Together, we have been enriched by practicing different styles of worship. The end of Intersections is not the end of contemporary worship here. As with our faith, the close of something is not the end of the story! God is always bringing new life where we are feeling worn out or weighed down.

That same Spirit that brought Intersections into being is now doing a new thing. Though the every-week-on-Sunday rhythm is no longer sustainable, we have an exciting opportunity to work on learning and creating music, prayers, and other resources for worship that are more in line with our community’s desire to be a fully welcoming and inclusive place for all people. Many of the existing songs and worship resources are stuck in old customs that do not fully value or include the perspectives of women, queer folks, and people of color. Part of our new Progressive Contemporary Worship Project’s efforts will be to find and create worship resources that reflect the kind of community we are, and who God is calling us to be.

Even as we celebrate the gifts received through Intersections, and as we share our sadness at its ending, we look forward in hope to new forms of contemporary worship that will continue to strengthen our community. This Progressive Contemporary Worship Project is very much an open experiment. It will grow and change as we are all led by God’s Spirit. And we need you all to participate in helping us invite that Spirit in, help us hear what God is saying, and to help us make newly joyful praise.

Beginning in the new year, we will meet a couple Wednesday evenings per month. The gatherings will be informal, and we invite the participation and input of all who show up and want to share. Stay tuned for news about this project as we settle on more specifics – and plan to be a part of this new thing that God is doing in our midst!

TOMORROW, Saturday, November 12 • 9 am

Bear Creek Redwoods • RSVP

Attention all Sunnyvale Pres hikers! Join us for our November hike as Sandy Johnson leads us through Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Meet us in the Sunnyvale Pres parking lot at 8:40 am to carpool, or join us in the Bear Creek parking lot near the trailhead, 19511 Bear Creek Rd, Los Gatos, at 9 am. The hike is a 5.3-mile loop. The trail is mostly shaded with some open exposure and is ranked as moderate.

For more information, to get on the mailing list, or to RSVP, email hiking@sunnyvalepres.com. Please note in your RSVP email if you’d like to carpool. Hope to see you there!

TOMORROW, Saturday, November 12 • 10–11:30 am • Zoom

Did you know the upcoming Farm Bill could be one of the greatest vehicles in our lifetimes to help change food systems while addressing hunger, climate change, and racial equity, both in the U.S. and overseas? Come hear from hunger advocates as we gather to celebrate victories, look at how the elections inform our education and advocacy, and make plans to improve humanity’s food systems. We’ll also hear from special guest speaker U.S. Representative Barbara Lee.

For questions or to RSVP, email David Gist at dgist@bread.org. Then join us on Zoom for this important and informative event!

Sunnyvale Community Center • Map • Info

Next week is United Against Hate Week, during which communities around the nation will be hosting events, and the Sunnyvale community is proud to participate. Come together at the upper pond at the Sunnyvale Community Center to celebrate our shared commitment to inclusion, respect, unity, safety, and belonging for everyone in our community.

We are grateful Hardy was among the leaders invited to speak briefly. Please come a bit early to pick up posters and candles, or bring your own. The brief but important event will end with a time of candles and silence. Come and stand with others against all forms of hate.

Sunday, November 20 • 11 am–2 pm • Instructions

I hope you are planning to join us on November 20 for our Celebration of Intersections Worship. We will worship together at 11 am, then join together in the gym for a meal and a time of sharing memories to honor 27 years of ministry through Intersections.

We want to include your Intersections memories in this special celebration! You can easily share now through your phone — here’s how!

Advent is coming soon (November 27)! We have compiled a set of Advent resources for you from the pastors and artists at A Sanctified Art (sanctifiedart.org). Local folks can pick up your packets (and additional devotional booklets) in church the next two Sundays or during the week (M–Th) at the church office. Any packets not picked up by November 21 will be mailed. Additional Advent resources will be available on the church website beginning November 21. We invite you to dive into these devotionals, focus words, and other ways of engaging with this special time of year!

Advent is coming! If you’re 80 or wiser, Pastor Karin and the Caring Ministry Team invite you to join us for a special holiday coffee on Zoom. If we have your birthday in our database, we’ll be sending you an email invitation. If you have a Christmas sweater, Santa hat, antlers, or anything festive, wear it for the occasion — we hope to see you there!

Volunteers Needed on Saturday, December 3 • 2–4 pm • Sign up

Friends for Life (FFL) has been energized by its post-COVID return to hosting onsite activities for the approximately 250 senior residents of Life’s Garden in Sunnyvale. On Saturday, December 3, from 2–4 pm, FFL is hosting its festive Christmas Tea (for residents only) with entertainment by the renowned Madrigal Singers from Mountain View High School. Please contact friendsforlifesunnyvale@gmail.com if you can help with serving — and of course stay to hear the Madrigals.

Life’s Garden, an independently-operated nonprofit senior housing complex that opened in 1976, was built through the efforts of Sunnyvale Pres. The Friends for Life volunteer organization was founded to support the residents, and for many years was run solely by dedicated volunteers from Sunnyvale Pres.

Learn more about Friends for Life Sunnyvale on our new website, which launched in October, or visit our Facebook page for even more updates!

Presbyterian Women (PW) invites everyone to the annual Christmas Angel Tea to celebrate the holiday season. Please join us for tea and refreshments and enjoy some special holiday music from the Mountain View High School choir. Cost is $15 — please RSVP here.

Sunday, December 11 • 12 pm • Gym • RSVP

Yes! You read that right. All are invited to this joyous event including lunch and Advent activities. We hope many of you will join in this opportunity to experience being a community together around tables again and to enjoy Advent activities, food and fun! In order for us to plan well, please take a minute to RSVP here.

We are so excited to announce after a two-year hiatus that we will be resuming our in-person Women’s Retreat in 2023! Please block your calendar now for the last weekend in March so you are sure to be available to attend. Rev. Annanda Barclay will be our speaker again (so many of you loved her last year) and we will gather at the beautiful Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park. Registration will begin in early January.

In January 2022, California Assembly Bill 506 set new requirements for “youth organizations” (including churches) to establish policies to prevent child abuse and assault.

Thankfully, we were already in compliance with most of the new requirements due to our Safe Church program. The main change for us is that all staff of youth organizations are now considered “mandated reporters,” which means they are required by law to report any observed or suspected child abuse to the authorities. (This has already been the case for teachers, licensed child care providers, health care workers, and other professionals for many years.)

The law requires all mandated reporters to complete a state-approved mandated reporter training, and volunteers over the age of 18 who are in contact with minors must complete a training on prevention and reporting. This mandated reporter training is in addition to the Safe Church training required of SVPC staff, leaders, and volunteers working with children and youth. In addition, the PC(USA) Book of Order designates all deacons and elders over the age of 18 as mandated reporters, so they are being asked to complete the training as well.

Sunnyvale Pres staff, volunteers, and leaders have been notified of this change and are now in the process of completing the required trainings, which we believe will further strengthen our Safe Church program. The steps and details are spelled out on our website. If you have any questions about Safe Church, please contact safechurch@sunnyvalepres.com.

It turns out that coloring benefits adults, not just kids. Sunnyvale Pres member Debbie Haughey bought a coloring book from the Book Sale Cart for her married daughter, Megan, to use while in the waiting room during her husband, Christopher’s, surgery.

Online articles list multiple therapeutic benefits of coloring: it reduces anxiety and stress; relaxes your brain and improves its functioning; induces a meditative state; improves motor skills, sleep, and focus. Read more here, here, or here.

So how can you get all these benefits from something so simply fun?

To learn more about events for children and youth subscribe to their e-newsletters. Also, check out the Children’s Ministry Facebook page or Youth Ministry’s Instagram or Linktree, or text ‘FLASH’ (Middle School) or ‘CLUE’ (High School) to 51400 for live updates.

Do you use Amazon for your online holiday shopping? Use Amazon Smile instead and Amazon will automatically donate 0.5% of all eligible purchases to Sunnyvale Pres if you list the church as your charity. When shopping with Amazon, just start at smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com. It’s that simple!

In place of the blue prayer cards you filled out on Sundays, please send your prayer requests anytime to prayer@sunnyvalepres.com. Be sure to include whether your request should/can be:

Look for the red banner at the top of our new website (SunnyvalePres.com). Click the white button, “Join online worship & events.”