Unison Prayer

May the love of Christ our King touch our hearts and minds.

May the example of Christ our King inspire us on our journeys of life and faith.

May the Spirit of Christ the King dwell among us and within us for evermore.

In the name of Christ the King.

Amen.

Call to Worship:



L: Make a joyful noise to the Lord.

P: Worship God with gladness.

L: Come into God’s presence with singing.

P: We are God’s people, the sheep of God’s pasture.

L: Give thanks to the Lord; bless God’s holy name,

P: for God’s steadfast love is present now and endures forever.

A: Thanks be to God, Amen

Our November missional giving is designated for the Lakes Area Food Shelf. This month the funds donated will be given to the food shelf specifically to support the Thanksgiving meal boxes that will be distributed by the food shelf. We estimate the cost of one Thanksgiving box to be $150. All donations appreciated!

There is a display table to leave a donation in the narthex, and sign-up opportunities to help in other ways in connection to the food shelf this month. If you are giving to this mission, please make note of it on your offering or check please.







Children's Shop Day

The annual "Shop Day" will be held on Saturday December 10th, from 10-1. We will need volunteers to help with set-up, personal shoppers, and wrappers for this event. Watch for more details and sign-up sheets in the next few weeks.

We are also in need of small gift items for the "shop". New or gently used goods are needed, especially gifts for men. Donations can be brought to the church and left in classroom G.



Make a Joyful Noise!

Handbell ringers are meeting each Tuesday from 1030-1130am in the bell room. If you haven't played in a while or would like to learn, please join us! If you would like more information, please contact Ardie Morris.

Building and Office hours for the upcoming holiday week. For the week of Thanksgiving, the building and office will be closed on Thursday and Friday, the 24th and 25th.

Hanging of the Greens (Decorating the church for Advent and Christmas)

This year, our work to get the church ready for the holidays will cover two days. On Sunday, November 20th after church, we need a few strong hands to help carry items down from the attic, especially the large nativity figures.

On Monday the 21st, we will begin decorating the narthex and sanctuary to be ready for the first Sunday in Advent which is the 27th. This work will begin at 10am.

Busy week!

There are LOTS of ways to help out this week (20/21).

On Sunday after coffee fellowship, we will be bagging cookies and prayers to hand out at the food shelf to those picking up Thanksgiving meal boxes on Monday morning. At 1pm, a group of volunteers will head over to the food shelf to help put together the meal boxes.

On Monday, a few people will help to hand out cookies to our neighbors as they pick up their meal boxes, others will help people load their meal boxes into their vehicles.

Also, see above regarding the "Hanging of the Greens".

There is an Ad Council meeting on Monday November 21st at 630pm.

Please note this change

Pastor Jen has a new email address and will soon stop checking or using the old one. Please update your address books as needed.

[email protected]

Many of you will have received a "stewardship" letter this week. We would encourage everyone who feels like Grace UMC is their church home to consider making a promise of giving for the coming year.

Prayer

Eternal God, we pray that we will make stewardship a way of Life. We acknowledge you as the source of all we have and all we are.

Help us to place you, our loving Creator, first in our lives by becoming more prayerful, more focused on loving and caring for our families and our neighbors in need, and by becoming less preoccupied with material things.

Help us to hear your call to be good stewards, caretakers, and managers of all your gifts by sharing them for your purposes.

Help us make your priorities our priorities and to put our faith into action. Help us plan to "give back" the talents, treasures and time with which we have been blessed.

Help us plan to serve our church, our community, and our world with your gifts.

May we serve you and pray with a joyful spirit of mind and heart.

Amen.

Sunday mornings we have returned to live streaming our Sunday services, but we realize that there are still some issues popping up many Sundays. On our website you can usually watch the recorded service after 10:30am or so. There is a link to our site at the end of this newsletter.

We continue to work on making the online experience better and appreciate both your grace and feedback as we make improvements. Soon, we will be updating our internet capabilities and are hopeful that this will fix some of the issues.

We are grateful to be able to offer our services online and appreciate any gifts received to help this ministry grow and continue.

*We are aware that we have had some streaming issues over the last few weeks, we are working on resolving the problem.

If you have something that should be added to this newsletter from your group or mission, please speak with Pastor Jen or email the details to her at [email protected]. The E-Grace is generally completed by noon on Thursdays, so articles need to be received by Thursday 10am at the very latest. **

If you wish to connect with me directly and it is not an emergency, please know that I will respond as needed during pretty regular office hours. I am in the church most weekdays from at least 10-12, call the office to be sure, as my weeks vary. Ann has my detailed schedule and can find me if needed. I check my emails frequently throughout the day, and this is the best way to contact me.

-Pastor Jen

Important note

If you are mailing something to the church, you must use our P.O. Box for the address. We do not receive mail at the church, and if you use the physical church address it will get returned and could delay your notices to us or offerings.

P.O. Box 276

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472