Between services beginning at 9:15 am

Join us tomorrow for our First Sunday Breakfast.

Celebrate All Saints' Sunday and enjoy a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon.

Have No Fear this Halloween

Today we begin the church’s three-day season of remembering the dead, historically known as Allhallowtide. It is composed of All Hallows Eve (Halloween), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. As Christianity spread, rarely did it remove a cultural event and replace it with nothing. Often, it took elements of a past non-Christian holiday and remixed it into something new, we see that in Allhallowtide. I’d like to encourage you to enjoy Halloween and this season as a Christian victory over fear.

In the religions of the west before Christianity, there was an extreme fear of death. There was also a fear that the dead might somehow seek vengeance against the living. We see traces of this in everything from Halloween decorations to trick or treat costumes.

One of the most consistent messages in the new Testament is that Christians have nothing to fear, even in the face of death, all we have to do is trust in Jesus. If we have been claimed by Christ, what is even death to us? In the end, nothing. Because of Christ, there is nothing left to fear, not death, not persecution, not ghouls and goblins.

We know that nothing can ultimately harm us, and so we can move though life with confidence. The night holds no terrors we need to fear. Go, have fun, dress up. Give out candy. Have a few scares if you feel up for it, and as you do, remember the truth that Christians have remembered for two thousand years. We have nothing left to be afraid of because we belong to Christ.

Please return your pledge tomorrow

Tomorrow we celebrate the commitments made during Plenty Good Room.

With joy, we dedicate our gifts of treasure, time, and talent to God’s service.

Please return your pledge card by placing it in the offering plate tomorrow. You can also pledge on-line (click here).

All Saints' Sunday

All Saints' is a service of remembrance in the church year for loved ones who have died.

Tomorrow we will read the names of our family and friends who have entered into eternal life during our service on All Saints'. 

Our opening hymn for the service (Hymn #287) is the renowned Christian hymn For All the Saints written by William Walsham How in 1864 and a celebrated tune named Sine Nomine (Latin for "without name"), composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1906. Here are the historic words from the first verse:

For all the saints who from their labors rest,

who Thee by faith before the world confessed;

Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.

Alleluia, Alleluia!