November 22, 2023 Edition

The opportunity for All Saints' to prepare and serve meals at the Center of Hope Night Shelter in Concord is upon us! We will be serving those in need starting this Sunday November 26 through Saturday December 2. If you are interested in helping, contact Jim Williams. He can provide more information and answer any questions. What a wonderful opportunity to consider helping those less fortunate than ourselves as we enter the Thanksgiving and Christmas season!

Koinonia Partner Opportunity: You are invited to sponsor an Academic Learning Center student! The Academic Learning Center provides Cabarrus county students in need with free academic tutoring. A $100 donation provides a student with tutoring for 10 weeks, $500 provides for a small group, and $1,000 for an entire ALC class. Your generous gift changes lives. To learn more and donate, click here.

You are invited to an Advent Study, starting November 29, on Wednesdays at 7 PM on Zoom. It’s not within our own power to make a fresh start. If we’re to have a future different from the past, it must come as a gift, something not of our devising. What we need is a God who refuses to be trapped in eternity, a God who not only cares about us, but is willing to show up among us and do something with us, here, now. In Heaven and Earth: Advent and the Incarnation, Will Willimon introduces us to the God who does just that, bringing heaven to earth and changing everything. In Advent we celebrate and anticipate the earth-shaking, life-transforming good news that God is coming to us. Watch out. Get ready. God is on the way. Contact Chuck Collier or Karen Robinson for more information and the Zoom link.

This Advent, we have chosen “Faithful – Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph,” by Adam Hamilton. We started the week before Thanksgiving on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, then skipped the week of Thanksgiving (11/21), and will resume on Tuesday, November 28 through Tuesday, December 19. Joseph provides us a great example of humbly obeying God, even when we don't understand, and faithfully moving forward in the strength that God provides. Exchange your doubt for courage this Advent and Christmas season as we read, meditate, and discuss that great Biblical example of humility and faithfulness – Joseph. Contact Brenda Trott or Charles McKinley for more information about our Zoom book study.

Annual Christmas Concerts by the 60 Voice Piedmont Choral Society on Friday, December 1 at 7 PM and Sunday, December 3 at 3 PM at Calvary Lutheran Church. Come enjoy familiar carols and songs of the season, with a professional orchestra! This is a free event. Click for details.

During the holiday season, blood drives have a hard time attracting donors. Our next blood drive is Wednesday, December 13 from 2:30 to 7:00 PM in the Parish Hall. Make your reservation at RedCrossBlood.org and enter AllSaints.

An All Saints' holiday tradition is providing personal care item Holiday bags for our neighbors, the residents of Accordius. You can provide bags for men, women, or unisex bags. Simply label the bags for the gender they are provided for. Bags can be left at the Church from now through December 17. Let’s make Christmas a little brighter for our neighbors! Suggested Items to include in a Holiday Gift Bag are: Brush or Comb, Shampoo/Conditioner, Deodorant, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Hand Sanitizer, Handcream/Body Lotion, Emory board, Word Search Book, Kleenex, Holiday Greeting Card with your personal greeting, Notepads, Adult coloring books, Colored pencils/crayons, and Lipbalm/chapstick. Contact Deacon Vern for further details.

We are moving into the season where giving is top of mind. At the same time, the church is moving toward finishing up its year with people fulfilling their 2023 estimates of giving.



I don’t give because of income tax benefits, but if I can realize tax savings while giving what I had already planned to give, more to the good. Here are two ideas – one available to everyone and one that is only available to seniors. Click to read more.

Our goal is to have everyone return an Estimate of Giving card for 2024. Thank you to all who did so during the ingathering on All Saints' Sunday! You can also chose to complete your 2024 Estimate of Giving on Realm by tapping "Giving" or online by clicking here.

Announcements during Sunday worship services are to be given by the Vestry Person of the Month (VPOM). Please submit any content for verbal announcements to the VPOM. Only events or information about the week ahead will be shared during worship services. The November VPOM is Jack Jones.

This week's Youth Spaghetti Supper was a wonderful event! Thank you for all who attended and for the youth who served, entertained, and cooked up some delicious food!

We celebrated the baptism of Emerson Joseph Olivares at the 11:10 worship service with great joy!

Prayer is the foundation of the ministry of this parish. If you would like to request prayers, please share here. If you are hospitalized, please let the church know. If you are unable to make the call yourself, ask for the chaplain on call and they will make it for you. The church phone number is 704-782-2024.

Prayers have been requested for Dick, Ted, Patricia, Carolyn, Marisa, and Rebeccah.