Go Tell It on the Mountain
Skyland Community Church
Monthly Newsletter
10:30 Sunday Service		November 2013
Minister: Stephen Glauz-Todrank
Church phone: 408-353-1310

Altar Flowers
  
 

Altar flowers are needed for Sunday, November 24. Anyone willing to provide them may sign up on the bulletin board in Whitaker Hall.

 

--John Heyes

 

   
On the white poppy,

a butterfly's torn wing

is a keepsake.

 

       -- Matsuo Basho

 
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Poetry Podcast Party!

 

Skyland member Erica Goss, Los Gatos's poet laureate, invites everyone to a party celebrating the completion of the Poetry Podcast Project, in which volunteers made recordings of 50 poems, which will be available on the Los Gatos Library website (http://www.losgatosca.gov).

 

The event will be held at the library, 100 Villa Lane in Los Gatos, on Sunday, Nov. 17, from 2-4 p.m.  There will be cake and beverages, poetry readings, and, Erica promises, "surprises."  Everyone's welcome. For more information, call Erica at 408-205-1957, or email her at ericagoss@comcast.net.

 

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November Giving 
to Migrant Farm Workers

Can you imagine not having enough money to purchase the basic hygiene items for yourself or your family? In November it is a Skyland tradition to collect toiletries for migrant workers and their families.  In addition to toiletries, we are asking for donations of clean, gently used, sweatshirts and hoodies for the male farm workers for the winter months, as well as food items like tuna fish and peanut butter. The items can be brought in any Sunday beginning Nov. 10- Dec. 1.

 

Angela Patterson has been collecting and delivering toiletries and food to the Davenport Resource Center all year. They have a health screening day in late October so their toiletry supplies will be depleted for the winter months. That is why our November collection becomes so important.

 

In early December Angela, Stephen and the Mission Board will deliver the collected supplies to the Davenport Resource Center, which will distribute them throughout the winter to the migrant workers and their families. For more info: http://www.cabinc.org/drsc

 

These Basic Items contribute to the health and welfare of the workers:

 

    * Soap

    * Dental Floss

    * Toothpaste

    * Mouth Wash

    * Toothbrush

    * Shaving Gear

    * Shampoo

    * Deodorant

    * Brushes/Combs

   Hand Sanitizers (Purell, e.g.)

 

Blankets, Sweatshirts and Hoodies for men

Cans of tuna fish & peanut butter

Optional Items

 

    * Skin Lotions/Creams

    * Aftershave Lotion

    * Shower Gels

    * Hair Care Products

    * Toothbrush

    * Feminine Hygiene Products

    * Chapstick/Lip Balm

    * Cash to buy needed items

 

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Skyland Community Church
Minister's Column 
Thanksgiving - 
a Time for Gratitude

Thanksgiving is late this year, not until the 28th, but I am already getting into the spirit of it. It's not the roast turkey or the pumpkin pie that is on my mind; it's the feeling of gratitude. This fall in the mountains is a benign time with beautiful persimmon trees turning orange in fruit and leaf while the first green grass of the wet season pops up after months of dry weather. Cumulus clouds, rare here in summer, mix it up now and set off the blue of the sky. As the day ends the orange light gives an almost heavenly cast to the surrounding scene. Then at night, our mountain vantage point sets off the evening stars with arresting clarity. We are blessed.

 

Right in the middle of it all, Skyland Church centers our faith community as a place of prayer and work and play. Now it is the people I am grateful for: for you. Thank you for all you do to bring the still-creating God's love to life in our church building, to the surrounding community and touching, in a small but powerful way, to people all around the world. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God he doesn't mean "pie in the sky when you die", he means what is happening right here and now. Being with you in this beautiful place reminds me again and again that Jesus' here and now is our here and now. Thank you for your hearts full of love in this Thanksgiving season and always.

 

-- Stephen

 

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Oops -- Pledges Short of Spending Plan

 

NOTE from your treasurer:

 

I have adjusted our fiscal year planned income to reflect the actual $118,000 pledge commitment, not the previous $127,400 needed to balance our spending plan. As a result we have a planned deficit of $-9,501 instead of the previous $-101. We all need to be thinking of how to increase our income or reduce spending without using Uncle Sam's privilege of printing money.

 

Here is our operating finances for September 2013 as of October 31.    

                

.                   Summary of Operating Finances              

          

 Oct. 2013      |Jun 1,2013 to Oct 31,2013
           Actual     Planned |    Actual    Planned  

 

Income    $ 12,373   $  5,841 |   $ 80,709    $ 76,568  

Expenses  $  6,246   $  8,650 |   $ 70,236    $ 72,547

Net       $  6,127   $(-2,809)|   $ 10,473    $  4,021

 

 -- Gerald J. Alonzo

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A MEDITATION MOMENT

       

The best remedy for those who are afraid,

lonely, or unhappy, is to go outside, somewhere

they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and  God.

 

 --

Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl                    

 

 

 

 

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