Nov 2019 Thanksgiving

While Thanksgiving Day is not until November 28, at UPC there are opportunities all month to give thanks:
·     November 3, at 9:00 and 10:30, observance of All Saints’ Day , giving thanks for those who have died
·          November 10, at 9:30 am, a combined worship service to celebrate the 150 th Anniversary of this congregation; “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” (Psalm 98:1)
·        November 24, at 2:00 pm Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service presented by the Laramie Ministerial Alliance and hosted here at UPC
·          November 24, at 5:30 pm the Annual Thanksgiving Supper
More information about each of these in this edition of the Communicator. 
The medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart suggests that if the only prayer we say in our lifetime is “thank you,” that would suffice. Yes, and why not every day! Let’s put a song of praise on our lips in the early morning hours. For the breath that fills our lungs and for our unique bodies. For loved ones, family, and our circle of friends. For the bountiful little blessings which arrive in our lives unheralded. “Praise God,” says the Hasidic teacher Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. “It puts everything into its proper place and perspective.”
with gratitude,
Pastor Michelle

150th Anniversary
Celebration Sunday
Combined Church Service 9:30 am

United Presbyterian Church has much to be thankful for in our 150 years of ministry! Congregational Life is hosting our 150th anniversary dinner on Saturday, November 9. We are excited for those who RSVP'd to share a meal and join in on the history we have to share. Please know the celebration will continue at worship on Sunday, November 10 at a combined service at 9:30 am with special readings, a gift to take with you, reception and more. We would love to have you share your favorite memories of your time at UPC by emailing  upclaramie@gmail.com ! We're looking at way to continue to document all the happenings in UPC's history.
KATHRYN JONES
GRADUATE VOICE RECITAL

Kathryn Jones is a Laramie native and has been a member of UPC Laramie for many years. She received her double Bachelor degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Morningside College in Sioux City, IA. She went to the University of Wyoming and earned a Master of Music in Voice and a Master of Music Education. She is a voice student of Katrina Zook. Kathryn won the Sammons Voice Competition while attending Morningside College and was a finalist in the Jacoby Concerto Competition at the University of Wyoming. She is currently the high school choir director at Rawlins High School in Rawlins, Wyoming. The recital will be at UPC on November 9th at 5:15 pm .
QUILT RAFFLE

There is still time to buy raffle tickets for "The Choir" quilt. Proceeds benefit the Chancel Choir DCINYC trip to Carnegie Hall. Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20. We appreciate your support!!! The drawing will be held during the 150th Anniversary Reception in the North Lounge following the 9:30 am Service. Tickets available from any choir member or contact. Lori O'Hashi, 307-761-2687 or  LorindaO@aol.com  Many thanks!!!!!
Maker-to-Market

Bless the maker and the recipient with purchases from Ten Thousand Village, whose long-term relationships with Third World artisans help them improve shelter, nutrition and education for their families. The annual Laramie fair trade holiday sale will be held Friday, November 8, from 4-8 pm and Saturday, November 9, from 9 am to 4 pm, at the First United Methodist Church, 1215 E. Gibbon.
SYRIA
The Burden of Memory
The Hope of the Gospel
Syrian refugee crisis: A four-part study

OCT. 20 Post WWI effect on Syria and the Middle East

NOV. 3  Challenges facing an independent Syria, then and now

DEC. 1   Realities of the Arab Spring

DEC. 8   Our response to the Syrian conflict

All sessions: 11:45 am – 12:30 pm
Lunch will be provided
Questions? call church @307-742-2061
UPC's ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DINNER

Please plan to join Congregational Life in UPC's traditional Thanksgiving feast! The feast will be held on Sunday, November 24 at  5:30  pm in Fellowship Hall. Lorinda O'Hashi will be leading meal preparations, consisting of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner including: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, breads and desserts. We hope you will RSVP to join us for dinner and fellowship! We would be remiss to not thank the Lindahl family for all their time in previous years to prepare this feast. We are thankful it will continue this year in both new and familiar ways! 

Would you like to:
 1.    Bring _____ Pies
2. Donate a turkey (approximately 20 lbs.) - Bring to church by Wednesday, Nov. 20
3. Bring large can of green beans and large can of Cream of Mushroom Soup by Wednesday, Nov. 20
4. Bring 10 pounds of potatoes and 1 large can of chicken broth to the church by Wednesday, Nov. 20
5. Bring 2 large boxes of Stove Top Turkey Dressing Mix (to serve 24) and 2 cans of cranberry sauce to the church by Wednesday, Nov. 20
7. Bring 3 dozen dinner rolls
8. Clean up afterwards
 
RESERVATIONS REQUESTED to the church office with Name and Number Attending and how you would like to help.

upclaramie@gmail.com       742-2061  
UPC CHRISTMAS DECORATING
NOVEMBER 24th, 6:30 pm

If you haven’t eaten too much at our Thanksgiving dinner you are invited to come upstairs after dinner and help Dona Coffey put up the Christmas decorations. We will need to put up the large tree, decorate the large wreaths, put the greens on the window ledges, put candles out along the greens and add any finishing touches. Everything will be ready for you to work on. With many hands it will not take very long. Hope to see you there. 
THANK YOU!

Congregational Life wants to thank everyone who participated in the planning or hosting of UPC's UW homecoming parade tables! We were able to share our stories and ministries with many parade attendees. We provided warm drinks, donut holes, lawn games and opportunity for fellowship. Special thanks to Nikki Rogers, Codi Jo Broten, Nancy Lick, Gerald VanCampen, Cam Collamer, Taylor Romshek, Tessa Anderson, The Buchanan Family, Rod Rogers, Hillary Utton, Nancy Fillion, Lena Peacock, and Kathleen Shuster.
EVENING CIRCLE

We will meet Thursday, November 14th at 7:00 pm at UPC Fireplace Lounge. We will be studying Lesson Two of the Horizon Bible Study book "Love Carved In Stone". Please join us for good fun, food & fellowship. It is never to late to join! Please contact the church at upclaramie@gmail.com or 742-2061 for information.
MARY MARTHA CIRCLE

Mary Martha Circle will meet Wednesday, November 20 th  at 1 pm at the home of Janice Shuster (530 Beaufort St. #119).   We will continue our study “Love Carved in Stone” A fresh look at the Ten Commandments by Eugenia Gamble.  Janice Bierman is Co-Hostess and Freda Dixon will lead us in Lesson two of our journey through the Ten Commandments.    All women are invited to join us for prayer, study and fellowship.  Please let Janice Shuster, 745-3132 or  jmshust@outlook.com , know if you are planning on attending.  We hope you will join us.
REBEKAH CIRCLE

We will meet Thursday November 21 at 10:00 am at the UPC fireplace lounge. Mary Prather is leading lesson three of the Horizon Bible Study book "Word of Love: Keep Sabbath". Treats will be served however it will be BYOB this time. Hope to see everyone there for good food, fun and fellowship. Please contact Rita Ver Ploeg 307-760-9536 with any questions you might have.
UPC Personnel Committee

UPC Personnel Committee had disappeared for many years. In the last two years, Session has been working to re-establish this important committee. Currently, the committee consists of Corrine Seebart, Nancy Lick, Linda Sheets, Ron Smith, Hillary Utton and Pastor Michelle Bacon as Head of Staff. Session believed we were doing a disservice to our staff, our members and our guests by not having an active committee. In the last two years, we've met with all staff to hear from them and update job descriptions. Session discussed where we believe UPC needs to offer more support and incorporated those changes. We've now checked back in with staff to see how the changes are going. We're encouraged by staff's recent comments and have identified ways to keep improving this committee. We want to remind you that we are open to hear both accolades and constructive criticism as it relates to staff. We are a supportive body to ensure staff is successful in their employment at UPC.
The Community Thanksgiving Dinner
 
Every year, the Mission Committee has provided 3 cases of yams to the Community Thanksgiving Dinner held at the Eppson Center on Thanksgiving Day. We have been asked by the organizers to help out again this year, not only with the yams (Mission can handle this) but with desserts. If you are able to provide a dessert for this well-attended event (plus last year they delivered 82 meals to folks who are home-bound), please take your donation to the Eppson Center any time they are open starting Monday, November 25 th . They are asking us for pies, cakes, or any other yummy dessert. Mission again offered our help in serving on Thanksgiving but they again said they had plenty of help.  We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing… we are a grateful people.
SAVE THE DATE-Christmas Pageant!

UPC’s Christmas pageant will be held on December 18 th at 6:30. The LOGOS children will start working on the pageant titled “Just a Little Christmas” in early November. They would love to have the whole congregation come and watch. Everyone is invited to dinner in the fellowship hall at 5:30 prior the pageant.
FAMILY PROMISE UPDATES

· We are in the United Way Campaign. If you are interested in donating, please go to  https://unitedwayalbanycounty.org/  You can designate funds to FPAC or any other United Way agency. FPAC receives assistance from the United Way!
·  Ridley’s: If you shop at Ridley’s please donate your point to Family Promise. To donate your points, check at the Ridley’s store or call our office 307-742-6480.
·  We are officially signing up to be a national diaper bank. If anyone needs diapers, please send them our way!
FOC & STEWARDSHIP UPDATE and THANK YOU

Thank you so much for all those who have pledged to support UPC for the 2020 fiscal year. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity you may submit your pledge to the church office or in the offering plate. Thank you! 

How UPC stands financially at the end of September 2019: 
Total Income $158,365.94 70.3%. Total Expenses $166,976.45 74.1%.
The Unexpected Company

The Unexpected Company is presenting a musical play at long last:
A Ghost's Tale, written and directed by Carole Homer, musical direction by Susan Shumway, is at the Alice Hardie Stevens Center on TODAY at 7:00 p.m., and Sun., Nov. 3 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $20, adults; $5 for children under 12. Available Oct. 1st at Laramie Plains Museum Carriage House, Eppson Center and 1st Interstate Bank and at the door. A hauntingly funny story. Presbyterians in the production: Nancy Chase, Wayne Karberg, Jim Mecham and Jan Webster. Enjoy! 
MISSION HIGHLIGHTS

Mission welcomes Diana Denison as the newest member of our small but mighty effort.
·        Members of the Mission Committee have been participating in the planning for Community Holidays. Between the school’s program for their students and Community Holidays, over 1000 of our neighbors were helped last year. Community Holidays does not serve families with children currently enrolled in public school. These two programs coordinate their efforts with Community Holidays serving the elderly, single individuals, and families with children under (or over) school age. Although the event will continue to be staged at the First Baptist Church, the new coordinator is Jasmine Parten who represents the City of Laramie. Currently, the Community Holiday planning group consists of the First Baptist Church, the United Presbyterian Church, The Methodist Church, St. Paul’s Newman Center, the UW Honors College, the Salvation Army, the City Manager’s Office, and a private citizen. The applications have been distributed to nearly 20 local non-profits and we hope to have the tags available for selection at UPC on November 24. The unwrapped gifts must be returned to UPC by December 9. The gifts should not be taken to the Baptist Church. Distribution day is December 18. If you can help out with the gift distribution, please contact Nancy Lick (it’s fun!).  Also, wrapping paper, gift bags, ribbons, and scotch tape can be left in Marcia’s Closet at any time (this is distributed to the recipients when they pick up the unwrapped gifts).   God Bless Us, Everyone!  (Tiny Tim).
·        Joining in with the Cookie Sale scheduled for Saturday,December 14, Mission will again have a Boutique with wonderful gift items from SERRV, nuts (pecans – whole and pieces and, this year, whole almonds), and the ultra-yummy Frontier Soup Mixes (12 types). The nuts and soup mixes will be sold starting Sunday, November 10 to church members. The Boutique is Mission’s major fund raiser for Community Holidays.
·        Heifer International critters (water systems, women’s programs, stoves, etc.) will start to be sold on Sunday, November 3.
·        Social Justice Workshops: Sunday, November 3 at 11:45 a.m. is the second in  The   Burden of Memory: The Hope of the Gospel  series on Syria. Lunch will be served. The third workshop is scheduled for Sunday, December 1 and the concluding workshop is scheduled for Sunday, December 8. Sunday, November 17 at 11:45 a.m. is a workshop on  What We Should Know About Foster Care in Wyoming  presented by Jenni Vazqueztell, Executive Director of the Foster Closet of Laramie.
·        The Mission Committee is currently working on our 2020 Plan/Budget. If anyone has a request or suggestion, now is the time to let Nancy Lick know about it.  
EQUAL EXCHANGE

If you are in need of product from Equal Exchange, Lorinda O'Hashi will be ordering in the future. Please E-mail,  LorindaO@aol.com  or leave a message in the Church Office of your needs.
Church Contact Info

To contact the church staff click on a name below.


Clerk of Session    Carole Hertz

Church Office or 
Nikki Rogers      Nikki Rogers

Children's 
Ministry          Michelle Harris

Music 
Ministry           Lorinda O'Hashi
Office Hours

The church office will be open Monday-Friday 8:00-3:00. Rev. Michelle Bacon's office hours are 9:00-5:00 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and 12:00-5:00 Wednesday.
Reports & Session Minutes

T he UPC Session Minutes and reports can be read at our website at  upclaramie.org/minutes/
Calendar of Events at UPC

For a full calendar of events click on the calendar link. If you or your group wants to add something to the UPC calendar please bring it or send to the church office for it to go f or approval at the following Wednesday staff meeting.
Make a Donation

UPC is please to offer online giving opportunities. For more information click on-line giving

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