Before Sunday

Friday, October 29 at 12:30pm for lunch
Crown Candy Kitchen
Why should this weekend be all about the kids’ sweets intake?
Join us at Crown Candy at 12:30pm or meet out front of church at noon to carpool.
CCK was opened in 1913 by Harry Karandzieff and his best friend Pete Jugaloff. They brought their confectionary skills from Greece, along with a dream of providing a friendly family environment to enjoy their delicious creations. During the early 50’s Harry’s son George took the business over and built the business into what it is today. Now George’s three sons - Andy, Tommy and Mike - run the business with a little help from the 4th generation.
Maybe you’ll split lunch with someone so you have room for dessert and candy!
 
Saturday, October 30 anytime between 11am-10pm
Lunch, Dinner or Something In-between while the weather is still good!
Check out the 9 Mile Garden at 9375 Gravois Road; Affton, MO 63123
9 Mile Garden is a family-focused entertainment district and home to Missouri’s first food truck garden. Bring your friends, kids, dogs, and out-of-town guests to the only place you’ll find a feast of everyone’s favorite local food and drinks alongside outdoor movies, live music and performances, community events and more.
The food truck garden is the focal point of the park’s attractions, offering lunch and dinner service seven days a week from some of St. Louis’s best and most loved trucks. By creating a daily food truck destination, we are also investing in the economic stability of our local food truck scene, delivering crowds of hungry diners to the doors of the chefs and food makers who continue to drive innovation and opportunity in our local culinary scene.
Outdoor Halloween Adventure
Saturday, October 30, 5:00-6:00pm
Travel around Parkway United Church grounds to meet masked Superheroes that will tell you their stories. Families stay together, physically distanced and also wearing masks. Candy will be dropped into the children's bags with tongs. Costumes are welcome! Come and enjoy a Halloween Outside Adventure! 
Worship with us this Sunday!
October 31 | 10:00AM

Worship In-Person in the Sanctuary or on Facebook Live… or later on YouTube

It’s Reformation Day when we celebrate that on October 31, 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approached the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nailed a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.
Our scripture lessons are the story of Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:1-18) and the time when the disciples asked Jesus about which commandment is the most important (Mark 12:28-34). 

It’s also Halloween…Consider dressing up for worship – perhaps a Biblical character or a hero or an inspiring person...please no scary costumes.
 
Next Sunday we are marking All Saints Day during worship. Please bring a photo of a loved one who has died and gone before us.

This link lists bulletin posts, with the top one as the most recent.
Livestream worship on Sundays. Look under videos for previous livestreamed services.
All our worship service videos in one place!
All Mid~Week Meditations that have been recorded on YouTube.
Sunday School Live and via Zoom
Sunday School for children through 5th grade:

Meeting ID: 383 733 977
Password: 819680
Sunday School for Youth/Teens each week:

Meeting ID: 815 6130 3581
Password: 702228
Plan to stay for an Advent Planning Conversation with Kevin after worship next Sunday, November 7 in the Heritage Room at 11:15am. We will read through the scripture texts for the four Sundays before Christmas and talk about some other things we might do together in the holiday season.
Hospitality is Parkway UCC’s middle name
 
Speaking biblically, hospitality is treating strangers and friends alike. We are looking toward the future as we plan Sunday Hospitality Weekly Teams. Each team would be responsible for just one Sunday a month, with a total of 12 Sundays in a year. Some tasks can be done now, others in the future. 
 
A church group met recently to discuss the forming of weekly teams to provide for ushering, greeting, coffee makers, food hosts, beverages, clean up, flower purchasers/arrangers, and preparing bouquets for shut-ins. We have some former hospitality volunteers willing to continue, but we could use more volunteers for specific or any tasks needed.
 
We especially need ushers for first Sunday and Communion servers, ushers for fourth Sunday and subs for any week, and one flower purchaser/arranger.
 
Please contact Ellie Svenson svensonellie@gmail.com or Carol Cobb ccjcobb@aol.com to volunteer for a specific week and possibly a particular task. Many hands make the tasks lighter.
The PUCC COVID Team met Wednesday, October 27 to review our status and consider future changes. We noted two positive developments: community transmission is declining; and the approval of vaccination for 5–11-year-old children has the potential to curb the spread of the virus. We encourage vaccination for all eligible children as the vaccines have proven to be safe and effective in this age group in clinical trials.
Still of concern is the low vaccination rate (53%) and test positivity rate (6+%) in St. Louis County. However, if community transmission and test positivity rates continue to decline with increasing immunization, we look to transition to more normal interactions after the first of the year. We plan a gradual relaxation of social distancing protocols.
In accord with our spirit of extravagant welcome and our commitment to being an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation, we will not consider vaccination mandates. Therefore, to provide maximal protection for all worshipers, we will retain masking and contact tracing requirements in the near to intermediate future. 
Loving our Neighbors at Thanksgiving (1/3 to our goal!)
Items due at PUCC by November 7!
We look forward to sharing Thanksgiving with loved ones near and far.
We will provide 200 1-pound bags/boxes of sugar for Isaiah 58 families. Please consider donating one or two or more bags/boxes through 7 November. Place your sugar in the marked box in the church entryway.

Circle of Concern is also gearing up for their big Thanksgiving Basket Program for 700 families. Just like last year, we are committing to supplying 150 boxes of food items that will go alongside a turkey, frozen pie, fresh fruit, vegetables and a gift card from Aldi's. It would be helpful if your donation contained all eight items for the box, but all donations are appreciated.

Items in each box: canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce, canned fruit, chicken broth, boxed stuffing mix, jar of turkey or chicken gravy, cornbread muffin mix, boxed mashed potatoes.
Many thanks for your kindness and generosity!
Halloween Yoga Sunday, October 31 | 11:15am
Angela Lamb is a certified Yoga instructor. She has been teaching yoga to children since 2017. She recently published a yoga lesson plan book so families could do her lessons at home to bond, relax and have fun. Her new book is called Bonding with My Bunnies: Yoga Lesson Plans for Families & Children. Here is the Barnes & Noble link for the book: https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/bonding-with-my-bunnies-angela-lamb/1140007338
 
On Halloween after worship, she will be leading children in the Halloween Yoga lesson which includes: a share circle, a kid friendly yoga practice and breathing exercise, yoga games and relaxation mindfulness exercise.
 
The whole family can join us for this fun, mindful, relaxing time.
Please bring your yoga mat if you have one (or a beach towel works too).
 
Labeling Online Donations
We are grateful for all of our online contributors! Please use your church envelope # as the payer account number. Also, if splitting your gift between the General Fund and the Building Fund, please indicate the amounts in the mem line.
Thank you from the Sunday morning counters.
Question? Reach out to Harold Cobb ccjcobb@aol.com
 
Tuesday Afternoon Dialogue November 2
1st & 3rd Tuesdays | 1:45 Fellowship | 2:00pm book discussion| via ZOOM
Join us as we continue the book, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, a novel by Christy Lefteri. It is a story about the refugee experience, full of hope and very timely as we welcome immigrants into our city and nation. We continue to meet and discuss on November 2. We will cover page 207 until the end.
Join by phone: 312 626 6799 | Meeting ID: 836 7061 7428 Passcode: 480007
 
Harper School Open House Sun, Nov 7 | 11:30am-3:30pm
Harper School will be holding an Open House. We would love to have you check out our program which we hold on the Parkway UCC campus M-F.
We offer programs for toddlers (2 years old) through 1st grade. We have a before school care program which start at 7:00 a.m., half day and full day programs that start at 8:20 a.m. and go until 11:30 a.m. (half day) or 3:30 p.m. (full day). We also offer an aftercare program which ends at 5:30 p.m. Please feel free to stop in after Church on Sunday, invite your friends too! Visit us atwww.harperschool.org/stl/ for more information.
 
Intertwine Interfaith Initiative Volunteer Opportunity
Sat, Nov 13 | 1:00pm | Queeny Park | 1675 S Mason Rd
The Intertwine Interfaith Initiative together with Congregation Shaare Emeth and TASOM (Turkish American Society of Missouri) will host a clean-up at Queeny Park. We will be cutting down honeysuckle and cleaning up the gardens. This is at the entrance off of Mason Road.
Afterwards we will move to the Smith Shelter located at 550 Weidman Road from 3-4:30pm to make s’mores. Questions? Please contact Paige Penico: andipaige@hotmail.com. Please RVSP by November 6.

Prayer List Updates
All the acts of kindness, justice and equity near and far!
Avery - due 1/6 born 10/17 - now in the NICU doing well (Borgmann).
Conrad Damsgaard - in & out of hospital recently - at Big Barnes now.
George & Peg Lestina - as he recuperates from surgery in a rehab ctr.
Sally Boughman - home after recent hospitalization; pain management
A friend of PUCC - healing from Gender Affirmation/Confirmation (aka Sex Reassignment Surgery) last week.
Sue Moellering - knee replacement surgery on October 28.
Jim and Polly Winkelmann - healing for her spinal stress fracture and his shoulder after surgery…. Jim went home from rehab over wkend.
Dan & Kim, Ben/Henry/Davis Weas - Dan’s cancer treatment. 
Mona Herberg - upcoming surgery in November.
Tim Ruiz - healing after recent surgery (John’s brother).
Pat & Janet - his radiation/chemo treatment (Skip Larson’s son-in-law)
Tom Ursic and Family - severe post-covid pulmonary fibrosis (Svenson).
All impacted by Covid-19 - individuals, families, healthcare workers; If anyone needs help getting vax/booster or if anyone vaccinated would like to be on the Care Team, please reach out to kevin@parkwayucc.org
Graveside service for Ruth Murray - Saturday, November 6 at 10am in Breese, Illinois at the UCC cemetery there. You are invited.

St Louis Assn UCC Covenant Partner
Week ending October 31 - St. Peters UCC, Ferguson; stpeterschurch.org
Week ending November 7 - St. Philip UCC, St. Louis; stphilipsucc.com
 
Peggy & Mike Mohl - relocating to be closer to family in DC last week.
3709 S. George Mason Dr., #105E; Falls Church, VA 22041

There will be a graveside service for Ruth Murray on Saturday, November 6 at 10am in the cemetery where her parents are buried. Ruth’s family is inviting anyone who would like to be there.

St. John Cemetery, Breese, IL 62230 can be found on Google maps. 
It’s at Ellwood Street and Mater Dei Drive on the edge of town, in a field across from Mater Dei High School (900 Mater Dei Drive; Breese, IL 62230). 

If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie (618) 920-0643; stephmcqu@gmail.com who has been making all of the arrangements.
 
In case you haven’t experienced it yet, here is the link to Ruth’s Memorial Service.

View
A brief message from our UCC General Minister and President, John Dorhauer
Humor
Who won the skeleton beauty contest?
No body.

What do you get when you divide the circumference of your jack-o-lantern by its diameter?
Pumpkin Pi.

Take this Candy Quiz:
Ponder
The Word
~Tony Hoagland

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”
and “broccoli” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word
is as beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue

but today you get a telegram,
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time,
to sit out in the sun and listen.
 
Welcoming Afghans to St. Louis
The International Institute is grateful for the contributions from communities around St. Louis. They are overwhelmed by this generosity and currently need volunteers to help sort recent gifts from everyone.
The Institute asks that future donations of goods not be dropped off at their location until they are ready—to allow for sorting, organizing, and assessing future items most needed.
 
You can help by:
1. Signing up to volunteer for sorting current items. The volunteer slots can be found at https://iistl.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=57148
2. Donating: We have postponed in-kind donation drop offs until further notice! We continue to receive financial donations and gift cards.
3. Continue saving items household items as International Institute gears up for current and arriving Afghans. Items can be placed in the church lobby and marked for later delivery to the Institute.

Special Olympics Bowling Tournament
Sat, Dec 4 | 10:30an – 2:00pm | Cave Springs Lanes | 4055 Mexico Rd 63303
You will have a GREAT TIME getting to know some special people and cheering for them as they compete.
Lane Assistant is by far the BEST job at the Special Olympics Bowling Tournament! Lane assistants get to know the athletes bowling on their lane and will keep athletes in order and bowling at a good pace all while making sure everyone is having fun. Lane assistants will track scores at the end of each game.
Special Olympics:
From a backyard summer camp for people with intellectual disabilities to a global movement, Special Olympics has been changing lives and attitudes since 1968.
When people speak of the origin of Special Olympics, they look no further than the first Camp Shriver - founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the early 1960s. They talk of one woman’s dream that started in her own backyard. They speak of her vision: how through sports, the lives of people with intellectual disabilities would be transformed and public perceptions would be changed forever.
Back in 1960, a woman from Bethesda, Maryland called up Eunice and told her that she was having trouble finding a summer camp for her child with intellectual disability. The child wouldn’t be accepted into a mainstream camp, and, at that time, the public education system couldn’t figure out what to do with special-needs children never mind supply them with summer activities. Then another woman told her almost the same thing.
“Enough,” said Eunice.
In Eunice’s world, “enough” has always meant “do something about it.”

Habitat Work Day 11/20
Welcoming Afghans to St. Louis 
We appreciate your submissions of jokes, quotes, photos, videos, weekly opportunities, Mid~Week Meditation ideas, scriptures that are important to you, hymn/song suggestions, poetry, etc. We would love to hear from you kevin@parkwayucc.org
Visit our social media for a mix of pix and to see what other PUCCers would like you to attend/experience/ponder/pray about with them.
Please post a picture of you/yours on our social media:
WORSHIP SUNDAYS at 10:00am
(314) 872 9330 contact@parkwayucc.org
2841 N Ballas Road,
St. Louis, MO 63131

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