Unison Prayer

Eternal God, you have assured us that you are with us. You will strengthen us and help us. God you are present, living, and active in our lives – not only present, but you are rejoicing in us and calming us with your love. When the future is uncertain, trusting the power of your love is sustaining. We commit our desires to you. We will wait on you to move. Thank you for keeping us in perfect peace. We praise you for your presence and put our trust in you! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Call to Worship:



L: Children of God: Let us praise our God.

P: We gather in the grace and the peace of God.

L: When we pray, God is always listening.

P: We pray not only for change but to be changed.

L: We are confident that when we pray, God is with us.

P: When God is with us, everything changes

All: Change us now O God

The season of Advent begins on Sunday the 27th.

Our theme is "God With Us". On this first Sunday we will light the candle of HOPE.

On November 27th, there is a "Special Sunday" offering through our Conference to be used for scholarships and loans for students attending United Methodist-related and other accredited colleges and universities. 

Our November missional giving has been designated for the Lakes Area Food Shelf. This month the funds donated will be given to the food shelf specifically to support the Thanksgiving meal boxes that were distributed by the food shelf. We estimate the cost of one Thanksgiving box to be at least $100. All donations appreciated!

Sunday the 27th will be the last Sunday that we collect for this special project.

I want to give a special thanks to those who have already given towards the Thanksgiving meals, and for the many who stepped forward to help put the meal boxes together, help with distribution, and hand out prayers and treats to our neighbors who picked up these meals. It was a wonderful collaboration between our church and the Lakes Area Food Shelf.

--Pastor Jen

Children's Shop Day

The annual "Shop Day" will be held on Saturday December 10th, from 10-1. We will need volunteers to help with set-up, personal shoppers, and wrappers for this event. Watch for more details and sign-up sheets in the next few weeks.

We are also in need of small gift items for the "shop". New or gently used goods are needed, especially gifts for men. Donations can be brought to the church and left in classroom G.



Thank you to the group of volunteers who decorated our church for Advent and Christmas!

Please note this change

Pastor Jen has a new email address and will soon stop checking or using the old one. Please update your address books as needed.

jenmatt20@gmail.com

Many of you have received a "stewardship" letter recently. We would encourage everyone who feels like Grace UMC is their church home to consider making a promise of giving for the coming year. It is extremely helpful to our Finance Team and others to have some expectations of giving to best plan the budget for next year. Your pledge cards can be returned to church anytime or put in the offering plate on Sunday mornings.

Thank you.

Prayer

Eternal God, we pray that we will make stewardship a way of Life. We acknowledge you as the source of all we have and all we are.

Help us to place you, our loving Creator, first in our lives by becoming more prayerful, more focused on loving and caring for our families and our neighbors in need, and by becoming less preoccupied with material things.

Help us to hear your call to be good stewards, caretakers, and managers of all your gifts by sharing them for your purposes.

Help us make your priorities our priorities and to put our faith into action. Help us plan to "give back" the talents, treasures and time with which we have been blessed.

Help us plan to serve our church, our community, and our world with your gifts.

May we serve you and pray with a joyful spirit of mind and heart.

Amen.

Sunday mornings we have returned to live streaming our Sunday services, but we realize that there are still some issues popping up many Sundays. On our website you can usually watch the recorded service after 10:30am or so. There is a link to our site at the end of this newsletter.

We continue to work on making the online experience better and appreciate both your grace and feedback as we make improvements. Soon, we will be updating our internet capabilities and are hopeful that this will fix some of the issues.

We are grateful to be able to offer our services online and appreciate any gifts received to help this ministry grow and continue.

*We are aware that we have had some streaming issues over the last few weeks, we are working on resolving the problem.

If you have something that should be added to this newsletter from your group or mission, please speak with Pastor Jen or email the details to her at jenmatt20@gmail.com. The E-Grace is generally completed by noon on Thursdays, so articles need to be received by Thursday 10am at the very latest. **

If you wish to connect with me directly and it is not an emergency, please know that I will respond as needed during pretty regular office hours. I am in the church most weekdays from at least 10-12, call the office to be sure, as my weeks vary. Ann has my detailed schedule and can find me if needed. I check my emails frequently throughout the day, and this is the best way to contact me.

-Pastor Jen

Important note

If you are mailing something to the church, you must use our P.O. Box for the address. We do not receive mail at the church, and if you use the physical church address it will get returned and could delay your notices to us or offerings.

P.O. Box 276

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472