Hurricane Eta Report

All Angels fared quite well, thanks be to God. Our new roof kept the driving rain out of the church and I am very much appreciative of the maintenance committee who had important tree trimming completed at the beginning of the hurricane season. That good work has paid off indeed. Thank you for your prayers. I will see you on Sunday in person or on-line! 
Indoor Worship and Holy Communion

Holy Communion will be offered at both the 8:00 am and 10:00 service.
Seating is available on a first come first serve basis.

If you attend in-person, please note:
Masks are required indoors - please wear the mask over your mouth and nose. 
The service will be about 45 minutes.
After the service, feel free to stick around outside and welcome those you have not seen in a while.  

Drive-in Church - drive up, tune your radio to 107.5 FM
Walk-up Church - bring a chair/bike/beach blanket, stay six feet from your neighbor in our garden and grassy area, and listen to the service live.
Live-stream - go to AllAngelsLBK.org, click on the listen live button, and you will be routed to our YouTube channel. 
Zoom - go to https://zoom.us/j/5955701807 and watch and listen live. Be sure to stick around after the service for our coffee hour chat-with-your-neighbor time. 

All Angels' 10 am service will begin with the lighting of the altar candles. If you are participating at home, you are invited to light a candle with us to create a sacred space of worship at home. 

The bulletin can be found on the All Angels Website: AllAngelsLBK.org
or at the following link: Bulletin for Sunday, November 15
Flowers and Music for Christmas

There are 4 easy ways to contribute to the upcoming holiday season decorations and music:

1.For on-line giving chose the Christmas Donation button on the All Angels website

2 Send a check to the office made out to All Angels by the Sea with Christmas in the Memo Line

3. Put your check in offering plate with the above designations

4. Or, stop by or call the office, 941-383-8181, with donation information. 

If you would like to designate as Memorial or Thanksgiving of name, please enclose that information for the bulletin.
Thank You of the Week

To the Rotary of Longboat Key for braving the wind and rain to welcome and thank our veterans. 
Online Giving
All Angels now has an electronic offertory plate! You can find the online giving link on our All Angels website by clicking the link below:
ECW and the Outreach Commission Announces:
Due to your generosity and giving spirit ECW. is able to fund 100 frozen turkeys with all the trimming for a special holiday dinner for 50 families through the ThankFull program at All Faith's Food Bank. Manatee Meals on Wheels Plus has a similar program and received funding for the remaining 50.
The Outreach Commission is providing monies to the Sarasota Meals on Wheels for 250 dinners to be delivered on Thanksgiving Day to those who are alone or can not leave their homes.

This is the card that will go in the Thanksgiving Turkeys:
Discussion Group Readings

Hello, thank you for an interesting discussion about homelessness and the hopelessness we can all feel when trying to address their plight. The good news is that there are people making a difference. 
For next week, we will talk about an upcoming Supreme Court case involving what many are calling religious liberties. Attached is an article about it from NBC News.
The church at All Angels fared the hurricane very well, thanks be to God. May God bless you and especially those whose lives have been changed because of hurricanes.
-Dave

Here is the website address for the discussion group:


Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer invites you to pray with them, every day,
at 8 am, wherever you are. When you enter into prayer at 8 am (Eastern), you will know that others are praying at the same time. 
Prayers for our People

O Lord our helper and deliverer, do not tarry for all who call upon your name for help, especially Downs IV, Holden, Nikolai, Brian, Heidi and the Rev. Connie Reinhart. We give thanks for the healing of Jean and her return home with Brian. Grant healing and recovery for all who have gone through surgery. Give peace and strength for those going through cancer treatments, especially John, Victoria, Andres, Ginny, Alex, Colleen and Jack. Visit and comfort all who are under the care of skilled nursing, especially Bob, Ruth, Timothy, Don, Barbara and Mike. Be near to all who are in hospice care.

We pray for the repose of the soul of Lynne Woo. May light perpetual shine upon her.
Gallery Artist

The artist for November is Linda Loen. Please stop by and enjoy the work of this talented artist.  

All checks should be written to "All Angels by the Sea."

All previous services, discussion group readings and Bible study classes may be found on our website:
Reflection
Hear Ye, Hear Ye

I am writing to you on Veterans Day. We have a small hurricane, parked off the coast and it is dumping rain and lots of wind. At the same time, I am listening to patriotic hymns – from outside the church! Our brand new, six speaker, all-weather, 180 watt sound system is now broadcasting outside the church. Rotary volunteers wearing parkas, shorts, flip flops and face coverings are keeping the soaking flags from falling and greeting veterans as they drive by. The soundtrack to this event is provided by All Angels.

In Washington State, where I grew up and went to college, there is a tradition to play music outside when the weather gets nice. On those rare days, neighbors, college students, anyone really, will put speakers into the open windows and play their favorite tunes. I would shoot baskets while listening to an album by Duran Duran. My brother would wash his car to Lynard Skynard. In college, on sunny days, the dorms would erupt with music all designed to be heard outside.

As a camp counsellor, we would have a dance on the final night of each camp session. Our preferred place was the outdoor basketball court. Can you guess who would set up the speakers outside; yep, yours truly. I imagine the camp’s neighbors prayed for rain.

Flash forward to 2020, southwest Florida. I conducted an Easter morning service in front of Blake Hospital because the country went into a lockdown. For the rest of the Easter season, we held in-church services but they were not open to the public. Bob Erker and I hauled some old Pevey loudspeakers out of storage and, with Ethan’s help and ingenuity, we set up the drive-up and outdoor church. As the season of Easter moved into Pentecost and the season after, we realized outdoor church was going to continue. The Vestry dreamed up all sorts of possibilities including having fellowship outside, the Mardi Gras party outdoors, and other events. They decided we needed something permanent. This is southwest Florida, after all, and unlike Washington State, we have lots and lots of nice days especially in the “winter” season.

After some discussion with the city of Longboat Key, we now have outdoor speakers that will be used on Sunday morning for our services, for the upcoming Blue Christmas and Christmas Eve service. We are offering organ music in the park every Thursday from 11 am to noon for the public to come by and enjoy uplifting music. I can see us offering quiet Advent/Christmas music for pilgrims to Longboat who want to rest in the evening under the shade of our beautiful oak trees. And, just imagine this: we can actually start next year’s Palm Sunday procession outside. I do not have a crystal ball, but, I imagine that even on the last Sunday of March, 2021, there will be people who prefer to remain outdoors to worship.

If you had told me when I was 17 years old that what I learned about playing music outside would one day fit into the mission statement of a church that I would serve and lead in Florida, I would have thought you were nuts. And now, we’re running around in a near-hurricane, listening to organ music and thanking veterans for their service; I guess we are pretty nutty after all. 
 
- Fr. Dave