Weekly Update from Holy Faith - 9/26/2022

Blessing of the Animals Service: Sunday, October 2, 10 AM, Outdoors

In honor of St. Francis of Assisi who famously loved animals and all creation, bring your animals to receive a special blessing, a certificate, and a St. Francis medal.

In our prayers that day, we will remember beloved pets who have died. Submit names and kind of your deceased pet (for example: Casey, beagle) to office manager, Laurie Tikkanen at [email protected]

Please bring donations of (new) dog food and gently used towels and blankets for the Devoted Barn, a home for animals who have been abused, neglected, or have special needs. Visit Devoted Barn’s AmazonWishlist.

RESPONDING TO COMMUNITY HUNGER

Sunday, October 9th

Did You Know that 30% of University of Michigan (UM) Students Deal with Food Insecurity? Help Bring A Home-Cooked Meal to Lutheran Students at UM, Sunday, October 9th, 5 PM

UM’s website reports: “Many students do not have the financial capabilities to afford the high-mark up on groceries from nearby stores nor the time for the 1.5-hour round-trip bus ride to the nearest grocery store.”

For this reason both the Episcopal and ELCA campus ministries provide free meals and snacks to students and ask area congregations to help.

Sunday, October 9th, a team from Holy Faith will bring dinner to the ELCA UM campus ministry at Lord of Light Church in Ann Arbor. We’ll join the community for 5 pm worship and then stay to serve and eat dinner.

If you can help cook or serve, please contact Carolyn Schneider at [email protected]

Bring Food for Saline Area Social Service

Priorities for this week:



Tea bags

Spaghetti Os

Refried beans

Beef broth

Individual drinks (juice boxes, shelf-stable milk, water)

Place food in collection baskets located inside entry door when you come to church. For more information on donations, click here.

Our Garden Provides Fresh Food for Many

Garden Buddy Chair, Mary Hogan, offers this update:

"The Garden Buddies harvested 80 pounds of tomatoes and 5 pounds of cherry tomatoes last Monday. Several tomatoes weighed 4-5 pounds each. This brings the total harvest this summer to 334 pounds of vegetables! 

Sadly, though, today will be our last harvest. The remaining tomatoes and peppers will be picked, the plants will be removed and the tomato cages put in storage. We're going to keep the flowers for another week or so as they are still very pretty.

Please stop by the garden at 6:00 pm for the final harvest of the season."



SERVICE

Help Grieving Families

UM’s Surgical ICU is looking to fill “compassion carts”

with items for families and patients who are grieving. They especially request twin size throw blankets. They can be knitted, crocheted, or tied.

Have a donation? Contact Mary Fatchett at: [email protected]

Online Volunteer Sign-up Sheet - Reading, Make Coffee, and More

Volunteer to read, make coffee, donate altar flowers, or usher on our online sign-up sheet here. Anyone may read a lesson. Readers can choose to read from home (online) or in-person. You will receive the reading and instructions several days in advance.

Thank you for considering this ministry of proclamation and witness. 



JOURNEY OF FAITH

Meet for Ignatian Prayer Mondays, 10-11 am, Through October 3

Adult Education Class Canceled This Week

Due to Tish's illness, there will be no adult education class on Tuesday, September 27. Class will resume next week, 

Lunchtime Bible Study, Thursdays, 12:00-12:30 pm

We are taking a short tangent from Kate Bowler to the book of Job. Join us as we study this Old testament book five chapters at a time and learn about the times when God and Satan had a discussion, Job tears his garments in a fit of grief, and and foreshadows the coming of Jesus.

This is a drop in Bible study and everyone is welcome. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79801857946?pwd=ZLB2e0iQSZt9DkQqaG68PzUE_6ORra.1

Meeting ID: 798 0185 7946

Passcode: UzWXL8

Participate in a “Sacred Ground” Small Group Wednesdays 

Sacred Ground is an 11-part dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. These discussions will meet by Zoom every third Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 pm. The first session meets Wednesday, October 12th.

Participants prepare for each session by watching a film and/or completing a reading assignment. The series is open to all and is especially designed to help white people talk to other white people.

If interested, please contact Pastor Andrea at [email protected]

GROWTH & VITALITY

RESCHEDULED: Fall Fellowship in the Memorial Garden, Saturday, October 8, 1:00 PM

Everyone is invited to our Memorial Garden fellowship event which has been rescheduled to Saturday, Oct. 8th, at 1:00 pm in the garden. Come enjoy our new plantings and fall-themed refreshments. In case of inclement weather, we will move indoors.

Contact Christen Mitchell for more information.

Parish Potluck, Sunday, October 16th

Make up for lost (COVid) time, and share a potluck meal with friends after church. During dessert, we will hear from Sonja Markwart, Esq. Sonja will talk about planned giving, and how a planned gift is the ultimate form of Christian witness, and one demonstrating affection and concern for Holy Faith over many years. She will talk about ways to make a planned gift and how each of us can leave a lasting legacy. Look for a potluck sign-up later this month.

Pastor Andrea Got the New COVid Booster

Dear Holy Faith friends,

I received the newest COVid booster this past Friday.

Like many people, I’m tired of keeping up with the shots, bored by tracking our county’s current transmission level (still high), and wondering if Blaise’s latest sore throat is COVid. On the other hand, I really don’t want COVid (which would be disruptive for home and church).

So off I went to my doctor’s office to get my third booster. My doctor tells me that this latest shot could be (finally) a game-changer, because it targets the variant that is currently circulating, as well as the older strains.

He predicts that if people receive this booster, then we’ll lower community transmission rates once and for all and

significantly reduce the amount of illness and disruption.

I hope you will join me (if you are eligible) in getting this latest (and hopefully the last) booster. Find a vaccine here, or read this ABC news article which I found helpful in sorting out basic questions, like when is the best time to get the booster, and if it’s okay to match with the flu shot, etc. 

Praying for health and wellbeing for everyone this fall.

Andrea+

Updated Church Directory

An updated Church Directory is now available. Download the directory here.

Did You Know the Weekly Worship Bulletin is Now Available for Download and Printing on Holy Faith's Website?

If you worship by Zoom, in addition to the link in Friday's announcements, Holy Faith's weekly worship bulletin will  now be available for easy download and printing on the home page of our website. 

Located in the lower left side under "Latest News," weekly announcements and scripture readings are also listed.

Click here to go to our home page.

Please pray for:

Those Who Are Sick, In Need, or Grieving:

Rhys, Tish, Jordan, Lynn, Annie, Tom, Craig, Brenda, Rose, Cathy, Katie, Joan, Peggy, James, Daniel, Wender, Joyce, Diane, the family of Lorraine Anderson, Brian, Don, Debbi, Mark, Lauren, Leslie, Tracy, Karen B, and Sam, that God's loving grace enfold them.

Prayer requests may be submitted to the clergy or to Office Manager, Laurie Tikkanen: [email protected]. Names will remain on the prayer list for three weeks unless otherwise requested,

People in Ukraine:

Precious Lord, Prince of Peace, may all the people

of Ukraine feel our prayers and be bathed in your protection; that war and suffering may cease; that aggression and violence may be no more; and that a season of hope and relief will arise in your new day and with the love which heals all brokenness. Amen.

Put Prayers for Ukraine into Action by Donating to Either Lutheran Disaster Response and/or Episcopal Relief & Development.