Hello Families!

Many of us will be travelling to Kanuga this weekend, so please keep us in your prayers.

If you are not headed up to NC, I would encourage you to call some friends and set up a playdate for after church on the playground. Or just go there after church and meet some new folks and let the kids play together.  Trade info and set up a Family Dinner Date where both kids and parents can get to know each other better.

I told a group of parents who had recently had their children baptized that "Church Friends" make it a whole lot easier to get your young teens to church without a battle. ( I would venture the same would be true if the adults make some "church friends" too!) That might seem like a long time from now for parents of 1 year olds, but those relationships are built over time - over years doing things together both in and out of church. We all know this from our own relationships. The ones we nourish with time spent together will flourish. The others tend to fade away. It is no different with your church family. We have to be intentional to make time to be together.

When I asked the Club 45 kids what they would like to do this year, it is without fail that every answer is about spending more than the 45 minutes each Sunday together - "let's go hiking", "swim party", Len Foote Hike Inn overnight, "lock-in", "let's go to the beach". We will be adding more of that fun into our mix, but we need your support and commitment to nourish these relationships.  We have to commune to be a community!

Stay a little longer on Sundays and let the kids play together while you enjoy coffee and conversation.  Stick around on Wednesdays for games, art, dinner and time to run around the church courtyard with new friends.

Come to special church events like Harry Potter/Trunk or Treat night where kids can meet up with their friends and bring new ones!

Find those precious extra few minutes to let the kids roam and play, imagine and create, get to know each other better and claim this space, this community as their own.  Then they will be asking you "aren't we going to church?"

Peace to you,

Kathy

This Sunday, September 25th

Nursery : 8:30am-12:30pm; 1st floor of Pritchett Children's Center.

Children's:  No Children's Church. 

Children's : No Children's Church - go play on the playground.

Formation

Pop-Up Love Shop

Oct. 9th, between services

The children have been making symbols of love to hand out before the Pride Parade.  They are learning about giving "love" without expecting anything in return (all items are free), that all people deserve to be treated with love and respect ( love your neighbor), and that we are all God's children!  Stop by our shop and get some love!

Undie Sunday

October 16th

Mark your calendars to buy a pack of underwear (any children's size) and bring to church on October 16th.  The formation classes will have a contest on who brings the most undies and then we will organize them by size to take to Threads.

Kanuga Church Retreat 

(nursery open at church, No Children's Church or Formation)

Sept. 30-Oct. 2

Faith in Action: Pop-Up Love Shop

(meet in classroom and we will carry shop items to courtyard)

Oct. 9th, 10:15 Courtyard/Sidewalk

Undie Sunday

Bring all sizes of underwear for Threads

Oct. 16

Holy Eucharist: Harry Potter and the Theological Imagination

Oct. 30, 

   4:00 Trunk or Treat, Courtyard

   4:40 Children's Choirs sing

   5:00 Dinner and Holy Eucharist followed by

        The Prisoner of Azkaban

                  K-1st                               2nd-3rd                             Club 45

9/11     The Lord's Prayer              Psalm 23                     Annunciation/Hello

9/18     Hannah/Samuel                Hannah/Samuel          Nativity

9/25     Hannah/Samuel                Hannah/Samuel          Consecration

10/2              No Formation Kanuga Church Retreat