[Parish] A Big Parish Party

[Malcolm Young]

Dear Friends,

We have a huge amount happening this Sunday as we celebrate the ways  
that Jesus has welcomed us into this community together.

At 9:00 a.m. we will have the first of a six-part series called “The  
Gathering.”  You may remember it from previous years.  It is a  
conversation to introduce new people to folks in the parish and to  
learn more about faith.  If you haven’t participated in one of these  
before I strongly recommend it.  It’s a great way to make a  
connection here and to grow in Christ’s love.

This year’s Godly Play children’s program begins at the 10:00 a.m.  
service.  Come early to see the classrooms.  We will celebrate the  
leadership of these extraordinary teachers.  We’ll also hear a brief  
update on the parish visioning process.

After our 10:00 a.m. service, we’ll be celebrating the new church  
program year with Contra Dancing.  Please don’t forget to bring a CSA  
food donation when you come.

Finally, I would like to invite you to pray about how God is calling  
you to serve in this church.  We need delegates to diocesan  
convention.  It would be super to have a new Christmas Pageant  
director.  If we want to do the Festival of Lights this year, we need  
someone to lead us in this area.  Below is an advertisement for  
workshops on pageants and reading in church.

I hope you are all well.  Thanks be to God for all the gifts we  
receive every day!

Love,

Malcolm


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Christmas Pageant Workshop
October 3, 2009 - 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ross

Join All Saints Company for a day-long workshop focused on building a  
dynamic Christmas Pageant tradition in your parish that can transform  
families’ Christmas experience! Using the tested experience of  
building a pageant tradition over 25 years at St. Gregory’s, San  
Francisco, Donald and Ellen Schell and Lizzie Calogero will take you  
step by step through the process of creating a foundation of great  
liturgical theater for your congregation. We welcome anyone  
responsible for making a pageant --from a seasoned writer/director/ 
producer to a novice volunteer. It’s a work of tradition-making;  
congregations coming together and encouraging one another keeps that  
vision clear.


Scripture Readers Workshop
November 14, 2009 - 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Christ Episcopal Church, Portola Valley

The people who read the Bible in our liturgies feel blessed in their  
preparation and the liturgical act of reading scripture, some say  
it's a 'sacramental experience.' They're eager for coaching, mutual  
learning, and support. A small parish team (two or three people)  
could bring learning from this workshop back to your parish and help  
you establish a Company of Readers - a lay-led community of practice  
within your congregation to take responsibility for your readers'  
rota, for training readers, for working with youth readers, and for  
recruiting new readers. Even if you're starting from a point of good  
reading Sunday by Sunday, helping people take full responsibility for  
this liturgical work, showing them how to let the Bible really speak  
to them (and preparing them to guide and coach others), and Sunday by  
Sunday hearing people deliver the text with love and conviction will  
bring fresh life to your Sunday liturgy.