Beloved Friends and Families with Kids,
Our Oaxaca team left yesterday, and their team is a beautiful picture of intergenerational service! Check out the team and their prayer requests here (you will notice lots of familiar faces like Pastor Mary, Pastor Chip, Megumi, Nori, Tim, and Hannah!). We are excited to hear all about their adventures and experiences when they return.
Youth Hospitality
Our youth are invited to serve on the hospitality team next Sunday, October 29th. If your youth is able to serve, you can let Jason Chen know since he will be overseeing the team that morning (Pastor Chip will be there that week but will have just flown in from Oaxaca the night before). Thanks to our youth for being an important part of our welcoming community!
Kids Choir
Our Kids Choir is in full effect! Throughout the year we work with Pastor Leslie and Cynthia to create opportunities for our kids and adult choirs to sing together and for our kids to help lead the congregation in worship. We use time at the end of our Sunday mornings to rehearse and sing together, and it's a beautiful time to worship with our kids. Right now we are working on learning to both sing and sign the song "The Blessing." Our kids will be singing this in worship service on Sunday, November 5. Our own Kevin Bishop (who is an expert ASL teacher) is teaching our kids and adult choirs the sign language for the song, too. You can help your child practice at home with this song file and this lyric sheet. Here is the video of the sign language that goes along with the song. Please note that on Sunday, November 5, we will ask our kids to arrive at 9:30 AM to rehearse (and we'll have pastries for our parents!). It's going to be a beautiful time of worshiping in song and movement!
Nursery Updates
Each week our youngest ones are exploring different ideas about God and learning some stories from the Bible. We have a new take-home sheet with some fun activities for families to do at home, so make sure you get one each week if you are interested in using that resource. We are also looking for more volunteers in the nursery as we prepare to have more babies joining us—so exciting! If you want to join our team once a month, please let us know.
SUNDAY
KIDS
Our nursery room is open this Sunday for babies and toddlers four years old and under. Childcare will be open starting at 8:50 AM for those who are attending Sunday School before service. This week our nursery kids will explore the story of Noah and the animals on the ark.
Our kids five to ten years old will join us in the sanctuary for the start of worship and then be dismissed to head to their classrooms together. They can begin service with their families or sit with me in the front pews. If they are coming early with parents who are in a Sunday School class, they can be dropped off upstairs at 8:50 AM. This week the kids will spend time thinking about other people they want to pray for. As part of our lesson on petitioning, we'll use bandaids and paper to make a visual for praying over those who are hurting. We are excited to spend time in prayer with our kids.
Discussion Questions for the Table at Home:
Think about one or two people (or groups of people) you and your family care about and could pray for together this week. Then set a time to pray each day.
How does prayer help when we feel concerned about someone and a challenge they are facing?
YOUTH
This week our youth are back on for our regular time of lunch and discussion. We are excited to get into studying Genesis with them over the next few weeks!
Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for being such a special community of families!
With deep affection for you,
Pastor Lindsay