First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael 

In this Enews

· Worship Service with prayers, special music, sermon and Moment for Stewardship
· Adult Education Class on Oct. 25 11:00 am – Q & A Stewardship
· Adult Education Class on Nov. 1 – Ruah Bull
· Wednesday Zoom Conversations – Hunger and Hope with Rick Steves video
· Doing the Work: Confronting and Addressing Our Role in Systemic Racism
· Loving Our Neighbors – Thanksgiving Food for Needy Families
· Women’s and Men’s Book Groups
· Zoom gathering instructions - Sundays 11 am, Wed 11 am, Thurs 10 am
· Supporting our church’s ministry and mission

Church Calendar https://www.fpcsr.org/church-calendar

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Opening Hymn      Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
                                Click here for video

Service Video – Welcome, Reading, Special Music, Sermon & Moment
                            for Stewardship
                            Click here for video on YouTube
                            Click here for video on Vimeo

Welcome     Pastor Cynthia Cochran-Carney

Reading      Psalm 67      read by George Ridout

The Beloved is gracious to us,
       a loving Presence within us;
       The Radiant One shines in us.
O, that Love’s Way would be lived
        throughout the earth,
        Love’s abiding power embraced by all the nations.
May the people ever rejoice in You
        singing songs of appreciation
        for all that You, O Beloved,
        freely give to us.

Let the nations listen and heed;
        we are all called to live with
        integrity and justice.
For you, O Blessed Counselor, will
        guide every nation on earth
        as the leaders and people open
        their hearts and respond.

Abandoning ourselves into the
        Heart of Love,
        we need not worry or fret; for
Love’s grace abides wherever we are.
        In Love let us make our home.
                          – From Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill

Special Music      "Meditation" from Thais by Jules Massenet
                               Wendy Loder, violin John Steiner, piano

Scripture Reading      Daniel 5:23

Sermon      Stewardship Means…. Good Circulation      Cynthia Cochran-Carney
                   Click here for pdf of sermon

Hymn     Take My Life and Let It Be      Glory to God #697

Moment for Stewardship     Dan and Dori Crawford

Closing Words
May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short;
Grace to risk something big for something good; and
Grace to remember the world is now
too dangerous for anything but the truth and
too small for anything but love.

              - by The Rev. William Sloane Coffin

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Online Service Production Team
Martha Wall, John Steiner, Alan Choy and Cynthia Cochran-Carney
Filming & Video Production – Karyn Kleinman

Songs included in this service are covered by streaming copyright license
One License #A-706502

Adult Ed – October 25, 11:00 am on Zoom
Stewardship Questions and Answers

Please join the Stewardship Committee on Zoom to learn about our church finances and how you can contribute to the church’s continuing vitality as we move into the future.

Thanks, from the Stewardship Committee: Steve Astle, Susan Bryant, Ralph and Leslie Purdy, and Cynthia Cochran-Carney

Sunday Adult Ed Class
November 1
11;00 on Zoom
Be Still and Know That I Am God (Ps. 46:10):
An Introduction to Contemplative Life
Presenter: Ruah Bull

For many folks, the terms 'contemplation' and 'contemplative living' conjure up images of Eastern and Western monks and nuns living strictly disciplined lives tucked away in monasteries. But in fact, everyone on a spiritual journey is being invited into a deepening capacity for awareness, savoring, being. Christians call this 'practicing the presence of God', Jews call it Sabbath, Buddhists 'waking up'.

In this introduction, we'll look at ways to understand how Spirit might be calling you personally and uniquely to a more contemplative life. And we will discuss many practices that help us to cultivate the capacity for presence that attunes us to the intimate Presence of The Holy.

Bio: Ruah Bull is a spiritual director in Petaluma who has offered several retreats here. She focuses on supporting people from a wide variety of spiritual traditions called to contemplative life. Her own path could be called 'the spirituality of imperfection' and she is grateful that she is so often invited to teach what she needs to remember.

Wednesday Community Conversations
11:00 am on Zoom 
Log in below
October 28 - "Hunger and Hope:  Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala."
Presenters: Leslie and Ralph Purdy

Rick Steves, the well-respected travel authority, has produced a one hour public television special program, "Hunger and Hope:  Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala."  On Oct. 21st and 28th at 11 a.m., we will share excerpts from the program and discuss some of the encouraging ideas in this film.  Rick Steves travels through Ethiopia and Guatemala to learn about extreme poverty and the new ways it's being tackled.  He learns how smart development aid can be a practical investment and how ending hunger in our time is a realistic goal.  This program comes to us from Bread for the World, a national faith-based organization which works to promote policies to end world hunger.  

Doing the Work: Confronting and Addressing Our Role in Systemic Racism - Resources

Dated List of our Enews Anti-Racism resources from previous weeks. 
Click here for list.



 

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Loving Our Neighbors – The Mission Committee

 

 

Thanksgiving Food for Needy Families

Every Thanksgiving, the Ritter Center in downtown San Rafael provides the food necessary for a full Thanksgiving meal to around 150 individuals and families who are homeless or precariously housed. FPCSR partners with Ritter Center by collecting and packing 50 bags of food, plus a gift card for Safeway. Ritter Center staff has told us that the donations from FPCSR provide a significant percentage of the food that they give out at Thanksgiving, and that our contribution is especially appreciated because of its completeness and quality.

We plan to pack the bags of food after church on Sunday, Nov. 15 in Canoles Hall. Please bring your donations of food items to the church any day starting October 25. If you come on a weekday, you can leave the food in one corner of the Chapel. (If you don’t know the backdoor combination, call Ann or any member of the Mission Committee.)

Needed Food Items
Whole kernel corn (canned) Green beans (canned)
Stuffing mix Cranberry sauce
Gravy mix Yams (canned)
Jell-O/gelatin Onions (fresh)
Potatoes (10 lb. bags) Fruit (canned)
Olives (canned) Cake mixes & frosting

No glass please.

Financial contributions are also needed and should be identified as being for the Thanksgiving food. We will get 50 $10 gift cards to include in the bags. We also need large, heavy-duty paper shopping bags. Questions? Call Barbara Royall or Leslie Purdy. Close to packing day, we’ll ask for volunteers to help with the actual packing which we will do following safety procedures for distance and masks.

 

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Book Groups

Women’s Book Group
The women have a book for our October 28 zoom room meeting at 3:00 pm. When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams. All are welcome to join in the discussion. For more information contact Susan Isler susan.isler.sport@gmail.com

Men’s Book Group
We are meeting via Zoom at 8:30 am. October book - The Big Nine: How The Tech Titans and Their Thinking Could Warp Humanity by Amy Webb
October 22, Part II and III

All men are welcome.
For info contact Alan Pabst ajpabst@aol.com



 

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Zoom Info for all gatherings
Click on link (includes password)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/738258079?pwd=Z3pKTXVYQU5TWTE4dXgxakd2dUtGZz09
or Click on link https://us04web.zoom.us/j/738258079
Password for the FPCSR Zoom room. 996359
Meeting ID: 738 258 079
Call in number 1-669-900-9128

Zoom Sundays  Today 11:00 am – 11:45   Adult Ed Speakers and Conversations

Wednesday Conversations  11:00 am
Church members lead discussions on topics they are interested in. All are welcome. 

Centering Prayer Thursdays 10:00 am
Contact Kay Collette for information kaycollette25@gmail.com

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Financial Support

1) Send a check to the church
    First Presbyterian Church, 1510 5th Ave, San Rafael, CA 94901
2) Set up automatic payments through your bank
3) Give on line through our secure link - https://www.fpcsr.org/giving

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Remember to Vote!  

It is our responsibility to be active citizens.  For information about checking your voter status, click here