PLEASE SEND BY THIS EVENING!!! "We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing" Virtual Choir Project. See the bottom of this e-mail for details!
Friends, if you need any help to participate in this project, please ask!!!
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Preschool Fundraiser
Preorder your Moe’s Taco and Fajita Meal kits and support Winter Park Presbyterian Preschool!
Order now and Pick up on Thursday, November 19
Order thru the link: https://form.jotform.com/202405472883153
Moe's Family Meal Kit Fundraiser
A portion of every meal kit sale will be donated to the presschool. Pick up your meal kit between 5-5:30 on Nov. 19th in the church parking lot!
Also, the sales of the Attractions Books through the Preschool ends this Friday. Please contact our director, Becky Watson, if you would like to purchase one! preschool.wppc@gmail.com
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Sunday Afternoon Outdoor Communion Service
2pm this Sunday, November 22nd on the Playground
Please wear a mask and bring your own folding chair (if possible).
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Devotion for Wednesday, November 18th
One Came Back
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From today's Daily Lectionary Readings:
Gospel Reading Luke 17:11-19
11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
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Dear Friends,
As we approach Thanksgiving, this short passage from Luke's Gospel reminds us of the need to practice thanksgiving to God.
The one who returns shows some of the benefits of practicing Thanksgiving:
- The act of Thanksgiving fuels his worship and praise of God.
- The act of Thanksgiving brings him into closer relationship with Jesus
- The act of Thanksgiving helps him give witness to what God has done.
- The act of Thanksgiving means he is no longer considered a foreigner in faith.
- The act of Thanksgiving gives him faith to carry him along the way.
- The act of Thanksgiving heals him.
However, the Gospel reading also shows us the capacity of people to forget to give thanks.
We might join Jesus in asking, "but where are the other nine?" However, we know very well people forget to give thanks. Once their problem has been solved, they quickly move on to the next thing and don't look back.
We try to teach our children to remember to say "thank you" after someone helps them or to write a "thank you note" after they have been given a gift. But sometimes they run off after someone has helped them without offering a word of thanks. It's easy to point this out in children, but adults can be just as bad.
And that is how we relate to each other. How often do we people forget to give thanks to God? It might be a sign of our own tendencies toward self-centeredness, but so often we take a blessing for granted or receive a grace without giving it a second though. We think we deserve it. We move on without thinking.
Or we concentrate on the difficulties and challenges we face and outright ignore the joy and beauty we encounter.
I know that this story gives us a rather small sample size, but somehow the idea that only 1 in 10 people will stop what they are doing to come and give thanks to God after they receive a blessing does not seem too far off the truth.
I practice thanksgiving to God. Sometimes. Would it really be only 1 time in 10 I remember to do that? I hope not, but I know I fall short. I have a long way to go.
Friends, thanksgiving is not a single day of the year.
Thanksgiving is not just a time to stuff yourself with turkey.
Thanksgiving is not the starting gun for holiday sales and decor.
Thanksgiving is a spiritual practice. Like many other spiritual practices like prayer, Bible reading, worship, singing, acts of mercy, it is a spiritual practice that we get better at the more we do and the more we make it part of our life.
But I truly believe, the more we make Thanksgiving part of our regular spiritual practice, the more it will strength our relationship with God (and with others to whom we give thanks!). Thanksgiving gives us all the more reason to praise, worship, and give witness to what God is doing.
Friends, let us seek to give thanks to God for the blessings we encounter along our journeys.
Pause this day and give thanks:
- For the grace of getting up this day.
- For the people that God has placed in your life.
- For talents and gifts that you have been given.
- For the beauty of the earth and the glory of this day.
- For a Savior, Jesus, who loves you and seeks you always.
- For many other gifts, great and small, specific to your life.
I hope this day and every day we may be like the one who returns to Jesus.
I hope that we call can come back to Jesus, time and time again, to give thanks.
Grace and Peace,
Emile
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Friends, this morning the hymn "God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending" comes to mind. It is a beautiful hymn to sing and play. Below is a "virtual choir" arrangement from another church.
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"God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending"
Sung by the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Michigan) Virtual Choir
with James Biery, organist.
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"We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing"
You don't have to be a member of our Chancel Choir to participate! Just record yourself singing! All are welcome!
How to participate:
1. Watch and listen to this video of Sharon singing (with Ruth and Susan):
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Base Track : "We Gather Together"
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2. Download the music: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zVjEy2SPgD8_29VLTqoSHISzo2zgUE6K/view?usp=sharing
3. Make a recording of you singing this song in sync with Sharon
Sing any part!
To record in sync with Sharon you will need two devices:
- One phone, tablet, or computer to listen to the song video as you play along
- and a second camera/phone/tablet to record the video of you singing.
(PLEASE wear headphones while recording. This makes it much more likely that you will be in sync and makes the editing process easier.)
4. Then share the file with Emile by Google Drive, Drop Box or another file-sharing service. (The video will be too large to text or e-mail. If you need help, please ask!)
The deadline to send me a video will be Wednesday, November 18th at 5pm. After that I will begin editing the video together - and it is really difficult add a late video after I've begun work.
5. Call or text Emile to make sure I got the video. (Sometimes file transfers don't work the first time - especially if you've not sent a file to me before. I REALLY don't want to accidentally leave out someone who recorded a song!)
If you need help with any part of this process, please contact me - I would love for you to be involved!
Thank you all! The more voices the better!
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