Four (or more) people are needed to help do Smyrna’s Advent Season decorations and altar flowers during the month of December. Please contact Virginia Yoder if you are interested in helping.

Smyrna’s Fall Days of Giving is marked on the church calendar as Sunday, November 15, 2009 and we wanted to give everyone a refresher on why we have Days of Giving at our church.

Years ago, and we really mean years ago, one of the members suggested we have a day where we give what we make for a day or several days to the church. It has been a good idea and one tradition we want to continue doing. We have “Days of Giving” once every quarter and usually there is just a notice in the monthly Behold.

Over the last several years the contributions to “Days of Giving” has dwindled and it might be because we haven’t included envelopes in the Behold or it might be that no one has taken notice of those designated times. Whatever the reason , we need to pay particular attention to those times and continue the practice of the “Days of Giving.”

The monies collected from the “Days of Giving” goes into the general fund to assist with the cost of maintaining our church facilities. I confess I am one who hasn’t paid attention to these designated times.

Several Sundays ago I quoted from a book entitled, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. During the sermon I suggested that I knew several people would ask me after church,” What are we going to do about the issues?” The first thing we are going to do is study the issue by reading the book together.

My plan is to make the book available in December with the hope that we can discuss the book together during a couple of afternoon sessions in late January or early February.

The book costs $16. A sign up sheet will be in the narthex for those interested in purchasing the book. After we study the book together, we can decide how Smyrna can best respond to the issues confronting women around the world.

Perhaps you noticed the new look in the Friendship House at the Costco Dinner. In honor of Roberta Daniels’ birthday in September, the Daniels family purchased four additional round tables for Smyrna.

Smyrna’s Pre-Halloween Potluck Sunday, October 25, 2009.  Click on thumbnail to see larger photo.

A sign-up sheet was posted last month for volunteer “building sextons.” This involves making sure that the church is closed up and the security set after worship (or the potlucks following worship!). There are plenty of Sundays waiting for a volunteer.

November is the month in the calendar when we are reminded to be thankful. It is a good month for Christians. I was reminded of a study recently that showed that people who wrote down the things for which they are thankful tend to be happier than those who focus on what is wrong with the world.

A retired pastor mentioned to me that part of his ministry was sending thank you notes to people who help around the church. His comment was a wake up call to me. For years after serving on a town council I sent thank you notes to anyone who was elected. I knew first hand how frustrating serving on the council could be. I also remembered how thin my skin could get when I read articles in the paper about things we were trying to do that were critical. I felt relieved when I was no longer on the council. I also noticed that it didn’t bother me to read criticism of the government or elected officials when it was someone else’s name.

I owe a lot of Thank you cards to people around Smyrna. It will probably take me more than a month to write them! I am grateful for:

We will be holding a new member class in November with the plan to take in new members on Sunday, November 22. Anyone interested in becoming a member of Smyrna should contact Pastor Dave. The class will meet once after church for about an hour and will go over background material on the United Church of Christ, on Smyrna, and on the questions you will be asked to answer during the November 22 worship service. Our only requirement for membership is a desire to follow Jesus.

Of course we welcome everyone to be involved in our church and our mission efforts whether you become a member or not. Membership does give you the opportunity to publicly state that you support the efforts of our congregation, our Christian Education and youth efforts, and our mission efforts. The class will meet after church on November 15th.

During the months of November and December the children will be collecting change during the worship service to support the Molalla Service Center and the Canby Center. These two organizations help the poor and the homeless with food, clothing, and emergency assistance.

In addition to giving your change, we also have collection containers in the Friendship Hall for food, clothing, and blankets. The food will go to the Molalla Service Center, and the clothing and blankets to Canby. At this time of year, there is a particular need for blankets and sleeping bags for the homeless. Do you have a blanket you can spare?

Our Ingathering Harvest Festival will be November 22 this year. This is the day we set aside to give a special offering for the Molalla Service Center. Of course we hope you will remember the Center every Sunday with dry goods and canned goods of all types.

This year we had 17 people and 7 dogs for our Blessing of the Animals service. We also had a warm, dry day for a change! The next day there was an article in the Vancouver paper about a worship service Blessing the waves for the surfers. The article suggested that with the damage done by tsunami waves they had to be careful with their prayers.

The blessing of the waves reminded me that there is certainly more than animals in our lives to ask for God’s blessing. I have done Blessing services for new homes and for Driver’s licenses. I have done weddings, and services for people who repeat their wedding vows or celebrate an anniversary.

We will celebrate and bless people once a month at Smyrna during their Birthday month, with a special prayer and a Smyrna pen. (The second Sunday of every month). Can you think of other reasons to have blessing services? Let’s have some fun.

—Pastor Dave—

2009 Patriotic Christmas for Our Troops

Thank you very much for supporting Bob and Shirley Pierce, from Molalla, in the 2009 Patriotic Christmas, for Our Troops overseas, with some much needed items and some monetary donations to help cover the cost of shipping. A special thanks goes to Smyrna's Congregation, during the October Children's Change Offering, for donating $320.68, so Christmas boxes filled with requested and much needed items can be sent to them. I am sure all of your contributions will help put a smile on a soldier for Christmas.

Thanks for all of your generous contributions,

—Sandra J. Mahar

Excursions 4 ALL   Oct. 11th - French Prairie Gardens - Five people went, and we all had lots of fun going thru a corn and hay maze, going down some slides, going thru an obstacle course, going on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, and watching some pigs and ducks race. Plus, we had some goodies afterwards.

  Click on thumbnail to see larger photo.

Nov. 8th - Molalla River State Park @ 1:00 - We will be taking a hike on the long trail that goes along the riverside, through the trees, fields and into the forest. This natural area sits at the confluence of the Willamette, Molalla and Pudding Rivers. The flood plains of these rivers provide important habitat for waterfowl, wading birds, deer, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Also, one of the largest blue heron rookeries in the Willamette Valley is located there. So, please bring some hiking shoes, some bottled water, a camera, and maybe a snack or sack lunch. I hope to see you all there. See you on the Excursion,

—Sandra J. Mahar