Friends-
Time is a concept that interests me.  Is it a circle?  A line?  Both?  Why is it sometimes I seem to have so much of it, and other times, not nearly enough?  Why is it that sometimes it seems to just fly by, and other times it crawls?

As we celebrate the coming of a new year, the tendency is to both look-back and to look ahead.  Back to see where we have been, and ahead to see, if we can, where we are going.  Both are good exercises or can be if properly used.  However, looking back can also be an exercise in regret or remorse.  And looking ahead can be an exercise in fear or anxiety.  Either of those would be non-productive, negative, hurtful.  Not what God intends.

Jesus makes it clear that the place to focus our thoughts is this day, this moment (Matthew 6:25-34).  Really, it is the only one we have.  And the more we learn to live in it, to embrace it, to rejoice in it, the better off we will be.

His advice to us is to not be anxious at all.  To put our loyalty to and trust in Him first. Then we can rely on him guiding us, moment by moment and day by day.  Since unlike us, God is not bound by time or place, He is the perfect guide for seeing us through our day to day existence. 

Let's make it our business to put ourselves fully in his hands as we start the new year.  Let's endeavor to see each day, each moment, as the gift and the adventure that it is.  He is always with us!  We need never be afraid!

Praying for you a great launch into this new year!
Gary

Calendar
Sundays - Every Sunday: Worship Service at 10:30 am.
               1/5 - Communion Sunday 
               1/19 - Annual Meeting and Potluck right after worship.  Church basement. 

Wednesdays - 1/8 - Bible Study starts back up - 6 PM - Fellowship Room. Will continue to meet every Wednesday for the rest of the month. 

Thursdays - 1/9  - Church Board Meeting - 7 PM - Fellowship Room.
                 1/23 - Community Dinner - 5:30 PM - Poplar Grove Church - All welcome to eat and/or
                             serve.

Other News: 
Annual Meeting and Potluck - Plan on staying for our annual meeting on Sunday, January 19. We will start with a potluck dinner right after our worship service.  If possible bring a hot and a cold dish for the potluck.  This is an important time to discuss things related to our church.  Your thoughts and input are needed!  You will receive your minutes from the 2019 meeting via email.  Please read and/or bring along to the meeting.

Thanks - Thank you to everyone who brought cookies in the month of December! What a spread we had!  Also thanks for the outpouring of money and items for our Christmas gift collection. Special thanks also to the Murphys and Akerlunds for our fellowship times in their homes.  Finally a belated thank you to Curt Moore and Bob and Nathalie Lyford for the delicious turkeys they prepared for our Fall Harvest Potluck.

Flowers - Would you like to provide flowers, or a plant, or a candle, or some type of decoration for the front of the church?  Consider signing up for a month in 2020. Signup sheet in the fellowship room. 

Refreshments - Every week (except annual meeting potluck -Jan 19) we will gather in the fellowship room for snacks and fellowship.   What we eat depends on what you bring!  No signup sheet, just potluck style each Sunday.  Please consider taking a turn occasionally and bringing something to share. 

Coordinator Needed - We are looking for a Christmas Eve coordinator for 2020.  Please talk to Jennifer if interested.

Friends,
November has never been a favorite month with me.

Even though it has given me two of my very favorite people ever- my dad and my wife, who happened to be born on the same day, 33 years apart.

Despite that bonus, it remains a month that is less than spectacular for me:  the days get shorter, the nights longer; the temperatures plummet; all the brilliant colors of fall fade to gray and brown; baseball is over.  Sigh...

But someone was a genius.  Into this muddy mess of a month comes the celebration of Thanksgiving, one of my very favorite holidays.  I like it because it is laid back (I hear all of you that cook saying "That's because you're not cooking the meal!").  Friends and family come over and get together.  There is very little commercialization.  We eat too much, we talk a lot, we nap, we eat some more.

Oh! and we give thanks!  That's the point, right?  It used to be for a good harvest.  Now it's just a reminder to be grateful.  And what could be better in a month as grim as this one?  Thanksgiving is easy in spring or summer.  But thanksgiving in November takes commitment, takes courage, takes trust.  Thanksgiving in November is a reminder for us the rest of our months, that when things are going November-like in our lives when things are not the way we want them, we still need to give thanks.  Because God deserves it and wants it, and because it frees us from grumbling and self-pity.  It reminds us that God has been and will be good to us.  God can be trusted.  Better days are coming.

So, okay. It's November.  I'll get through it.  I just need to learn to love gray and brown.

Have a great month!
Gary

Calendar
Saturdays - 11/2 - Set your clocks back 1 hour tonight!  Daylight Savings Time ends!
                    
Sundays - Every Sunday - Worship Service - 10:30 am
                 11/3 - Communion Sunday 
                         - Middle school and high school kids meeting - after worship
                 11/17 - Fall Harvest Potluck - downstairs after worship
                 11/24 - Thanksgiving Worship Service
                           - Decorate the church for Christmas after the worship service. 

Wednesdays - Every Wednesday - Bible Study - 6 PM - Fellowship Room.
                       11/6 - Deadline to sign up for youth overnight.

Thursdays - 11/7 - Church Board Meeting - 7 PM - Fellowship Room.
                    11/28 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Fridays - 11/8 - Youth Overnight - Leaving from the church at 6 PM.

Other News:
Youth Overnight - Middle school and high school students are having an overnight event on Friday, November 8.  There is no cost to come.  We will leave the church at 6 PM to head to a cabin out near Durand.  Please eat dinner before you come!  Snacks and breakfast will be provided, but bring some of your own favorite snacks if you want.  We will return to the church by noon on Saturday.  Bring a sleeping bag, your pillow, and anything else you need for an overnight. You must let Pastor Gary know you are going by Wednesday, November 6.  Come to church on November 3rd and we will discuss details.

Fall Harvest Potluck - Everyone is invited to stay after church on Sunday, November 17 for a turkey dinner. Bob, Nathalie, and Curt are making the turkey, dressing, and gravy.  The rest of us will fill in with Thanksgiving-style side dishes.  Please sign up in the fellowship room. Hope to see you all there.  If you can help set up before church, please come early that day.  We don't want anyone to have to stay down and work and miss worship.  So let's get set up ahead of time.

Decorating for Christmas - Please plan on staying after church on Sunday, November 24 to decorate the church for Advent and Christmas.  Advent starts on December 1.  What is advent?  A season of waiting and preparing, getting ready for the coming of Jesus.

Refreshments - Sunday fellowship hour is your chance to bring some kind of treat to share with everyone else.  Please consider bringing something this month! (except on the 17th when we will have our turkey dinner)

Chili Shootout - Great crowd, great chili, great side dishes, great conversations, great fun!  Thanks to all, especially our chili cooks and the Greens for hosting.  Start practicing for next year, we want to make this an annual event!

Coin Collection - Thanks to everyone who brought their jars of coins and bills at the end of September.  We collected $202.82!  The next collection will be Sunday, December 29.  This all goes into our benevolence fund.

Communion - We offer communion to all. You can choose a gluten-free option for the bread and we use grape juice for our cup. 

Looking Ahead:
December is always a full month.  Plan on Advent candles, Christmas carol singing party, special Sunday fellowship in a member's home, Christmas Eve service, and maybe if you are lucky, a short congregational meeting to make some budget decisions! Specifics coming in the next newsletter.

Friends-
How are you with change?  I suppose it depends on whether it is a change for the better, or a change for the worse.  The trouble is, how can you tell?

People who love summer say changing to fall is for the worse:  shorter days, less sunshine, fewer outdoor activities, more darkness, the onset of cooler weather.

Those who love fall say the change is wonderful: cooler weather, trees turning color, campfires, no lawns to mow.

The secret, I believe, is in learning to accept change as it comes.  You can have a favorite season, but learn to find beauty in all of them.  Being open to change allows us to embrace every day as a gift and an adventure, and to find God in the midst of it.

Jesus says, "Behold!  I make all things new!"  Paul writes, "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.  The old has past away, and the new has come."  If you are going to be in Christ, and be his follower, he is going to make you new.  He is going to change you.  Count on it.

And what you see as a bad change, might in the bigger picture, turn in to one of great joy.  We cannot see what God sees.  Trust him with your changes.  He will turn them to good.

Have a great month!
Gary
 
Calendar
Wednesdays - Every Wednesday - Bible Study - New time - 6 PM - All welcome.

Thursdays - 10/3 - Church Board Meeting - 7 PM - Fellowship Room
                      10/24 - Community Dinner - 5:30 PM - Poplar Grove Church - Help and/or Eat.

Fridays - 10/18 - Chili Shootout and Bonfire - 6 PM - Stacy and Angela Greens home

Sundays - Every Sunday - Worship Service - 10:30 am
                  10/6 - Communion Sunday

Other News - 
Margaret LaMont - Turns 100 years old on October 7!  Please send her a card at a new different address in Michigan. 

Chili Shootout and Bonfire - Who makes the best chili? If you think you do, then we need you! Who likes to eat chili?  We need you too!  We will be having a chili shootout on Friday, October 18  at 6:00 PM at Stacy and Angela Greens home.  There will be a sign-up sheet for chili, cornbread, drinks, desserts, and other items. We will be voting for the best chili at Caledonia Congregational! We will have a bonfire as well, weather permitting. This is an all-church event, and we hope you come and come hungry! Their home is across from the church, the one with the big yard and chicken coop.

Congratulations - Kyle, Brittni, and Anna Zick welcomed Griffin John on 9/10/19!  Mike Pffanginger was featured on WIFR about his upcoming retirement as head custodian at Caledonia Elementary.  You can Google it and watch it! 

Directory - We will be updating our church directory.  If any of your information has changed, or you want to be included, please let Nikki Maurice know. 

Spiritual Growth Ideas - Is there something you would like to study or learn about that could help you grow spiritually?  Or maybe an event or training you would like to have?  do you have some ideas or suggestions?  Please share those with Pastor Gary.  We are looking for new opportunities if there is interest. 

Refreshments - Thanks for all the great treats on Sunday mornings!  We will continue with our potluck-style fellowship. If you want to bring something to share, please do!

Coin Collection - Our jars of coins were collected September 30 and will be again December 29.  The coins are used for our benevolence giving. 

Men's Campout -  Caledonia men are invited to our annual men's campout, October 24-27 at Devil's Lake, Wisconsin.  Great food, great fun, great fellowship.  Consider joining us.  Let Stacy or Gary know of your interest.

Looking Ahead
Sunday, November 24 we will decorate the church for the Christmas season.  Plan on staying after fellowship time to help.

Friends -
If you are anything like us, summer comes and we are create two long lists:  all we want to do; all we need to do.  Both are extensive, and time- especially this summer- is short.  How to decide?  How to prioritize?

In a general way, all of life is like that- how do we determine where our time and energy goes?  What is the overall vision for our lives that helps us decide?

As followers of Jesus, it would seem logical- at least to me- that whatever guides our decisions should be in line with the overall plan that Jesus operated in and operates by.  And what is that?

Jesus taught many things, both verbally and by example. But at one point, when questioned by the religious authorities, he stated clearly what was the foundation of his life.  Essentially it was this:  love God; love others.  And if we are going to follow him, that becomes the foundation for our lives as well.  And the source of that love?  God himself!

So what am I/are we planning this summer?  Work or play, if it isn't birthed in love, if it doesn't result in love, we need to make new plans.

"Live a life of Love!"  Ephesians 5:2

Have a great month!
Gary

Calendar
Sundays - Every Sunday - Worship Service - 10:30 am
                  7/7 - Communion Sunday 
                  7/28 - Fire Station Annual Chicken Barbeque
Wednesdays - Every Wednesday - Bible Study - 7 PM - Fellowship Room - Open to all. 
Thursdays - 7/11 - Church Board - 7 PM - Fellowship Room
                     7/25 - Community Dinner - 5:30 PM - Poplar Grove Church - Eat and/or serve.

Other News - 
Prayers - Please continue to pray for Dylan and Angela.  He continues to be in the hospital and needs the healing power of the Lord. Pray for the rest of the family as well back here in Caledonia. 

Bulletin - Sue Pfaffinger has stepped down from making our Sunday bulletins. We are grateful for her many years of designing and printing our bulletin!  We are glad to say that Angela Green has taken on the bulletin duties. Thank you, Sue and Angela!

Towel Collection - Sisters in Spirit and Service would like everyone to be a part of our bath towel collection for the Rockford Rescue Mission.  We will be collecting gently used or new bath towels until Sunday, August 4th. You can start bringing them immediately and put them in the bin that will be in the fellowship room.  Oral and Diane Staman are volunteers there and know that the mission is always in need of towels.  The towels will be used for the overnight guests at the mission and also for those who are in their programs. 

Refreshments - Fellowship time is a great way to get to know one another.  Talking around food is always fun!  Please take a turn, and bring something to share some time this month.  No sign-up sheet, just potluck each week.  Cold drinks are welcome as well.

New Songbooks - We are happy to say that the new songbooks have been printed and are in the pews! There will be new songs in addition to ones from the previous songbook.  Thanks to Angela and Terry for their work on getting this done. 

Steak Fry for Men -  Gary is speaking in Rockford on Tuesday, July 23 at a Men's Steak Fry sponsored by First Covenant Church.  He would like to invite any men from Caledonia to come.  It will be held at 6 PM at Alpine Park, shelter 1.  Cost is $14. Talk to Gary if you are interested. 

Looking Ahead -
Holocaust Museum - Still time to join a group of us that are planning on attending the Holocaust Museum in Skokie sometime in the near future.  Sara Akerlund will be our tour guide.