As we make the turn into November starting with All Saints Day on November 1, our minds and hearts rhythmically turn toward the people and things that really matter to us. We talk and plan around the events, gatherings and destinations that reunite us with traditions that connect and bind us. One of those is "All Hallows Eve," when originally Christians anticipated hallowing the loved ones and other saints who had gone on to heaven before us. Over the centuries the saints before us morphed into ghosts and goblins as the occasion morphed into Halloween and still it is a time for the playful gathering of friends and family.
Very quickly we move on to Veterans Day and Thanksgiving before turning our full attention to Advent and Christmas. With all the anticipative decorating, gift-buying and gift-mailing, we look forward to our Journey to Bethlehem, Cantata, Pops Concert, and concluding with our Christmas Eve candlelight magic, all with the Lord, our friends, and our church family. It is the season of the year, more than any other, when it feels we are all pulling together. The turn toward that season for FUMC Plano begins this Sunday when Freeborn Garrettson returns to receive our Acts of Service "parchment" and our Estimate of Giving "parchment" at all three services (and you can mail them in using the stamped addressed envelope you should have received in the mail). These offerings back to God will mark our faithful response to a season of God's grace: to live and to give for the people and the things that matter most.
See you at the living and giving place Sunday,
