Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! As you’ve read in the newsletter and heard from multiple “Moments for Generosity” during worship, our stewardship campaign is in full swing. As we look ahead to the culmination of the campaign on November 13th with Consecration Sunday, the next four weeks of worship will help us focus our attention. The theme of this year’s campaign is “Make a Difference,” and the focus of worship over the next four weeks will help us to see how it is that our ministry and life as a church makes a difference in our own lives and helps us to make a difference in the lives of others. Specifically, we’ll be looking at how mission, our relationships, our learning, and our worship makes a difference. I’m very excited to worship with you during this time, and I want to draw your attention to one Sunday in particular.

On November 6th, we will be having our very first “Intergenerational Sunday.” Families with children will remember that, on a few Sundays throughout the year during the 10:00 am service, the children of the church have historically been dismissed from Sunday School early to join their families back in the sanctuary so they can participate in Communion. Building on that idea this year, on Intergenerational Sunday, the children of the church will be staying in the sanctuary for the entire 10:00 am worship service. While we will be following a similar liturgy to what we traditionally use during worship (with prayers, scripture, hymns, music, and a sermon), the worship service will also be more interactive and more accessible for our younger worshipers. At the beginning of worship, there will be prayer stations in the sanctuary that worshipers will be invited to go to and take something back with them to their seats (something to color or create). Then, after the sermon, when we take the offering, worshipers will be invited to come to the front of the sanctuary to bring whatever they’ve created during the service and present it as an offering to God. While the service is being designed with the participation of children in mind, it is also something that everyone – no matter their age – will be able to participate in meaningfully.

November 6th is also All Saints Sunday, the day of the year when we remember all the beloved church friends we’ve lost over the last twelve months. The children will help us to remember our dearly departed during worship.

I believe the next four weeks of worship – and November 6th in particular – will be very special and meaningful times of worship. I hope you will join us.

Peace to you,

Pastor Aaron