Happy Thanksgiving! ... and welcome, Advent!

May you have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday. And if you have much to be thankful for, may you know your blessings to be a means for blessing others.

This Sunday, November 30, is the first Sunday of Advent, the season of preparation for the coming of Jesus. We spend four Sundays considering Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy as we both prepare for the celebration of Jesus' birth and anticipate Jesus coming among us again. This week Pastor Kerry is preaching on Isaiah 64:1-9 and Mark 13:24-37, some difficult texts that invite us to consider what it means to hold onto "Wild Hope" as we enter Advent.

An Advent study called "What Do You Want for Christmas" will be offered Wednesdays 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., led by Pastor Kerry, and Sunday mornings 9:00 - 9:50 a.m. (Sunday leadership TBA). Contact the church office to learn more.

We hope you'll join us for worship Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Sunday School meets at 9:00 a.m.; child care is available throughout the morning. ALL are welcome!

Consecration Sunday and Thanksgiving

We were delighted to welcome four new members to Highlands UMC last week. If you are interested in joining, being baptized, or having your child baptized, please contact the church office and ask to speak to a pastor, or come by on Sunday morning to experience our growing intergenerational Christian community for yourself!

This Sunday, November 16, we will consecrate our commitments to the church in the form of pledging our financial giving and the ways we serve. Stewardship is not only about money, but it is a question of how we care for, use, and honor all the gifts and resources available to us. When we believe that all good gifts come from God, it makes sense to offer up a portion of those gifts toward the building of God's kin'dom.

Next week, November 23, we celebrate a time of Thanksgiving in preparation for the national holiday. Bring your own thankfulness or borrow someone else's!