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Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry for the long absence of newsletters. Now that our restaurant, Pan America, is thriving, we burn about 70 hours a week just running the shop - it's just the two of us plus a helper. On slow days and "free" days, we clean and restock, dash to La Paz - a five-hour ride - for ingredients we can't get in Copa, tend to mission projects, squeeze in music classes and practice time, attend mandatory neighborhood work days, as well as mandatory meetings, parades and soccer games.

What's the difference between All Saints' Sunday and All Souls' Sunday? - two stories that all of us live in and aspire from.

Come join us this Sunday as all three services celebrate those persons who have died and are now dancing in joy, as well as celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion. I will be giving a very short reflection on these two stories that we all live between and toward.

This Sunday, October 25, we will focus on being together as a congregation. We'll be sharing in one of our Together @ 10 services, where the 9:30 and 11:00 congregations get a chance to worship, sing, pray, laugh and ponder together. Our worship, on this Choir Dedication and Commitment Sunday, will be a special time of celebration, as we receive music from all of our choirs, and dedicate our gifts to God for the year ahead through our financial pledges and service interest sheets.

One of the gifts of being sequestered at home for a couple of weeks after surgery, unable to drive, was that I could indulge in lots of quiet reading and pondering time. It brought me a surprising amount of joy to still be in my robe, sipping coffee and reading, when Jim left for the church office each morning.

This Sunday I am reflecting on Luke 12.

I've often heard in my years of church work that if we just get people's hearts right then the money will follow. But that's really just the opposite of Jesus' teaching. Jesus says to get your wallet right and then hearts will follow. To whom do you want your heart to belong? Then put your money there.

One of the little things I missed last Sunday was that moment near the end of the worship service when I drop my offering envelope in the plate - last week, and this Sunday, I sent the offering over to church (via my patient husband, who has done lots of helping and "gopher"-ing these days!). It's a small thing, for sure, but I notice when I am in worship, and place something in the offering plate, that it helps me see how my one gift is part of a bigger picture.

This Sunday I'm focusing on the story of Ruth as it relates to the discussion surrounding immigration.

What Ruth's story shows is that the foreigner who appears to be nothing more than a bundle of trouble turns out to bring vital initiative and energy, and ultimately becomes the harbinger of the nation's hope of renewal.

May be true for us today.

- Pastor Jim

During the summer I had an opportunity to spend a few days with our one year-old granddaughter, who was just learning to walk. Her steps were tentative at times, and at first she did about as much falling as walking, but she kept trying and learning. Then, one day, I saw her forget about trying and just delight in walking - almost running - when she was brought to a toddler's splash pad area in a pool complex.

This Sunday, August 30 we will be "Welcoming the World" our summer theme in some special ways.

At both services, we will celebrate the start of the new preschool year at church, and introduce Nancy Bifulco as the new preschool director. We welcome an important part of the world when we welcome the 3 & 4 year old children from our congregation and community to the ministry of the preschool.

As we enter the last half of August, we are also in the last few weeks of our summer 2015 church theme - "Welcoming the World."