This Sunday: Begin our Christmas season!
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Join us online or in person this Sunday to launch our Christmas series
Christmas time is a perfect time to work on spiritual growth. Extra activities, extra stress, extra attention to relationships all make it easy for negativity to slip in. These next four Sundays will be focused on the decisions we can make to choose four positive practices traditionally associated with Christmas: HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, and JOY.
This Sunday, I invite you to choose hope. The Lord knows we could use it. And He certainly wants us to experience its blessings. We'll explore various features of hope including how it seems to disappear or emerge depending on our mental attitude. I hope you can attend and participate!
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HEAR YE, HEAR YE! Annual Meeting time CHANGED to Sunday, December 6 at 12:30 pm
Check your email for additional details. If you didn't get the email, let me know and I can resend it, or I can send it to a different address, or mail you a printed version.
Agenda Items:
* Discuss and possibly vote on a proposal to amend our by-laws to allow for electronically remote participation in meetings
* Elect a committee to discuss pastoral succession starting next July
* Satisfy our By Laws with voting and hearing various reports
This meeting is now scheduled for Sunday, December 6 at 12:30 pm. We need a minimum of 15 members in person to establish a quorum. If we succeed in getting the quorum, we can consider amending our by-laws to allow for hybrid meetings (in-person and online).
Thank you in advance for making the effort to participate in this important meeting. See the separate email and attachments for more details.
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I love being your pastor, and I miss seeing you! Please join your church family this Sunday at 11 o'clock either online or in person.
And I send my prayers for everyone's well-being, physically and spiritually. Please let me know how I can help or serve AND how you might want to help or serve the church.
Nathan
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Take a chance to win AND donate to good causes!
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THANK YOU to each and all of you who have already purchased tickets for this important fundraiser!
There's still time to purchase more!
Please purchase tickets no later than this Monday November 30 to win a brand new truck and other great prizes! ALL of the proceeds of each ticket you purchase through our non profit organization will support our work. None of the funds goes to the raffle organizers or to Jim Click.
This is a wonderful way to give directly to BOTH Arizona Spiritual Growth Foundation AND Sunrise Chapel AND get chances to win various prizes! Time is running out, though. Please purchase your tickets by November 30!
HERE’S HOW:
1. Go to choosejoynow.org then click on Fundraiser for more details or go directly to our “Donate, or Buy Decks” page and use our PayPal button to purchase tickets with a credit card (or through your own PayPal account). (You don’t need a PayPal account to use your credit card.)
2. Or you can call or text or email Kelly Woofenden or Judith Keane and they will assist you. If you prefer, you can pay for tickets with check or cash. Kelly or Judith will arrange a time to meet safely, or they can mail the tickets.
Be sure to provide contact information so we can get your tickets to you! We can arrange to have you pick them up, or we can drop them off if you’re local, or we can mail them to you. Just let us know – either in the memo of the PayPal form or through our “Contact us” form.
If you write a check, make it to AZ Spiritual Growth Foundation and send it to:
RAFFLE
AZ Spiritual Growth Foundation
8421 E Wrightstown Rd, Tucson, AZ 85715
BONUS - For each ticket you purchase in honor of Frank Rose, a generous donor will give a matching gift - up to $10,000 - to Sunrise Chapel!
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Still working on the possibility of holding a modified (drive-through) Path To Bethlehem
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Gabriel & Mary scene from 2018
Latest ideas about offering some version of our traditional Path to Bethlehem
There is energy to think of creative ways to offer a modified Path to Bethlehem that is CoViD-safe. The idea is that people need safe experiences that encourage hope. And what better story of hope than the birth of our Lord and Savior?!
At this point, a few volunteers are leaning towards a scaled-down DRIVE-THROUGH event with fewer scenes but including the music and narration that we have used in the past
Here are the latest thoughts:
* Actors in each scene must be from the same family (or pod), and guests to each scene must remain in their cars, a safe distance from all actors
* Guests drive in to the paved parking area and then follow a clearly lighted path guiding them to each scene
* Parking attendants provide guidance and safety throughout the event
* No guides, no animals, no gathering in Friendship Hall, and no refreshments
* In order to make this happen, we still need:
additional actors
volunteers to help with set up
a well-coordinated team of parking attendants
Thank you to those who have already offered thoughtful opinions. What do YOU think? Please contact me to share your thoughts.
Nathan nathan@sunrisechapel.org
cell 520-820-5148
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Now is a good time to join a small group and reap the benefits
There is "magic" in small-group interaction. We make high quality connections. We learn. We improve our resilience. We support one another. We open our hearts and minds and lives.
Consider joining one of the groups now meeting.
GROUPS:
I am leading a Wednesday afternoon group at 3 pm. This is a "hybrid" group meaning. I welcome people in person at the Chapel as well as online through Zoom.
We will be starting a fresh series of spiritual growth tasks this Wednesday, December 2 with a focus on life issues during transitions. Contact me for details. Nathan
The Thursday night Women's Group has concluded their study of Resilience and will restart on Thursday, December 3. Speak to Elise Gladish for more details.
Kelly Woofenden welcomes you to consider joining the group she leads on Sunday mornings at 9:15. This is an online group using Zoom. Contact Kelly for details and the meeting invitation.
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Last Sunday's topic ~ this week's Task
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Here is the task from last Sunday's Thanksgiving-oriented service. I love the fact that the more gratitude I notice, the more elevated I feel.
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Community Angel Tree at Sunrise Chapel
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Please join in creating a Community Angel Tree at Sunrise Chapel
This Christmas Season we will have a lovely tree at Sunrise Chapel to be decorated with angel ornaments to remember and acknowledge the people in our lives who are either like angels to us or actually are angels in heaven.
We would love to fill the tree with angel ornaments that represent current friends, acquaintances, family members, OR people who have already passed on to the spiritual world and their angelic lives. We just need your creative participation!
You can bring your own angel ornament to Sunrise Chapel, you can mail one, or you can contact me for a pick up. You can also arrange to have me choose one and put it up for you. Ornaments don’t need to be fancy, and can be homemade or store bought.
If you would like to donate toward the cost of the tree, you can mail a check to Sunrise Chapel, bring your donation to church, or use the PayPal account on the sunrisechapel.org website.
Angels are a big part of the Christmas story. One of their main roles is to bring good news. Gabriel brought the happy news of Jesus’s birth, appearing to Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, and the shepherds out in the fields. And there is nothing like the hope expressed by the heavenly host: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all people.”
During these difficult months of the pandemic it is good to be reminded of people and angels who are with us, thinking of us, supporting us, and giving us messages of hope.
We’d love to fill our tree with a whole community of angels!
Contact Elise Gladish, for more information: 520-820-1284 or elisegladish@gmail.com
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Let me know if you are interested in a new group to study the basic teachings of the New Church
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Want to learn more about the basic teachings and the history of the New Church in a group setting?
This group is for "newcomers" to the church as well as anyone who wants a refresher, or anyone who has taken this course in the past but might have missed some sessions.
I plan to run the group on Monday afternoons. The exact start time will depend on the needs of the participants. I can do it early in the afternoon or in the middle, whichever is more suitable for the majority.
Please contact me to let me know of your interest and your time preferences.
Nathan
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No Zoom at Noon on Sunday
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I have thoroughly enjoyed our after-church Zoom meetings.
But, for the time being I'm putting the activity on hold.
Thank you to those who participated, even if it was only once! Each visit was high quality, and I found the input and discussion very worthwhile.
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Guidelines for reopening for in-person church activities
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The Sunrise Chapel monument garden 2012
Welcome! The doors are open. Come when you are ready
With appropriate caution, I welcome anyone to attend church services in person who feels safe within the guidelines outlined below. I realize that many people will not attend in person, yet, so I'm glad when I "see" you participating through the livestream option! Please use the YouTube chat
feature to "check in" and let your church family know you care about our faith community.
We have space for at least 20 people in the seating area of the Chapel. There are also the "overflow" rooms to view the TV monitor in the Vestry (off the front lobby) and in Friendship Hall.
Specific guidelines for in-person attendance
1. Stay safe while being kind and respectful. Observe the guidelines. If you are uncomfortable for any reason, please take care of yourself first; feel free to leave without any negative judgments.
2. Do not attend in person if you are sick, or if you are concerned about getting sick, or if you are at high risk. Instead, please continue to participate remotely.
3. Wear a face covering over your nose and mouth. Please bring your own face covering (mask, scarf, bandana, etc). A face covering will be provided if you forget to bring your own.
4. Practice social distancing while on the church property (inside and buildings) including friendly no-touch greetings.
5. On entering and leaving the buildings, please wash hands with soap or use hand sanitizer (provided in the lobby).
During the church service:
• I wear a mask before and after the service and while I am singing. I remove my mask for prayers, the children's talk, the readings, and the sermon, with the understanding that the closest participants are over 8 feet away from me.
• Sanitary wipes are available for individuals to wipe down chairs and surfaces they use.
• Bathroom use is limited to the main bathrooms at the entrance to Friendship Hall, one person at a time.
• No printed bulletins or songbooks. Instead, song lyrics are projected on the monitor and announcements will either be projected or verbal.
Please, let me know whatever you think. It's good to hear from as many people as possible. I'm doing the best I can, and I don't want to put any volunteers or visitors in any unsafe positions. I appreciate your help and patience!
Looking forward to your participation either in person or online!
Nathan
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Photo: laptop + coffee
Weekday Meditation (9:00-9:30 am MT) This is the link for the Monday meditation that I lead, but it is also the same link for the rest of the weekdays, led by other folks. Try it! You might like it!
ESPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES:
New Church Vineyard (This is a RICH source of KID-ORIENTED content for all sorts of stories from the Bible and the teachings of Swedenborg. Use this for family worship and for "Sunday school" type activities to enhance your spiritual lives at home.)
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Your church home for partnering with the Lord and each other in the practice of cultivating spiritual growth and choosing heavenly joy
www.sunrisechapel.org
nathan@sunrisechapel.org Office 520-298-1245
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