November 1, All Saints Day. We gather to observe the festival of All Saints with worship and Holy Communion. In this service, we will take time to remember all who have gone before us in the faith, especially those who have entered the church triumphant this year, with special prayers and a candle-lighting. To include your loved-ones in the prayers this Sunday, please see the All Saints post on our Facebook page or e-mail your name and the name of the person you would like to remember to the church office at [email protected].

After worship on November 1 (11:15 a.m.), we will gather in the memorial garden for brief spoken service to remember all the saints who are interred there.

November 8. Youth Sunday. Our children take leadership roles in our worship -- reading, praying, ushering and assisting -- for this Service of the Word with music from the children's choir.

November 15. Holy Communion. In November, we come to the end of the church year, and we look ahead in hope to the dawn of a new age and to Christ's coming in glory. As we gather with the saints at the table and share Christ's body and blood for us, we join our cry to the ancient cry of Jesus' disciples -- Come quickly, Lord!

November 22. Christ The King Sunday. We mark the end of the church year with a special service of the word that celebrates triumph over sin and death and reviews how God has been at work in every time and every season.

November 29. First Sunday in Advent. We begin our observation of Advent with Holy Communion and the lighting of the first candle on our Advent wreath. In Advent, we do more than countdown to Christmas, we pray that God's Holy Spirit is stirred within us so that we do not lose faith, but continue to anticipate, to watch for and to joyfully hope for the full coming of God's kingdom.

Thank you for your financial commitment to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for 2016. Your financial commitment, along with that of many others, makes it possible for the congregation to plan our ministry for the coming year.

St. Paul’s anticipates an exciting year next year. Pastor has set aside Wednesday nights as a time when he will meet with you as part of a small group to support you in your spiritual life; our food pantry is expanding the way it is reaching out and serving people in our community; our partnership with other local Lutheran churches is being strengthened; we are reaching out to invite others in our neighborhood to find refuge and strength in Christ as part of this community; and we’re joining with Lutherans around the world to fight hunger and poverty.
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Again, thank you for your financial commitment to St. Paul’s. Because of you, we are doing great things together in the name of our Lord Jesus.

If you have yet to send in your commitment form for this year, please take some time to fill it out today. You can mail it to the church office or you can bring it with you to worship this Sunday. To have your commitment automatically transferred each month, please set up your own online giving account through St. Paul's Web site.

For a moment, imagine you live in 16th century Europe. Everyday life is hard. There is no doubt about it. Children are especially vulnerable. There is not a parent in your village who has not buried at least one of their children. Women, too, live precarious lives. The death or disability of a husband could drive the family to crisis, and petty wars and squabbles take young men away or destroy crops. Disease is everywhere and outbreaks of plague can kill off an entire village.

In this setting, in this time, it would be difficult for us to believe that God is good and gracious. It would be hard to believe with all this suffering that surrounds and overwhelms us that God is not and angry and wrathful God ready to punish at every turn. It would seem nearly impossible to imagine an afterlife that would be any better, at least for us, living under God’s wrath. What hope of heaven could we have if we start to believe that God has assigned us a life of living hell on earth.
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What can we as a church do to make life better, to give refuge and strength and comfort and consolation and hope and faith and love to people in a time like this?

St. Paul's is sponsoring a food drive in our neighborhood to help the Middlesex County Food Bank acquire supplies to ensure that all county residents in need have access to nutritious foods and necessities. There has been a recent shortfall in donations and our help is urgently need to restock their shelves. Here's how the drive is going work.

This year, Wednesday night is Spiritual Growth night at St. Paul's. Each Wednesday night you can be part of a group that meets from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. to learn and grow in a different spiritual practice -- centering prayer, Bible study and holy conversation. Each meeting is a stand alone session, so you choose which days fit your schedule and your goals.

October Meeting Schedule

• October 7. Centering Prayer
• October 21. Bible Study. Topic: The Church and Same Sex Marriage and Relationships
• October 28. Holy Conversation: A community conversation on the topic of the church and same sex marriage.

Come as you are, and please invite your friends.

​Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Over the past few weeks we have conducted three community conversations that have looked at how we welcome gay and lesbian people into the life of this congregation, touching on questions about this church and same-sex marriage. 

When we (council and pastor) decided to convene these sessions, we did so in the hope of answering this question: Might a same-sex couple, or a family with same-sex parents, be welcomed and accepted as full and valued members of this community, as our church (ELCA) has directed and affirmed on three separate occasions? We had our hunches and our guesses about who we thought we were, but we thought that some questions needed to be asked, the responses of the whole congregation had to be heard, and a process for discussing difficult issues needed to be established. We needed to give some space to talk with each other about this question (and others as they arise) and its implications for our life together as a community of Jesus’ disciples.

Is there a question on your mind that you have always wanted to ask pastor, but you didn't want to set up an office visit or just spring it on him over coffee?

Well, here's your chance. It's Ask Your Pastor night.  Thursday night, October 8, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

​Come with your questions and willingness to listen to the questions of others and ask Pastor Krombholz what you will about faith, life, St. Paul's, scripture, theology, spirituality or religion, and he will answer your questions to the best of his ability.

You can submit your questions in advance by e-mail at [email protected]; or by message on St. Paul's Facebook site; or by twitter message to @PastorJim2006.