Children's Sabbath and All Saints/Souls Celebration

Who for you has served as a good coach over your lifetime?  Maybe you had a football or soccer or tennis or voice coach when you were younger who helped you to excel in a favorite sport or activity.  Or maybe as an adult you've had a coach, someone to help you navigate complex passages in life that could have otherwise beached you on the shores of struggle.

Or maybe you had a coach of a whole different kind: one who served as a pivotal spiritual guide, modeling faith and faithfulness in the way they lived their lives.  Maybe this one is so important, you wouldn't be who you are now without them.

These are the questions Christy Loewen, Children & Family Ministries Director at Ft. Collins FUMC, and I will be exploring at a kids' level on Sunday as we look to celebrate All Saints/Souls Day in an upbeat fashion.  We will be basing the sermon on 2 Timothy 4:7-8 about "fighting the good fight", "finishing the race", "awaiting the prize" at the end of a well-lived life.

Christy and I were working on this this morning and are really looking forward to helping the kids (and adults, truthfully) see their older family members and friends who may have died as coaches for them, modeling faithful and meaningful lives.  We'll be pointing out how God is a lot like this kind of coach, but one who never leaves us to run our race by ourselves.  Christy is even going to allow me to "coach" her while she takes a lap or two around the Chapel (8 AM) or Sanctuary!  You won't want to miss that :)

There will be a way for all to participate in memorializing or honoring someone they love by writing their names on a cutout paper leaf that will fill out a beautifully made tree on the Chancel (9:15 and 10:45 AM).  Kids will be helping out throughout the service, a couple of children's choirs will be singing along with our Sanctuary Choir, and we'll be celebrating communion, too, since this is the first Sunday of the month.

I hope you'll join us at Ft. Collins First United Methodist Church for what we are planning on being meaningful and uplifting services!  Click here to see service times, right side of our website: http://www.fcfumc.net/  And don't forget to set your clocks back on Saturday night.  If you do forget, stick around...we'll be there in about an hour :)

Blessings in Christ,

Steve
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