Mennonite Weekly Review

A major autumn event was the Bloom­ing Glen Harvest Festival on Oct. 31.

With an invitation extended to our community to join us in celebrating the gifts of the earth and a bountiful harvest, many people enjoyed demonstrations and planned events, food and tastings, an artist’s tent, displays by church organizations and local businesses, and music set up in the pavil­­ion and other outdoor church sites. The goal was to create a Christian celebrative atmosphere, thanking God for his many gifts and sharing God’s love with the commu­nity.

Our pastors recently used “Bread That Lasts” as the theme of a series of sermons on spiritual practices. As a climax to that series on Nov. 1, each pastor — Firman Gingerich, Mary Nitzsche, Jim Ostlund and Michael Bishop — meaningfully shared an especially sacred holy time they personally experienced.

Lynn Miller, nationally known author and speaker, brought our sermon Oct. 18 on “No one is poorer than anyone who does not know what ‘enough’ is, and no one is richer than those who are content because they do.”

Our congregation collected 56 bags of groceries for those in need. The bags, valued at about $22.50 each, were shared with inner city churches whose members had lost their jobs or are struggling because of the economic downturn.

Leonard Dow, pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Phil­a­delphia, presented the sermon at our Thanksgiving Eve service. Both the adult and junior choirs offered seasonal music. In addition to a generous offering, food was brought for FISH, our local community organization helping those locally in need of food, clothing and shelter.

Births: Austin Philip, Sept. 24, to Erin and Anthony Alletag; Alexander Thomas, Oct. 22, to Sherri and Emmil Vass; Megan Renee, Nov. 2, to Kim and Doug Kulp.

Parent/child dedications: Brielle Lauren, Oct. 25, daughter of Andrea and Steve Bauman; Spencer David, Nov. 15, son of Kristie and Chris Goshow.

Anna L. Moyer, 80, died on Oct. 27.