The Advent Workshop is Sunday, December 2 from 10:30 am-1:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Join us for crafts, Christmas carols, and lunch! Please bring donations of child-sized hats, gloves, or mittens for distribution to students at Martin Elementary School.
Have breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 8 from 8:30 am – 10:30 am. Story time begins at 9:30 am. A Children’s shopping room will also be available. Breakfast includes pancakes, sausage, juice, milk, and fruit. Adults $6. Kids 2-10 are $3. Bring your camera for a picture with Santa!
A Thanksgiving Community Service will be held on Tuesday, November 20 at 7:00 pm in our Sanctuary. Come to worship God in love and gratitude for all he has done for us. An offering will be collected to benefit the Hempfield Food Pantry.
Food Bank
Current needs: canned soup, vegetables, fruit, tuna and canned meats, and canned or boxed potatoes and meal helpers.
Apostles Assistance Fund
Current needs: paper towels, tissues, deodorant, skin lotions, dishcloths, washcloths, and combs and brushes. Financial gifts are also appreciated.
Market Basket
Thinking about Christmas gifts yet? Starting today (for the first three Sundays in November), you can order grocery cards in $20, $25, $50, and $100 increments (depending on whether it is Giant, Stauffers, or Weis). It’s an easy way for you to shop for a gift that is appreciated by everyone. Visit the church office on Sundays to sign up. Cards will then be available the first three Sundays in December. These discounts help Outreach to help others.
Prayer Vigil
The Lancaster Interfaith Coalition is holding a prayer vigil for our country’s leaders in Penn Square in Lancaster City on Monday, November 5 at 6 pm. For more information, please contact Rev. Kuhn.
Christmas in the Country Bazaar– November 10
Our Bazaar is an all-church event, and we are asking each church member to support the Bazaar in as many ways as possible. Please contact:
Time to Make Soup for the Christmas Bazaar!
We are seeking volunteers to help with the following:
Please contact Cindy Williams to schedule a time and day to volunteer. You can help in the morning or afternoon, or both! Lunch will be provided.
Bazaar Greeters Needed
Sign up for the “best” job at the Bazaar! Spend an hour at one of the church entrances greeting people and handing them a shopping bag. You can sit or stand, call out good cheer or stay silent. All that is required is a smile and an outstretched hand. Sign up in the lobby today, or call Barbara Achtermann. Leave a message with your name and preferred volunteer time. She will confirm back with you.
Fall Youth Retreat
Youth grades 7-12 have one week left to register for the Fall Youth Retreat at Hartman Center. The retreat begins on Friday, November 16 at 7 pm and ends on Sunday, November 18 at 11 am. This year’s theme features an “escape room” where you will work with other youth to find clues, break codes, and figure out puzzles leading to your “escape”. The $95 fee per person includes other fun indoor and outdoor activities, four meals and snacks, and two nights in the shadow of “the Knob”. Please see Barbara Achtermann for registration, permission, and health forms. The fee may be underwritten, in part, by Church of Apostles, as needed.
Special Worship: November 11
On Sunday, November 11, New York pianist, composer, and vocalist, Deanna Witkowski, will bring special music to our worship services. Witkowski is best known for her jazz arrangements of classic hymns, her sense of swing, and vast harmonic resources. Her work includes 80 sacred music originals and a string of albums featuring rich fusions of jazz, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban music. Join us as we worship God in song though her music.
The COA Book Club meets every second Tuesday of the month at 2 pm in the Parlor. Please join us on Tuesday, November 13 to discuss The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende.
Upcoming books will include:
We are happy to have new people join us (even if you haven’t read the book)!
On Sunday, November 11, New York pianist, composer, and vocalist, Deanna Witkowski, will bring special music to our 9:15 am and 10:45 am worship services. Witkowski is best known for her jazz arrangements of classic hymns, her sense of swing, and vast harmonic resources.
Witkowski has released six critically hailed albums since 2000 that feature rich fusions of jazz, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban music. Her work also includes 80 sacred music originals and arrangements, including two jazz masses.
Witkowski has won several competitions throughout her career, including the 2002 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, the ChoralArt New England Carol Contest, and the Illinois-ACDA Choral Composition Contest. In 2015, she was one of five composers selected for the New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, where she composed five music theater pieces in the space of two weeks in collaboration with five playwrights. She is also the recipient of a 2018 New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant.
In the spring of 2018, Witkowski spent eight weeks in Bahia, Brazil doing research for her new project, the “Nossa Sehhora” Suite. The suite will merge Afro-Brazilian expressions of the Virgin Mary with new jazz composition for Witkowski’s jazz quartet, percussion, and four vocalists.
Witkowski holds an M.A. in jazz piano performance from the City College of New York and a B.M. in classical piano performance from Wheaton College of Illinois.