First things first!  Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 12th at 7:30.  We'll be having a dinner at the rectory, great food, wonderful drink and 10 pain-free minutes on Stewardship!  Come. Come. Come!!!!  Seriously does it get much better than that?

This year, in addition to our prayer flags and Fright Fest, our Bishop, Jeff Lee, will be with us.  Jeff is a wonderful bishop, a fabulous singer and a very very good preacher.  So, I invite you to join us for one of our three services this Sunday.  In addition to preaching and celebrating, Bishop Lee will also be available for questions and conversation after both the 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock worship services.  

Many thanks to Beth Lee who is putting on a fabulous spread for this holy holiday!

To kick off our weekend, come join us for our expanded, singularly scary haunted church on Friday evening from 6 to 8 and Saturday afternoon from 3 to 5.  Our young people have worked extremely hard to create a creepy, crypt and an undercroft filled with the undead...Come if you dare!

Admission if $5 and will be worth every scream....!

Enjoy these blustery fall days--I have a feeling that winter is on its way.

All my best,

Bonnie

You are invited to lend a hand on Friday night, Oct 28th, beginning at 5 pm, to ready the sanctuary for All Saints Day on Sunday.   We will hang your powerful and colorful prayer flags and our new papel picado.  One plus is that you will be actually able to read more prayer flags than you ever imagined.  Please contact Joey Sylvester at jlsylvester@rcn.com if you can join us.  Pizza to be provided.    

Our special memorial this year will be dedicated to the lives of Chicago children killed by violence.  Beginning November 1 through November 6, the Hyde Park Union Church is coordinating Urban Dolorosa, a city-wide anti-violence effort in partnership with community groups and faith communities from across Chicago.  Please consider going to 1 or all of these multi-cultural events calling on the city to notice this crisis of violence and to respond by supporting peace-making efforts in our neighborhoods. For more information, visit http://www.urbandolorosa.com or contact Joey Sylvester at jlsylvester@rcn.com.

Learn how to keep our children safe from sexual abuse in the church and in our community.   Parents  of children and teens in our congregation are especially encouraged to attend.  This session is mandatory for anyone working with our children or youth (or hoping to in the future!), clergy, staff, vestry, and persons providing care to home bound members of our community.

This workshop will be facilitated by Jeanne Wirpsa, vestry member and certified "trainer" of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and by Norman Linde, social worker/therapist who has worked extensively in this area.

Please register by Wednesday, November 9, 2011 so we can have adequate materials available.  For further information & to sign up contact:   Jeanne.wirpsa@gmail.com or 773-316-6936 (cell).

Ravenswood Community Services (RCS), the food pantry and community kitchen here at All Saints',  is seeking a new cook for the 4th Tuesday of every month.  Our meal each Tuesday night for approximately 125 of our neighbors is planned and prepared by a different cooking team each week.  Starting in November we will no longer have a cook or team in place for the 4th Tuesday of the month meal.  If you are interested in helping to plan and prepare a meal on the 4th Tuesday of the month please contact our volunteer coordinator Liz Embler at liz@ravenswoodcommunityservices.org.

We are happy to have a couple different teams take turns and share the cooking for the 4th Tuesday if we have enough volunteer cooks.  RCS pays for all the ingredients needed for the meal.