Fairfield Good News. KNOWING HIM AND MAKING HIM KNOWN November From the desk of Pastor Scott: Upcoming Events

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1 Fairfield Good News KNOWING HIM AND MAKING HIM KNOWN November 2017 Upcoming Events Sunday, Nov, 5 Daylight Savings Time ends Monday, Nov. 6 Consistory Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 7 Election Day Saturday, Nov. 11 Veterans Day Monday, Nov. 13 Eveready Meeting Saturday, Nov. 18 Concert of Praise Sunday, Nov. 19 Concert of Praise Wednesday, Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Eve Service Thursday, Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Day Sunday, Nov. 26 Congregational Meeting Fairfield Reformed Church 360 Fairfield Rd. Fairfield, NJ reformedchurch@gmail.com oldchurchnewsong/ From the desk of Pastor Scott: Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! When he saw them, he said, Go, and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, Rise and go; your faith has made you well. (Luke 17:11-19) In this season when we focus upon Thanksgiving, what can we learn from the Tenth Leper about how to show gratitude to God for all he has done for us? Look again at verses 15 and 16: "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him..." In the actions of this grateful individual, I think we can find three elements that should characterize our expression of thanks this season and every day. All true thanksgiving includes three things: Seeing- Saying - Showing. Now notice what happens first. Verse 15 says that the man saw that he was healed. Thanksgiving starts when we recognize our blessings. Now with evidence of daily bread and daily grace all around this should be too difficult. Yet sometimes we take these blessings for granted. This season let us take to heart these words: "Thanksgiving is not a matter of what has happened to you this year so much it is how you see what has happened to you this year." If we open our eyes to the blessings all around us, we will truly see that all good gifts come down from the hand of our heavenly Father. Gratitude begins when we take the time to see, really see what God has done.

2 Cont d from pg. 1 It is not, however, enough just to see what God has done for us. The next step is to say something about it. Notice what happens next, "He...came back, praising God in a loud voice." The Greek used here is - Megales Phones. Can you see the image here? We could read the verse this way: "The man came back praising God with a megaphone!" This was no quiet thank-you. He had something important to say so he shouted it. This was top-of-the-lung - do not - care - who - knows - it - gratitude. In the Book of Psalms there are over thirty specific references to thanking God and almost every one of them refers to a verbal response. If we see it - we should say it. Moreover, when we do we will find that not only is God given the glory - we will receive a blessing back. Someone has rightly said, "A thankful person tastes his joys twice. He tastes them when they happen and he tastes them again when he gives God gratitude for them." Gratitude begins with seeing. It leads to saying. It should end with showing. "He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him..." All true thanksgiving must end at the feet of Jesus. The Masai tribe of West Africa provides us with a helpful example. The Masai people have a unique way of saying thank you - What they say is this: "My head is in the dirt." What they do is literally put their head on the ground. It is a posture of humility; a posture of dependence; a posture of indebtedness. It is a posture we should rediscover. It goes against the grain of many of us to admit that we are in someone s debt. We like to stand on our own two feet. We cherish our independence. Yet Thanksgiving is a chance for us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with our God. We have only come this far by grace. We may plant and water, but God gives the growth. To everything we do. May this season of Thanksgiving find us seeing anew the wonderful blessings of God s grace. Shouting from the rooftops our gratitude. Ending at the feet of the one from whom all these blessing flow. Happy Thanksgiving! November 26 Jody & Laurie Ann Boling November 2 Justin Boling 3 Debbie Petersen 16 Ruth Peters 21 Jon Nichols (12 yrs) 22 Linda Walker

3 Thanksgiving Eve Service November 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Noon Bible Study Fellowship 1:00 PM Worship 12 Noon Bible Study Fellowship 1:00 PM Worship 6 Consistory Meeting 6:30 PM 13 Eveready Meeting Veterans Day Concert of Praise 3:00 PM & 19 Noon Bible Study Fellowship 1:00 PM Worship Concert of Praise 26 Noon Bible Study Fellowship 1:00 PM Worship Congregational Meeting Thanksgiving Day This is the Day the Lord has made, We will Rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

4 Adult Bible Class and Fellowship Every Sunday at Noon Get your coffee and head to the Ivory Room to study together from God s Word OR Fellowship with brothers/sisters in the Lord over coffee and snack THEN Share in worshipping God together at 1:00 PM AND Come together from 7:00 to 8:00 pm in the Ivory Room every Tuesday evening to pray for our country, our church and the needs brought before the church. Daylight Savings Time Ends Nov. 5th Which means you have to turn your clocks BACK Sunday morning 2:00 AM! (OR Saturday night before you go to bed!!) CONSISTORY MEETING Monday, November 6 6;30 PM Elders Meeting/Deacons Meeting 7:00 pm Full Consistory Meeting ELECTION DAY is Tuesday, Nov. 7 th

5 Operation Christmas Child Update: The time has come... We will be packing our 30 shoeboxes the afternoon of Wednesday, November 8 th, with the items you brought in. If you can help, please let Carol know. They will be delivered to our OCC collection site in Parsippany the week of Nov. 13 th. At that site the boxes will be checked and secured for shipping to locations all over the world where children will receive, perhaps for the first time in their life, a wonderful gift. A few weeks after they are sent, we will know to which countries they were delivered. THANK YOU to all who collected the items and will be packing and delivering them. The most important thing that we all can do now is PRAY for the children who will receive the shoebox gift and (hopefully) the follow-up program, The Greatest Journey. Please check out this story of 101 yr. old amazing woman making dresses to put in shoeboxes... Finding Things in the Family Bible Visiting his grandparents, a small boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out. He picked it up and found that it was an old leaf that had been pressed flat between the pages. Mama, look what I found, he called out. What have you got there, dear? his mother asked. With astonishment in his voice, the boy answered, I think it s Adam s underwear! Veterans Day Saturday, Nov. 11th Thank a veteran when you see them and especially our FRC veterans: Allen Lentz, Ken Myron, Art Nelson, Russ Safar and John Wert. Eveready Ladies Meeting Monday, Nov. 13 Fellowship Hall Agenda: make Thanksgiving baskets for shut ins

6 VOICES OF PRAISE Psalm 96: 1, 3, 4 A CONCERT OF PRAISE A Community Choir and Orchestra Saturday, November 18 3:00 and Covenant Christian Reformed Church 400 N. Haledon Avenue North Haledon, NJ Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thes. 5:16-18 Sunday, November 19 Jacksonville Chapel 264 Jacksonville Rd. Lincoln Park, NJ Free <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< FOOD CLOTHING As we approach the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and colder weather, we think of the homeless in our area and the agencies that serve them. This time of year agencies resources are stretched thin to feed, clothe and shelter. Our church has relationship with three such agencies: Good Shepherd Mission in Paterson, Market Street Mission in Morristown and Eva s Village in Paterson. We will be accepting offerings of warm gently used or new: men s clothing for Good Shepherd Mission, women s and children s clothing for Eva s Village, blankets. All three agencies could use food items such as: coffee, sugar, oatmeal, rice, pasta and sauce, paper products such as paper plates, paper towels, toilet tissue, trash bags. If you see any of these on sale, pick it up and bring it in. There are large containers in the Fellowship Hall pantry to place these items to be delivered to the agencies. Any thing you bring will help someone in need.

7 Thanksgiving Eve Service Faith Reformed Church 95 Prospect Street Midland Park, NJ Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all Gods. Psalm 95:2&3 Ben: I can t wait to go to Grandma s house for Thanksgiving. My cousin s going to be there and he has three feet. Gus: Wow, how d that happen? Ben: I don t know. My aunt wrote my parents a letter and said, You won t recognize little Jody. He s grown another foot! (TheHolidaySpot.com) Sunday, November 26th Following worship Important meeting to review the year past, vote on the nominations for elder and deacon and discuss the future of the church.

8 A Psalm of Thanksgiving Enter into His with gesat tvngnhisgkai and into His with trcuso sierap Be to Him and His. hlankftu selsb mean For the is drlo odog His is yrecm rveeiasnltg And His endures to all. hurtt sonarteengi (You may know this psalm by heart. Do you know which psalm it is?) To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude