DEACONS CORNER - NOVEMBER 2025

 

How many times have you watched a professional athlete and found yourself in awe of their talent and abilities? Like the baseball slugger whose presence at the plate sets the stadium abuzz in anticipation of a crushing home run. Or maybe it’s that hoopster whose performance on the court is a display of finesse, power and agility. Those accomplishments do not happen by chance but instead are the result of deliberate and intense preparation.

Yankee home run champ Roger Maris once said, “You hit home runs not by chance, but by preparation”. Former Chicago Bulls sensation, Michael Jordan, took it a few steps farther, warning, “The minute you get away from fundamentals – whether it's proper technique, work ethic or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you're doing”. Preparation is an essential element in all facets of our lives.

Here in the North Country November is our time to prepare for winter. Our farmers harvest and store their hay and corn.  DPWs stock in the salt and check over their vehicles and equipment. Homeowners top off heating fuel, stack wood, stow lawn equipment and furniture and break out their plows and snowblowers. And, most importantly, as Christians we begin to spiritually prepare ourselves for the Advent season and our celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ!

We Deacons will also utilize this month in preparation for events and activities happening in December. One exception will be using November to update our list of those in our midst who are caregivers so that we can send cards of encouragement.  If you are or know someone in our congregation who provides care for a loved one please be sure that we have current and or updated contact information for you or them.

One annual December event that we will be working towards is the Argyle Country Christmas scheduled for December 7^th. Once again, we will man McLean Hall offering refreshments, activities for children and families and holiday hymns and carols with our choir.

On the fundraising front we are also in the planning stages of piggy backing on the tremendous success of our Hawaiian Shirt Sunday by holding am Ugly Christmas Sweater Day on Sunday December 14. As with the Hawaiian shirts, donations will go to benefit the Open Door Mission's CODE BLUE shelter program which offers cold weather shelter for the homeless and displaced.

Two pet projects that each member of our APC family can personally help with are the Coins for Care water jug located in McLean Hall and our own Food Pantry in the Yellow House. The Coins for Care project encourages you to drop your spare change into the jug whenever you might be in the building, as opposed to the donation of individual jars of change that we did for a number of years. The money from the jug will be dispersed to individuals in temporary need by the Deacons. As for the food pantry, food items of any type may be donated at any time and are appreciated. If you might be interested in volunteering at the Food Pantry either on Saturday morning when it is open for the distribution of food or once a month to stock incoming items, please contact either Lisa White at 518-812-5557 or Tonya in the church office at 518-638-8072.

Just a note: Young Life, which is open to our high school youth from 9^th through 12^th grades, will be restarting sometime between now and the holidays so watch for an announcement.

Remember that Christ encourages us to follow his example by serving both Him and those in need. Our individual preparation for that task is to hone the God given talents we were blessed with in order to serve others. Through service we build and strengthen both our faith and our characters.

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” – Acts 20:35

For the Deacons, Tom Genovese