All Saints, Faith and Blue, Messiah and More!
Reminder: Turn your clocks back one hour on Saturday night! Time to "fall back" and collect that extra hour of sleep we deposited in the spring.
All Saints and Much, Much More! On Nov. 7 at the 10 am service we are going to honor the 17 members of St. Cross who have died since the start of the pandemic. Some of those people have had a full service at St Cross, some are still waiting for family to be able to travel, some had a very small private service, some were mostly online, and a few chose not to have any service at all. What is most important is that our community have the opportunity to communally give thanks for these seventeen people who have been a part of our community. This will be a full service as we will also have Baptisms and will read the list of those who have died in the previous year during the Eucharist. Yet, being in community cradle to grave community is what defines us as a church. We gather to celebrate and mourn together. Please join us for this special day.
Faith and Blue: Faith and Blue is an annual event for houses of worship and local police departments to talk and listen to each other. This year will again be on zoom, the topic will be challenges and limits of policing with homelessness, and best of all, members of Temple Shalom will be joining us. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 10. Hermosa's Chief of Police (and we hope a few other city/county resources) will be in conversation with us as we discuss the challenges in policing and homelessness in the South Bay. For those who have not yet met Chief LaBaron, he is dedicated to making Hermosa the best little beach city through partnerships, integrity and excellent service. If you sign up here, the link to the event will be emailed to you -- be sure to double-check your email address when you enter it!
Family Picnic & Planting: Saturday, November 6th 11am-2pm - Families picnic & planting at the community garden. This is a chance to get to know more about each other, the garden, and the park! We will have a special kid-friendly garden tour planting “workshop.” Followed by lunch that is “pack-your-own-picnic” style. Contact Rev. Josh Paget
Consecration Sunday will be Sunday, Nov 14. There will only be a 10 am service. We will have lunch reservation cards in church the next two Sundays.
Veteran's Day will be commemorated on Sunday, Nov. 14.
Hermosa for the Holidays: Sunday, November 21st 1pm-8pm - St. Cross is hosting a mason jar advent crafting project during the Hermosa for the Holidays event on Nov 21st. We are looking for volunteers to engage the community through this craft and introduce advent practices to our neighbors. Sign up here!
Interfaith Thanksgiving Service: Tuesday, November 23rd, 7:30pm - The South Bay Interfaith Service of Thanksgiving will be on Tuesday Nov 23rd at 7:30pm. The Interfaith Service of Thanksgiving brings together many faith traditions active in the area to express gratitude for the hope and healing we nurture through our varied traditions. The service will be online and in-person at St Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church, 1940 S Prospect Rd. Rev. Stephen and Rev. Josh have been involved in the planning of the service. We invite you to join us to attend the service in person, register to join via Zoom or watch online. If you would like to help organize a carpool, please sign up here https://www.groupcarpool.com/
Messiah Concert December 5 at 4pm: If you have interest in singing in the choir, contact Sean O'Neal at soneal@stcross.org. This year promises to be a stirring performance!
Coffee Hour Needs YOU! Many have asked when we would once again be able to get coffee at coffee hour. We are working to do just that. But we are going to need SIXTEEN volunteers (men, women, young, old, we just need all helpers) to make this work! Each volunteer will work one shift once a month 8:30-10:30 or 10:30-12:30. Please, please, if you would like to see coffee hour return, email Rev. Rachel at Rnyback@stcross.org and let her know you are willing to volunteer for two hours once a month. When we get enough volunteers, we will put together a schedule and start rolling out the coffee. Know that it will be a bit refined from the pre-COVID coffee. We will have two coffees, a few teas, and a juice for kids. Nothing much more than that. And we hope to move inside. We appreciate your help, patience, and your understanding.
The Altar of Remembrance through November 7: You are invited to bring a framed photo or other item of remembrance and place it on the altar of remembrance in the side chapel. We perform this ritual because our loved ones who have passed away continue to shape us and form us in our life and faith. During the weeks leading up to All Saints Day, we make their influence explicit by remembering our lost loved ones as a community by placing a photo or any other item of remembrance on the altar in the side chapel. The altar will be set up Oct 24- Nov 7th. We invite you to visit the altar and say a prayer for those in our community journeying through grief.
