October 7, 2025
Lessons for October 12
• 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
• Psalm 111
• 2 Timothy 2: 8-15
• Luke 17: 11-19
Returning to Give Thanks
What was your favorite thing today?
Connie and I use that question each day to remember and share our favorite events or people. No matter how the day ends, there is a lot to be thankful for.
Just now we are most thankful for our healthy grandchildren. They are moving right along, the one year old granddaughter, Lily, is mastering two legged motion. Our six month old, Blake is starting to crawl. Life in motion. Reminding me of the riddle of the Sphinx to Oedipus. What has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?
Oedipus gets the answer right – Humans. They have one voice – at times loud if you are a baby. They crawl, then walk then may need to use a cane. Now days we have the the improvement of walkers over canes.
Just a PS here. Please use your walker if needed. We had a neighbor not use hers. She fell after having left her life alert in the bathroom and lay there at home for four days, before neighbors and an emergency crew came to her rescue. She is still in the hospital.
I hear from grandparents who have been grandparents for a while, that as life is in motion, eventually the grandchildren a move bit further out of their orbit into a world of teenagers and adulthood. So cherish each stage along the way.
In our gospel text Jesus heals ten lepers of their disease. Sadly only one comes back to say thank you to Jesus. The rest are moving on with their new lives. In my experience, I likely stop to give thanks at about the 10% average. Our nightly question does help.
There is a lot of sports on TV right now. Sports players at times give thanks to God when they make a great play. But we do not need to make a great play to be thankful. Everyday life is a treasure. The more gratitude we have the deeper our joy.
Let me use this opportunity to say thank you to you as a congregation. Connie and I have been with you going on six years. Our ministry has been a great blessing. A fellow pastor, Brad Stienstra had wonderful words of appreciation for congregations he served. He remembered a six year old at Trinity in Riverside being invited to give his impression of the pastor.
He bounded up to the stage puffed out his chest and, dramatically cleared his throat and said: “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Amen.” Brad found it hilarious, but also found it could be fearfully accurate in some respects.
He wrote:
“I spent 50 years trying to help the children of the Heavenly Father experience the message about Jesus that is something more than a lot of gibberish. Every time I stood in the pulpit my
aim was to enable as many people as possible to grasp that they are loved and wanted. I held to the lofty ideal that every time they entered God’s house they would have a meaningful
encounter with grace, that through word in sacrament something of the mysterious reality of the eternal would enter the here and now.” Still, he thought his well-chosen words may be experienced as “blah, blah, blah”.
At the synod assembly, where he was recognized for his 50 years of ministry, he came to give voice to his profound gratitude that the people entrusted to his care, saying:
“They never lost their confidence that, in and through the tortured human logic of yet another less than perfect sermon, the Holy Spirit would find something useful to fire their imaginations
and catapult them into a wondrous place where they could, like the man on the road to Damascus, who later became known as Saint Paul, find themselves confronted with the
presence of the resurrected Christ. He asked the Assembly to honor all the Saints of the church who deserve to be applauded for their tenacity in regularly showing up to be guided in the journey of following Jesus. These are the ones he believed really merited God’s commendation: “Well done good and faithful servants.” I join him now in saying thank you to you members of Faith for being Faithful in worship,
faithful in giving, faithful in your service.
PRAYER Lord, thank you for the gift of life. My life, the lives of those around me, the life of Jesus given to reveal the depth of your love. May my heart be filled with gratitude, rejoicing and echoing the Love of the Creator.
Grace & Peace, Pastor John
THIS SUNDAY is it!! Bring your items to the church on October 12. The RUMMAGE SALE will benefit the Pantry and is scheduled for October 17 & 18 Friday and Saturday 9 a – 2 p. 
We need volunteers TO: Set up tables Sunday 10/12 after church service. Set up and pricing Monday through Thursday 10/ 13-16. Sales helpers during the sale and cashiers on the 17th and 18th
One day or several days; any time is appreciated. Upon request, a receipt letter for tax purposes will be provided. For non-members, a full name
and address needed.
PANTRY -2nd & 4th Saturday; from 8 to 10:00. The Lord is good and has provided for our pantry. This week: The Faith Pantry was notified by Morongo Band of Mission Indians that we will
receive 25 turkeys for Thanksgiving distribution. Receipts from the upcoming rummage sale, will help purchase other needed turkeys. If you can donate one that helps as well. Starting now and ongoing to Thanksgiving, we are asking donations from the church family for the other parts of a Thanksgiving meal, as well, such as cranberries, turkey dressing, gravy, canned vegetables, canned yams and any other miscellaneous items.
In the meantime, the pantry cupboards are bare so cereal, soup and pasta sauce is always needed. Thank you for your continued support.
T
HANKS FOR YOUR HELP
The support of the church has been such a blessing. We give $2,400 to our camp and $4,550 to our Synod in support. We also received a wonderful offering from a member for the pantry. We have funds also to update our sign out front, adding a stove to the Fireside Room for convenience of refreshments, meals, and our preschool. Thanks to Kyle Hadley and Lou Hitter for helping with the installation of the oven. Walker Signs is assisting with the sign out front. Together with Tim Drum and Dana Hadley we are blessed with people who care for our property.
Pastor Bunge will be in the office on Monday and Tuesday next week. You can bring items for the rummage sale on those days as well.
Meditation – will NOT be meeting, Nelson’s health is too compromised.
WATERCOLOR PAINTING CLASS by our OWN MASTER WATERCOLORIST, HOLLY. A new session will begin November 6-December 11, Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. If interested, sign up in
na
rthex or let Holly or Connie know. No class fee, materials provided if do not have own; please donate to the Camp fund for youth for taking the class.
QUILTING – Emily Smith’s Group (909.255.2452) has completed four quilts for the San Bernardino Wellness Center and six for LWR.
They will be on display in the church Oct. 19.
PRAISE
• Pat Teeters is back and has brought friends by with items for the rummage sale.
• Kyle Hadley is off the antibiotics and back helping around the church.
• Eloise came through her surgeries and chemo for the melanoma discovered around her eye. She is seeing the surgeon on Friday for an update.
• Michael Shea was back with us with his son Steve. His breathing is becoming more difficult.
• Bronson, the grandson of Brenda Batt were with us on Sunday. He is scheduled for nasal surgery on the 15th to bring relief from bleeding from his nose.
Please pray for:
• Nelson Hall continues to have health concerns including his heart function and breathing. He cannot continue with the Meditation Group.
• Lauren Shaffer who works with us remotely, made it through her surgery and is recovering well. Once fully recovered she will be scheduled for surgery to remove a blood clot, likely
mid-October.
• Bonnie Hallberg will be rescheduling her shoulder surgery. A routine ultrasound done prior to the surgery fortuitously discovered a blood clot in her leg. She is on blood thinners to dissolve the clot and will reschedule shoulder surgery about three months from now.
• Kim Guevara lost her mother Carol who lives in Canada. Thank you for your prayers. Kayla, their granddaughter, is now able to live with her father, their son, Kyle.
• Judy Martin has moved into Golden Oaks and is receiving Hospice care.
• Bonnie Strack appreciates continued prayers for her son Brendan Simms, who has suffered from a series of strokes.
• Jennifer’s breast chemo treatments for cancer are over; her surgery went well but she is now receiving radiation treatments. She plans on being back in January.
• Continued prayers for Jacque Kottmeier
• Jeanne Koening. Her health issues continue but she able to go to Loma Linda, so care is much closer.
Thanks to all who continue to give shoes for Soles 4 Souls. The box is still in the Narthex for continued donations. Thanks to David Strack for coordinating.
Thanks to Holly from Family Assistance Center in Yucaipa for making donations as well.
FELLOWSHIP/OUTREACH
PRAYER CARDS – Thanks for sending out cards to remember family and friends. Thanks again to the artists: Emily, Kim, Barbara, Karen, Holly, Pat T., Linda D., Connie We will provide fall cards in October.
PRAYER/FRIENDSHIP ROCKS – Karen, Connie, Sharon C., and Carol Hambre have painted
prayer/friendship rocks for you to keep, give to someone, surprise someone, or put in your
garden, etc. We have painted for a Prayer Ministry that Paula will have rocks available in the Fireside Room for the AA, NA, Al-anon, etc. groups that meet weekly.
SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE HOUR
SEPTEMBER
28 POTLUCK – BBQ AT THE BEACH We had a great time with Brats, Hot Dogs, deserts etc. thanks to all who contributed.
OCTOBER
5 Thanks as well to WELCA for providing refreshments last Sunday.
12 CLERGY APPRECIATION DAY – Jerry Mills providing his Lucious Roast Beef with Veg, Salad, Dessert. We can beef up to help with the Rummage Sale.
19 BINGO –
23 POTLUCK – CHILIFEST Signup in Narthex
