Join us on Sunday, November 24, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Harrison Family YMCA for our annual community Youth Advent Party. Youth from several area churches will come together for dinner, games, a local missions opportunity, and lots of fun. All youth are welcome. Please sign up by November 21.

    This month our group will be reading favorite Christmas stories as we prepare for the season of Advent.  While we think about cherished family traditions, we’ll read A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote.  One Christmas and The Thanksgiving Visitor are two other short stories by Capote that can be enjoyed this time of year.  Ladies are asked to bring a copy of their favorite or newly discovered Christmas read to share at our next meeting on Tuesday, December 3, at Molly Pitt’s home (116 Candlewood Road).  Tie a ribbon around (but do not wrap) the book you bring.  We’ll put the books in a large gift basket and each of us will choose a Christmas book to take home!

        CELEBRATING THE GIFT OF THE KNOWN
For many years we have offered devotions written by the congregation as a way of guiding us through the season of Lent.  These devotions have always been meaningful and have helped us grow together as we learn more about one another.
It has been several years since we have offered an Advent booklet, but we want to do so this year.  Our Advent theme will be “Celebrating the Gift of the Known.”  Throughout the season, we will think about some of our customs and traditions which mean so much to us.  We will also explore the paradox that in this familiar season, we welcome One who brings great change.
We are inviting you to write a devotion about a tradition or memory that is meaningful to you.  If you would like to include a verse or passage of scripture that relates to your story and/or a prayer that reflects your thoughts about the tradition today, we would welcome them as well.
Please submit your devotion to the church office no later than November 7.  We prefer an email to lakesiderm@embarqmail.com, but a printed copy will be fine.  The devotions will be compiled and printed in a booklet which will be available on December 1, the First Sunday of Advent.

On Sunday, December 8, we will have a special Advent activity for Lakeside families.  Everyone is invited to join us at 4:00 p.m. in Sugg Foyer for a hot cocoa bar and hot apple cider.  Children and all those young at heart will create crafts from other cultures.  We’ll paint wooden nutcrackers from Germany, decoupage eggs from the Polish tradition, and decorate gingerbread cookies from Slovakia. Then at 5:00 p.m. we’ll head out to carol in the City Lake neighborhood and to some of our members at home.  We should return to Lakeside around 6:30 p.m. for a chili and soup supper together.  The children are inviting their friends from the Bassett Center to join us, and we’d like you to be a part of this Christmas season celebration.

Our youth will hold a gift wrapping fund raiser on Saturday,  December 14, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in in the Lecture Room. You can drop gifts off for later pick up. Each package includes a beautiful, handmade bow. We will receive donations for the Youth Trip Fund.  

Once again the Lakeside ladies will celebrate Women’s Christmas, an Irish custom which originated as a day when women took Epiphany as an occasion to pause and come together at the end of the busy holiday season and look ahead to the beginning of a new year. We’ll meet on Monday, January 6, at 8:00 AM in Sugg Foyer for coffee and pastries, then travel to Warrenton where Mary Catherine Harris will lead our group in discussions and reflections. We’ll enjoy lunch at the Hardware Cafe on Main Street and return to Lakeside around 4:00 PM. You may sign up in the church office or on the event registration page on our website. The cost is $20 plus lunch. Plan to join us as ponder how we travel “by way of the heart.”

The Meditation Group meets on Thursdays at noon in the Parlor of the Education Building.  The psalmist says: "Be still and know that I am God." One way to experience this oneness is through the practice of meditation or centering prayer. When we pray sincerely, we are open to being changed by the very act of prayer itself. Thus the essence of meditation is learning to stand back from ourselves and allow God to come to the forefront of our life.