This Sunday, September 20, we will have a single worship service at 10:00 a.m.

Following the service, we'll have our Fall Fun Fest! This mostly free event will have bounce houses, games, places to connect and more. Food trucks will be available to purchase lunch and ice cream if you choose. Invite your friends & neighbors! We hope you'll join us!

Sunday, September 20 | Single Worship Service 10:00 a.m.

A Special Gift. A Lifelong Journey.

On September 20, we will gather for a special single worship service as we celebrate our 1st and 3rd graders and present each child with their very own Bible.

Receiving a Bible is a meaningful milestone in a child's faith journey. We look forward to surrounding these children with love and prayer as they continue to learn, grow, and discover God's story.

1st & 3rd Grade Families: Mark your calendars and join us for this special celebration! Please reach out to Noelle to make sure your child is included in this special tradition.

Want to help make this tradition possible? Click here to donate or sponsor a Bible for a child.

Sunday, September 20 | Single Worship Service 10:00 a.m.

Tokie Aromona is our new part-time Facilities Coordinator. He is regularly in the church office Monday - Thursday, 9 am - 12 pm. 

Tokie enjoys being involved in the community, building relationships, meeting new people, and helping wherever he can. He's also a real estate agent, where he gets to do much of the same by helping individuals and families navigate the process of buying or selling a home. Tokie values trust, strong relationships, and being someone others can depend on, both in his work and throughout the community. He is always happy to connect and help however he can.

You can email him or call him in the church office (303-222-1864).

Join this study of the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero on Thursdays, September 17 - November 6, at 6 p.m. in room 137. 

Sign up here.

Contact Rev. Carolyn Young if you have any questions. 

Are you creative -- whether you work in pottery, photography, painting, drawing, quilting, knitting, crochet, metal sculpture, jewelry making, floral design, graphic art, crafts, woodworking, basket making, or any other art? We want to showcare your work!

A small team is planning a special afternoon open to the public with fun, food, fellowship and maybe a few ideas for Christmas presents.

Please let us know you are interested so we can move forward in our plans. Please contact either Lisa Jarratt or Jason Anderson, letting us know what type of art you would like to showcase and approximately how many pieces you would wish to display.

We'd love to see the creativity within our Parker UMC community!

Share Your Story this Advent Season 

This Advent season, as we prepare for gift exchanges with friends and family, our church sermon series will reflect on the gifts given to us by our God. The sermons will focus on times when God gives us gifts of hope, peace, joy, love and purpose. 

The Adult Education Team believes everyone has a story of experiencing God’s gifts. We invite you to share your story. Whether expressed through a personal story, a poem, or a piece of original art, we would love to share your reflection in our upcoming Advent Devotions booklet. 

Please follow this link to a website with complete submission details, and the opportunity to sign up. For any questions, please reach out directly to our team members Andrea Perrino (email link) or Kelly Evans (email link) – they would love to connect with you.  

The Feed My Starving Children Packing Event on October 2-3 is just around the corner! Please sign up here to volunteer for a shift (or two). We need especially volunteers for 2 shifts: 6:30 - 8:30 pm on Friday night to set up and 12 - 2 pm on Saturday afternoon.

We still need to raise a little over $7,000 in order to pay for this event. This past Sunday, we launched a new fundraising opportunity -- 100 Envelope Challenge. The envelopes are displayed in the church Commons Area. Take an envelope with a number on it and donate that amount. If all 100 envelopes are taken, this raised over $5,000. Thank you to those who took an envelope this week and agreed to make the donation on the church website, write a check, donate cash, or use the QR code.

Want to know more? Please reach out to Tammy Knowles. Thank you for the ways you are already supporting this great packing event!

The Missions Team needs your help. In order to prioritize missions and other opportunities, please let them know what are important to you.

Please complete this Mission Survey. You can use this link for the online survey or fill out the paper copy that can be found at the Welcome Center.

Want to share your thoughts with the team directly? All are welcome to attend their upcoming meeting (via Zoom) on Tuesday, September 29, at 7 pm. Please reach out to Tia for the Zoom link.

Thank you for your continued generosity and compassionate care for others and for one another.

Our altar flowers each week are given in honor or memory of someone. We usually have one arrangement each Sunday. The church office orders from our vendor, Little Shop of Flowers. You do not need to contact our vendor directly; we handle it.

If you are interested in ordering flowers, please fill out the Sign Up Genius for 2026 here. You can also email or speak with Candi in the church office. Cost is $50 per arrangement.

Please speak with Candi Robinson if you have any questions.

Thanks for beautifying our altar table!

Here are upcoming events in the community:

• Douglas County Dougnad* Volunteer Event. Are you an older adult needing yard work? Call 303-660-7407. Want to help in our community on Saturday, October 24, starting at 8 a.m.? Visit this website for more information and to sign up --

https://www.douglasco.gov/volunteer-opportunities/dougnad/.

• "Douglas County’s Dougnad volunteer program is modeled after the Scandinavian tradition of dugnad where citizens meet up with family, friends, and neighbors for coffee and pastries then disperse into the community to do volunteer work such as planting trees or cleaning parks."

In preparation for Sunday worship, here are questions to consider ahead of time. You can use these in your own devotion time, in conversation with family and friends, or in a small group setting. All are welcome to join one discussion group every Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Room 216 in the church. 

We hope this practice will help you engage with the scriptural texts and sermon at a deeper faith level. 

For September 20 Sunday worship at 10 am:

This week's sermon: Sacred & Secular

Scripture: Acts 10:9-16

Guiding Questions:

1. In this series, Both/And, we are reminded that we often think in terms of either/or. For today's message on Sacred & Secular -- when is something one but not the other? Consider examples. Then imagine, what would that look like if it were BOTH sacred & secularl?

2. Acts 10 is the story of the encounter between Peter and Cornelius. What would be your description of Peter? of Cornelius? What might they have in common? Look at the entire chapter.

3. In verses 1-8, God spoke to Cornelius to go find Simon also called Peter. In verses 9-16, Peter has a vision about what is profane and what is clean. In the rest of this chapter the 2 meet each other and have a conversation. Considering how different they are, what might be their concerns in meeting one another? 

4. Sometimes we assume what isn't necessarily true. In this case, Peter and Cornelius would bring their assumptions to their meeting. When have you ever had preconceived thoughts about someone you had never met and the person turned out to be different? Where do we get these assumptions?

5. Sacred and secular is the tension this week. What do you call sacred? What do you call secular? When have you had an assumption about sacred or secular that turned out to be false?

6. Again, we are good at classifying people, places, things and circumstances. How might someone, some place or something be both sacred and secular? What is the tension you feel when answering this question?

Please join us this Sunday as we begin our new series, Both/And. This Sunday's message is Heart and Head and our scripture readings are Acts 8:26-40 and Mark 12:30-31.

Regular Worship Services

• 9 a.m. Sunday: Blended service with traditional elements and a variety of music including hymns, handbells and choir.

• 10:30 a.m. Spark! Worship: This service includes contemporary praise music, and an informal style that offers a play area for children, opportunities for you to be involved in service, and the freedom to practice prayer and worship in exciting and personalized ways. 

• 5:30 p.m. 2nd Wednesday of each month: At The Table. We gather around a meal, share conversation and stories of faith, and complete a small mission project.