BY SUSAN RUMBLE

Special to The Press

The Auxiliary of Northern Valley EMS, NOVA, can make your Thanksgiving meal preparation easier.

The group’s busy cooks will be preparing bacon dressing, filling and nut rolls you can purchase for holiday dinners.

Call Julie at 610-262-7749 by Nov. 17 to order items for pickup Nov. 24.

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St. John’s United Church of Christ, 1415 Rising Sun Road, Laurys Station, welcomes the community to a Thanksgiving service 7:30 p.m. Nov. 24.

“On Thanksgiving Eve, we will give thanks for God’s providence,” Pastor James Gottwald says. “May the devotion of those who went before us inspire us to faithfulness and the joy of God’s reign.”

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Pastor Gordon Camp, of Union Lutheran Church, offered his thoughts on Thanksgiving.

“This month we wind down the church year and look toward the season of Advent, or the beginning, again,” Pastor Camp says. “As families gather together on the Day of Thanksgiving to recall the great things in our lives that we have, our families, our homes, the clothes on our backs, the fruitful harvest that has been brought in, and the vocations we have chosen are details in our lives we give thanks for.”

Pastor Camp provided some additional remarks.

“I encourage you this month to reflect on the positives and push away the negatives that surround us,” Pastor Camp said. “The ever present news cycles and ‘bad news’ can easily get us down.

“Let us challenge ourselves to push those to the side and concentrate on the good.”

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Union United Church of Christ, Neffs, will welcome the holiday season with a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” by 12 singers with the Interrupted Silence ensemble and the Elysium string quartet.

The musicians will present the Christmas portion and the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s masterwork.

There will be a general admission fee.

Call 610-767-6961 for more information.