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YourHub.com \\ Parker \\ Stories \\ Holidays \\ Thanksgiving

Good cheer shared this holiday season

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Contributed by: Tabitha Dial/YourHub.com on 11/17/2006

As stores stock their shelves and tables with pumpkin and pecan pies, groups that focus on faith throughout the Parker area are prepared to celebrate the holiday season.

Thanksgiving will be celebrated with a Nov. 19 potluck at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Elizabeth, said Carol Okkelberg, church secretary.

"We always have all the ladies in the church cook lots and lots. It's really a nice time and we invite anybody that wants to come," she said.

Parker Bible Church pastor Kirk Youngblood said his church has had an informal Thanks Praise Dinner each Sunday before Thanksgiving since the church started up almost 12 years ago. The dinner includes a worship service.

At the Church at Parker, church members are collecting canned goods for South East Christian OutReach (SECOR), an outreach organization serving the Denver area, said church secretary Sheri Hennager.

"For the holidays, they've asked that we get 50 pounds of spaghetti sauce, 200 cans of tuna and 200 jars of peanut butter," said Hennager. They are working to assist some 1,300 families in need, she said.

Ave Maria Catholic Church also has made an effort to help families in need through the Parker Task Force Food Bank. Parishioners are buying baskets of food to give to the food bank and, after the 10:30 a.m. service, some of them will be delivering the food.

"We've been involved with the Parker Task Force for a long time," said Father Michael Richardson. "They told us what they wanted us to put together -- it's stuff that people will be able to take and cook themselves in their own home."

Shawn Bernal co-owns Thunder Beings, a new age store in Parker. He said that the four owners of the store encourage everyone to develop their own spiritual path and will be spending time with family and friends in their own way this Thanksgiving.

"We welcome everybody all the time. We set up our house as a community house," he said.

Thunder Beings co-owner, Mary Perkins, helps serve a luncheon to the seniors who attend Mile High Church in Denver and helped with their Thanksgiving lunch Nov. 15, said Bernal.

Jack Seer, a church leader at the Castlewood Canyon Church in Franktown, said his congregation consists of about 100 people. While they will not have services or dinners during Thanksgiving, the church donated money to the Parker Task Force and the Douglas County Task Force.

Seer said the church will partner with the Newday Christian Seventh Day Adventist Church in Franktown to provide the town with a live nativity, complete with three or four stations that will have live actors in costume.

They also work with Angel Tree and will personally deliver gifts to about ten children in December. "Being a small congregation, we try to do stuff outside, so we go where people are."

For Christmas, Parker Bible Church will decorate its halls Dec. 3 with their traditional "hanging of the green service," said Youngblood. Parker Bible Church also will have a carol and candlelight service at 6 p.m. Dec. 24.

The Church at Parker will have a 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. service Christmas Eve. They will continue to collect food for SECOR through Christmas, Hennager said.

Maranatha Baptist Church traditionally has a fireside service in the middle of December and ladies belonging to the church plan to have a cookie exchange.

Ave Maria Catholic Church will have three Christmas Eve services -- 4:30, 7 and 10:30 p.m. Carols will be sung before the evening services. "The 10:30 service will be incense and music and candlelit and all of the stuff you can do at a midnight service to give it a sense of mystery," said Richardson.

A children's Nativity pageant will take place at the 4:30 p.m. service and young people can share their Christmas hymns on any instrument that they have learned to play, he said. Ave Maria Catholic Church also is collecting donations for Douglas County Women's Crisis Center and for the homeless population in Denver and other nearby areas.

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Submitted By: MARGARET STRNAD

posted on 11/17/2006 @ 9:06:44 PM

Rated Story

This is what the Holiday Season is all about. I hope everyone joins in the Joy of Giving. Thanks for this article.

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Tabitha Dial

Denver , CO

Tabitha Dial has posted 1876 stories and 389 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Tabitha Dial's average story rating is 4.92.

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