Blogs And Devotionals (Page 18)
2/16/2024 Lenten Daily Devotional
1 Peter 3:18-22 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is,…
E-Note February 16, 2024
Dear Peace members and friends, On Ash Wednesday we began the season of Lent. Many see this season in the church as year as a grim, merely-to-be-endured time in the church year and understandably so. Lent begins with ashes on our foreheads, reminding us of life’s limits….and our own. Yet that’s exactly why I also see Lent as an opportunity not to be missed; a time to reflect, to act, to grow and to learn as we make our way…
2/15/2024 Lenten Daily Devotional
Genesis 9:8-17 8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and…
2/14/2024 Lenten Daily Devotional
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 1Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— 2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come. 12Yet even now,…
E-Note February 13, 2024 – Lent
Dear Peace Members and Friends, The season of Lent begins tomorrow. The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word “lengten,” which simply means “spring”—when the days lengthen and new life springs up. It is a time in which we anticipate the victory of the light and life of Christ over the darkness of sin and death. Still, Lent doesn’t have to be grim! It is, to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, a season of a kind of “happiness…
E-Note February 9, 2024
Dear Peace members and friends, I’m looking forward to being back with you this Sunday. And what a Sunday it is on the church calendar: the Transfiguration of Our Lord. It’s a strange story. Jesus transformed. Petrified disciples. Heroes from the past. A shiny cloud. It’s a milestone in the life of Jesus. From this moment, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to (in the words of Luke) “accomplish” something. The Transfiguration is what God is about to go…
E-Note February 2, 2024
Dear Peace members and friends, This Sunday in worship (9:30am) is the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany. Pastor Joe writes, “The season of Epiphany celebrates Jesus’ physical presence among us—that God became manifest through Jesus in the flesh. The season started with the wisemen following the star to see Jesus in Bethlehem, and this Sunday we’ll hear the story of Jesus healing the disciple Simon’s mother-in-law, and then a whole town. It reminds us, as the Apostle Paul described in his…
E-Note January 26, 2024
Dear Peace members and friends, It’s a big Sunday ahead! The Annual Congregational Meeting of Peace Lutheran Church will take place in the Parish Hall, beginning at 10:45am. At this meeting, both a proposed budget for 2024 and new Council members will be voted upon; Pastors’, Committees, and President’s reports will be offered. All members of Peace are encouraged to attend! Before the meeting we will gather for worship (9:30am). As we near the end of the church season of…
E-Note January 19, 2024
Dear Peace members and friends, He said to me: “Have you heard any good news lately?” I paused. I had to think. And my first response was, “Well, no—no I haven’t.” I had to admit that I hadn’t heard any good news on TV or read any in the newspapers. That’s why, when I read this Sunday’s gospel that begins, “…Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,….,” my reaction was, “What is it? I want to know!”…
E-Note January 12, 2024
Dear Peace members and friends, In these Sundays between Christmas and Lent, we keep the season of Epiphany. It is the season in which, having just celebrated God’s coming in Jesus Christ, we are now invited to see and experience him. This is the season when, in answer to the question, “Who is God, and what does God want from us?” we are invited, in the words of Philip in Sunday’s Gospel reading, to “come and see” Jesus. “Come and…
E-Note January 5, 2024
January 5, 2024 Dear Peace members and friends, Today is the twelfth and final day of Christmas. Tomorrow—January 6th—the Christian calendar turns to a new season: Epiphany. On Sunday, we will celebrate this new season with—a day after—“The Epiphany of Our Lord.” The word “epiphany” can mean manifestation, revelation, appearance, insight, enlightenment, or a shining forth. Epiphany begins with the story of the Magi. You know it. These astrologers, magicians follow a brilliant star to the place of Jesus’ birth…
E-Note December 29, 2023
Dear Peace members and friends, The excitement and festivities of Christmas are largely over. Even some of those Christmas decorations are already put away! Now is a good time for us to ponder the meaning of the coming of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. Christ has been born in Bethlehem. But what has changed? We go back to our routines. And yet, in the world, it’s New Year’s Eve weekend. As the old year ends and the new year…