Blogs And Devotionals (Page 19)
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week May 11, 2023
Dear Peace Families, This weekend marks the last day of Sunday School for the 2022-2023 school year. We have had a wonderful year growing in faith and community. In the fall we read and learned about stories from the Old Testament, starting with Creation and Abraham and moving through the Exodus narrative. Beginning in Advent, we started reading through the Gospels and learning about Jesus. On Sunday we conclude our spring adventure through the New Testament with a lesson on Paul’s Letters. …
E-Note May 5, 2023
Dear Peace Members and Friends, The season of spring seems to be (finally!) here. I hope that all of you, in some way, are able to enjoy it. Open up a window, take a walk, ride a bike—all to relish in the greening up of God’s earth once again. The season of Easter continues this coming Sunday with some of the most memorable words of Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me….I am the way,…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week May 4, 2023
Dear Peace Families, As many of you know, I am a big sports fan and care a lot about our Minnesota professional sports teams. And last week, Thursday-Saturday, the 88th annual NFL Draft was held down in Kansas City. Over the course of seven rounds, there were 259 players selected by the 32 NFL teams. Prior to the draft (sometimes very prior—Todd McShay’s “Way-Too-Early 2024 NFL Mock Draft” was just posted by ESPN), there are mock drafts created by analysts and writers…
E-Note April 28, 2023
Dear Peace Members and Friends, I love not only the day of Easter but the season of Easter. Why? If the Christian faith was only made up of Good Friday, that would be a tragedy and a horror. If the Christian faith was only made up of Easter Sunday, it would be like those dried-up Easter lilies that are long gone. It is only after Easter that we come to know who the Risen Christ is; and in the New Testament we see that it is in…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week April 27, 2023
Dear Peace Families, On Sunday during worship, we celebrated the Rite of Confirmation for our 8th grade students as they professed their faith and affirmed the promises God made with them at their baptism. Faith is many things—a gift, a trust, a belief. But it is also a responsibility—to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following…
E-Note April 21, 2023
Dear Peace Members and Friends, Gerhard Manley Hopkins has a poem in which he inserts the prayer, “Easter in us.” He uses the noun Easter as a verb. “Easter in us.” Let Easter get into us, come where we live. Which sounds strange. But that’s exactly what happens on Easter evening. Luke’s gospel tells us that two of Jesus’ followers are on the 7-mile walk to the village of Emmaus, talking about all the events that had happened in Jerusalem that morning, when suddenly the now Risen…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week April 20, 2023
Dear Peace Families, Last night we had our last Confirmation gathering of the year. As our time together comes to an end, it is (as always) bittersweet—I am so happy for our students and proud of them for all the ways they’ve grown throughout the year, and I will miss our time shared together each week as well. Because it’s been a great year! True to our mission, growing a community that nurtures a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, we’ve grown…
E-Note April 14, 2023
Dear Peace Members and Friends, Easter and Holy Week were terrific! If you attended any of the services or joined us online, thank you for celebrating the week with us. Your presence was an inspiration and encouragement in our walk together with the Risen Christ! Thank you! The Easter celebration continues this Sunday. Along with Easter hymns, the children’s Alleluia Choir, and Holy Communion, and the announcement of the results of our Lenten project with Lutheran World Relief, we’ll hear the traditional Gospel for the Sunday after Easter; the story of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week April 13, 2023
Dear Peace Families, I hope you all had a blessed Holy Week and a wonderful celebration of Easter. In the life of the Church, the celebration of Easter and Christ’s Resurrection is not just one day—it is a season that continues for six more weeks. One big question for us to consider during the Easter season is: how do we live as Easter people? Or rather, what does it mean for us, as Christians, to share the Good News that…
4/9/2023 Lenten Daily Devotional
John 20:1-18 1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out…
4/8/2023 Lenten Daily Devotional
Psalm 46 1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah 4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;…
4/7/2023 Lenten Daily Devotional
Psalm 22 1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 2O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. 3Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put…