Blogs And Devotionals (Page 31)
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week December 29, 2022
December 29, 2022 Dear Peace Families, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all enjoyed quality time with friends and family, eaten good food, and rejoiced in the celebration of Christ’s birth. As we prepare to turn the calendar to 2023, I invite you and your families to look back and reflect on 2022. What were your favorite memories? What aspects of your life have brought you the greatest joy? What experiences brought you closer together as a…
E-Note December 22, 2022
December 22, 2022 “I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.” –Taylor Caldwell Dear Peace Members, As you likely know, the song “Silent Night” was famously written in the midst of a near disastrous Christmas Eve. The church organ broke down.…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week December 22, 2022
December 22, 2022 Dear Peace Families, Christmas blessings, from all of us at Peace to you. First, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who helped make this past Sunday’s Christmas Program possible. It was such a joyous morning, and the Sunday School children did an amazing job singing, acting, and sharing the Christmas story and the love of God. As I mentioned on Sunday and wrote in the bulletin, it took a great team to bring…
E-Note December 17, 2022
December 16, 2022 Dear Peace members and friends, I’m looking forward to Sunday and one of the highlights of the year: the Children’s Christmas program (9:30am). Actually it’s more than that! It’s less a program than it is worship. The participants are not only children, but the Peace Choir and all of us gathered together. And it still is Advent, but we get to hear the Christmas story told and sung about by the children of the congregation. They have been working hard on their parts and they are…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week December 16, 2022
December 16, 2022 Dear Peace Families, This Sunday will be a very special one—the Peace Christmas Program. This year’s program is called Follow The Star, and there will be 31 Sunday School students participating, including our 11 Alleluia Singers. They’ve been doing a wonderful job rehearsing and preparing, and we are so excited to praise God with you on Sunday. They will share the Christmas story through music, scripture, and costume, and they’ll be joined by the Peace Choir’s participation—and yours…
Blue Christmas Service 2022
December 13, 2022 Dear Peace Members: Here is a reminder about tomorrow night’s Advent worship service at 6:30pm. It’s a special service called, “Those Who Dream…Are Not Alone.” If you are undecided about whether to come, here are a few reasons to be there: I hope you can join us! Tomorrow night, 6:30pm. Grace and Peace, Mark
E-Note December 9, 2022
December 9, 2022 Dear Peace members and friends, It’s Advent. And church doesn’t get much more joyful than these last couple of weeks of Advent and Christmas as we anticipate hearing the proclamation of the Christmas angel: “….I bring you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day….a Savior……” And yet we know, joy isn’t easy. We don’t feel joy all the time (even at this time of the year!) Joy is something that…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week December 8, 2022
December 8, 2022 Dear Peace families, This year I’ve waited a little bit longer than usual to listen to Christmas music. I’m not sure if there was any specific reason for it—I just wasn’t ready yet. But when I did start to listen, I noticed something—that the music always seems to meet us wherever we are in our lives and proclaim Christ’s presence, promise, and peace into them. Presence—that God will not leave us alone in our deepest challenges nor…
E-Note December 2, 2022
December 2, 2022 Dear Peace members and friends, Coming up is the Second Sunday of Advent. We will again light candles on the Advent wreath. It’s a tradition, created by a German pastor in the 19th century as a way to teach children about the coming of Jesus Christ. The tradition traces back to 1833 in Hamburg, Germany. Johann Hinrich Wichern opened the “Rauhe Haus,” the Rough House, which sheltered orphaned or neglected children. Every night of Advent, he told them stories, prayed, and lit a…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week December 1, 2022
December 1, 2022 Dear Peace families, Next Friday, December 9, our Children, Youth, and Family Committee will be hosting a Parents Night Out event from 6:00-8:00pm. If you need time to do some Christmas shopping, enjoy some quality time with your spouse, or sit in the quiet alone, this event is for you! Registration before the event is required (no walk-ins), and there is a limit of 20 children. We also ask that you give a suggested donation of $5…
E-Note November 25, 2022
November 25, 2022 Dear Peace members and friends, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I like everything about it; the gathering of family and friends, the traditions of the day, the quiet. I like the fact that Thanksgiving is a joyful and simple day. I like the fact that it is much like it was when I was a boy; when we played touch football on the frozen ground and came home to a big meal. Yesterday was like…
CYF Blast & Family Tip Of The Week November 24, 2022
A happy Thanksgiving to you all! And beginning on Sunday, a blessed Advent to you all as well. As we continue into this holiday season, I pray that this time would filled with love. That you would be able to see family members, laugh over old stories, and smile over tables of delicious food. That your hearts would be opened to the needs of your neighbors and that your eyes would be opened to the divine within them. That God would fill you with…