A Message From Our Pastor

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope and pray that your Christmas celebration was joyfilled!

As I write this, we have no phone system at the church – it went out Christmas Eve, and we are awaiting service people, which may be a couple days. So, if you have attempted to call, you are sent immediately to voice mail, and can even leave a message. However, we cannot access any messages. So, if you have been awaiting a call back from one of us in the office, please email us instead. I will let you know when we have phones again!

Special thanks to everyone who had a hand in any behind-the-scenes work in preparation for our Christmas Eve services, as well as all the children, youth and adults who helped to lead the two services!

This weekend in worship, our Gospel Lesson confronts with the reality that the birth of Christ does not remove the power of evil in the world – but its light gives us hope as we walk with all the "holy innocents" of past generations and today who have suffered unjustly. In our gathering around Word and Meal, God continues to redeem us, lift us up, and empower us to faithfully live as children of God.

Reminders

Annual Reports are due in the church office by Monday, January 14 (print ready, via email or on disc). If you chair a committee, ministry team, or ministry group, we need you to compile a report for 2007 activities.

There are still some open dates on the 2008 Altar Flower Calendar. Sign up this weekend, or call/email the church office and we'll sign you up. The vases are $30.00 each, and will be billed to you from the florist. If you have not yet picked up your 2008 Offering Envelopes, they are waiting for you in the narthex.

EPIPHANY PRAYER VIGIL FOR PEACE

As part of God's Peace Flowing Through Us initiative, we will be holding a prayer vigil for peace as part of the conclusion of the Christmas season and the start of the Epiphany season. The vigil will be held on Saturday, January 5, noon through 9:00 p.m. in the chapel. From 7:30 – 8:30 p.m., Ginger Minneman and a group of musicians will lead those present in singing Taize music, interspersed with prayers and readings. A sign-up sheet for 30-minute time slots for the prayer vigil is posted in the narthex, and you are invited to "take a time" in the chapel, praying for the peace of our community, our nation, and the world. (Multiple people can sign up for the same time slot, and people should feel free to come at any time even if they did not sign up at all.) Like the September 9 vigil, a book of prayers will be available to use if you wish. Sign up this weekend! Note: the regular Saturday evening worship service will be held, as usual, in the sanctuary, at 5:30 p.m. on this day.

As we come to the conclusion of 2007, we praise God for the fulfilled promise of our Lord being with us each day; as we prepare to walk through the doorway into a new year, we pray that God will continue to walk with us, bringing a fuller sense of peace into our lives, and the lives of all throughout the world. Happy New Year, everybody!

In Christ's peace,
Gary