SUNDAY WORSHIP
8am AND 10:15 am
5th Sunday of Lent
March 26, 2023
March 26, 2023
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News & Events
January, 2023
Happy New Year to you all!
I hope this start to the new year brings you the hope of Christ’s warmth and love in our world. I write this greeting intentionally, while hearing the lyrics of an Advent hymn roll through my memory. This hymn, no. 252 in our hymnals, and written by William Gay in 1971, haunts me every year. “Each winter as the year grows older, we each grow older too. The chill sets in a little colder, the verities we knew, seem shaken and untrue.” And as the calendar flips from 2022 to 2023, and despite our New Year’s cheer to each other, the “older” and “colder” lines in this hymn sting the heart. The second verse of the hymn evokes the ongoing clash of race, tribe and nation, and the cacophony of their strife. Thank God for our Advent perspective, which takes in the chaos all around, and continually looks to the horizon for God’s salvation to arrive.
In that spirit of holy waiting, we enter 2023 with many expectations. We are apprehensive about so many things, unsure of what comes next. But our Christian celebration of Christmas raises the cry of faith. As the hymn’s third verse puts it; “Yet I believe beyond believing that life can spring from death, that growth can flower from our grieving, that we can catch our breath and turn transfixed by faith.” What an amazing affirmation of faith, in the face of all that weighs us down, to “believe beyond believing” that the life of God continues to grow and flower and give us faith. We need this faith as we move into 2023, as we face all the challenges and opportunities, both personal and communal, in the new year. We need this power of God’s mysterious presence with us.
That presence is proclaimed in the Christmas message, in the story of the babe in Bethlehem. New life, new possibility, new mission, new sharing. All of this newness, meant for us to embrace and carry out into the world, springs from the birth of our Lord who is named “Emmanuel”, God with us. The fifth and final verse of the hymn proclaims: “O Child of ecstasy and sorrows, O Prince of peace and pain, brighten today’s world by tomorrow’s, renew our lives again; Lord Jesus, come and reign!” That is my prayer for you all in this new year, that your lives may be renewed by the Prince of Peace, and that our world may be brightened by the love and mercy of Christ, and keep us mindful of His kingdom, which is ever with us. Yours in Christ, +PL
Happy New Year to you all!
I hope this start to the new year brings you the hope of Christ’s warmth and love in our world. I write this greeting intentionally, while hearing the lyrics of an Advent hymn roll through my memory. This hymn, no. 252 in our hymnals, and written by William Gay in 1971, haunts me every year. “Each winter as the year grows older, we each grow older too. The chill sets in a little colder, the verities we knew, seem shaken and untrue.” And as the calendar flips from 2022 to 2023, and despite our New Year’s cheer to each other, the “older” and “colder” lines in this hymn sting the heart. The second verse of the hymn evokes the ongoing clash of race, tribe and nation, and the cacophony of their strife. Thank God for our Advent perspective, which takes in the chaos all around, and continually looks to the horizon for God’s salvation to arrive.
In that spirit of holy waiting, we enter 2023 with many expectations. We are apprehensive about so many things, unsure of what comes next. But our Christian celebration of Christmas raises the cry of faith. As the hymn’s third verse puts it; “Yet I believe beyond believing that life can spring from death, that growth can flower from our grieving, that we can catch our breath and turn transfixed by faith.” What an amazing affirmation of faith, in the face of all that weighs us down, to “believe beyond believing” that the life of God continues to grow and flower and give us faith. We need this faith as we move into 2023, as we face all the challenges and opportunities, both personal and communal, in the new year. We need this power of God’s mysterious presence with us.
That presence is proclaimed in the Christmas message, in the story of the babe in Bethlehem. New life, new possibility, new mission, new sharing. All of this newness, meant for us to embrace and carry out into the world, springs from the birth of our Lord who is named “Emmanuel”, God with us. The fifth and final verse of the hymn proclaims: “O Child of ecstasy and sorrows, O Prince of peace and pain, brighten today’s world by tomorrow’s, renew our lives again; Lord Jesus, come and reign!” That is my prayer for you all in this new year, that your lives may be renewed by the Prince of Peace, and that our world may be brightened by the love and mercy of Christ, and keep us mindful of His kingdom, which is ever with us. Yours in Christ, +PL
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