The season after Christmas and before Lent can often seem like a “down” time in the church year—as if we’re simply marking time while waiting for another grand celebration. Whether it is because we are suffering from holiday fatigue or influenced by gloomy winter weather, the season of Epiphany can go by unnoticed and unheralded. […]
In the December section of my daily Dietrich Bonhoeffer reader, I found this Christmas poem. It is not a “champagne-filled, warm-fuzzy, feel-good” poem. Rather, it is one that stopped me, sobered me up as a Christian and set me to really meditating on the meaning of the birth of Christ, Emmanuel, God With Us, especially […]
NOVEMBER 29, 2020 @ 9:30am FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT – MARK 13:24-37 HANGING OF THE GREENS & THE HOPE CANDLE DECEMBER 6, 2020 @ 9:30am SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – MARK 1:1-8 COMMUNION & THE PEACE CANDLE DECEMBER 13, 2020 @ 9:30am THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT – JOHN 1:6-8, 19-28 MUSIC & THE LOVE CANDLE […]
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! As we enter into this sacred season, I am reminded of Dr. Suess’ classic story of a grinch attempting to stop the coming of Christmas, and at the end the author declares, “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, […]
Tuesday was September 1st! Allegedly Fall is upon us and the school schedule begins!! Alas, this Fall will not be like previous years! It has been a strange and unusual time over the past six months leading up to September 2020. The rhythm of our spring and summer life has been disrupted by coronavirus. As […]
ONLINE COMMUNION The Session of the Presbyterian Church has approved online communion for Sunday, July 5 and Sunday, August 2. As this is a new way of celebrating the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, please review the document below as you prepare your heart, mind and worship space for this sacred meal with the congregation […]
Quarantine, Stay at Home, Social Distancing, Wear a Mask, Black Lives Matter, George Floyd, Stock market Drops, Defund the Police, Virtual Worship, Zoom meetings, Monuments Virtual classrooms, Stage One moving into Stage Two, and the New Normal. Who would have thought the last four months would have brought us all of these issues? The […]
I hope you are doing well and will have a blessed week! I am writing you in regard to the eventual reopening of the Presbyterian Church at Woodbury,and how we will cautiously proceed when the state of New Jersey givespermission for gatherings of more than ten people. Our first priority is to the health and […]
Pretzels come in many flavors, shapes, and sizes — not unlike us. These treats are great for cheese or other dips or just by themselves. But have you stopped to consider they actually have a historical place in Lent? If you take a moment to look at the typical twist pretzel, you can see that […]
The church staff is currently reading a book by Ron Byars entitled, Believer on Sunday, Atheist by Thursday. The title comes from a sermon by Lutheran pastor, Ron Luckey that talked about the struggle of living his Christian faith during the week. It has been a thoughtful read about how we might grow in our […]