*This sermon was preached at Peace Mennonite Church on January 7, 2024. You can watch a video version on the church’s YouTube channel. My husband and I recently visited our daughter, who is studying abroad, in Chile. Her host family took us on a beach trip, and it was too cold to swim (at least…
In March of 2022, the Hubble telescope discovered the farthest known star from Earth. It’s named Earendel (meaning “morning star”) and is 12.9 billion light years away. Twelve point nine BILLION light years. Which means that the light we can see through the telescope right now began heading this way billions of years ago. I…
This call to worship is based on the first verse of “Oh, Holy Night” and was written to go along with the theme of this year’s Sanctified Arts materials: How does a weary world rejoice? Welcome, on this holy night. The stars are brightly shining!Whether we can see them or not.Welcome, as we gather on…
Call to Worship from Luke 1:26-38 Greetings, favored ones! The Lord is with you.And also with you.Do not be afraid. Listen today to the word God has for you.We are much perplexed.Do not be afraid. God will bring great things to the world through you.How can this be?Do not be afraid. The Holy Spirit will come…
I love the Magnificat! Call to Worship from Luke 1:46-55 Our worship is a song of praise:Our souls magnify the Holy One!Our worship is a song of joy:Our spirits rejoice in God our savior!Our worship is a song of thanksgiving:The Mighty One has done great things for us.Our worship is a song of the ages:God’s mercy…
Call to Worship from Isaiah 40:1-11 Comfort, comfort each other. Speak tenderly.Prepare the holy way of God!Let us watch together as the way is made walkable:The valleys are lifted up, the mountains and hills made low.The rough places are smoothed out to ease our journey.We see the glory of God.We hear the word of God.We proclaim…
Friends, believe it or not, Advent begins in just two days! I wanted to share a few resources with you all as we enter into this holy season. In this liminal season, I wish you holy excitement and the deep peace of Christ. Thanks for letting me be a small part of your Advent journey.…
Last week I attended the national Mennonite Church USA convention in Kansas City. Part-way through the week, one of the MennoMedia staff excitedly told me that they had sold out of all the copies they brought of Expecting Emmanuel! Which seems exciting until you know that they only brought two copies. I get it, though.…
This Sunday (1/8/23) we will receive star words as part of our worship at Peace Mennonite. This has become a tradition for us–to claim a word as a gift from God and a guide in the new year. In the past, I have simply handed out the star words randomly to people. Since we are…
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Like so many other people I know, I’ve been sick this week–but thankfully it’s nothing severe. I’m on the mend and looking forward to upcoming times of worship and with family. Also the pumpkin pie. For any of you who don’t have a community to worship with this weekend, you are…
Spacious Faith 