Throughout Advent, I’m grateful for the chance to offer a series of reflections about Advent and the grief we experience in our lives, in our churches, and in our world. Part two: The forgotten sadness of congregational grief Advent has begun. Thanksgiving’s leftovers are mostly finished, and the pace of life is picking up. At church, hallways are festooned with…
For the next three weeks, I’ll be offering a series of reflections about Advent and the grief we experience in our lives, in our churches, and in our world. Part One: Singing Silent Night in a minor key Grief’s appearance during Advent and Christmas rattles us like the ghosts who inhabit Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas Eve dreams. While our culture is…
Eileen stopped by church the other day. She arrived just in time for Chapel Time at Mother’s Day Out, so I invited her to join us. Afterall, I figured, its not often that three- and four-year-olds get to meet an angel. In the interest of transparency, I better stop there and clear things up. While Eileen is indeed an angel,…
As I fumbled to fill the church’s Advent candles with oil on Sunday, I found myself snagged by the grief’s sneaky undertow. But that is how grief often operates. It is much less a sequence of predictable events we can check off than it is a series of repeating waves that rise and fall according to their own somewhat random…
Blog Post by Rev. Ryan Landino, Presbytery Leader It took me a long time before I really appreciated the significance of the meaning behind receiving a gift. We all remember receiving good gifts and bad gifts, unexpected gifts, and gifts-meant-to-be-a-surprise-but-you-figured-it-out-anyway gifts. Gifts ranging from wrapped things you tear open to gift cards to the gift of just being present. I…
The Second Week of Advent Message from Rev. Ronnie Osborn St. Charles Presbyterian Church, St. Charles, Missouri Click Photo to Watch Message
Message on Hope by Rev. Wendy Downing Steelville Presbyterian Church Years ago, I saw a maternity shop named “Great Expectations.” That’s what this season is all about, isn’t it? Expectations. That’s what these two passages are about. Both passages are the kind that look forward, and look to the future, with a deep sense of anticipation and expectation. Isaiah was…