6 Ways to Combat Anxiety and Stress Living UnAfraid means getting a handle on the anxiety that haunts many of us. As part of the series on Living UnAfraid, yesterday after our service, we asked therapist, counselor and expert on anxiety, Matthew Swartz to come and talk to us. Matthew ended the talk with 6 […]
Emotional Intelligence in Uncertain Times For this Lenten season I am travelling down the path of living UnAfraid in Uncertain Times. I’m following the book by that title by Adam Hamilton which I highly recommend, but you don’t need to read to follow the blog. I’m using that as a starting point, well actually […]
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas; you can count on me. We’ll have snow and mistletoe, and presents under the tree. I’ll be Home for Christmas; where the love light gleams. I’ll be Home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.” That song is on the top ten of the Christmas playlists. It is one of […]
23 Days of Advent-Day 22 Little Debbie Christmas It’s time. I’m going into the vault for one of my favorite Christmas stories. When my oldest daughter started elementary school I learned quickly that what you take to school on your birthday separates the “sheep from the goats” ….at least in the Mom’s circles. In the […]
It happens every year I start the blog at the beginning of Advent thinking ….dang… 23 days (in past years as many as 28)….yes, dang… that seems like a lot of writing. Then I get into it; I love researching, reading new things and writing about it. I love reading your comments and the emails […]
Giving is just fun, it is joyful. Today our church opened a Holiday Free Store at a nearby school where many of the children might not get gifts at Christmas. Our entire congregation has been bringing toys and crafts and games for the past three weeks and today we laid them all out on tables. […]
We’re talking about THE Star, the one that the Wise Men followed, the one that stopped over “the place where Jesus lay.” There are lots of differing opinions about what that star could have been. For today’s blog, I bring you two experts with very different views on the star and interestingly enough both are […]
So here we are, the manger scene is set. Mary and Joseph are in the stable, the baby Jesus is in the manger; the shepherds have come to visit. Then, here come the Kings to steal the show… In every nativity pageant there is this regal moment when the 3 Kings enter the picture, with […]
It’s the story of a man, who comes from the finest lineage in the land. He is engaged to a beautiful young girl when …bum, bum bum …. he learns that the girl is pregnant. What will he do? Will he dismiss her quietly? Read for yourself. The Christmas story in the Gospel of Matthew: […]
“Like Photographs, (at least before we all started snapping pictures on our phones,) the Gospel stories develop over time. Each subsequent report in Luke, each reference to an angel, to a meal, to a promise, will give new meaning to the Christmas events.” (Light of the World, Amy-Jill Levine). We’ve all seen the photographic process […]