Blog (Page 14)
News and thoughts
German Potluck
More than 36 hours later, I’m still full from all the good food we shared yesterday as part of our year-long bicentennial celebration of Grace UCC. Yesterday, we especially celebrated our heritage in the German Reformed Church by reciting the Lord’s Prayer (auf Deutsch) during worship and eating German food afterward. Be on the lookout for info on more special events during our bicentennial year.
Some thoughts
My dear Grace UCC family, What a year this has been… one filled with grace and love, one filled with compassion and wonder, one filled with faith and growth, one filled with God. I was called by God many years ago to ordained ministry, as Pastor and Teacher. For a while I didn’t listen to God’s call on my life, I didn’t want to. I wanted to do something else, be something else, live something else. But God is a…
Souper Bowl of Caring 2016
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me Matthew 25:35 (NRSV) The quote from Matthew is central to several of our core values, namely, love and welcoming community. This year, for the 16th consecutive year, we are participating in the Souper Bowl of Caring to benefit the hungry of Fairfield County. We’ll be collecting non-perishable food items (and money) that will go to…
Wonder
I wonder as I wander out under the sky, How Jesus the Savior did come for to die. For poor on’ry people like you and like I… I wonder as I wander out under the sky. … .written by American folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles. I have been doing a lot of wondering this season of Advent, Christmas time and as we move into 2016. Wondering about the world in which we live, wondering about peace and love, wondering…
Advent Blessings
A month, 4 weeks, of preparing ourselves, our hearts, our minds for Jesus Daily we pray and listen, for we do not know when Jesus will come again Very lucky are we, that we can be the story of love and peace Every day we open our hearts, souls, and minds to listen to and for God Now is the time to be ready, because the Prince of Peace is coming Time is at hand, for a little child will…
Discernment as Covenant Community
Note: this was originally written by our Association Minister, Rev. Dr. Janine Wilson on Sunday, 8 Nov after she worshiped with us and was present for the meeting after church. It first appeared in the Central Southeast Ohio Association blog, but we wanted to be sure it was shared with our congregation, too. Grace United Church of Christ Lancaster, Ohio When it comes to the picture, my cell phone sells it short, but when it comes to caring for one…
Guest Preacher (and Dress Warmly)
Folks, just a reminder that Pastor Mindy is on vacation this Sunday. Our guest preacher will be Nicole Pickens. She has worshiped with us in the past, she is a seminary student at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio in Delaware and is a member-in-discernment for ordination with the Central Southeast Ohio Association. Please come out and welcome Nicole to worship. Also, a note, the work on switching over the church building from electric to natural gas heat is underway,…
Gratitude
I am blessed.. I am so grateful for so many things. Today I want to say thank you to those who have taught me the faith, and those that continue to teach me the faith. I am thankful for my friends, my classmates, my family, my church, and those churches that have nurtured me I want to take this opportunity to thank some people in my life who have been my pastor… I really appreciate the love and care that…
From the Pastor…
A Note from Pastor Mindy…. 200 years ago, Grace United Church of Christ was formed…so what does that mean? For me it means…. Covenant and Commitment…words in the thesaurus that are used as synonyms are: Promise Pledge Vow Obligation Assurance Dedication All are very strong words that say that when we are committed to something we give our trust to it, when we are in covenant we follow through. When we are committed to God, we give God our all.…
New hosting
You probably noticed that we haven’t posted much here lately. We were having performance issues with our old hosting provider. Last evening we moved to a new hosting provider and performance should be better, so we’ll be posting more often (and get the backlog of sermons posted). We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.