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By Shannon Keenan Obedience is The very best way To show that you believe Doing exactly what the Lord commands Doing it happily Action is the key Do it immediately Joy you will receive Obedience is The very best way To show that you believe O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E These are the lyrics to a song we used...

By McKenzie On the evening of Friday, February 16, the New Life youth set off on the 2018 winter retreat. We knew we would have a productive weekend in the way of building community, having fun with one another, and learning more about God. What we didn’t realize was that God would greatly challenge our...

By Melanie Kauffman It feels as if I’ve always been surrounded by music. In the late nineties, when I was just a child, I received my very first cassette tape. Before long, I was playing CD’s on my boombox and my state-of-the-art Panasonic Discman. Nowadays I play music on my iPhone and my Amazon Echos....

How do you succinctly explain 312 responses to a survey which took a half an hour to complete? First by saying “Thanks!” The high participation allowed us to get a good feel for who and where we are as a congregation. Both women and our older members participated more strongly than their counterparts, but overall...

By Tim Shaw Following up on last week’s post, here are three more reasons why singing matters: Singing is one way God meets his people. Psalm 22:3 reads, “Yet you are enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Now, I don’t mean to suggest that singing is like rubbing a bottle in order to summon a genie, nor...

By Tim Shaw Last fall, one of the Adult School of Discipleship classes read Andy Crouch’s book The Tech-Wise Family (Baker Books, 2017), and I led a session on chapter 9, “Why Singing Matters.” Drawing from that class, here are three reasons why we sing when we gather together in worship: Singing is how God’s...

Something about starting a meeting with a meal draws us together. Maybe it’s the shared chicken, the conversation around the serving tables, the danger of spilled drinks, or the loitering around sweet treats. Whatever it is, when the meeting starts, we’re all ready to engage. The year’s congregational meeting was set up in just that...

By Charlotte Gleason Many of us store proof of our insecure, awkward years in photo albums, yearbooks, and painful school pictures. My hair-sprayed bangs and shoulder pads certainly grace too many childhood photos. But my sophomore year in high school truly introduced me to insecurity. At the close of my freshman year, my parents decided...

By Dave Almack This blog was originally posted January 1 at https://faithlit.wordpress.com/. This edition is slightly edited. For many years, our family has had a tradition of going to Center City Philadelphia on Christmas Eve to see the sites of the season. This typically involves a stop at the Comcast Center, shopping at the Christmas...

Longing for Christmas By Nancy Jordan Unks It’s a malady so common in December: Excessive, wistful, sentimental yearning For times long past that cannot be recovered, for Sweet aromas, sights and sounds, the touch of one beloved. Nostalgia’s gloom pervades the soul; On spirit and body, exacts its toll. But Jesus’ better way longs for...

By Tim Shaw Whether you prefer Perry Como’s classic version or Karen Carpenter’s catchy rendition, “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” captures well the nostalgia many people experience during the season. I remember each year of college I went home for Christmas, my family told me, repeatedly, “It’s so good to have you...

By Mercer Junior High Fall Retreats are always enjoyable, and I know many of us leave with a renewed faith. This fall retreat was amazing, yet bittersweet, because it was the eighth graders’ last one. I learned much on this retreat, and I felt closer to the youth group after leaving. Our speaker, Andrew Colpitts,...