By Pastor Stuart Weist First Baptist Church of Preston We have come to the time of year again when many people make plans for the coming year. Resolutions generally at the top of the list are to lose weight, improve wealth, spend time with family, complete education, etc. But, what about your faith? Where is your relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? As a … [Read more...]
The lanyard
By Rev. Debra Jene Collum Chatfield United Methodist Imagine for a moment, a gift you received from a child: a grand child, a son or daughter, a niece or nephew, a neighbor child. Think carefully. What did it look like? Was it a clay mug with a misshapen handle? A leather key fob made at camp with the word “mom” crookedly stamped on to it? Or a cross made from macaroni and … [Read more...]
Good News
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) Please take a moment and look at the Nativity Scene pictured here... take a moment to consider the Good News of the birth of our Savior Jesus... This is the Good News of Christmas...John 3:16 reminds us that God sent his only Son out of love for the human … [Read more...]
Rushford church inspires “deeper meaning of Christmas” with live Nativity
“Last year, my husband and I had the wonderful opportunity to take a lovely drive down to Rushford to experience the Nativity at Root River Community Church. We could imagine ourselves coming from other parts of Israel to go to Bethlehem. We heard the news of something quite mysterious and we wanted to see and hear for ourselves,” recalled Julie Miller. She had attended the … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – “In the Bleak Midwinter”
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) I love to walk in the woods. I love to listen to the birds. I love to hear the wind blow through the trees. I love the beauty and wonder of God’s Creation. The other day I went for a walk and in a field near our house a deer was standing quietly in the … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – So hard to have faith
By Pastor Jeff Jacobs Unity Lutheran Parish - St. Paul, Saetersdal and St. Matthew’s, Granger A colleague of mine was once on a mission trip in Mexico. While there, he visited an impoverished woman who, through an interpreter, talked about her life. Then at one point, she expressed how sorry she felt for Americans. My colleague was surprised, to say the least, as he … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving thank yous
By Pastor Michael Harman St. Johns Lutheran Church and School Thank you. Thank who? You. To say thank you is to have gratitude or appreciation for something, but, all thanks is directed at some giver. For example, I’m thankful for my car. Really. But who am I thankful TO? Maybe the designers, those who dug and refined the metals, the workers who built it, the transport … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – Thanksgiving and remembering
By Pastor Paul Hauschild Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches I like how Veterans Day is so close to Thanksgiving. It inspires me with great gratitude as a pastor and American that so many brave men and women have sacrificed time and energy for the sake of creating peace and justice. And, of course, many have paid the ultimate sacrifice… their very lives. May we … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – Spending some time out in the woods reading Psalm 23
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) Have you ever had one of those days when you find yourself running here and running there and and just having too many commitments and things that require your attention, along with other things that cause stress, pressure and anxiety? I had one of those … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – Lord, to whom shall we go?
Rev. Peter J. Haugen St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church Whenever death openly invades our lives, it is a violently painful experience. Death is always present for us in this vale of tears, though we typically blind ourselves to his presence. Life here moves inevitably towards death, whether it is sudden and catastrophic or lingering and agonizing, and we are all of us … [Read more...]