Did you read that right? Yes – money for free!
As Covid restrictions have continued, two things are happening. First I spend way too much time in front of a screen, often on the same old websites. Second, it seems like every time I open my email or answer the phone, there is a new scam for me to be fooled by. It never ends.
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Are you thinking of adding something new to your daily life this Lent?
Lent is a wonderful season to begin a new faith practice; the practice of reading an entire book of the bible, day-by-day, is one members of your church might like to participate in.
This year, if your congregation follows the lectionary, the Gospel of Mark will be featured most weeks of our year. Journeying through this very readable gospel as a individual or a congregation early in the season offers all ages the opportunity to hear this gospel first as a complete story before they return to its individual texts through the year in worship, study and Sunday school.
To help everyone with this faith practice, here is a free, downloadable devotional booklet for individual or churches to use this Lent.
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Did you ask to receive the links to the six Interactive Lent Gardens?
I hope so.
I just want to let everyone know that I just emailed out the links to the six interactive Lent Gardens to everyone who asked to receive them. But, I don’t want anyone to slip through the cracks. With entering well over a hundred email addresses into the BCC, I’m just a little bit worried.
So, if you asked to receive the Interactive Lent Gardens and have not yet received an email that includes the six links, six garden screen shots, a materials shopping list and instructions for uploading all of this onto your website, facebook page or include in your weekly email – PLEASE EMAIL ME AND LET ME KNOW. I want to make sure you get them. My email is torismit@gmail.com.
If you didn’t ask to receive them, and you’d like to, email me too.
And, if you asked for them, and you got them. I’m thankful. I hope these enhance your church’s journey through Lent in wonder-filled ways.
Peace, Tori
A couple of weeks ago I invited you to ‘Save the Space’ for an exciting new interactive Lent resource being created for your church. I teased you with a picture of a Lent Garden wall beautifully decorated with flowers, a garden gnome and a picnic basket filled with tasty treats. I said every item in the garden would unlock a collection of bible readings, videoed stories, crafts, music, and other garden adventures for your congregation to explore every week of Lent.
And then I said, “but not quite yet.”
Well today is the day! Today is the day I want to unlock the first two of six Lent Gardens for you to explore for yourself.
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by Laura Stephens-Reed, Clergy and Congregational Coach, laurastephensreed.com
Reprinted with the permission of the author
I recently posted the thoughts below on my Facebook page. They seemed to strike a chord, so I’m offering them here as well. Lay leaders, judicatory and denominational leaders, and ministers working outside the congregational context, I urge you to share these reflections on behalf of those local church pastors who cannot.
Churchgoers, I know you are tired of this pandemic. I know you want to hug your friends and see their full, unmasked faces on Sunday mornings. I know you are frustrated when your fellow church members start attending services and programs in congregations that are taking fewer precautions. I know you are heartbroken that Advent and Christmas observances won’t look the same this year.
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Are you beginning to look for great resources for Lent that are suitable for all ages and appropriate for people who are continuing to spend most of their time at home during this pandemic?
If so, I would like to tell you about an exciting resource we’ve been working on for you and your church to use this Lent.
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A number of years ago, my then minister, Rev. Dr. Karen Dimock, preached a sermon in which she talked about light. She reminded us that the light of Jesus’ time was the light of an oil lamp not the light of a light bulb and certainly not the light of a spot light. Her point was simple, the light Jesus describes does not usually allow us to see the end of our journey or even the whole picture; often it only allows us to see the next step.
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Merry Christmas!
Welcome to our Christmas Living Room; a place to hear and read the amazing story of Christmas, sing a song, make a tasty treat, do a craft, and have an outdoor adventure.
This week we meet a newborn baby, cuddled and loved by his parents Mary and Joseph. This baby, Jesus, has come to change the world as Isaiah told us he would over 500 years before Jesus’ birth. On the road to Bethlehem there are travellers rushing to see this baby; shepherds and Magi. Let’s join them in the celebration.
To access the Christmas Living Room click on the link at the end of this article. This will take you to an interactive version of the picture you see at the beginning of this article. Once there, click on the candle first to hear and see our Christmas story. After that click on the other objects you find in the room. Each will open up a new, fun thing to do. Check out the nativity scene, the mixing bowl, the musical instrument and papers, the cup of crayons, and the window to the outdoors. Have fun!
Enjoy your Christmas. And then, like the shepherds, go out and share all that you have seen and heard this day. Merry Christmas!
Click here to enter into the Christmas Living Room
As we come close to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of our Saviour and to worship him, Tori and I would like to wish you the most joyous and blessed Christmas!
This has been an unusual year in so many ways. We are so grateful for your resilience, courage and leadership in these times! We are thankful for your willingness to undertake thankless tasks with grace and good humour.
As we come to celebrate this Christmas, we are particularly mindful of the nativity in the Gospel of John where we read:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 11 NRSV)
While 2021 promises a light at the end of the tunnel, it will still be challenging in many ways. As you continue to lead with grace and courage, may you and yours be strengthened and encouraged with these two promises; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it and, the Word became flesh and lives among us. This is God’s promise to us all – this is our hope and this is our assurance!
Merry Christmas and a joyous new year to you and yours!
In Christ,
Tori and John-Peter Smit
Are you looking to take a short break from your regular Sunday school lessons to keep everyone engaged? Would you like to give your Sunday school teachers a bit of a planning break? Perhaps you’d like to supplement your Sunday school lessons with a mid-week email to help build a bridge between one Sunday and the next by providing additional, related materials. Or, perhaps you’ve been sending out devotions and activities over Advent and want to assist your families in keeping up their newly established practice of reading bible stories together and doing fun activities at home.
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