Romans 12:1-2 encourages junior high youth who have completed grades 6-8 to take their everyday lives and place them before God as an offering. Youth and youth advisors are encouraged to take part in this weekend filled with worship, workshops, music, and recreation at Elizabethtown College, June 19-21. Early bird registration cost is $160 per person (participants and advisors) from January 9 through March 31. On and after April 1, registration is $185 per person. Register now at http://www.brethren.org/yya/njhc/. For more information, contact Kristen Hoffman at or 847-429-4389.
Our Congregation has a Camp Scholarship Fund to help defray the costs of Summer Church Camp and Work Camps for our children and youth. We offer $25 for every camper, and more for those who need extra help.
Please consider making a special contribution to this fund.
Week-long camps are an excellent way for people to experience faith, service, community, and independence. Look for Summer Camp brochures soon. Please contact our camp ambassador, Jerry Anne Kines for more information.
EAD is an ecumenical conference held in the DC metro area each year. The Church of the Brethren is one of the ecumenical sponsors, and through worship, theological reflection, and learning, EAD seeks to strengthen our Christian voice and to mobilize for advocacy. This year’s theme is “Breaking the Chains: Mass Incarceration and Systems of Exploitation.” For more information, contact Nate Hosler, Director, Office of Public Witness, at .
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces pancetta or bacon, cut crosswise into ½-inch-wide strips and separated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Using a sharp knife or mandolin, thinly slice the Brussels sprouts crosswise, discarding the ends.
* Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the pancetta or bacon and stir. Cook until slightly crisp, about 5 minutes.
* Reduce the heat to medium high; add the Brussels sprouts, and cook, stirring often, until they are bright green and tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
* Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Christmas was a wonderful experience for us all. The times of worship, the caroling, the Christmas Eve service, the children, the music, and the beauty of God’s gift to us wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
December is a month of celebrating Christmas, and now in comes the New Year and we move into Epiphany, Lent and Holy Week. I want to share some words that both look back and ahead to the vision and mission Jesus called us to follow.
The stark nakedness of a cross
has little significance to many people today,
some even see it as a negative image.
After all, it was a means of capital punishment.
The cross is also a symbol of Jesus’ love, even as he suffered.
Jesus never asked us to worship a cross,
but to take up our cross and follow him.
Jesus could have walked away from Jerusalem
but his mission led that direction and so
he set his face toward Jerusalem.
Jesus faced the cross and saw beyond the cross.
He saw a greater vision and mission,
to the joy set before him, a vision of life for us all.
Abundant life that shimmers with grace and beauty and joy
reflecting the new creation in resurrection life.
Followers of Jesus are called to set their face beyond the cross,
to reach for the vision and live the mission
trusting God who is greater than the cross.
The cross is in the past, the resurrection is now!
-Richard Shreckhise
May we always celebrate the great works God has done.
May we ever rejoice in the moments now when we experience the nearness of Christ.
May we pay attention to the vision and mission ahead in the leading of the Spirit.
