14
Sep 2012
Last week I shared our working draft of our Mission statement: Our Mission— In Draft Form We are dedicated to: Revealing the Gospel of Christ Reclaiming God’s Promises Relating to God and each other Rejoicing in the Holy Spirit … in order to receive and minister Christ’s love, hope and healing as members of Light of Christ on mission in Southeast Wisconsin. Today, I want to share what we mean by revealing: Revealing We faithfully live and proclaim the Gospel we have received from the Apostles in our preaching, teaching, liturgical offices......
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14
Feb 2012
While our vision statement is intended to describe what we look like when we are truly being who God has made us and anointed us to be, a mission statement’s purpose is to more precisely describe what we do, as we are being ourselves. As we noted in the introduction to our vision statement, there is a universal call to ministry which the Church must fulfill throughout time. However, in a particular time, through the unique anointings of a local assembly of Christ followers, that mission will be expressed in distinctive ways–which......
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14
Feb 2012
This Advent, our Adult Sunday School class will be discussing the topic of “Hope in Context” on how to practice the virtue of hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. Our classes will begin with a devotional thought and then discuss personal and relational tools brought by Karen Cassiday. Our topics include: November 30 – Building Hope: Cultivating Gratitude and Avoiding Perfectionism Handout: 100 Days of Giving Thanks Handout: Bible Verse on Thanksgiving December 7 – Building Hope in our Home: Cultivating Your Marriage Handout: Building Your Skills in Marriage December 14 – Preparing for Christ’s Coming:......
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15
Jan 2012
Christmas Giving Project This year Light of Christ is partnering with The Salvation Army to adopt Amanda and her four children. You can help by praying, shopping for gifts that fit each child’s needs/wants, or by donating money or Walmart gift cards. To give, you can write out a check to Light of Christ, put “Christmas Giving Project” in the memo line and place it in the offering plate on Sunday. Amanda’s family consists of: Amanda (mom): Shirt size: Large Pants size: 14 -womens Shoe size: 9 shoes Jacket size: X large Boot size: 9 ......
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14
Dec 2011
“Let us attend!” is the last thing the Priest says in the Eastern Orthodox rite before the Gospel is read aloud. The fact that this ancient exhortation is given at least twice before the reading implies that people’s attention spans have been a problem since the earliest days of the Church. Paying attention has only gotten more difficult in our over-stimulated and over-entertained culture. Today, preachers have taken to doing all sorts of rhetorical backflips during their sermons to keep the minds of listeners from wandering— for example, breaking sermons up into 7......
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13
Oct 2010
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” — Luke 24:32 This year our theme is “Red Letter Living.” For many of us, that immediately conjures up our trusty KJV Bibles with the words of Jesus printed in red. This is a modern symbol of something the Church has known since its inception: that the words of Jesus are somehow different from other words–they stand out against the flood of words of the world; they have an effect on us that......
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13
Aug 2010
A thanksgiving reminiscence from a former regular much missed by our little church. His words are reminders of what we have to be thankful for in those ways that we reflect Christ, what what we must be humble and faithful stewards to preserve. –Fr. Eirik For a church that welcomes strangers, and makes us feel at home For the liturgy, that shapes and keeps us, week in and week out, without us quite realizing it For children who run to take communion and dance on the way back to their seats, and......
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13
Jan 2010
The excitement was palpable when I entered the sanctuary. You could feel it in the air and see it on the faces of everyone there. I’ll be honest, I was having a hard time convincing myself to be excited about a three-hour service with four squirmy kids who were bursting with energy after a two-hour drive. But looking around at all the activity, the last minute preparations, soon-to-be-Bishop Stewart smiling and hugging everyone he passed, I couldn’t help but feel the joyful anticipation of what was about to happen. As a friend pointed out, we were participating......
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15
Sep 2009
…But Not Our Vision Sunday, September 13 marks a momentous day in Wisconsin. Sure it’s NFL’s opening Sunday and the Packers just happen to be playing the Bears. Admittedly, that alone is enough to make any Wisconsinite get the cheese out. But tucked away in a 3-car garage just off Park Avenue in Racine WI will be the first worship service of Parish House Anglican. As the priest of this newly minted congregation I’m excited and confused all at the same time. Julie and I moved to our current home 3 1/2......
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13
Sep 2007
Recently, in a time of prayer, I got a picture of Jesus cutting away the partially healed edges of an old wound and cleaning it out. I expected him to sew me up and send me on my way, but that’s what happened. Instead he left this nice clean wound open. I kept prayerfully waiting for the stitches and it never happened. I began to feel really vulnerable as I sat with this open wound and found I wanted to cover it up myself. As I was relating this to a friend......
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