“Joy to the World” turns 300 years old this year.

The words of the hymn are by Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 98, 96:11–12 and Genesis 3:17–18.  And now 300 years later is a most recognizable and often sung Advent carol.

In honor of this milestone we are celebrating with a special Advent journey “Heaven and Nature Sing”.

Looking at several different ways that we can experience and bring joy to everyone around us, even and especially when our circumstances and current events are not so happy. When we use the word joy in modern language, we usually think of simple happiness or bliss. But true joy goes so much deeper than that. Inspired by The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, this series expands our experience of joy and calls us to a new understanding of what it means to be peace, hope, love, and joy in a troubled world.

Please Join Us

• December 1 – “Prepare Him Room: Hopeful Joy”
• December 8 – “Repeat the Sounding Joy: Loving Joy”
• December 15 – “Make the Blessings Known: Unabashed Joy”
• December 22 – “Make the Nations Prove: Peaceful Joy”
• December 24 – “The Lord is Come: Incarnate Joy”

Sundays 9:45 am, and Christmas Eve 6:00pm

Credit: Marcia McFee

Saturday October 5th from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm

Sunday 9/15 at 10:00 am

Del Valle Park – 5939 Henrilee Street, Lakewood

Bring a side dish to share. Plates, etc. will be provided.

Freshly grilled Bratwurst will be served.

Everybody is welcome: Hungry; Well Fed; Young; Old: Queer; Not; Happy; Sad… basically, come as you are!

Easter Service at 9:45.

Join us as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you can please bring a couple of fresh flowers. We decorate a living cross as part of our service tradition.

Join us for a special labyrinth walk where we will take all the prayers from the God Box along with new prayers and lay them at the foot of the cross in the center of the labyrinth.

If you have never walked the labyrinth come and give it a try. You’ll be moved in some fashion as you ponder the Life and Death of Jesus Christ as you walk into the center of the labyrinth and back out again. And who knows you might just decide to make a labyrinth walk part of your spiritual practice.

Time: 7:00 PM

Join us Thursday April 18, 2019 at 7:00 pm as we commemorate the Last Supper.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another

John 13:34

Our ceremony is one of fellowship. We gather in our community room and share a meal. The Pastor will offer reflections and a prayer.

Our meal tradition is one of soup and bread. The soup is a combination of several different soups brought by each of us and cooked in a communal pot. A vegan option will also be served.

All are welcome; no soup donation required. Come as you are and observe with us this Holy day.

Synopsis  The season of Lent has often been a time when we think about “giving something up”—a holdover from its penitential flavor in the medieval church. But what if we thought less about “giving up” and more about “making room?” In this Lent series, we will find out what it really costs to be so busy. Let us reconnect to an unhurried God.

Ash Wednesday: “Busy”                     March 6 @ 7:15 pm

Come to me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

Sunday at 9:45 am & Tuesday at 7:15 pm

First week of Lent: “The Right Tempo”                  March 10 / 12

Come to me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Second week of Lent: “Preparing a Table”                 March 17 / 19

Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Psalm 23

Third week of Lent: “Tuning In”                               March 24 / 26

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:38-42

Fourth week of Lent: “Living Light”                           March 31 / April 2

Don’t chase after what you will eat and what you will drink. Stop worrying. All the nations of the world long for these things… Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Abba delights in giving you the kin-dom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Make for yourselves wallets that don’t wear out — a treasure in heaven that never runs out. No thief comes near there, and no moth destroys. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.

Luke 12:29-34

Fifth week of Lent: “A Time for Every Matter”      April 7 / 9

For everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Palm Sunday: “Give it a Rest”              April 14 

Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.” — Exodus 20:8 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.

Mark 2:21-28

Easter: Reconnecting to an Unhurried God April 21

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord— and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you… I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another…

John 13:12-35

P.S. The chair has a significance. Come find out how!

Tuesday, December 24 | 6:00 pm

Come celebrate with us! This is a great time to invite friends and family to join in an evening of singing Christmas carols and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Everyone is welcome!

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

–Luke 2:9–14