Finding Joy

Kelly Bixby
Finding Joy
As this most wonderful time of the year--Christmas--inches closer, many of us don’t feel the joy we’re entitled to. Some are better at masking inner pain than others are. But grief is no less a burden just because we’re good at hiding it. Personally, the stress my family and I are going through is like nothing we’ve faced before. We’re... Read More

Fanfare and Pageantry

Kelly Bixby
Fanfare and Pageantry
Because the dad was smiling, I was pretty sure I hadn’t offended him too much. He asked, “Did you just say, ‘Every parent should force their child to be in the Christmas pageant’?” Absolutely I did. His high-school sophomore son had told me a week earlier that he was willing to participate, and ever since, I had been counting on... Read More

Christ Was Love

Rev. Steven Schafer
Christ Was Love
A sermon delivered December 11, 2016 on the third Sunday of Advent at Mt. Hope Congregational Church, by Rev. Steven Schafer Texts: Zechariah 2:10-13 and Luke 2:15-2:20 Babies are something special. I can never forget what it was like to see my two girls at their births. That is a feeling and experience that nothing else can quite match. There... Read More