By Karen Schoeppach Are you in high spirits after spending the holiday celebrating the birth of Christ with family and friends? Or are you exhausted because you worked on and worried over gifts, Christmas cards, and parties? You can either enjoy the time you spend with family and friends or allow it to wear you down and bury the true reason for celebrating. Society, the retail world, and the media put pressure on us to follow their plans and examples. The ads for products

A Devotional by Pastor Jamie While Advent is my favorite liturgical season of the church year, I am always struck by the paradox it brings. Advent calls us to prepare ourselves for Christ’s arrival, knowing that he has already come. We anticipate Christ’s second coming, knowing that it cannot be predicted and will come like “a thief in the night.” With many aspects of our faith, we live in the reminder of God’s faithful presence and action in the world through our Scriptural

By Karen Schoeppach Prayer and praying, I have heard these words for as long as I can remember. Understanding the meaning of the words and the actions they represent came as I grew up and heard people praying for others, for situations, for outcomes, and for help when all seemed lost. I am no stranger to prayer, to praying. I feel all prayers are important and worthy of God’s attention. What I haven’t realized is how much prayer means to those for whom we pray. People ask