“Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, drive the dark of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day.”¹ from “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee” lyrics by Henry Van Dyke, Jr. I love these words! I sing these words, and I mean them. And...

Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-28 and Jeremiah 31:31-34 If somebody were to compile a collection of Christians’ favorite Bible passages, I’ve got to believe, Jeremiah Thirty-One would make the list. This snippet of scripture has made its way into music and calls to worship, and...

Jonah 1:1-17 and Jonah 3:1-10 I am Pastor Mariah, and I bring greetings to the people of Church of Peace United Church of Christ and to the people of Two Rivers United Methodist Church. It is a joy to bring a message to both congregations for today, Sunday November...

1 Kings 17:1-16 Sometime you might hear the mystics talk about the thin places. Thin places are where the boundary between the spiritual realm and the physical realm is so thin, it practically disintegrates. Thin places remind me of the marshy edge that runs along the...

2 Samuel 7:1-17 However it is that you found your way to church today, I’m glad you did. There’s no question; there are some surprising blessings that come from having church like this. People who are not able to come to Twelfth and Twelfth on a Sunday morning can now...

1 Samuel 1:9-11 &19-20, 1 Samuel 2:1-10 Today our story begins with a woman named Peninnah who’s married to a man named Elkanah, and they have children together. But Elkanah is also married to Hannah, and what the Bible wants us to know is that Hannah cannot have...

Exodus 12:1-13 and Exodus 13:1-8 Today we hear how the story begins when the LORD our God delivers the whole congregation of Israel out of slavery, and here’s what I’m wondering. It’s not in the Bible, but do you suppose there was one person who — didn’t want to go…...

Genesis 15:1-6 When the Council called an emergency meeting after church on March Fifteenth, I thought we would be navigating a crisis that would last a few weeks. Do you remember the early days of the pandemic? Way back in March, the commercially made masks were...

Genesis 2:4-7 and Genesis 3:1-8 In the beginning, God breathed into the dust and created humankind out of the dirt. That’s people for you — made from dust with the breath of the Spirit, made out of the stench of all things human and the Hallelujah of all things holy…...

Psalm 103 Last November, the people of Church of Peace identified five priorities that express the heart of our church’s mission. Well, we voted on the five and named Twenty Twenty the Year of Caring and Service, but the runners up matter too. For the past few weeks,...