January 2026

Happy New Year everyone!

Welcome to another turn of the page into a new year.  Calendar moments like these mark the times of changes of seasons, rotations of the earth, location of the moon, and remind us that change is a normal part of life.

What a huge change happens in a family and a community when a baby is born.  A new life, great wonder, new expectations, new delights, new baby clothes and toys! Ta-Da! But also a new sleep cycle, new expenses, new home safety plans, new grocery shopping.  Oh no! When the gospel of John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, we remember that love and the mundane comes with caring for a living breathing creature that needs to be sustained and kept safe!  Never mind the added burden of being Divine!  Being Mary and Joseph must have been an otherworldly experience.   The birth of a child puts thoughts of the future before us like no other experience.

With the start of a new year we are offered the chance to look at the world with different eyes, with expectation in our hearts, through new lenses, much like the colors of these windows.  

As we enter 2026, my wish for us is that we look at others through lenses of kindness, caring, abundant joy, justice, and peace.  I wish for us to come to new definitions of what really matters.  Slow down. Offer gentleness.  Breathe. Follow God's path and delight in God's wonderful plans.

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Blessings, Pastor Deb

February 2026

Welcome to February!

Did you know that the month of February “began life as an afterthought? For two whole months each year, time didn’t officially exist in ancient Rome.

The earliest Roman calendar, created around 753 BCE only counted ten months. It began in March and ended in December, leaving nearly sixty winter days floating unrecorded. This early system was more agricultural than astronomical, designed to track the growing season rather than the full solar year. Decades later January and February were added (to the end of the year) creating the twelve-month structure we still use today. Eventually Julius Caesar moved the beginning of the year to January, placing February in its current place as our second month.

God gave us the sun and the moon and sent them spinning and set our lives into rhythm. Since the beginning of time, literally, humans have been trying to control it – corral it, stop it, extend it, pause it, understand it. Using land and sky, looking for patterns to live by, patterns to hunt and gather by, patterns for waking and sleeping, patterns for work and play, etc.

The Church is no different. We set ourselves into patterns for worship by day, by week and by year. The cycles bring us comfort and assurances of God’s presence through repetition, warmth, consistency and promise. We find ourselves in February, moving toward the time of wondering exactly what it means for Christ himself, and for us, to be together. Why did God come? Who is Christ? What might it have been like to live as Christ lived, knowing that he will die to his humanity but rise to his divinity for our sakes. We have a great deal on our calendar this month, so I hope you take note and feel welcome!

Blessings, Pastor Deb

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March 2026

Welcome to March, my friends.

Easter is best done in any way that helps us feel closer to God.  Often that means finding a practice that leads to awareness of the love of Christ, the challenge of discipleship, the gratefulness we have for God's grace, the call on us by Christ to love our neighbors.  For some that means adding a practice – daily prayer, volunteer activity, expressions of thankfulness, reduction in behaviors that are not conducive to the Imago Dei, the image of God in each of us.  Penitence does not need to be punishment.  Perhaps we can care for our neighbors more if we listen to less news, or limit our intake of anxiety producing media.  Perhaps we can make it a practice to notice one good thing in real time, each day.  Lent is not a time of suffering.  Lent is a time of preparation, a time to look forward to the Good News that we experience every day – the love and grace of God is ours.  Thanks be to God.

May we experience a fulfilling Lenten season.

Blessings, Pastor Deb

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Every year I look for it.  Do you see it?  The one, the first, the lonely but hopeful little yellow daffodil that bursts through the dirt on the hill of our upper parking lot.

There it stands, trying to stand tall and hold all of the hope of the coming spring in its one solitary beautiful flower.  The last protest against winter, rising above the surface.

As a symbol of renewal and rebirth and hope, daffodils are a perfect symbol for this season of Lent which invites us to look forward to the coming of our Risen Christ.  Another reason for their perfect Lenten symbolism is their connection to inward reflection and humility.  This balance of looking forward/outward while simultaneously looking inward is the way through the season of Lent.

There are many rules that have come to be associated with Lent, however none of those rules exists beyond the traditions and direction of one's heart.  Our denomination does not forbid or expect any one behavior over another.  Preparing for

April 2026

Welcome to April!

excitement and anticipation to what it is we are about to do. I think that works for many things. If we can develop a sense of joy, whether simple or overt, we can affect the outcome of anything we do. I think that works for many things. If we can develop a sense of joy, whether simple or overt, we can affect the outcome of anything we do. As someone who understands what I call “graduate level” depression, I cringe at the idea of false joy, made up pleasantness, untrue happiness. I think there is a kind of joy that lives even underneath the worst rubble of our lives that helps us to be resilient and hopeful.

Easter day may be over, but Christ is Risen, always! The very reason for our faith. As we deepen our faith we continue to invite the risen Christ into our hearts and minds as we live every day. We do that by spending time in prayer, study, and worship. There are formal ways to pray and study and worship and there are informal ways. I hope that whatever means you use to deepen your faith, there is a God given joy leading the way.

May the joy of Easter go with you.

Blessings, Pastor Deb

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While Easter Sunday may be over for this year, the Easter Season continues through May. The Easter feeling though, is year round! (Does that mean I can eat chocolate every day all year?)

I was recently listening to a music instructor offer words of advice for the best way to practice. She said that joy doesn’t happen when you find the perfect tone quality, or when you can finally play a difficult passage, or when you perfect some exercise or another. She said joy happens before you start practice, inside us, so that we then bring that joy to our practice. In other words, joy is not attached to the outcome, but exists before we begin. I don’t think she was referring only to the kind of joy that comes from being happy or in a good mood, but also bringing a sense of