Archive for the ‘Archive’ Category

4/5/26 Easter Sunday @ 10:30

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD

Join us April 5 as we celebration the Resurrection

  • Easter Brunch from 9-10am Served by Peace Youth; freewill offering

  • 9:45am Children’s Activities

  • 10:30am Festival Worship with Bells, Choir, Brass, and Organ

YouTube link can be found HERE.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Easter 1A 4.5.26 bulletin

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on April 2nd, 2026

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Holy Week and Easter Services April 2 – April 5

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Please join us as we journey with Jesus during his final days and celebrate his passover from death to life.

THE TRIDUUM: ONE SERVICE OVER THREE DAYS

With nightfall and the beginning of the Maundy Thursday liturgy we begin the celebration of the great act of God accomplished through the death and rising again of Jesus in the Triduum—The Three Days. It is one service.

April 2 ~ Maundy Thursday, 7pm  Worship with Holy Communion and stations for prayer, baptismal remembrance, and washing.        

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: 1 Maundy Thursday A 4.2.2026

 

April 3~ Good Friday, 7pm Prayer around the Cross

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: 2 Good Friday A 4.3.26 7pm bulletin

 

 

April 4~ Easter Vigil, 7pm New fire, Saving Story, Baptismal Remembrance,

Easter Proclamation. 

 

CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD – APRIL 5th 

Join us April 5 as we celebration the Resurrection

  • Easter Brunch from 9-10am Served by Peace Youth; freewill offering

  • 9:45am Children’s Activities

  • 10:30am Festival Worship with Bells, Choir, Brass, and Organ

All services Live Streamed except the Easter Vigil.  YouTube link can be found HERE.

Posted by pastorerik on March 29th, 2026

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3/29/26 Palm/Passion Sunday @ 10:30

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

Today, we encounter the paradox that defines our faith: Jesus Christ is glorified king and humiliated servant. We too are full of paradox: we wave branches in celebration today as Christ comes into our midst, and we follow with trepidation as his path leads to death on the cross. Amid it all we are invited into this paradoxical promise of life through Christ’s broken body and outpoured love in a meal of bread and wine. We begin this week anticipating the completion of God’s astounding work.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 10:30am.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Lent A 2026 Palm-Passion 03.29.26 bulletin

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on March 26th, 2026

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3/22/26 Fifth Sunday in Lent @ 10:30

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

In today’s gospel Jesus reveals his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead. The prophet Ezekiel prophesies God breathing new life into dry bones. To those in exile or living in the shadows of death, these stories proclaim God’s promise of resurrection. In baptism we die with Christ that we might also be raised with him to new life.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 10:30am.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Lent 5A 2026 3.22.26 bulletin FINAL

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on March 18th, 2026

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3/15/26 Fourth Sunday in Lent @ 10:30

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

Baptism is sometimes called enlightenment. The gospel for this Sunday is the story of the man born blind healed by Christ. “I was blind, now I see,” declares the man, as he’s drawn into a controversy about “how” the healing happened.  In baptism God opens our eyes to see the truth of who we are: God’s beloved children. In baptism God anoints us and calls us to bear witness to the light of Christ in our daily lives; a vocation that comes with risks, but one in which Christ promises to accompany us.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 10:30am.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Lent 4A 2026 3.15.26 bulletin

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on March 11th, 2026

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3/8/26 Third Sunday in Lent

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

In today’s gospel the Samaritan woman asks Jesus for water, an image of our thirst for God. Jesus offers living water, a sign of God’s grace flowing from the waters of baptism. The early church used this gospel and those of the next two Sundays to deepen baptismal reflection during the final days of preparation before baptism at Easter. As we journey to the resurrection feast, Christ comes among us in word, bath, and meal—offering us the life-giving water of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Our Pass the Hat Partner this month is Holden Village. Director of Advancement Eric Bosell is here today to give us on update on what is happening with the road closure and what the plans are for the future.  During this deeply challenging time for the Village, we have an opportunity to make an investment in the future of Holden.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 10:30am.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Lent 3A 2026 3.8.26 bulletin

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on March 4th, 2026

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Pastor’s Pen for March 2026

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Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the eyes of the man born blind, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then we went and washed and came back able to see.

John 9:6-7

Beloved of God,

It was a beautiful fall afternoon—a perfect day for football—and I’d taken up my position on the sidelines to watch my son Nathan play in the first game of his senior year in high school.  The opposing team had the football and was moving it down field.  On second down, the fullback broke through the right side and Nathan pursued. As they collided, the fullback put his hand out and his thumb slipped between the bars of Nathan’s helmet, hitting him square in the left cheek and eye. Stunned, Nathan fell to the turf and didn’t get up.  I ran onto the field. 

He pulled off his helmet: DAD, IS MY EYE STILL IN?  Yes, Nathan, it’s in.  DAD?  Yes, Son.  MY CONTACT.

Nathan had gotten contacts the month before; this was the first game in which he’d worn them.  Looking at his injured eye, I couldn’t tell if the contact was still in or out.  I knew he needed immediate medical attention. The team trainer put a sock full of ice over his eye, wrapping it with an ace bandage to keep it in place.  I ran to get my van while the coaches helped Nathan to the sideline.  Then we headed for the emergency room.

The doctor took one look at Nathan’s eye and decided he needed to be seen by a specialist.  While we waited, I tried to reassure Nathan that everything would be all right, all the while wondering if I was telling the truth or lying.  By the time the X-rays were done, the eye specialist had arrived.  Ever so gingerly he examined Nathan and assessed the damage.  The X-rays confirmed what he suspected: Nathan had a BLOWOUT fracture.  The force of the collision had shattered the sub-orbital bone below his left eye and pushed his eyeball back and down.  It was impossible to tell without proper equipment whether he’d sustained permanent damage or not.  The next 72 hours would be critical.  Nathan was to stay on complete bed rest at home, keeping both eyes closed. By the time we left the hospital that night, Nathan’s world had shrunk. His left eye had disappeared completely under the swelling tissue that surrounded it. My eyes were his eyes now. Would he see out of that eye again? Only time would tell.  Thankfully, over the ensuing weeks, Nathan’s eye did recover and his sight returned. Soli deo gloria!

Our Lenten journey during March has us spending considerable time in the Gospel of John.  For four weeks running our gospel readings will explore stories of encounters between Jesus and various characters—Jesus and Nicodemus (March 1); Jesus and the Samaritan woman (March 8); Jesus and the man born blind (March 15); and Jesus and Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (March 22).  Each encounter gives us insight into who Jesus is and how God’s work in him brings new hope and possibilities to our skeptical, weary world.  Each story speaks to the process of transformation that attends our lives in Christ.  Together these stories have served as the church’s “core curriculum” for centuries for those preparing for baptism at Easter. On March 15 we’ll hear the story of how Jesus healed a man born blind.  It’s a story about physical sight and spiritual sight; and a story about what it means to see in Jesus God’s light come into the world and the consequences of living out that insight.  This story, like so many in John’s gospel, gives us a lot to unpack.  For example, John doesn’t use a personal name for the character in the story, he only identifies him simply as “anthropos” – “man”; which raises the question of whether John wants us to see this man and his blindness as a stand-in for all humankind.

When Jesus makes mud with the earth and his own spittle and spreads it on the man’s eyes, we hear echoes of the creation story where God scoped up a handful of earth—ADAMAH—and shaped it into the first human being—ADAM.   If this echo we hear rings true, Jesus is not simply opening the eyes of a blind man—he’s bringing a new creation into being, and acting as God himself acted “in the beginning.”  Over the course of the story, the sight of the formerly blind man—on multiple levels—becomes clearer while those religious leaders best positioned to “see” God’s work in the world prove themselves to be blind. To live the baptismal life is to have our sight sharpened; to begin to see the world as Christ sees it; to begin to see one another as Christ sees us.

There are voices in our country—very loud ones—who want us, when we look at our neighbors, not to see potential friends but rather clear enemies; not fellow human beings created in God’s image but dangerous and threatening criminals. But dear Siblings in Christ, we who have had our eyes rinsed clear in baptismal waters have been given a new lens for viewing the world and each other, and that lens changes everything.  Ambrose, the 4th century bishop of Milan, put it this way:

YOU WENT, YOU WASHED, YOU CAME TO THE ALTAR, YOU BEGAN TO SEE WHAT YOU HAD NOT SEEN BEFORE.[1]  During Lent we are invited to see what we had not seen before. To reject dehumanizing rhetoric, to resist meanness and lies, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  A simple calling, but one that takes a lifetime investment to make our own.     

With you on the Way,

Pastor Erik

 

[1] Quoted in Our Sight Restored, author and publisher unknown.

Posted by pastorerik on February 26th, 2026

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3/1/26 Second Sunday in Lent @ 10:30

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

During Lent we journey with all those around the world who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. In today’s gospel Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born of water and Spirit. At the font we are a given a new birth as children of God. As God made a covenant with Abraham, in baptism God promises to raise us up with Christ to new life. From worship we are sent forth to proclaim God’s love for all the world.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 10:30am.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Lent 2A 2026 3.1.26 bulletin FINAL

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on February 25th, 2026

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2/22/26 First Sunday in Lent @ 10:30

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

Adam and Eve test boundaries and their lives bear the consequences. Paul uses their story as a template for understanding the human predicament and God’s solution. Jesus, fresh from baptism, spends 40 days in the wilderness, saying NO to Satan. His forty-day fast becomes the basis of our Lenten pilgrimage. In the early church Lent was a time of intense preparation for those to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. This catechetical focus on the meaning of faith is at the heart of our Lenten journey to the baptismal waters of Easter.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 10:30am.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Lent 1A 2026 2.22.26 bulletin

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on February 18th, 2026

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2/18/26 Ash Wednesday @ 7 pm

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Welcome to Peace!  We’re so glad you found us. 

On Ash Wednesday we begin our forty-day journey with Christ toward the cross and empty tomb.  Marking our foreheads with ash, we acknowledge that we are destined to die and return to the Earth. At the same time, the ash traces the life-giving cross indelibly marked on our foreheads at baptism. While we journey together through this season, our relationship with God through the covenant of baptism is renewed. Returning to our baptismal call, we are set free to more intentionally bear the fruits of mercy and justice in the world.

To join worship via our Live Stream channel, follow this LINK @ 7:00 pm.

The Worship Guide can be downloaded here: Ash Wednesday A 2026 02.18.26

Posted by Kathleen Keyes on February 18th, 2026

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