Merry Christmas!
We had a wonderful turnout for our Christmas caroling event and marshmallow toasting fest in the Garden Park around our holiday tree last night! The air was clear and dry, the fire warm and toasty, the moon shone brightly overhead (see that gleaming globe over the top of our tree), Santa Claus came to greet us all, and Christmas cheer filled the air. We even had participants who had never enjoyed a campfire or toasted a marshmallow before joining right into the festivities. What a great way to usher God’s Spirit into our neighborhood together. God bless you all! Toasting marshmallows...
Read MoreOur Tree is Up!
Thanks to the generous donation from Don and Connie at The 1792 Filigree Inn of a wonderful tree for our Bird & Butterfly garden and a dedicated group of friends and neighbors, our 2015 Christmas Tree is up and illuminated! Decorating time If you can spare some time this coming Thursday morning, December 10, from 9 to 1 we’ll be hosting hundreds of kids from School #29 who will be walking to the garden park with their teachers and carrying the ornaments they’ve made in their art classes to decorate the tree. After each class has put up their ornaments, they will be going...
Read MoreHanukkah 2015
Jesus at the temple Now it was winter, and the Feast of Dedication was taking place at Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews encircled Him and said to Him, “How long are You going to hold us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (John 10.22-24) Calendar: Hanukkah 2015 will be celebrated from December 6 through December 14. Click here to find out more about Hanukkah and how it is celebrated. Then get out your menorah and dreidel, light the candles day by day, prepare some latkes, and join in the fun!...
Read MorePoverty in Rochester
Rochester remains fifth poorest city in U.S. An analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday for the most recent five-year period shows that the City of Rochester’s poverty rate continues to rise. Data from the new American Community Survey for the years 2010 through 2014 shows: Rochester’s overall poverty rate increased slightly from 32.9 percent to 33.8 percent. Rochester’s child poverty rate increased markedly, from 50.1 percent to 52.5 percent. The city’s rate of extreme poverty (below half the federal poverty line) grew slightly from 16.2 percent to 16.4 percent. Rochester...
Read MoreA “safe place”?
This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University! Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma Wesleyan University This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears that this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable. I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic. Any time...
Read MoreSupermoon completes tetrad
This year the night of September 27-28, which heralds the start of the biblical celebration of Sukkot (the “Feast of Tabernacles“), will bring another “blood moon.” To skywatchers, the dramatic term refers to the copper color the moon takes on during an eclipse, but to some observers, this event – the fourth and final eclipse in an unusual tetrad of four consecutive total lunar eclipses coinciding with major biblical holidays, each separated by six lunar months – will fill a biblical prophecy of the apocalypse. The first three in the series took place on Passover...
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