Blessed Lent, Mission Friends of Orchard Covenant! Instead of my own words,  I thought I’d hand the mic over to Cathy Norman Peterson,  editor of Covenant Companion. Here is a snippet and then I encourage all of you to click the link to read the whole article: “Esau McCaulley writes about the pitfalls of being…

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Can you believe that Lent begins next week on February 22 (Ash Wednesday)? Several years ago I read a story about a pregnant woman who asked her priest what she should give up for Lent. He told her, “Nothing. You have already given up your body, your schedule,…

With the complicated nature of cars these days,  we almost never open on the hood of our cars.  But I remember as a kid,  working on our Model K- cars with my dad.  I remember the marvel of seeing all the parts working together to make the car move.  I also remember sometimes seeing mouse…

I wanted to thank you so much for your prayers for and support of Pastor Nick as he continues to pursue his ordination. Happily, he “passed” his final interview for ordination at the Midwinter Conference with the Board of Ordered Ministry and we will look forward to his ordination on July 1 this summer in…

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.  – 2 Cor. 7:10 Paul wrote these words after having had to write a pretty sharp letter to the church in the greek town of Corinth.  He wanted them to understand that when we are challenged to live our life…

What has the Lord been stirring in you lately? I used to expect that God would deliver a personal message to me every day. I believe God can do this, particularly when we are reading scripture on a regular basis, but I’m finding in this season of my life, the Lord seems to stretch themes…

“O Holy Night” is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Did you know it was translated into English (from French) in Massachusetts, likely in West Roxbury? The translation was done in 1855 by John Sullivan Dwight who was a unitarian minister and the former director of the school at the 19th-century Brook Farm commune. Did you know that…

How important are names? When Pastor Nick and I were preparing for our boys to be born we talked for hours about their names. It was one of the most enjoyable parts about planning for their arrival. We picked out names for girls, names for boys. We considered what their initials would be. As you may know,…

Dear OCC,                                                                                                            …

The virtue we are wrestling with this coming Sunday is restfulness. Though I believe Jesus can commiserate with our stress, (he did after all, sweat blood in Luke 22:44), he promised his yoke was easy. We also don’t see the Creator God stressed from all the creating. However, we do see in scripture that our God…