If you were wondering, then the answer is...Yes! We will be having our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service in the Sanctuary again this year.

We hope that you and your family will join us on December 24 at 6:30 pm as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"— which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

Just a little reminder: Our Sunday worship service is now at 10:30 am all year long. All are welcome!

When Pastor Peggi felt the time was right in Antrim for an event to remember pets that moved on during the past year (and to bless those that are still with us)--little did she know what would be in the selection of pets to visit her!

Along with the usual collection of cats, dogs, and birds were a pair of llamas--seen here edging out Peggi in the height contest.

Peggi blessed various critters on the front lawn of the church from noon until 4PM, and then led a service of thanksgiving in the sanctuary.

God's blessings on all animals in Antrim--whether they were able to spend time with our pastor or not...

Choose "Read more" and then "Next" to go to the next page if you would like to see large versions of the images above (warning--they are pretty large)...

Natasha’s Tale… a Parable not yet finished

Rescued!
Being Rescued can be traumatic… pulled out of darkness, fear, and pain… carried in a strangers’ arms to a new place without being consulted… moved from one place to another… then once again kenneled in fear for long hours, surrounded by strangers… then again bright lights and new smells and voices and faces… not knowing that each new place takes me one step further away from the abuse and closer to the home that is being prepared for me… knowledge comes later; now there is confusion and fear… but also a new experience of “nice” that I don’t trust yet, but Oh! I want to trust it.
       __Natasha

Even though we like to deny that we have been abused or neglected, that we have been sinned upon or have become the ‘collateral damage’ of the sin-full-ness of the human race, when we are honest about our lives we  know, at some level, that “sin is real” and “sin is pervasive”.  When we experience, for the first time, the truth of the Cross, the reality of God’s Grace, the freedom that comes from coming Home to God, … that’s when we can write “Rescued!” in our Diaries.

Too often, we sit down at that point, and take a deep breath, and refuse to move on.  “After all, God has forgiven me and saved me and I am OK!  So that’s DONE.  We don’t have to keep harping on it, do we?”
If the story stops there, the healing and the recovery don’t happen.  If the work stops there, we (humans) can fall into the traps of complacency, of arrogance about our own rescue, and of contempt for those who have not yet found their rescuers. 
       __Peggi

Inside the Church we are celebrating the season of Eastertide, and the Gospel readings focus on the Lord’s post-resurrection appearances.  It’s a time for rejoicing, for Alleluias and Hope and the triumph of God’s Love over death and everything negative.

Yet in our world, in the last two weeks, we have experienced the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the Nor’easter flooding in New England, and everywhere we turn neighbors are sick and children are at risk.  The calendar says Spring is here, but in spite of the defiant shorts-wearers the daffodiles haven’t bloomed yet. 

So, how do we put the resurrection and the reality together?