Often many Christians struggle with the thought of Santa Claus at Christmastime. If Jesus is the reason for the season, then why should we celebrate Santa Claus? Pastor Chris Hardy of Bangor First United Methodist Church, sees Santa as a …
Christmas card outreach to inmates grows
The Eastern PA Conference’s Christmas Cards to Inmates Project scored another record-breaking year in December 2017. Nearly 9,500 Christmas cards were, in the words of a popular song, “signed, sealed, delivered,” mostly to recipients in 11 of our region’s county and state correctional facilities.
Some Christmas reading to inspire your spirit of the season
Are you “all in,” or want to be, when it comes to having and sharing the spirit of Christmas? Got time to do some light reading that just might bolster your spirit of the season? Check out our denomination’s official …
Sharing good news through good deeds—Churches celebrate Advent
The Christian season of Advent that culminates in Christmas is such a wondrous time in the lives of many churches. Throughout this month churches across the Eastern PA Conference have been: performing in Christmas pageants, parades cantatas and concerts, including …
2018: The Year of the Migrant
In the midst of the joyous celebration of Christmas there is a backdrop of suffering around the globe in the form of migrants. Studies indicate that there are as many as 65 million migrants, immigrants, refugees and displaced people in …
Christmas cards for inmates inspires gratitude
“Thanks to all of you who shared God’s love with inmates through a signed Christmas card this year,” writes Marilyn Schneider, leader of the conference Prison & Restorative Justice Ministries Team. “To those who are incarcerated, this is a powerful …
Churches celebrate Advent, Christmas in many ways
It’s beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas. Not so much from the wintry weather arriving this weekend, but from the Advent activities happening all over the Eastern PA Conference. From hanging of the greens nearly everywhere, to …
UMs to offer gift of hospitality in Phila. Dec. 15-18
United Methodists can share a warm cup of hospitality—and warm cocoa—on the streets of Philadelphia Dec. 15-18, along with the message, “When we find the true meaning of Christmas church can happen anywhere.” Now we’re looking for a few good …
‘I was in prison and you visited me.’
Cabinet emulates Matthew 25:36 The terrible human cost of high incarceration rates–among the highest in the world–became a critical concern in 2015 for U.S. politicians, the media and other social critics, even prompting an historic first-time visit to a prison …
Celebrating Advent, Christmas in so many ways
The many events leading up to–or rather, preparing the way for–the humble but awesome birth of Jesus Christ might be described as God’s second act of Creation. So many moving parts and personalities, signs and wonders happened in so many …