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“There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens: a time for giving birth and a time for dying…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, CEB) You might think, “Wow, that’s an encouraging passage to start with,” but there’s a reason my mind wandered to Ecclesiastes. As we begin a new year, I’ve been reflecting on a book that offers a timely perspective. In Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, the author reminds us that the average person lives…
New Beginnings
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: [a] The old has gone, the new is here!18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself…
SFNAZ Newsletter – January 2025
Click here to view the Pastor Wes’ devotional SFNAZ ANNOUNCEMENTS SFNAZ FUTSAL | Thursdays 7p Inviting teens and anyone older that wants to come play indoor soccer (futsal) in the gym. For more information, contact Mark Snyder. WINTER HELP NEEDED We need YOUR help keeping the pathways clear of snow. If you are able to do some shoveling before 8am and are willing to be put on the call list, please contact Kodi Aller at (509) 607-8145. We can’t…
Hope
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. Joel 2:25 Hope, that powerful essence which helps us look beyond the bleak and difficult days we’re living with anticipation that something better is on the horizon, and gives us confidence that we will discover the beauty that we can’t see. We all need hope. It helps us persevere through difficulty.…
A New Year
Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. It really isn’t the luck of the draw. It just happens to be where my name appears on the list of names of pastors who write devotionals for our church. My first devotional for 2025 and I am already having troubles writing “2025”. I don’t think I have…
Joy to the World
Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns, let men their songs employ. While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy. He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love. As we dwell in the afterglow of Christmas,…
The Good News
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This…
The Best Gift of All
Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. ~ Hebrews 9:28 As a young child, I had a very difficult time waiting for Christmas morning. How many of those presents under the tree were for me? Do they make a noise when shaken? How heavy are they? What could be wrapped in that fancy paper,…
SFNAZ Newsletter December 2024
Click here to view the weekly devotional. SFNAZ ANNOUNCEMENTS ALL-CHURCH CHRISTMAS PARTY & AUCTION | Wednesday December 11 – 6p We will be celebrating Christmas together as a SFNAZ family. A sit-down dinner, music, an auction, pastoral skit, and more! We would love to have the entire congregation join us! CHRISTMAS LOVE OFFERING If you would like to bless our pastoral staff with a Christmas Love Offering, mark your gift “Pastors’ Christmas Gifts” and place it in the offering box.…
Hang Your Harp on the Willows
Psalm 137:2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres. Imagine being a young adult, witnessing atrocities of a waring nation decimating your family, being led away from your homeland in chains, arriving in a foreign country as a slave, and being required to sing. But you’re not being asked to sing any old song but songs of deliverance and hope, so your captors could make fun of you. Sounds like a hopeless picture. In fact, if there were…
Thanksgiving – A Marginalized Holiday
As we enter into Thanksgiving week, I have been reflecting how little “thanks” there seems to be in Thanksgiving. Looking at my own life I realize that in many ways it has become the gateway between fall and Christmas. I must confess that I hung our Christmas lights in October (won’t turn them on until Thanksgiving) and made an appointment to cut down our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Kathy has already taken down her fall decorations in anticipation…
With Intent
As we are approaching this advent season it is always a great time to take a moment to reflect on what we want to get out of advent. I know we each have traditions within our families that make the holidays so special, and Christmas never disappoints within our family. Growing up, Christmas was always a time that we spent with not only our immediate family, but our extended family as well. Driving through the night in weather that we…