IF:LOCAL

I am so excited to announce our 2015 women's retreat!!!!

February 6th and 7th, we'll be joining thousands of women across the country to take part in the IF:Gathering.  This teleconference from Austin, TX is in it's second year.  Last year, 150,000 women attended IF: in person and via simulcast.  This year, we get to be among those women!  Join us at Westside Christian Fellowship for our simulcast and be part of the experience.

Solitude: Spread Our Hands

Another Monday, another chance to be still.  Christmas is next week, so I know you won't have many more opportunities.  Am I right?

One of the things I love about this time of year is all the Christmas music.  Songs that have gone unsung for 11 months return, lyrics of joy and adoration rise above the noise and messiness of our lives.

Funny, though, how quickly we grow tired of them.  Maybe not without spiritual reason.  Advent is, after all, a season of waiting.  Waiting to rejoice.  Not yet.  We're still carrying our burdens.  In our house, the Mary and Joseph figurines are standing on top of the printer, still slowly making their way to Bethlehem.  Like us.  And the manger is still empty.

Honoring Spiritual Seasons: Solitude

This may seem like an odd time to talk about solitude.  December is the busiest month of the year.  There are concerts, errands, visitors, cards, online shopping, laundry, end of year accounting, open enrollment for healthcare (aghh!!!! If I have to talk to ONE more person at Blueshield...).  Whew!  Sneaking off to the Grand Canyon for a little alone time sounds fantastic.  In fact, yesterday I had to wait at the bus stop for 30 minutes for a ride home.  By myself.  It was beautiful.

Spiritual Seasons: Advent w/ Hannah Sorota

Enjoy this guest post from Hannah Sorota!

The church now enters Advent: our season of expectation. It is another season that teaches us about waiting. It is a season of anticipation and hope, in which we long for the coming of Christ.

Be honest. Is that what’s on your mind right now?

Are you excited for this season, looking forward to Christmas, but feeling pressured by your to-do list? Are you hassled because the days have started passing too quickly for you to get it all done in time? Annoyed because you’ll be spending time with extended family members who stress you out? Already tired of the Christmas music playing everywhere? Cynical of the culture’s materialism – and then unhappy because you see it in your own kids, and even more in yourself?

We all love Christmas, but most people are weary of the madness by December 26th. We all have that madness in our lives this season of the year: another get-together, your son’s band concert, your daughter’s dance recital, your husband’s company party and the church ladies’ Christmas Tea; decorating the house, putting up the lights, shopping for deals, traveling, hosting the open house, finding those stocking stuffers; the family coming to visit, more presents to wrap, more presents to buy, more baking to do. Always MORE!