Hatfield Community Christmas Tree Lighting, Dec. 4: A Day of Festivities
Grace is host this year for the Hatfield Christmas tree lighting on Saturday, December 4! We have lots of fun in store for you.
- Hatfield Tree Lighting and Activities Hosted by Grace Lutheran Church in Hatfield and Cub Pack 510, 40 N. Main Street – location for Pictures, Games and Refreshments
- Get your Pets Picture Take with Santa from 2 pm to 4 pm – Donation of $10 goes toward Pals For Life, a pet therapy organization5 pm – 6 pm – Join in the fun with games and refreshments provided by Philly Espresso, Grace and Cub PackAt 6 pm follow the Cub Pack to the Tree Lighting Ceremony at Railroad Plaza
- Railroad Plaza location for Tree Lighting at 6:30 pm
- 6:30 pm – Caroling and the arrival of Santa to light the tree
“Blue Christmas”: Thursday, December 16 at 6 p.m.
Because not everyone is up for “a holly jolly Christmas,” a meaningful act of pastoral care during the season of Advent is to include a worship service known as “Blue Christmas,” sometimes called “The Longest Night.”
Typically taking place around the winter solstice, such services address the need for reflection and contemplation for those in pain. Some may be grieving the death of a loved one, others are coping with divorce, separation, or job loss, and still others living with cancer or another disease that turns the world upside down and calls the future into question. The church must be attentive to these needs of all people for healing and hope.
This year Grace will offer “Blue Christmas” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 16, when the night lingers for 14 hours and 10 minutes until sunrise. Accompanied by organ, piano and guitar, we will sing hymns and carols that invite us to find rest and strength in God and lift up our longing for a Savior; hear scripture readings that offer welcome for the excluded, peace for the weary and confidence in God’s promises; inscribe paper stars with concerns for ourselves and others that we may then hang on the tree; and light candles during a litany of remembrance before concluding with Silent Night. We hope very much that you will join us for this special worship experience.
Singing together! Remember when we used to do this heartily, lustily, putting our entire bodies into the act as the Spirit would flow through us in soul-stirring praise of God? Remember how the risen Christ became vividly present among us through this very human act? How singing knit us together, all those in the room, in a way that was beyond human…
One of the most heartening stories in all scripture is that of the Magi and King Herod from Matthew 2:1-12, the appointed text for the Epiphany of Our Lord on January 6. On this day and the Sundays following, through Transfiguration, we celebrate the in-breaking of God’s light into the world in the person of Jesus Christ as a message of radical…
December 10, 2021 We are coming off what I consider to be a banner stretch in our worship life: Holy Communion on five of the last six Sundays. This was good exercise for what I’d like to see become our pattern of sharing the Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis. The custom at Grace for years had been communion twice a month,…
by Pastor Nancy Raabe When random violence has its day–in our cities, in our towns, in social media, in our hearts–faith almost always finds itself under attack. Here is what someone wrote on Twitter late on the night of the deadly mayhem that shattered Waukesha, WI Christmas parade on Sunday: “I don’t know how anyone can hold onto their faith after a…
We are now livestreaming our 10:30 service! Look on this site under “Online Worship” for the link. If you miss it you can find the service posted on our YouTube page. Just search youtube.com for “gracehatfieldpa.”
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom,” we recently sang in church (Psalm 90). This brought to mind the final sermon given by my favorite seminary professor, Rev. Dr. Walter R. Bouman. It was May, 2005. Walt had been diagnosed the previous month with late-stage colon cancer. We knew things were off when, the…
Who is God? What is God? While we can never see God’s face, the Hebrew scriptures give us a word that describes an essential part of God’s character. That word is hesed (pronounced with a guttural sound at the beginning), which has been called the most important word in the Bible. Hesed appears about 250 times in the Old Testament, half…
The Peace of Christ “The peace of Christ be with you all.” “And also with you.” We share this greeting in a dialogue every week in worship. What always comes to mind as I hear your response is: “Thank you! I really needed that!” The Greeting of the Peace, as we call it, is a sacred exchange. In our worship it is…
Parents of middle-school age children, I have a question: Where are theyt? I don’t mean where are they physically. What I am asking is, where your children are emotionally and spiritually? A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reminded me of how affected our young people continue to be by the stresses of the pandemic. The authors, both mental health professionals, write,…
Over the years, the Hatfield area has been subject to numerous power outages. These outages have grown more frequent, due in part to the numerous aging trees effected by the weather. Power can be out for a few hours or in some instances a week. It can occur during the dead of winter, a hurricane or even during the summer when temperatures…