February 3, 2026

Happy National Dark Chocolate Day (2/1)! Happy Groundhog Day (2/2)! Homemade Soup Day (2/4), Ice Cream for Breakfast Day (2/7), Super Bowl Sunday (2/8), National Pizza Day (2/9), Souper Bowl food donation month, Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day (2/16), Mardi Gras (2/17), Ash Wednesday/Lent begins (2/18), Ramadan (2/18), Random Acts of Kindness Day (2/21), Black History month, American Heart Month, National Engineers Week, and more . . . How fun and how ridiculous at the same time to have so many random holidays or recognitions! Hope you can find something to celebrate this very short month!

 

We deserve it after the Snow/ice storm Fern and all the snow-crete we are navigating in our neighborhood streets, driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots! Everyone I know is sore or broke from chipping ice, shoveling, or paying someone to help in this extreme cold. Congratulations and well done to those intrepid congregants who came this past Sunday, 2/1! The reward was being together, warm, joyful, reverent, and present with the triune God in our midst. It is always a hard decision whether to cancel services, but safety comes first. Also, I’m sure you found time to pray, study, or visit another church digitally from your home. Thank you to Caribbean Services for doing an amazing cleaning job in our parking lots; Pedro is here again today to chip more ice blocks away so that our sidewalks will be clear Sunday for your safety. 

 

As human beings and especially as Christians, we need each other to co-exist, thrive, and hold ourselves accountable to our ethics and beliefs. This is called “community”! When we share our lives with one another, we affirm God’s creative power and agape love. We saw it last week as kind neighbors checked on neighbors and people helped each other shovel out the snow-crete! Christ was present in most circumstances, including the community shelters, grocery workers who showed up, the abundance of donated and purchased food for our food mission on Saturday before the storm, phone calls we all made to check on one another, and providing supplies for our Sandwich Team tomorrow (we could really use more help at 9-9:15 am). Christ was and still is embodied in each of us and the greater community. This is the lesson in our world of political discord, violence, and isolation. We are all needy when crisis happens; we pray, we love, we share, and we hope. Thank you for your rootedness in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who show up in times like these. We’ll see you Sunday to reconnect through Ezekiel’s prophecy and Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

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January 6, 2026

Happy New Year! This day last year we had a 8-10 inch snowstorm! I am grateful for a temperature break this week. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and time with friends and family celebrating. We had a lovely service on Christmas Eve with Communion and Candlelight with a Wind Quintet (flute, clarinet, oboe, basson, and french horn), even though we missed Melissa and Jeff Snavely this year now in Florida. Thank you to all the instrumentalists, our Music Minister, and choir who provided a beautiful and hospitable addition to the Scriptures. Also, thank you for the beautiful poinsettias you donated for our use this year.  

 

Our themes since I became pastor in 2019 have helped us grow spiritually and grow together as a congregation. Key Scriptures accompanied each theme as we discerned God’s direction: Holy Interruptions, Be Sustained was the pandemic year of 2020, Dream Dreams, Listen for the Work, Divine Experiments, Finding Beauty, and last year Vital Hospitality. Each week’s sermons and music have built upon one another to stretch us, reveal spiritual gifts, engage our faith, inspire our imaginations, and motivate us to action. From my perch, despite health issues and personal losses among us all, I observe growth and development.

 

Allow me to introduce our 2026 theme:  “Roots & Branches.” I’m still deciding which will be our key verse, but a few passages for your consideration are: Isaiah 61:1-7 (Oaks of Righteousness), 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (Planting Seeds and Watering), John 15:1-8 (Jesus the Vine; we are the Branches), Genesis 1:11 (Fruit Trees bearing Fruit), Psalm 1:3 (Tree Planted by Streams of Water), and many more.   

 

Both Hebrew and Greek Scriptures utilize the tree metaphor: olive trees, figs, palm trees, apple, and mustard trees among others. It is interesting that I did not see many trees in Israel; they use stone rather than wood because the desert rocks are more plentiful. There is a recent effort to “green Israel” and conserve or replant native trees destroyed during wars or commercial development. Most were farmed in orchards for their fruit, like pomegranates, oranges, date palms, fig, and of course olive trees. Online research says there are many more trees native to Israel like pistachio, almond, acacia, mulberry, juniper, pine, laurel, and of course oaks. We will develop relevant topics from these sources like legacy, foundation, nourishment, health, stability, resilience, flexibility, growth, dormancy, identifying, pruning, grafting, bearing fruit, and planting. Hope to see you any Sunday at 11:00 am!

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December 2, 2025

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a happy thanksgiving holiday too, and took some time to express the blessings we talked about with that insert asking where did you experience or see God’s presence this year? The clergy participating in the ACCA Community Thanksgiving Service were asked to respond and speak our blessings in liturgy. Some things we thanked God for were family, friends, good neighbors, justice, freedom, our sturdy health, appropriate treatments for health challenges this year, supportive prayers of the congregation, and resources well beyond expectation or budget to help fill community members’ needs. I encourage you to ponder your own blessings as the year comes to a close. 

 

Thank you to those who helped “Deck the Halls!” We had a smaller team this year due to travels and holiday events, but thanks to Lee Ann, Bill, Doris, Roberto, Kevin, Alem, Kenya, Roudaina, Pedro, and Ramon, we have décor, a beautiful tree, wreaths, ornaments, and lots of ribbon and glitter! Each week, you’ll see one or two things added or changed as we proceed through Advent, a season of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Please plan to attend our traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight/Communion service at 2:00 pm (earlier this year) with music and instruments, lessons, and carols;  you may take your own family/friends photos by the tree! Please invite family and friends! There are other Christmas options on page 1 of this Vision.

 

We began Advent with Psalm 33:17-22, with David reminding us that God saves all who trust and hope in Him. Even though we know this deeply, we too live in a distracting world. The war in Ukraine still destroys; tensions in the Holy Land still exist; soldiers are killed on our own soil due to extremism or mental health issues; politics polarize family and friends; the economy fluctuates; jobs are tenuous; Christmas lists overwhelm; traffic snarls; weather delays transportation; people still get sick and sometimes die this time of year; and these life realities make us feel uncertain or we forget the reason for the season. Suicides are high this time of year. Be with us in worship to help yourself not lose faith! “20 We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.” We stay on track by prayer, journaling, contemplation, worship, giving sacrificially to the church and others, Bible Study, and daily noon prayer. Build those devotional practices into this season intentionally, and you will have a reassuring, strong, and hopeful Christmas season, trusting God in all things, even the challenges of this earthly life. As we await the birth of Jesus, remember also, that “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Matt. 24:44).” Will you be ready for Jesus’ return? Let’s talk . . .

 

November 4, 2025

I wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving! Of course, we should be grateful every month of the year, but I like being reminded occasionally. October, as usual, was a fully scheduled month with meetings (NorthStar Church Network, UBC’s CLCEB, Personnel, Music, Staff, Nominating, & Budget), concerts (Kohaku Recital, Voce), my 50-year Warren County High School reunion in Front Royal (I know I don’t look old enough-ha!), and finally, a short restful vacation in the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania (Fall leaves, Mums @Longwood Gardens, Mushrooms @Kennett Square, Wyeth family paintings @Brandywine Art Museum, & reading/writing/thinking @Bookhouse Hotel). While the weather is still mild, I encourage you to get outside to see the falling leaves! Snow will be here soon.

 

We have spent almost 7 years together transitioning, pruning, stewarding our resources, and re-evaluating programs, experimenting with new things, studying God’s word, singing, worshipping, and praying together. Yes, we have grieved and rejoiced in community, going through personal and world losses, crises, and events that challenged us. These years have been both difficult yet fortifying, building up a resilience of spirit and deep community. Each year’s theme brought a new perspective, building on our faith experience as a church, our community support efforts, our established and new ministries and missions commitments while strengthening discipleship and engagement. Some years we learned new concepts, and others new tools and practices of faith expression.

 

As we close out 2025 next month with a broader definition of Vital Hospitality, we will continue our spiritual growth with a serious prayer effort for numerical growth of visitors, local guests, invitations, transformations, recommitments, and hopefully as God wills it, baptisms and conversions. I say this in hope and expectation of divine intervention that God’s vision of growth and flourishing for us as a church keeps  revealing. I too am recommitting myself to fervent prayer and hope you’ll join me every day at noon to pray for our church here physically if you happen to be in the neighborhood, by phone with another member if you’d like, on Zoom occasionally, or simply wherever you are at noon. I am seeking fearless and called prayer warriors to surface again as we call upon Jesus to lengthen our cords and extend our tent, as Isaiah 54:2 says. You may decide to pray the Psalms or sit in silence if you have no words. Call the church for your prayer booklet; recording them will help us see God’s power to heal and help others.

 

This is Biblical to come together in prayer at a specific time seeking divine intervention for a specific purpose. We will be praying with both inward and outward focus: for our church revitalization, new believers, new and existing congregants, for safety and stewardship, for children and teens, new and existing relationships, Annandale residents, homes and businesses, for executing well a few large facility projects (roof & fence), for the health and belief of church members, former members, extended families, Mission Center partners, for new Mission Center partners, discipleship growth, and more. Prayer is a prerequisite for revitalization; God often uses only a few to be his instruments for growth. Amen?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​