Trunk or Treat

October 13, 2022 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Greenville, will be holding its annual FREE Trunk & Treat event on Monday, October 31^st from 6:00pm—8:00pm.  Our INDOOR “Table-n-Treat” variation of this fun Halloween activity allows for the fun to carry on no matter what our crazy Michigan weather may bring us on October 31^st!  We substitute trunks with tables, lined up end to end, each individually themed, which allows for a smooth traffic pattern as families venture from table to table around the room enjoying fun, friendship, and safe trick-or-treating!  We look forward to seeing you!  If you have any questions about this event, please feel free to call our church office, 616-754-4886, Tuesday-Friday, 9a-2p. 

Test shot

April 14, 2020 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

Easter Packet

April 2, 2020 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

Hello!  We want each of you to be able to celebrate Easter safely at home with joy and thankfulness for what Jesus has done for us! 

With Easter quickly approaching, you can find a free-to-share packet that includes children’s bulletins for Easter celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. You will also find many other activity sheets, lessons and fun activities for you to do with or without children.

Click here to download the Easter Children’s Bulletin Packet and more No email required.

Our prayers continue for everyone’s wellness and safety during this time. Thank you to our ministry partners at Home Touch!   Pastor Jeff Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Greenville, MI

Home Touch P.O. Box 9290 Canton, OH 44711

Anxious Times

March 21, 2020 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

In these anxious times, we who follow Jesus can be assured He is with us always. Thank you for wanting to continue to share that Good News with children and families. It is perhaps more important now than ever.

To help us stay connected and share the Good News with others, we want to continue sharing resources for everyone’s consideration and use, especially in our Facebook group.  Please feel free to use our Facebook group as one of several ways to encourage one another.  (Heb. 10:23-25, below)

During a recent Sunshine Club gathering, Helen Harms shared an activity called, “Exercising His Word”.  I encourage you to check out this resource and possibly use it as a daily devotion exercise.  Here’s a link:  https://1drv.ms/b/s!AuEeHoujOjK60xQe078UCLTMCjuf?e=hKkeF2

Just pick out a few verses and do the exercise listed.  Be creative! 

Children’s Worship Bulletins has also put together a packet of free resources — puzzles, Bible activities, worship bulletins on carefully selected topics and Scripture texts — that you may use and share with others. We pray these will strengthen families, and especially young disciples in the church.  You can find the page with links to the PDF files here: www.childrensbulletins.com/covid19-childrens-activities-for-churches

And don’t forget about free access to RightNow Media for personal, family, and small group bible study video devotions, as well as Children’s Videos.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together (voluntarily), as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  Hebrews 10:23-25

Healthy Hygiene Policy

March 14, 2020 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

Healthy Hygiene Policy

(as of March 13, 2020)                  Mount Calvary, Greenville

During heightened concern about the spread of contagious viruses and illnesses, Mount Calvary will continue to encourage the practice of appropriate measures to limit everyone’s risk.  We are following all local, state, and national recommendations and mandates, and will always remain “open” and accessible via phone and email. Please help us remain a “healthy” low-risk center.  If you are in any way suspect to having been exposed to a contagious virus (friend or family, travel to high risk area, etc.), if you feel ill or anxious about coming to Mount Calvary, please stay home and restrict your indoor public activities.  You are invited to participate in our worship online.  Links to our live streaming and recorded worship services, as well as online giving, are available through our website: www.mclc908.org. 

FYI, research experts have stated that the chances of contracting a contagious illness through Communion is less than the casual contact everyone has by simply attending worship and in normal everyday life.[i]  Our pastor washes (sanitizes) his hands immediately prior to serving Communion, and everyone involved in preparing and serving Communion has been instructed to practice good hygiene and thorough hand washing.  We will suspend our practice of “Sharing God’s Peace” as necessary. 

By now you’re aware of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services campaign to raise awareness of appropriate hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses.  Much like how you would try to prevent the flu, you want to practice good hygiene and stay away from people who are sick, says the CDC.  This means frequently and thoroughly washing your hands, especially after using the bathroom and before eating.  For the latest information, visit  Michigan.gov/coronavirus or CDC.gov/coronavirus.

And keep praying! 

God’s peace,

^{PS. 56:9} This I know: God is for me. ¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, ¹¹ in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere humans do to me? ¹² I am obligated by vows to you, God; I will make my thank offerings to you. ¹³ For you rescued me from death, even my feet from stumbling, to walk before God in the light of life.

Worship Service Tomorrow

January 12, 2020 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

Due to icy roads and forecast snow overnight, we are postponing Sunday worship tomorrow (Jan. 12) to 3:30 pm.  Praise Team will practice at 2:45 pm.  We plan on having fellowship afterwards, but will NOT be having Bible Hour.  We will re-evaluate tomorrow in case we need to cancel service altogether.

God’s peace,

Pastor Jeff

Greenville, MI

www.mclc908.org

“We love because He first loved us.”  1 John 4:19

Why There Are 12 Days of Christmas

December 31, 2019 | Frank | Make A Comment | Archines

The celebration of Jesus’ nativity just ended, and here we find ourselves smack in the middle of the 12 days of Christmas. Or are those 12 days passed already? Aren’t they December 13th-25th?

Some time back I was standing in the elevator at the hospital, reading a poster on the wall: “Celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas with great deals!” There were savings promised at the gift shop each of the first dozen days of December. According to the poster, December 1st-12th were the supposed 12 Days. Are they?

In fact, both of these interpretations of the 12 Days of Christmas miss the mark. The truth underscores the deep delight of this holiday.

The ghost of Christmas passed

The “12 Days of Christmas” refer to the 12 days from December 25th through January 6th. Christmas Day is the beginning of a festival that carries on for nearly two weeks, up until the feast of Epiphany. “Christmas” isn’t just a day, in other words; it’s a season.

Now, few in our society would dispute that there is such a thing as the “Christmas season,” but they might define it quite differently. This season would extend from, say, Thanksgiving until perhaps December 26th, when the radio stations drop their Christmas tunes like a hot coal in the stocking and go back to their regularly scheduled programming.

But as the world gives up the ghost of Christmas passed, the Church is just getting started with her yuletide celebrations. She has waited and watched throughout Advent—which tends to just be lumped in with what author Gregory Jones calls “HalloThanksMas.” She has refrained from singing her Gloria in Excelsis (“Glory to God in the highest!”) until she can sing it with the angels on Christmas Eve. Now, she’s ready to party.

Which gets at the deeper reason why there are 12 Days of Christmas. It’s a fact of the calendar, yes, but it’s more than that.

Too much for one day

The real reason that Christmas is 12 days is that the feast is too glorious for just one day. As Elsa Chaney writes in her book, the suitably titled Twelve Days of Christmas, “So bright is the radiance of the Light which has come at Christmas, so awesome is the mystery we celebrate, that a single day’s observance barely initiates us into the meaning of the feast.”

There’s a lot of joy to pack into this stocking.

And so I think it is high time that Christians reclaim the 12 Days. Too long have we allowed our celebrations to be co-opted by the culture’s “Christmas season.” Keeping the 12 Days is a path toward greater joy, greater festivity and, perhaps, even greater sanity.

In one of my very first newsletters last year I suggested 10 ways to celebrate the 12 days. But those are just the tip of the iceberg—or the top of the tree, you might say. So how else can we keep this 12-day feast?