Tag: christmas

Pastor’s Message

~ laurieagould ~ Leave a comment

Reaching out from Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, December 17, 2025


Greetings in Christ!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Let us rejoice in Christmas Day being only eight days away, and let us be glad for those eight days to deal with any last-minute tasks.  Whether it is a gift or two we still need to get, or special treats to prepare, it’s good that we have just a few more days to take care of holiday business before the holiday actually arrives!  And let us be glad for a bit of a warm-up outside, so some of the accumulated snow and ice can melt away making our travels more convenient, and most importantly, safer!

These last few days of the Advent season can easily become so packed with activities, and so filled with anxiety over what’s left to be done, that we can lose the whole season to the last-minute scrambles; and that would be a tragedy.  All of our preparations, both spiritual and secular, have led us to the cusp of Christmas, with all of the hope, peace, joy, and love that the season embodies.  We urge you to not lose the gifts of the season to a quest for one last gift, or one more plate of cookies.  Those things that are truly important will be taken care of in due time; maybe this is a good time to remind you that Christmas isn’t a one-day event, but a twelve-day season of celebration. So, if you feel as if you’ve run out of time, you haven’t!  Embrace these last days of Advent, and make the upcoming birth of Jesus the Christ be the focus of all that you do!


Blessings,


Karen and Greg

Home: (989) 474-9116, Cell: (734) 502-5969
revgregrc@yahoo.com / revgreggl@yahoo.com
revkarenrc@yahoo.com / revkarengl@yahoo.com



“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.”  Psalm 34:1

Pastor’s Message

~ laurieagould ~ Leave a comment

Reaching out from Grand Lake Community Chapel

Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Greetings in Christ!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Let us rejoice in the beauty of newly-fallen snow, and let us be glad for those good folks who clear the newly-fallen snow off of the roads!  And let us also be glad for the good folks who clear our driveways and parking lots, especially if those good folks are our loved ones!  True, we got quite the dumping after Thanksgiving, and true, our lives were disrupted a bit, but here we are, safe and warm and ready for the next go-round of winter weather!

Most importantly, we are fully into the blessed Season of Advent!  The first candle on the Advent wreath, the candle of Hope, has been lighted, shining its warm glow into our sanctuaries, homes, and hearts.  The first step in our preparations for remembering of the birth of the Christ Child has been taken; we’re looking forward with absolute confidence and trust to our celebration of this world-changing event.  The challenge for us, in these trying and frightening times, is to truly embrace the hope that the candle represents; the news of the day is so often bereft of hope, yet we are called to live into hope for a joyous tomorrow, because such joy is promised to us by God Almighty.  As we walk the path towards Christmas Day, let us remember the candle of Hope; let it illuminate your way forward, let it fill you with determination to resist the voices that would turn you from light into darkness, by succumbing to fear.  Rejoice and be glad for the holy Season of Advent that beckons us to celebrate this time of preparation!

Blessings,

Karen and Greg

Home: (989) 474-9116, Cell:  (734) 502-5969
revgregrc@yahoo.com  /  revgreggl@yahoo.com 
revkarenrc@yahoo.com / revkarengl@yahoo.com

For there is surely a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:18:

Pastor’s Message

~ laurieagould ~ Leave a comment

Reaching out from Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Greetings in Christ!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! Let us rejoice in blue skies, puffy white clouds, and sunshine, and let us be glad for furnaces that take the chill out of the air in our homes and places of work! Autumn is a great time of the year, but also a time of great contrasts; paraphrasing a sign we once saw in a gift shop, “lovely to look at, delightful to behold, but if you think it’s warm outside, you’re about to be disappointed!” OK, perhaps not the best prose you’ve ever seen, but the point is made. We’re well beyond shorts and t-shirts, and well into sweatshirts and jeans!

Soon enough, Daylight Saving Time will come to an end (this weekend – remember to “fall back” on Saturday night), and our mornings will be brighter and our afternoons darker. As October fades into November, we’re entering a time of great contrasts in the church. Soon enough, Ordinary Time will give way to Advent, following the celebrations of Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and the decor of our sanctuaries will reflect the joys of Christmas yet to come. Soon enough, we’ll be inundated with ads for gift ideas, blurring the lines between the profoundly religious holiday that is Christmas and the profoundly secular season of overspending. While it may seem to be a bit early to take a stand for the true meaning of Christmas, we’re inviting you to hang onto autumn for a while longer. We’re inviting you to embrace the waning days of Ordinary Time in the church year, and allow yourself the peace of this calm before the inevitable storm of year-end holidays. Use this time to be still and know that God is everywhere around us.

Blessings, Karen and Greg

Home: (989) 474-9116, Cell: (734) 502-5969 revgregrc@yahoo.com / revgreggl@yahoo.com revkarenrc@yahoo.com / revkarengl@yahoo.com

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Pastor’s Message

~ laurieagould ~ Leave a comment

Reaching out from Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Greetings in Christ!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! Let us rejoice in the last days of the Season of Advent, and let us be glad for Christmas Day being only one week from today! The season of Advent blessed us with the gift of time, time to prepare for the coming birth of the Christ Child, and of course Christmas Day will bless us with the gift of the Light of World!

We’re close enough to the end of the Season of Advent that Merry Christmas is the greeting of the day, and we hope the sentiment in all of our hearts. One week from today, the world will become brighter and filled with love, joy, peace, and hope; the circle of the Advent wreath will be complete, with the Christ candle burning brightly at its center for all to see. One week from today, voices will be raised in song, as beloved carols will fill the air. One week from today, families and friends will gather to celebrate the true reason for the season. One week from today, all the planning and preparation will be behind us, and our efforts will be rewarded with faces glowing with the presence of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that visited Mary, the same Spirit that guides our steps (if we’re willing to follow). As the popular song says, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and so let us embrace this last week of Advent and the first days of the Christmas Season with wonder and amazement, and a whole lot of love and joy!

We wish each of you a Merry Christmas!

With our love,

Karen and Greg

Home: (989) 474-9116, Cell: (734) 502-5969
revgregrc@yahoo.com / revgreggl@yahoo.com
revkarenrc@yahoo.com / revkarengl@yahoo.com


And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Pastor’s Message

~ laurieagould ~ Leave a comment

Reaching out from Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Greetings in Christ!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! Let us rejoice in the second week of the Season of Advent, and let us be glad the Christmas Day is only two weeks away! Or, let us panic because Christmas Day is only two weeks away, depending on how ready you are (or aren’t) to celebrate the birth of the Light of the World, Jesus the Christ.

We talked quite a bit about preparation last week, and of course the good news of today is that we have more time to become fully ready for Christmas Day. If you’re bordering on full panic mode, we encourage you to take a deep breath, and take a look at where you truly are in your preparations; odds are that there’s a lot more done than you might give yourself credit for. If you’re blissfully content with the state of things, we encourage you to take a deep breath, and be happy! But the truth is that none of us are likely fully prepared, because we haven’t fully invested in making our hearts and souls ready. Oh, sure, we’ve been attending worship regularly, we’ve kept our daily prayers going, and we simply can’t avoid the feeling of the Christmas Season that’s all around us. All of this is great and wonderful, but now is the time to sit down with our Bibles and turn to the beginning of the Gospel according to Matthew or the Gospel according to Luke (or maybe both, just don’t get hung up in the differences between the two tellings of the birth of Christ!), and read the story of how Jesus came into the world, to bring Light and Life and Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love into our lives for all time. Savor the story, and be reminded of how it all began. We’re confident that you’ll be filled with good things. Blessings,

Karen and Greg Home: (989) 474-9116, Cell: (734) 502-5969 revgregrc@yahoo.com / revgreggl@yahoo.com revkarenrc@yahoo.com / revkarengl@yahoo.com

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Pastor’s Message

~ laurieagould ~ Leave a comment

Reaching out from Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Greetings in Christ! This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! Let us rejoice in the anticipation that is inherent in the Advent season, and let us be glad that we have time to make sure all of our plans are in place for our Christmas celebrations! As much as we’d like to proclaim “Merry Christmas” right now, and be about the business of joyously proclaiming the Savior’s birth, we can’t; we’ve got some prep work to do!

That prep work isn’t limited to seeking the perfect gift for everyone on our list, or making sure that our homes are perfectly decorated with a mix of the latest technology and much-loved heirlooms of the season. The most important (and toughest) prep work is making our hearts and souls ready for Christmas Day, the day that Light will come into the world and make all things new. For those of us who have been around for a few Christmases past, it might be easy to fall prey to thinking that we’ve done this so many times before, so what’s left to get ready? We understand the significance of Christmas, we know how the stories unfold, we have proclaimed our love for God and adoration of the Christ Child, so can’t we please get on with hanging tinsel on the tree and baking more cookies? Well, you can if you wish, but in our experience if we don’t intentionally focus on the “reason for the season,” to borrow an overworked cliché, we’ll lose the “reason for the season” amongst the scraps of wrapping paper and unwashed baking pans. Advent and Christmas are holy times, and if our focus isn’t on the activities of the Divine in our lives, then we’re truly missing the point. So, please enjoy the shopping and baking and decorating that help make the season bright, but please also remember that the birth of Christ is why we celebrate.

Blessings,

Karen and Greg Home: (989) 474-9116, Cell: (734) 502-5969 revgregrc@yahoo.com / revgreggl@yahoo.com revkarenrc@yahoo.com / revkarengl@yahoo.com

“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14