It’s here . . . the highest point of the church year is upon us as we enter Holy Week, 2023. Beginning with Palm Sunday, we navigate along with Jesus His kingly entrance into Jerusalem, the Last Supper with His disciples, His betrayal by Judas Iscariot, His agony in Gethsemane, Peter’s wrenching denial, the brutal crucifixion, and the sorrow of Christ’s burial. Then on Easter Sunday morning, we celebrate the astonishing, unprecedented reality of the empty tomb!

In his first epistle, the apostle Peter wrote to mostly gentile Christians who had been scattered around Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Many of these people had been driven away from their homes through religious persecution, and Peter writes to them for two reasons: the first is to make sure they understand that though they may be far from home and family, they nonetheless fully belong to the family of God. The second reason for which Peter writes to these exiles is to show them how to live godly lives even while suffering under intense persecution. The title of this sermon series is “Whole Children in a Broken World.” Come along with us as we listen in on Peter’s encouragement to our forefathers in the faith and apply his message to our lives in 2023.

The new vision we believe God has given us at First Friends Church reads as follows:
As First Friends Church, we exist to glorify God together by loving Him, making disciples, and proclaiming the gospel.
Over the coming weeks, we will be considering different aspects of this vision as we begin to move intentionally toward meeting it. Our primary focus will be on understanding the essence of the gospel and what it requires of us as daughters and sons of God.

During Advent, we often focus on four blessings from God that came at Christmas: hope, joy, peace, and love. What we might sometimes fail to realize is that at the first Christmas, these blessings did not just come with Jesus, but Jesus himself IS these blessings. I ask the question, “who do we find in the manger?” And the answer is “All these blessings embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.”