This is an exciting and very busy time of year. Everything that our faith is about leads us to this time of year. As we prepare for and enter into Lent and Holy Week we need to really go inward and look at our faith.

For man, the worst calamity is death. Yet Christianity had to face up to the fact that one death was at the heart of anything it wanted to say. The disciples of Jesus believe that he was the Messiah, the chosen one of God, the savior of the World, and yet the culmination of his life was death. The death of Jesus is so important for the Gospel writers that it absorbs most of their energy. The story of the last seven days of Jesus' life, sometimes called Holy Week, takes up almost a third of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, a fifth of Luke’s Gospel and almost half of John’s Gospel. It is as if the most important thing they had to explain was Jesus’ death on the cross, a subject that crops up in virtually every book of the New Testament.

The death of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior should be something that we take time and put in the energy to better understand and allow to help us on our Journey of Faith. This year I am doing a sermon series on the inward journey during lent in which we look at our spiritual life and how we can grow closer to God inwardly. What is Christ calling us to see or avoid so that he can take up more of our heart. As we grow we will see how God is revealing himself to us through the events of our daily lives and how he is with us every step of the way. Which we know through our faith, but until we experience HIM in our lives we do not know just how much he loves us and just how close he is to us.

Just like the Gospels that spend so much time on this time of year, we too need to really grow in our faith as we journey through Lent and Easter. My prayer this year is that each of you may experience Jesus Christ in a new and personal way and that you may grow closer to him and each other through your Lenten practices.

God Bless and May you
have a prayerful Lenten journey.
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

As we move along the Church year at a high rate of speed we will be preparing for and moving into Lent. Lent is a wonderful season as it is the observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert and enduring the temptations by Satan.

The pattern of fasting and praying for forty days is seen in the Bible, in different places. In the Old Testament, the prophet Moses went into the mountains for forty days and nights to “fast and pray” until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There, “The word of the Lord came to him.” 1Kings 19:8-9. The early Christian bishop Maximus of Turin wrote that Elijah, by fasting continuously for a period of forty days and forty nights…merited to extinguish the prolonged and severe dryness of the whole world, doing so with a stream of rain and steeping the earth’s dryness with the bounty of water from heaven. The forty day and night fasts of Moses, Elijah and Jesus prepared them for their work.

Today, the practice is that Christians fast by giving something up. This is a personal decision, but it is something that is comfortable in your life. The reason for giving it up is to remind you of all that Jesus Christ gave up when he came to earth and what he gave up when he spent the forty days in the desert. Another practice during Lent is to spend more time in reading the Word of God. It is setting aside some time everyday to just read our Bible and get to deepen our relationship with God. Another practice is to give Alms, that is to give some of our financial means to someone less fortunate. Whichever path you choose is up to you but the goal of these practices again is to spend more time with Jesus and to focus on all that He has done for us. Lent allows us to look at our relationship with Jesus Christ and how we have let it slip over the year and how we can make it the center of our lives again.

My prayer is that each one of us can pick something that will really help us to draw closer to God and one another.

May God bless you.
​Rev. Stephen W. Barch

I want to start by wishing everyone a very happy new year. May 2024 be a blessed year for YOU, It is a wonderful time of year. It is the time of year that we get a chance to start over. To correct all the wrongs, to say good bye to one year and welcome in a new Year, a chance to correct what we didn’t get right, and rededicate ourselves to becoming the people that we want to be. 

Then we have those dreaded new year resolutions that people try to make themselves new. To correct all the things that they do not like about themselves. All of these things are to accomplish one thing -to give you a chance to fix all the things that are ‘wrong’ and to do the things that will make you better. It is the chance to become the person that you really want to be. The old military tag line comes to mind. ‘Be all that you can be”.

Isn’t this what Christmas is all about? Christ entered into our world to give all of us the chance to start over. The chance to continue working at becoming his disciples. Our faith journey , is made up of a lot of new beginnings and moments to grow. Christ came as a little baby in a manger. A non threatening leader , a little baby that most people would not even take notice of . Christ came to enter into our life in a new way, to give us the chance at our new beginning. May God bless you and walk with you through this new year. 

As we end another calendar year and begin a new one, may we continue to look to our almighty Savior Jesus Christ and ask what He wants us to do and accomplish for him in the next year. Were does he need us to make a difference, and what is it that will bring him the most glory?

I also want to take the time to thank everyone for all the thoughts, prayers and gifts. Our family appreciates each and everyone of them . May God’s will be done. 

May The Lord Bless and Keep You,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

​As we enter into one of the busiest times of the year for all of us, I am reminded of some words of a radio show of 1947 which produced the following:

About a Minute

A minute is very small, but it is very important.. There are 1,440 minutes in each day. The apparent smallness of them makes us foolish mortals that overlook them. Someone said beautifully: “Lost yesterday, between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each studded with sixty diamond minutes. No reward has been offered, for they can never be found.”

You and I each have two great gifts that go along with life: Energy and Time. We can not waste either one without great personal loss. We fool ourselves into believing that little things do not count. They are the only things that really do count. Sand grains stay the ocean's fury, and snowflakes overwhelmed Napoleon’s army before Moscow. A minute may be little, but it is large enough for the biggest people to live in. You can fill the water bucket, or bring in an armful of kindling for a tired mother-in a minute. Or can speak a tender love to a dear one, or give a word of sympathy to someone with a heavy heart—in a minute. You can look up from your meal and thank the cook for something so beautiful. You can tell your spouse how much you love them and how they light up your day—in a minute. You can learn something new –in a minute. You can read ten verses of the Bible in a minute. You can be ashamed of your sins, repent of them and forsake them in a minute. A noble resolve can be born in your heart– in a minute. A prayer sixty seconds long in the middle of a busy day will bring strength, and beauty into your soul. A stanza of a happy song can be sung in a minute, A phone call to inquire after someone who is sick takes but a minute. The use of the minutes makes our marks on us during life, and when it is all over we will need but a minute to die.

Let us not make our hearts numb with the devil’s opium of putting off great things till we “have enough time.” Minutes are long enough if we will only use and not abuse them.

(If we want to come first, we need to mind the minutes in our lives.)

From John Holland’s Scrap Book (Pastor: Little Brown Church of the Air)

As we end the Church Year and begin a new one. We start off with Advent– May we take a minute to make a difference in the lives around us and in our own lives. God in his infinite wisdom has given us endless possibilities to do with the minutes allotted to us.

Rev. Stephen W Barch

As we move into the fall schedule, we put on heavier coats and have to deal with the changing weather. I get so excited. The church year will come to a close on November 26th and we will begin the new church year on December the 2nd. It is
an exciting time for all of us because it is a new beginning. New beginnings are a good time to reassess what we are doing and what we need to improve on. Faith is both personal and communal.

God has called each one of us into the Christian family ~ the body of Christ here on earth. It is truly a blessing that we do not deserve but one that we should be honored by. One that we should set time aside in our busy schedule to nourish by daily prayer, scripture reading, and worshipping on a regular basis.

On the Communal side of faith, it is how we come together and collectively work towards showing the community, and the world around us what it is that we believe and what it means to live out our faith, in our daily lives. How it is that through the body of Christ the world is going to be changed. How through the love of God we can do all things in Christ.

Personal faith is the way that we grow in our relationship to Jesus Christ, to become more like Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We bring our gifts and talents and we work to build up the body of Christ here on earth by all coming together
and serving one another. This type of faith leads us outside of ourselves and into relationship with one another.

As we begin a new church year may all of us grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ and with one another. You are uniquely made and gifted to do what only you can do for Jesus Christ and his kingdom here on earth. May God be blessed and honored by us everyday.

In Christ love,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

​As we enter the fall months it is a good time to look at our faith and how we are living in our baptismal calling. The Church year is about to come to a close and we will start another year of ministry and it is a great time to assess how we can change what we are doing, both in our personal life of faith and our communal expression of faith ~ our Church, and what is God calling us to do in the future.

I believe that we take our faith for granted and we do not realize the wonderful gift and responsibility we have been given by God, through our baptism.

The mission of God in Christ gives shape and substance to the life and work of the Church. In Christ, the Church participates in God’s mission for the transformation of all creation and humanity by proclaiming to all people the good news of God’s love, offering to all people the grace of God at font and table, and calling all people to discipleship in Christ. Human Beings have no higher goal in life than to glorify and enjoy God now and forever living in covenant fellowship with God and participating in God’s mission.

Christ calls the Church into being, giving it all that is necessary for its’s mission in the world, for its sanctification and for its service to God. We have a great opportunity to share our faith in all kinds of ways and in each of them God is with us. So, we can think about all that happens in our daily lives as ways that God has gifted us. It also reminds us of the responsibility that we must share those gifts with others. God is still writing our story, may we always remember that that we are his stewards and He is the author of our story.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Stephen Barch

As we engage in another program year, it is a good time to ask ourselves some questionsWhat is this year going to be like? Is it going to be like last year? Is it going to be a year of growth and if so what is that going to look like? How are we going to grow both personally as well as the Body of Christ, His Church? If we are not growing and journeying in faith then we are stagnant and are not doing what God has planned for us.

We are creatures of habit and the more we do something the more it becomes a habit and the more we become comfortable with the status quo and we just keep doing the same thing. God is never stagnant in living his faith or in his time of Prayer. Jesus continuously found new ways to live his faith and share his gifts with us. He never let a routine or a habit slow him down, or interfere with progress in his ministry. We too have been called to live our faith in a unique and energetic way. Faith is not an added burden to our life but one that gives us energy and purpose. Faith should not grow old or boring, we need to realize that God has put us here in Brimfield Illinois in 2023 for a reason. He has given us the gifts and talents He needs us to make the community of Brimfield and the world a better place. He is waiting to see how we are going to be creative in how we use his gifts and talents.

We have been given a wonderful gift from God– The ability to share in the plan that God has for us, and the world around us. May this year be a year marked with growth and faithfulness. May this year be marked with us building a community that is eager to serve, and do whatever God wants us to do.

We can only know what God wants if we stay connected to him through Worship and reading His Word. Faith is only really faith when we move it from our head to our hearts. We can not just have the knowledge of faith but we have to live it out everyday and in every situation. Jesus called us to be dedicated to him all the time. The story that we are living is the way that we experience God and show him how much we love him. It is us connecting our lower story with his Upper story. He does not want disciples who just talk about faith, he wants us to live our faith in our daily lives. So every moment of everyday is part of our Story of Faith. Every time we focus on our faith or we make a decision and share our faith it will make our faith stronger and more alive. We get to experience how close Jesus is to us and how much he loves us. He is not a God who is up in heaven only—He is with us every minute of everyday, loving us and sharing his love with us. Jesus continuously gives us opportunities to grow into the disciples he wants us to be.

May this year be filled with an outpouring of His Holy Spirit and love. May we grow in our discipleship both to Christ and to one another.

With God’s blessings,
​Pastor Steve Barch

What does it mean to be a Christian mean in our day and age? How does going to church on Sunday change who I am or what I do the rest of the week? Does Christianity change us, or do we change Christianity to fit our schedules today? These are all questions that lead to us really looking at who we are and what we are about. Christianity calls us into the body of Christ and what does that mean? We say that God has given each of us different gifts and those gifts were given to share – the way we do that is up to us and God. 

Our Church needs you and your gifts – Belonging to a family means that we need to do things to help that family stay strong and active. Our church committees and council have room for more voices and ideas.

Our committees and council are for the congregation. They are volunteers from our church family to help make decisions and vote on the direction that the church will go. As a committee member you will help to direct the future of our church. As our congregation continues to change, we need people to step up and help out. We are asking that you prayerfully consider where and how you can help us. Union Church is a wonderful congregation that is called by Christ to serve the community in Brimfield, Illinois. 

As we look forward to another program year, we really need you to join us in serving in whatever capacity that you are able. We are blessed to have you part of our family and we thank God for you. 

May The Lord Bless and Keep You,
​Rev. Stephen W. Barch

As we deal with the heat of the summer, we all like to slow down and take a break, which is great and well deserved- as life is hectic and stressful. There is more to summer than relaxing on the beach. Taking advantage of the many restoratives and personally fulfilling opportunities that this unique season provides. Here are some ideas for living out your faith this summer.

Strengthen your Relationships.
We are called to live our faith in our relationships with family, friends, and those who God has put into our lives. We are created to be in relationships – so summer is a great time to be intentional about strengthening those relationships that are important to us.

Get reacquainted with Your Bible
As you have a change in your schedule it is a great time to dedicate some of your reading efforts to your Bible. You can join a bible study or pursue reading at your own pace. Either way getting into God’s word is a great practice to start in the summer months.

Expand your reading list
The bible can form the basis of an excellent summer of reading. It is also a great time to look at our other books and you will find plenty of literary options for both insight and entertainment. Set aside a few minutes at the end of the day and curl up with a faith-based book.

Relearn to pray
If you have fallen out of the habit of praying daily, or only praying on Sundays, or when we are worried about something, it is time to break out of the trap and establish a more routine prayer life. Prayer is the communication with God. Just spend some time telling him what is in your heart and mind. He just wants to hear from you. He loves you and misses you.

Embrace a spirit of service
Opportunities for volunteerism abound all around us and we are all busy but you will find that if you give of yourself and your time the reward will be worth it. It does not take much time to make a difference in someone’s life. Offer to help someone and watch the smile it puts on their face.

Make this summer a season of intention. There is nothing wrong with relaxation , but you will come away feeling far more fulfilled and rested if you start a new habit this Summer.

With Christ’s blessings,
​Rev. Steve

I am so proud of this church family. We talk about how church membership means that you are part of a faith family. Well, if “family is a group of people related either by consanguinity or affinity. The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society.” (Google definition). Then Union Church is a family. I feel so loved and appreciated as I celebrated my birthday last week and the outpouring of cards, prayers, and treats was amazing. I think I put on 50 pounds in a couple of days. But I was more amazed at the way that we care for each other and celebrate when they are celebrating, and we hurt when someone is hurting. God has blessed us in so many ways and being part of this family is one of my blessings.

As we move into the summer months, I want to invite you to still attend worship and continue to grow as a family. Love grows as we experience life together and we deal with the daily challenges together. Union church is such a wonderful and strong family, and we need you to be present and active even in the summer months. We all need vacations to clear our head and to refocus on the things that are important. Remember that faith is always important.

We are always looking for new ideas and new things to do so if you have any ideas, please feel free to contact me at any time. May God bless your summer months and may he fill you with his peace and love.
​
In Christ love,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch