Advent— the season when we await the coming of Christ. It’s more than just waiting for Christmas to arrive, it’s a time to really look at the practices of our daily lives and see how we can better prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord and King—Jesus Christ.

Advent is a season of both the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas and the return of Jesus at the second coming. The term is a version of the Latin word meaning “coming”. The Latin word adventus is the translation of the Greek word Parousia, commonly used to refer to the second coming of the Christ. For Christians , the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from three different perspectives.: in the flesh in Bethlehem, in our hearts daily, and in glory at the end of time. “ The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the messiah and to be alert for his Second Coming.

The new church liturgical year is the time to really assess the way that we have taken Jesus Christ seriously and allowed him to come into our hearts in a new way. Have we let Jesus really take the center of our hearts and lives? To make this year different than all the previous ones, we should be doing something different than we have in the past. To set aside more time for prayer, to give up a bad habit, to really watch our tongue with the gossip. Each little thing that we do– allows Jesus to have more room in our lives. It opens our heart and mind to his presence. Jesus wants nothing less than our hearts. He wants us to be completely devoted to living out our baptismal calling—to be his disciples of today.

Yes Advent is an important time, it is preparing for the birth of our Lord and Savior. What would it be like if we did nothing and just let Christ into our hearts. We would be ashamed of the fact that we didn't prepare, that we didn't give him the place of honor in our lives, that we didn't treat him as the king that he is.

May this advent season draw us closer to the one who has called us, the one who has given everything for us, the one that wants to live in our hearts everyday.

May you be blessed this advent season!!
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In Christ’ Love
Rev. Steve

When we think about stewardship we think “How much do we need to give to the Church?”, or “How much is the Church going to need to keep its programs going?”

Stewardship is really about doing what God has always done. Throughout the ages, with love, He has given to us freely and unconditionally, everything we need to live faithfully and happily. Our Lord created us, in His image and likeness, out of a selfless love. Then He placed us on this earth, a place that He created out of love. God watches over us everyday and blesses us in any and all circumstances as we enjoy His presence in and around us. No matter where we go or what we do, God is there to bless us and give us His everlasting love. We could not exist without His love.

God has commanded us to love one another the way that He loves us. For this reason, and in gratitude for God’s blessings, we are challenged to make a difference in the church and the world. Giving is one way we accomplish this. Faithful giving allows us the opportunity to be Christ to the person in need. It is a way of living, it is a change of heart, and just like any spiritual gift, the more we practice it ~ the more we will live it.

“May God...who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you…” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17.

As we prayerfully reflect on what God has called us to give we need to remember that God has given each of us special gifts and talents. Please consider sharing some of your gifts and talents to help our church continue to minister to the community of Brimfield and the World at large.

“Though we are many, we are all one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us.” Romans 12:5,6.

May we, as Union Church and as members of the Body of Christ on earth, share what God has given to us and obtain a heart of Christ. We should not see opposition and differences, but rather the unique and beautiful parts of Christ. Every time we give ~ both the giver and receiver disappear and Christ is all that is seen.

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

As we move into fall, we spend the rest of the church year looking at how we are called to be Church. How we participate in being the Body of Christ here on earth. This is not a light calling. If someone were to look at our actions would they know that we are Christians? We do not live a double life. We are not Christians on Sunday and non-Christians the rest of the week. So, how does our faith journey call us to act and think differently during the week? All of the readings during the Pentecost season look at our calling. What does it mean to be the disciples that Jesus has called us to be?

It means to grow into our baptismal vows. These are not requirements that bog us down, but rather they are privileges that we get to participate in. We listen to stories about the disciples and the way they are called to live. We need to remember that we are called to live the same thing in our lives today. Jesus has given us everything that we need to live out our calling, and we just have to put it into action. Jesus wants us to experience his presence everyday. We do this by strengthening our awareness of his presence all around us. We need to spend time making that relationship important in our lives.

We can feed this relationship by being around other believers, going to Worship on Sunday and listening to God’s Word. And also by having a prayer life in which we spend some time everyday communicating with the God that loves us so much, that he gave his one and only Son for our Salvation.

Being a disciple is both a challenge, because we are called to live differently, and a privilege that we get to participate in all that God is doing in the world around us. Our faith life is really something worth putting our energy into. May we all grow in our discipleship.
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In Christ’s love,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

As we move into the fall it is a good time to get back into the routine of life and to take time to look at our faith journey and see how were we are in responding to Gods call in our lives. God has filled us with gifts and talents and He has put his love into our hearts. He has called us into a relationship with HIM and one another. This is one of my favorite seasons of the church year. As we move in to ordinary time, we look at our call to be the Body of Christ here on earth. We look at who is our neighbor and what does it mean to be neighborly to others.

We are so blessed to be part of His body and to bring his message of love and respect to everyone that we meet. Jesus does not want a part time Christian or someone who only does the bare minimum to get by. Jesus wants us to be all in to take him seriously and to put his commands into practice in our daily lives. When God calls us into his Body here on earth, He calls us to trust HIM. When we understand how God has acted in the past and promises to act today and tomorrow, we can trust in God’s promises even in the face of uncertainty.

This is not easy to do, as we live in a broken world and we are pulled in different directions and given different messages from the world that we live in, it is easy to forget what Jesus has given us and done for us. Jesus has given us everything that we need to live the life that he has called us to live, and if this wasn't enough, he is with us all the time to give us strength and wisdom to do the right thing.

Jesus wants us to grow in our relationship with him and this is done through reading of His Holy Word and by praying together and by sharing it with others . Jesus is not asking to be a part of your life. He is asking to be your life. To be the thing that gives us meaning and purpose. To be the reason that we reach out to others and care for them and do what is right in the sight of Jesus. Remember that putting Jesus first in our life is always the highest thing that we can do. Since we have been created to love and serve God, and to love and serve our neighbor, being a Christian should be the best thing that we can do. Being Happy is a Christian virtue.

So as we move into our fall routines let us make time to worship together, to pray and to serve our neighbor in a new way. We are so blessed and now we have been called to bless someone else. May we be the family that God has called us to be and may we really look out for our brothers and sisters in Christ. (They really are a gift from God.)

In Christ’s Love:
Rev Stephen W Barch

Many are the passages to which we look when our way narrows and hope dims, perhaps none more than Psalm 23.  Like an ancient prayer stone, the 23rd Psalm has been worn smooth.  Over the years thousands of believers have worked their worries over this passage so when we recite it we can sense not only the contours of the psalm’s original words, but all the lives those words have touched.  We can hear not only the author’s ancient voice, can also feel the vibration of every voice that has lifted this sacred intercession.

As Christians, we associate Psalm 23 with times of passing.  It’s when death makes us pause and reflect, that we turn, most often, to this ancient prayer for restoration and refreshment.  Yet death is not the only thing that can knock us down.  Life can deplete our energy, our spirituality.   

Through hectic schedules, long hours, financial concerns, illness, and the like, life can wear us down.  As we head into the long dog days of summer and we add the heat and the pressure to complete our summer tasks to our already stressed lives, Psalm 23 speaks to our needs.  It expresses our spiritual desire to be restored, to be refreshed.

In the words of this age old prayer (which, in ancient times would have been sung  during worship), we hear both our ancestors who’ve gone on before us and the still small voice inside us,

“The Lord is (our) shepherd, (we) shall not want.  He maketh (us) lie down in green pastures: He leadeth (us) beside still waters.   He restoreth (our) souls. …” 

In this psalm, we can hear, no matter where we are in our faith journey or what we are experiencing at the present time, the Holy Spirit whispering to us.  Jesus is telling us that He is our Shepherd, He will be with us through everything that we are going through and everything that we are experiencing.  Life can be hard at times but we never walk alone. Jesus is with us, what a wonderful promise. 

I pray that as we continue through the hot summer months may we all heed the psalmist’s wise counsel, “to lie down beside still waters” and let Jesus refresh us, so that when fall comes upon us, and Augusts’ dog days give way to September’s new surge, we might face it...restored and refreshed.

In Christ’s peaceful stillness,
​Rev. Stephen W. Barch 

​I love this time of year. As we have just finished the Easter Season, celebrated Pentecost and now we move into the season of the church. This is the season that we look at our responsibilities of living into our baptismal promises. How is it that we are growing in our imitation of Christ. It is a great time to read the Book of Acts, and look at how the disciples took their calling to live as the body of Christ here on earth seriously. They lived with Jesus and saw how he forgave others no matter what. He always looked out for the best of others and did not ask for anything for himself. Then in the book of Acts of the Apostles we see them also sharing the stories of Christ and their faith tirelessly and sharing the gifts that God has given them.

We see from the Book of Acts that everything except faith, hope, and love is temporary. These are the qualities that carry us forward in to eternity. Demonstrating their greater significance in comparison to the other gifts, which bring blessing only in this life.

Gifts are freely given by the Father, not by our merit but by His kindness. We can’t earn them; we can only receive them with a heart of humility. At the same time, there is something the Lord looks for in us, something we are responsible for developing, the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says “But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Gentleness, self-control.” Love is reflecting its supreme importance. We must ask ourselves– Have we learned to Love the way that Jesus loves us?

In Acts 10:38, Jesus went about doing good. Love and goodness is the Key aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. If you love others, you will always look out for the good of others. If your desire to develop goodness, consider how you can show kindness and do good to those you encounter. As you do remember you are demonstrating the character of Jesus.

Declare today : “I can do all things through Christ; therefore , I can grow in the fruit of the Spirit in my life.”

You are blessed to be a blessing and the more you bless, the more you will be blessed in return. Love is the soil from which the fruit of the Spirit can flourish. Silence is the language of the Spirit and doing good things is the strength of the spirit. We are called by God to share the Spirit with everyone we meet.
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God Bless,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

​When we believe in God, we say that HE is the center of our life, but what does that really mean? How does that look and what does it mean in our daily actions?

Whenever we take a vow in our life it is a voluntary obligation or promise made to God. This promise is made with the plea to have God give us the strength to live into the vow through the events and Grace that God will give to us. Let us look at the vows that we take in our life. Baptism we promise up front that we want to be part of God’s family and we want to grow into this vow by the way we live our faith out in our lives. Confirmation- We confirm the vows that were made for us at baptism, and we say that we want to live our baptismal vows out in our own lives. Marriage – we take marriage vows and promise to live into these vows as we live our lives out together. With our best friend and partner by our side. Ordination- When we are ordained as a deacon, minister, or session member, we again make our promise to live into God’s calling for our lives.

So vows are important, and they continuously call us to keep the promise at the center of our lives. We need to always remember that God is the one that is giving us the strength and dedication to live into the vow. God was the author of the vow, and HE called us into it. You see when we make a vow to God, it is really at HIS invitation, and we live into it only because of the strength that HE gives us. So, our faith and our Vows are really not about us. They are really our response to the calling and gift that God has given to us. They are not an obligation like other promises that we make. Vows are really a gift from God that allows us to turn have-to’s into get-to’s. God is giving us the ability to participate in what He is doing in the world. What a privilege it is to make a vow to a God who loves us so dearly and a God who is with us every day in every situation. We need to remember those vows every day and make our decisions around them. God remembers them and he wants nothing more than for us to live into them and enjoy the gifts that He is giving us daily.

Our Faith makes a difference in everything that we do. We remember that it is a gift from God and that faith should shape every decision that we make, every thought that we have and every action that we do. It is always good to keep God at the center of our lives because we are the center of HIS. Never forget to always thank God for the gift of faith, and the vows that he has called us into. We have an awesome God and one that not only loves us beyond anything that we could imagine. We have a God who wants to be part of everything that we do.

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

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

Think about the most wonderful piece of mail or e-mail you ever received. What made it special – the person who sent it, the message, the timing? We can thank God for the many ways we are able to connect with people we love.

One way God connects with us is through the Bible. Some call it “God’s love letter to his people. “But do we open it with the kind of excitement we felt when we opened that most wonderful piece of mail? Do we treasure it the way we do that e-mail?

Consider now who sent it, the message, and the timing of this letter. The Bible gives us a clear picture the Sender-his character and his desired relationship with his people- and enable us to experience the joy of communing with Him. Our
hearts warm at messages about God’s faithfulness and grace. Our love for Jesus is rekindled as we marvel at his sacrificial, selfless love. The Spirit uses the words on those pages to breathe life into our faith, proving this letter to be truly timeless in its relevance and power.

What is the most wonderful piece of mail you’ve ever received? The best Love letter ever written was written to you- The Bible. Get to know it better and you will have more love in your life. 

Your Word shows me a picture of you, connects our hearts, and reminds me of your faithfulness. Thank you for the Bible.

365 Devotions for a thankful heart (Zondervan)

In Christ’s love,
Rev. Stephen Barch

In all the Gospels, we See Jesus’ ultimate goal as his journey to Jerusalem. He knows that is where the culmination of his mission on earth is going to happen. He does not want anything to get in the way of this mission and he also makes it the highest priority in His life. Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem, as depicted in the Gospels, involved a final, deliberate trek from Galilee, through Samaria and Prea, ultimately culminating in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. A journey that foreshadowed His crucifixion and resurrection.

Luke 9:51 states that Jesus “Set his face to go to Jerusalem,: indicating a purposeful and determined course toward the city. The journey continued to Bethany and Bethphage, villages near the Mount of Olives, where Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey; known as His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Jesus’ entire life was aimed at accomplishing this journey, and He would not let anything deter him from it. So for him it was the most important journey of his life. He then invites us into our own Journey to Jerusalem. How are we going to allow our journey bring us closer to God and one another? It is only through our growing in our awareness of God’s presence and our walking with Him that we are going to recognize Him and where He wants us to go. How He is using the events of our daily lives to show us his presence and ability to lead us.

Jesus wants nothing more than a genuine relationship with each of his children and with His body—the church. He wants us to know how much He loves us and all that he has done and is doing for us on a daily basis.

Our ultimate goal in life is to live in a relationship with Jesus Christ that mirrors his relationship with his Father. One in which we draw our strength and wisdom from God and we trust Him with our very lives and existence. If we could do this, we would know how lucky we are to have a God who loves us.

​In Christ’s love,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

March is a great time as we prepare for the Lenten Season. Lent is a great time to look at our faith journey and how we are growing in our discipleship. It is always a good thing to slow down a bit in our busy world and look at how we are doing at living out our faith and how are we growing in our relationship with God and those around us.

​God is using the people and the situations that He has put us into to bring us into His family. It is through these same situations that God is using them to bring us closer to Him and closer to one another. He wants us to really allow our faith to call us outside of ourselves and to help us realize that we are going to grow in our relationship with God and one another. God is going to use the situations that He has put us in to show us his power and love.

Lent is a great time to re-evaluate what we are doing and why? We need to look at both our individual faith and our communal Faith. How is God inviting us deeper into our relationship with him? God wants us to pray unceasingly and to see Him all around us. He wants us to realize how close He is.

Lent is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptations by Satan, right before He began His public ministry. It is a great season to add something or take things away so that we get out of our comfortable lifestyle and really focus on Jesus and all that He is doing for us in our daily lives.

May this Lenten season be different than all others and may it be a time of growth and our discipleship. May all of us enter into this season with humility and openness. May we allow God to accomplish in us all that HE wants to and may we pay attention to HIS invitations.

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