Greetings! Christ is born, not only in Bethlehem, but also in the world and in our hearts! Christine Sine captured this reality in her poem, Make Room (https://godspacelight.com/2014/12/22/make-room-a-christmas-prayer/): Make room. Let Christ be born in the quiet and innermost spaces of your heart. Make room. Let Christ be born, in the streets and in the ghettos, in the famines and in the plagues and in the wars. Make room. Let Christ be born, not far away in distant ages, b

Greetings, We are sorry to inform you that someone who attended church on Sunday, December 19th tested positive for COVID on Monday. In response to this, Briarwood's Session has taken the difficult decision to cancel worship services on Dec. 24th, Dec. 26th, and Jan. 2nd. Out of an abundance of caution, the remaining services in the month of January will be pre-recorded online only. We know that this is a very special time of year for worship. Below you will find links to

Greetings! “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” - Isaiah 54:10 As we seek the grace of love this Advent, remember that God’s love comes to you. Jesus represents incarnate love on earth, come down from heaven to us. John Van de Laar captures the gift of God’s love in this prayer (https://sacredise.com/god-with-us/): We

Greetings! “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” - Psalm 118:24 This week in Advent, we focus on the grace of joy. Jesus makes joy blossom in our hearts, even while we wait. To enter into the joy God is bringing to your heart this week, I encourage you to pray this prayer adapted from the Presbyterian Church in Canada (presbyterian.ca/worship): Loving God, Compassionate Son, Healing Spirit, Holy One in Three and Three in One, You approa

Greetings, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4 In this verse about peace, the word peace does not appear, but the actions described embody peace. Laying down weapons in order to transform them into farming tools beautifully describes the change from conflict to teamwork: swords we swing at each other, plowshares we use side-by-sid