First Sunday in Advent — December 2, 2018

Featured image is from https://www.maxpixel.net/Solitude-Snow-Winter-City-574512 Good morning friends and members of Emmanuel Church,  It’s Advent time again up on God’s hill!  We’ve had a snowy morning up here and it’s chilly outside.  We’re entering into a new church season on Sunday and it looks like we’ve entered a new season when we look out the window…

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Weekly Update — 3rd Sunday in Advent

Good morning friends and members of Emmanuel Church,  It’s a clear and somewhat warm Friday up on God’s hill! This Sunday,  December 16th is the Third Sunday in Advent.  At 10:15 a.m. we will have worship and focus on the Advent Candle/Theme of JOY.  After worship, our Prayer Angels will meet together to make a blanket.  At…

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Sermon of December 9, 2018 — “For Such a Time As This”

Esther 4 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; 2 he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 In every province, wherever…

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Sermon of December 2, 2018 — “Faith as a Way of Life”

Habakkuk, Selected Verses: The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. 2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,    and you will not listen?Or cry to you “Violence!”    and you will not save?3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing    and look at trouble?Destruction and violence are before me;    strife and contention arise.4 So the law becomes slack    and justice never prevails.The wicked…

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December/January Hilltopper Newsletter Double Issue

Featured image, First Sunday in Advent at Dionysos Church in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, is used with permission of a Creative Commons License.   Inside this issue of the Hilltopper you will find the invitation to this Sunday’s Christmas party along with instructions on how to get a present for your child from St. Nick! Click Here…

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Sermon of November 18, 2018 — “Who do you trust?”

Featured image is the Assyrian account of their army defeating the fortified cities of Judah (Isaiah 36:1), the Lachish Relief in the British Museum.  Public Domain.   Isaiah 36, 37 & 2  In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king…

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Weekly Update — November 4, 2018. All Saints Sunday.

Good morning friends and members of Emmanuel Church, It is partly cloudy and beautiful up on God’s hill. This Saturday, November 3 at 4 p.m., City and Kingdom Pittsburgh will meet at the New Meadow Run Bruderhof for a tour and community supper.  Our hosts will give us a tour of their workshops, community spaces, gardens, kitchen, and…

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Sermon of October 21, 2018 — “I Beg Your Pardon?”

2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27: In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the…

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Sermon of October 14, 2018 — “Reminder Notice”

Joshua 24:1-15 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond…

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Sermon of September 30, 2018 — “Rough Road Ahead”

Exodus 14, selected verses:   5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” 6 So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; 7 he took six…

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