A. W. Tozer said, “What I believe about God is the most important thing about me”

Natalie and I are in the process of updating and improving the blog.  Please stay tuned for more posts.

Also, don’t forget to join us for Apple Picking THIS Saturday, September 24th at Tougas Family Farm in Northboro from 10 a.m. -12 p.m.  We will meet there, and pick apples together!

Here’s some pics for you to enjoy!

For those of you who are in town this weekend… quite possibly the best place to be to celebrate the Fourth of July… a couple things.

First, everyone should plan to go to the Citylife 4th of July Picnic after the 11:15 Service on Sunday.

Second, to warm up your patriotic spirits, or remind yourself what it is that we celebrate on the 4th, we’ll be taking a stroll along the bright red line in Boston and getting some dinner (and maybe some ice cream). This bright red line is also known as the Freedom Trail. For those of you who do not know, this trail takes you along many historical sites in Boston, several of which played big parts in the founding of our country.

Let’s plan to meet at the Park Street fountain (near the Park St. T-Stop where the bright red line starts) at 3:30PM. We’ll go for a little walk and grab dinner together along the way. Depending on our progress and whether we do the whole thing, this will be during or after our little stroll. The whole course is about 2.5 miles one way, so bring walking shoes.

If you plan to make it, shoot me an email so I know to meet you there. Have a great week!

-Mike

With Father’s Day around the corner, I thought about the variety of items that are typically given to fathers. Of course, the first guess was to gravitate towards department store variety solutions such as ties, shirts, watches, or (my favorite) all-in-one multifunction printers. Nothing says, “Happy Father’s Day” than a printer/fax/ scanner with wifi capabilities so that you can scan, copy, and email anyone in minutes instead of hours. My geek is showing, so let’s move on.

Then my gospel instinct kicked in, counseling myself, “Instead of reaching for the wallet, perhaps a word of encouragement for fathers would be thoughtful also.” In a Ministry-To-Children article on 1 Corinthians 4, it outlines “10 Tips for Fathers,” which I hope can help influence how we understand parenting to be. It deconstructs mere behavioral modification, while reminding us it’s our responsibility to invest ourselves in gospel-centric character development.   You can find the link here.

To our dads, happy father’s day!

- James

Director of Children & Youth Ministries, Citylife Presbyterian Church

I hope that everyone had a nice time with loved ones over the Christmas season! After a nice, refreshing time of rest and celebration, we are back in the groove and launching our new theme for 2010! This year we are “Disciples of Christ”! We are learning about the life of Jesus, how he was sent to this earth to walk in our shoes and teach us how to follow in his footsteps. Every week, as we worship together, the kids, teacher’s and I are amazed the humility of Christ- that he would come down to our world and live with sinners. He felt the pain that we felt, the temptations that we bear and fought the good fight as we ought. But Jesus, knowing that we could never live this life without sin, became the ultimate sacrifice. Along with this amazing gift of redemption, he gives us lots of life tips and parables to help us along the way! Please pray for the children as they continually learn important lessons through the eyes of the Gospel. Pray that the eyes of their heart would be open.

Please enjoy this photos of the Christmas Hand-bell Dress Rehearsal and Performance!

Here is a photo (sorry for the camera phone quality) of their beautiful tree which will be displayed again this Sunday in the lobby, one last time!

At Sunday School, we sat in a circle to talk about the things that we were thankful for! I always love to hear what the kids have to say, and we know that it’s genuine. We had a time of prayer in which we thanked God for his many blessings in our lives. I love to remember the purpose of this important holiday. For your enjoyment, here is a small portion of the Thanksgiving Proclamation given by Abraham Lincoln. Enjoy!

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation. “The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. …They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.”  Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.  By the President: Abraham Lincoln

It couldn’t be a better time to post. This past Sunday, we celebrated our Annual Citylife Kids! Harvest Party. And this year… we celebrated “Hoedown” style! With our hats, boots & bandannas, we played family relays & fun carnival style games, we had our faces painted, took silly photos on a saddle, ate yummy harvest treats & made many memories. But before any of these events began, we took a bit of time to reflect on why we celebrate the Harvest. Harvest is a time of reaping… reaping the reward of our labor and being thankful for it. And we recognize that our Father is the one who ultimately provides for us. Thankfully, we are at his mercy which he abundantly bestows on us because of His act of obedience on the cross. We should never fail to recognize that we are reaping the reward of His sacrifice for us on the cross.

Please enjoy these photos of the Harvest Party!

In Him,

Stephanie Krier, Director of Citylife Kids!

To see more photos from the Harvest Party, click here! Parents, if you’d like to get a photo file, email james.hsiao@gmail.com for more info.

We’d love to hear your comments and experiences at the party! Feel free to leave a message below!