Christmas Day Celebration 2016!

Well...Amy and I celebrated our first Christmas together at the old Anglican Church where we rent living quarters and where our church, Calvary Evergreen, rents the sanctuary for Sunday evening services.

We held an open house at the church and combined it with a Christmas celebration holding two services at 2pm and one at 6pm. I conducted the first one preaching out of Luke 2 primarily, while Pastor Craig preached out of Matthew 1 at 6pm

I encouraged congregational participation during the 2pm service which I conducted more as a lecture than a sermon. There were people who attended that I would classify as "seekers" and who had questions about the birth of Christ especially the nature of the virgin birth. So, I dispensed with sermonizing and instead took questions and answered them the best I knew how.

I emphasized Jesus' purpose in incarnating in the flesh the twin ideas of the Kingdom and the Cross while explaining the political/religious/economic climate of Judea during the early and middle first century.

Jesus' life and teachings are as important as his death on the cross. Too often we Christians tend to reduce the Gospel or "Good News" to solely his death and resurrection... important as they are...but fail to explain that his death and resurrection were means to an end which is to reconcile all things to God including his entire creation.

We Christ followers need to concentrate more on this life instead of focusing solely or primarily on the next. We need to be working out our soul's salvation (sanctification) in the here and now and show fruit worthy of repentance.

I personally believe too much emphasis is placed on end time prophecy, worrying about when and exactly how Jesus is going to return and not enough on loving God with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as ourselves in this life and in this dimension of reality.

That in a nutshell was my message for Christmas 2016.

We had more than enough food and drink for the 25-30 or so people who attended. 

Thanks to Pastor Craig and his wife Christie along with their three children who gave of their time, money and resources to make this Calvary Idaho Springs Christmas celebration a smashing success.

And thanks to all from Idaho Springs and Evergreen who celebrated and shared their lives with us for a few hours on the Holiest day of the year.

It was good to see Jonas from Idaho Springs as well as John Mark, Shannon, Tim from York Gulch who incidentally brought a gift of wine for us, my good friend from Evergreen, Matt, my friend the Bernie supporter, Trey from Wall Street and David, my new friend who drove up all the way from Denver to attend and many more.

And thanks to Luigi from Evergreen who cooked a fantastic "root beer glaze" ham and deviled eggs! Best wishes to him and his wife as he recovers from recent brain surgery.

And finally a great thanks to my new wife, Amy, for organizing the event and putting up with my very noticeable shortcomings. She's a saint to be sure.

Now, it's off to work for both Amy and I after a good night's sleep.

Grace and peace to you all...And a very Merry Christmas!

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein

December 26, 2016- Monday

Woke Up To Near A Foot Of Snow

Amy and I woke up this morning to temperatures around -7 and near a foot of snow putting tomorrow's Calvary Church services and the Anglican Mass in doubt.

Later in the day Anglican Fr Longcamp of St Dunstan's sent me an email indicating he and Judy are planning to drive in from Dillon which is some 40 miles west of us over the Divide.

Pastor Craig and I plan on attending Mass as well. Calvary has services at the main campus on Floyd Hill tomorrow at 10am. Then, Mass at St John's will be celebrated in Idaho Springs at 1:30p. Finally, we will hold services at our Idaho Springs campus at 6p with supper immediately following.

Right now, I am preparing my Christmas morning service sermon on the Song of Mary positioned in first chapter of the Good News of Luke.

There is so much to say about Christ's birth that it's difficult to narrow it down. So...since I have never heard a Protestant sermon on Mary I thought I would give it a go.

Pastor Craig will handle the 6p service Christmas evening with his subject centering around the genealogy of Christ as put forth by Matthew.

A reminder is in order now so be aware Calvary Idaho Springs will be open from noon throughout Christmas Day until sometime after evening service and supper. 

We want St John's Church to be open all day on Christmas primarily for anyone in town who find themselves Aline bereft of relatives, family or friends in the area and would like a warm place to hangout, talk, fellowship, hear God's Word proclaimed and break bread.

So...for all my people in Clear Creek County... come on over to the campus church at St John's in the Springs and say hello.

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein

December 17, 2016- Saturday

Its Movie Night At Calvary Evergreen!

Two movies on tonight at our Floyd Hill Campus in Evergreen. The opener is "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Then "The Muppet Christmas Carol" for our main feature.

We're anxiously awaiting a forecasted snow storm tonight. Just hoping I can get back down to Idaho Springs. Amy's working tonight at Beau Jos.

Here we go.... Charlie Brown is up!

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein

December 16, 2016- Friday

My 57th Christmas Holiday

Here I am coming up on my 57th Christmas and Amy's on her 37th !

Our decorations for the church building are complete. If you've ever watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase you'll know what I mean when I say that I untangled 3 huge knots of old Christmas lights to get the job done.

Susan, the administrator/owner of the church building decorated the outside with lights surrounding the statue of Mary on the east side. We have only three electrical outlets inside and none on the outside so she ran an extension from her house next door to illuminate the statue. I must say it looks nice at night.

I'm continuing preparations on my Christmas Day sermon which is on the Song of Mary...the Magnificat. I plan on speaking as well on Zechariah's prophecy, the "Nunc Dimittis" or Simeon's prophecy and Hannah's Song in I Samuel to give the church an idea of Israel's Messianic hope and expectations of the dawning of a new era or the Age to Come during the first century.

All of this will be extrapolated over to us Gentiles as well...that in Yeshua(Jesus) God's plan of Salvation becomes a revelation to the Gentiles and a glory to Israel.

Pastor Craig will officiate at the evening service at 6pm. His wife, Christy, as well as others from the main campus on Floyd Hill will help with providing the food.

Yesterday I passed out invitations to people on the streets and at businesses for the Christmas Day Celebration at our Idaho Springs Campus. I dropped some invites off for the "J1s" who are the foreign/international workers invited here by local shops to help out during the holidays. They are mostly young people from Asia and South America who are here without the benefit of family and friends. I'm hoping we, the church, in Idaho Springs can make this day better for them while at the same time inviting them to the "Banquet of Christ."

Pics show the illuminated Mary and Amy hard at work at Beau Jos and one of the huge Christmas light knots I had to untangle.

May Christ's love be with you all today!

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein

December 13, 2016- Wednesday

Join Us At Calvary Idaho Springs For Our Christmas Day Celebration

Christmas falls on a Sunday this year and so we at Calvary Evergreen decided to hold Christmas Eve Services at our Floyd Hill location in Evergreen and Christmas Day Services at our Idaho Springs Campus located on the northwest corner of 14th Street and Colorado Blvd.

Our Christmas Day Celebration will start at noon and last through the evening. We will have free food prepared by me and my wife, Amy. Turkey, pork roast, mashed potatoes, assorted veggies along with meatballs with sauce and crock pot little smokies will round out the food options.

I will officiate the 2pm service while Evergreen Senior Pastor, Craig Babcock, will lead the 6pm Service.

We experienced an uptick in church attendance last week at our Idaho Springs Campus and hope for a continuation of same. However, we have no idea how many will attend our Christmas Day Celebration but trust that no matter what happens we will offer up our time and treasure that day to celebrate the incarnation and first advent of our God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

So, for all my Colorado compatriots please consider supporting our humble assembly here in this old mining town located in the North Central Mountains.

We worship in the old historic Spanish Mission style Anglican Catholic Church at 1336 Colorado Blvd just west and next to the United Church.

Parking is a problem due to road construction on Colorado Blvd and 14th Street. It's best to park in the United Church parking lot located behind the United Church on Virginia Street or you can park in front of the United Church on Colorado Blvd. However, do NOT park on 14th Street next to the church. Please use the door located on the east side of our church.

Calvary Evergreen is one church two locations. We conducted our first service at our Idaho Springs Campus on Sunday, July 24, 2016. 

For those of you who reside in Georgetown, Empire and Dumont please drop in at Calvary Idaho Springs anytime on Christmas day after the noon hour up to mid evening for food, spirituality, fellowship and fun!

See y'all Christmas Day! Grace and Shalom to all!

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein

December 8, 2016- Wednesday

Preaching, Planting And Peregrinations

The United Church Council extended to me an invitation to preach the Sunday Morning Service for November 27th. Preacher Bill R. was away visiting family up in the North Woods for the Thanksgiving holiday.

My sermon was on personal transformation during a "wilderness experience." It was entitled, " Are you willing to go through a wilderness experience?"

Too often when go through loss we immediately begin looking for the exits instead of figuring out why we are going through the experience in the first place and then working on transforming ourselves through the renewal of our minds as layed out in Romans 12.

Contextually, I meant transforming the false self or as Paul called it the "old man" or the "flesh."

We all eventually experience the "wilderness" when we suffer some kind of loss such as losing a job, the death of a child, spouse, parent or other person close to us. A terminal illness suffices as a "wilderness" experience as does estrangement from a family member or friend.

My sermon appeared to resonate with the parishioners of United Church as we fellowshipped afterwards. I fielded many questions about personal transformation as well as heard some of their own wilderness stories.

Two couples from the church ended up attending my evening service at Calvary Idaho Springs.

Karen and Rick along with Bob and Kathy and Trey were among the newest attendees. John Mark has become a regular as has Matt.

Worship Leader/Youth Pastor, Ben S.  presented a very good sermon last night at Calvary Idaho Springs on the subject of Gideon's 300.

Our church plant in Idaho Springs is coming along steadily if slowly. Living here in the church helps as Amy and I keep the lights on most of the night attracting some townspeople and causing them to knock on the doors wondering what is going on inside.

Construction on Colorado Blvd is proceeding with the road now open. However, the side street,14th is still undone and closed. Parking is virtually non-existent still. This is without dispute impacting our attendance. We're hoping this will lessen as winter progresses.

Amy and I are beginning to decorate the church for Christmas. We are opening the doors to the community for our Christmas Day Celebration. 2 services will take place with the first at 2pm with yours truly sermonizing then a service at 6pm presenting Senior Pastor Craig Babcock officiating.

We will start at noon and go the entire day until sometime in the evening. We are gearing this mainly for the homeless and poor(both in body and spirit)so they have a warm, loving place to be on perhaps the loneliest day of the year for some. Food will be served all day.

So, for our Clear Creek and Colorado peeps--come on out and celebrate with us the Lord's birthday.

Amy is starting work again at Beau Jo's tomorrow. She's looking forward to getting reconnected with her old pals there. I too am putting in my application for work around town for additional income.

Amy and I continue to use the Rec Center to walk, lift weights, use the sauna and shower facilities. The church has no operable shower/bath facilities so we need the Rec Center membership for that alone. However, just recently a new friend offered his home for our use including the washing machine, dryer, hot tub and showers.

As of today we have bus service to and from Georgetown with stops in Dumont and at the Hidden Valley exit. There will be multiple stops in Idaho Springs including the old lumber mill and Safeway. Cost is $2 per person to Georgetown and $2 back with $1 per person within Idaho Springs. We have needed this service for quite some time. Now, we need service to Evergreen especially to Walmart and the other retail and banking facilities there. 

God always seems to provide the necessities just when we need them.

Amy and I enjoyed Thanksgiving at Rich and Marge Nelsons down in Englewood for three days. Everyone wanted to get to know Amy better. And, Amy also enjoyed our stay very much.

Joshua and Emily Nelson along with their 2 daughters, Sierra and Brooke attended as did Emily's step mother and father aling with Rich's sister and brother in law.

We discussed reopening Mercy Church with Josh pastoring again. Josh is praying earnestly about this.

We smoked our tobacco pipes and cigars during our Thanksgiving Day celebration with Emily's brother,Jay, smoking his first cigar. I always love smoking with friends, it's a very social experience to be sure.

The third pic is of Josh Nelson and his youngest daughter, Brooke. The last pic shows worship leader, Ben S, pickin his guitar at worship service at Calvary Idaho Springs. The other pics show Amy lounging in warm weather out in front of the church while I'm pictured inside Church during office hours. Then there is the pic showing the front right side of our Spanish Mission style edifice. We get beautiful light inside the church when the Sun sets. It's reminiscent of God's illuminating, warm light shining through a dark world.

May God bless all of you and keep you in the hollow of his hand while we head into the Christmas season. Let his Grace and Love abound more and more!

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein

December 5, 2016- Monday