Venice Presbyterian Church

Prayers do not have expiration dates. God remembers, and in his own time and in his own way, he acts. In this video, I lead us through a little study of the encounter between Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist and the angel Gabriel. That encounter tells us some profound truths about how God deals with our prayers, sometimes decades after we've stopped praying them.

Dear Friends, The coronavirus pandemic continues to present us all with challenges and to force us into decisions that we would prefer not t...o have to make. Western Pennsylvania and Washington County, in particular, now find themselves in the teeth of an especially intense outbreak of Covid19 cases. Yesterday, for example, Washington County reported 141 new Covid19 cases and 4 deaths. Allegheny County reported 1,166 new cases and 27 deaths. Those numbers are well over 10 times as high as they were in the Spring when we were closed to in-person worship. Yesterday, Gov. Tom Wolf issued new Covid19 mandatory guidelines for Pennsylvania. While the governor acknowledged that churches are exempt from the guidelines, he specifically asked churches to voluntarily comply with them for the sake of the health of our communities. One of the key new tighter restrictions in the guidelines is one limiting indoor gatherings to 10 people. In light of the dramatic increase in Covid19 cases and deaths in our region and in light of the governor’s request for our voluntary cooperation with the state Covid19 safety guidelines, the session of Venice Church has decided to discontinue in-person worship and other gatherings at Venice Church and to return to live-streamed, on-line worship only, starting on Sunday, December 13, 2020 and continuing at least through Sunday, January 3, 2021. We will live-stream one service at 10:00 AM each Sunday on our Facebook page. The recording of that service will continue to be posted also to the church’s YouTube channel. Our worship team is already busy working on a very special on-line Venice Church Christmas eve service. More information will be coming soon about that service. These disruptions to our accustomed ways of worshiping and celebrating Christmas are a hard pill to swallow. We join with Gov. Wolf in hoping that these new Covid19 restrictions will not be necessary for very long. But it is session’s prayerful judgment that they are necessary for now to protect the health and well-being of our staff, our members, and our wider community. As we face this most unusual Christmas season, let me encourage each of you to take a few minutes from time to time in the days ahead to reach out to some other member of Venice Church, someone maybe you haven’t heard from in a while. Give them a phone call, text them, send them an e-mail or a card. Let’s work at staying connected with each other and encouraging each other during these difficult times. In these days when so many people are shouting angry and fearful words, let us, as people of the Light, season all our conversations with words of hope, of joy, of peace, and of love as we celebrate Christ’s birth and the promise of his coming again. Blessings in Christ, Pastor Gary for the Session of Venice Church

We live in a complicated, confusing, and sometimes almost chaotic world. So often it's hard to know how to deal with the circumstances of our lives. Today I explore God's gift of wisdom and our calling to live God's wisdom and God's goodness into this fallen, troubled, and confusing world. Wisdom, James tells us, is a gift from God. It is our most important tool for sowing God's goodness back into the world to bless it and to redeem it.

I start a new study series in this video. We're embarking on a study of the letter of James. In the opening verses of the letter, James writes about the trials, tribulations, and struggles of life and about how they can be a benefit to us. In this video we'll explore a little of what he means by that.

Join Miss Anna as she reads about the resurrection of Jesus. Activity Printable: https://docs.google.com//1MaXkSGGwiDxCsqgNzaLbIEp_Mj/edit

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Announcements 9:45 Worship at 10:00