Welcome to Embury

Celebrating 150 years of Loving God and our Community 1869 - 2019

You are always welcome. Embury is warm and friendly in its truest sense. But then again it is to be experienced, not promoted. In this age of super stores and super sizes, we are not embarrassed that we are small. In fact, we believe it is one of our strengths where you feel more like part of a caring family, not part of a "congregation." Most importantly, at Embury, it's all about growing disciples, not adding members. It's not about maintaining our facility but it's about loving our neighbors and loving God. (Mark 12:30-31) You are always welcome!

April, 2014

Do You Know Jesus? Do you know Jesus?  Or do you know about Jesus? You might be wondering, “What kind of questions are these?”   “What is the difference?” The difference is knowing Jesus firsthand or secondhand.  To know someone firsthand is to know that person personally from experiences of meeting, conversing and sharing of stories.  The secondhand relationship is when you only know someone through what you’ve heard from others.  You don’t really know the person, you know about the person to the extent of what you’ve heard.  So do you know Jesus? Or do you know about him? To know someone is to know that person by heart.  There is intimacy in the relationship.  It means that you know his/her passion, what makes them happy and fulfilled, what makes them sad, what drives them etc.  When you know someone closely, there is a tendency to grow toward each other.   People say when you are together long enough, you begin to look alike, think alike and act alike.  And then it becomes natural to finish each other’s sentences. Here is a problem.  For so long, living in the Christianized culture, we have been allowed to speak about Jesus in the secondhand manner so that many of us do not know Jesus.  We have knowledge about Jesus, but lack the experience of meeting him personally.  And the result is that our faith has often reduced the message of Jesus to practical tips for living life.  The Bible has become a how-to-guide for success and happiness. So do you know Jesus? Or do you know about him? The difference shows when you start telling others about Jesus.  How would you tell about Jesus to anyone who would want to know?  Here is what I would say.  Jesus is my savior who gave his life for me because he loved me.  I have experienced his love when I was twelve years old and it was amazing to feel this awesome love.  Experiencing Jesus’ love changed my life,  giving me a clear purpose of my life to serve God by sharing Jesus with others.  Through Jesus, I have found meaning and purpose for my life and I have found fulfillment in ministry. In a few weeks, we will be shouting “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!!”  The resurrected Jesus is available to meet us personally so that we can experience him and the love he has for each of us.  Along our life’s journey, Jesus comes along side of us revealing himself to us through the scriptures and worship. This Easter, may you hear the words of Jesus and see for yourselves first hand who Jesus is through experiencing the power and presence of God….So that you will have your own story to tell about your encounter with the Lord.  Jesus is too good just to know about him! Alleluia!! Pastor Grace