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“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”
Isaiah 9:2
Advent is that time of year when we prepare to celebrate the arrival of the Christ child in the manger. It is also the time when we remember that we must also prepare for the second coming of Christ.
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Advent is those four weeks when we have hope that the darkness which is all around us, will give way to the light that only Christ can shine into the world. The darkness that comes with the short days of this time of year, but more importantly the darkness that surrounds us from all the sin in the world. That is the darkness that makes us stumble and fall away from God.
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During this Advent season may you search for the light of God, that light that cannot be found in the secular Christmas. It is not the light from all the Christmas lights, parties, shopping, movies, baking, etc. It is the light that only God can shine on us, by the giving of His Son to redeem us from our sins and shines the way to eternal life.
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May you take time from the busy schedules and the stress that the world presses on us and go and worship. Prepare to receive Christ and see the light that is shining on you.
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Emmanuel we wait for you!
Blessings,
Pastor Nila Cogan
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Many of you have seen me over the years throughout the mission district in various ways; as a pastor, a member of the mission district council, an assistant to the Dean, as coordinator of youth activities and as camp director, but let me introduce myself. I was born and raised in Somerset County on a large dairy farm. My maiden name was Shaffer, hence my German Lutheran roots. I married my high school sweetheart, Larry Cogan in August of 1974, yes, I have been married for 49 years. We are the proud parents of three daughters and one son and have been blessed with ten grandchildren.
I felt a call from God when I was fourteen years old but had no idea what that meant at that time. I have always been involved in my church and I was very involved (prior to 2009) in the Allegheny Synod. Larry and I have always been involved in agriculture. In his younger days Larry worked for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and then in 1984 we purchased a large greenhouse and floral business near Somerset. In 1999 I attended classes offered by the Allegheny Synod to be a Lay Worship Leader and then attended Gettysburg Seminary in a program to be authorized as a youth minister. I started my seminary studies in 2005. While doing my seminary studies I served a small congregation in the outskirts of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Dunmyer Lutheran, and received a call to continue serving them when I was ordained in 2009. Dunmyer was one of the original churches of the NALC. When St Thomas Lutheran joined the NALC in 2011, their pastor stayed with the ELCA so Dunmyer graciously extended help to St Thomas by offering to have me serve them until they could call a new pastor. Ten months later I was installed as that called pastor. St Thomas Evangelical Lutheran is a rural congregation in northeast Somerset County, surrounded by farmland and is also the home of the location of our In-Tents Camps.
In 2018 Larry and I bought a small farm north of Somerset and we raise sheep and pigs and make hay. My passions are first – GOD, second – family and third – farming.
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