Each year Crest Manor Church of the Brethren in South Bend, Ind., has a “mitten tree” to collect items of warmth for the local community.

Each year Crest Manor Church of the Brethren in South Bend, Ind., has a “mitten tree” to collect items of warmth for the local community.
We often despair how commercial Christmas has become. We also dread the pressure and expense of trying to make Christmas “perfect.” The Prince of Peace congregation in South Bend, Ind., has an answer to that. For more than two decades, we have started Advent with our Alternative Gift Fair.
A Church of the Brethren Christmas Eve service is scheduled to air again nationally on the Hallmark Channel, at 7 a.m. (eastern and pacific time) on Sunday, Dec. 24, 2006. “Enter the Light of Life” originally aired on CBS on Dec. 24, 2004. The service was filmed at Nicarry Chapel at Bethany Theological Seminary featuring