February
After all of the lead up to the New Year it can sometimes feel like a bit of a letdown when it finally arrives. Eager to move on from the hardships of the year previous, we wait and long for relief and find that life is continuing on more or less in the same way it was the previous December and now we are faced to do it all again, or so it seems.
There ARE changes, but in many ways, we are called upon to BE those changes. The Bible is a long history of the people of God being called upon to bring justice and hope to those around them, rather than God providing those things through miraculous means. Not that miracles don’t happen, but rather that God reminds us that we are to be participants in the world, rather than dispassionate observers of it.
Sunday School Classes are going, worship services are being planned (you might even notice some changes to the liturgy while I experiment with how we worship week to week) and we are electing and ordaining new leaders to guide us in new seasons. In many ways, the problems are the same, but in others, they can be different, often in the ways that matter most.
So it’s not REALLY a beginning so much as a continuation, but even so, I find it useful to give beginning of the trip advice. Remember to pace yourself, to care for yourself as you care for others. Share the load with those who can hold it even as you offer to help those who cannot.
Be the Love and Hope God sends to the world this year.
Pastor Dan
