Dear people of God:

Wow; January 2022. I remember how excited we were a year ago; we were sure that 2021 was going to be the year that we emerged from the pandemic, that we started rebuilding, that we rediscovered the best of our life together as church and society. I feel much humbler about my anticipations for 2022; how are you feeling?

It’s January: there are a couple more minutes of daylight every day. Yes, it’s winter, but the seed catalogs will soon be arriving in the mail. And we have a few days of the Christmas celebration until Epiphany (January 6) wraps it up for another year. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to put away (or throw away) the tree and take down the lights.

Remember what we sang on Christmas Eve:

            We’ll walk in the light, beautiful light.
            Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright.
            O, shine all around us by day and by night.
            Jesus, the light of the world.

“Jesus, the light of the world.” I think part of the challenge of faith is to keep our eyes open to the light. So much else around us is shiny, from the skyscrapers downtown to the bling we wear, that it is easy to get distracted from the “light of the world.”

Yet stubbornly, like the sun, Christ keeps on shining. He taps us on the shoulder. He speaks to us when we read the Bible (and sometimes when we read other things as well!). He feeds us at his Table. He shows up quietly and sits nearby when we feel lonely. And he insistently whispers, “Follow me” whenever everything else that is shiny grabs our attention.

It’s a new year, a new chance to recommit to Jesus and his Church, a new challenge to “walk in the light, beautiful light” where the “dewdrops of mercy shine bright.” Let’s all walk there together.

Pastor Bob