Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I trust that you had a blessed Christmas celebration even as many familiar traditions and gatherings may not have occurred this year due the precautions around COVID-19. Janet, Frankie, Wendell, Henry, and I were blessed to celebrate together on Christmas Day. The boys were excited about their Christmas gifts, in particular a Nintendo switch. We also had the added adventure of losing power for about ten hours late on Christmas Eve into Christmas morning. (A tree fell on the powerlines across the street from us, which added a few extra loud pops to Christmas Eve.) If you found yourself in a similar situation, I hope you were able to navigate that challenge and have had your power restored as well.

While we exchange gifts at Christmas, the greatest gift of Christmas is the gift of God’s only Son, given to save God’s people from their sins as we read in Matthew 1:21. One of the things I like best about Christmas is that there’s 12 days of it. Yes, there’s really 12 days of Christmas. In the Christian calendar, Christmas continues until Epiphany on January 6th. Perhaps you might want to consider a few special ways of celebrating the greatest gift of Christmas over the next week or so.

While our Christian liturgical calendar is focused on Christmas this week, our civil Calendar is ending one cycle and starting another. Standing on the cusp of a New Year quite often invites us to reflect on this past year, (What a year it has been!) while also offering us an opportunity for New Beginnings. As I think about New Beginnings, I think about the very beginning of Christmas, that first Christmas and how the one who was present from the very beginning of creation, Jesus, the Word became flesh. Tomorrow, we are going to focus on the character of Joseph in the Christmas story as his character and actions in Matthew 1:18-23 offer us wisdom and guidance as we stand on the edge of a New Year, with all its potential for New Beginnings.

See you tomorrow,

Pastor David