January 2025
Happy New Year, Everybody!
As I sit to write this message, I am still basking in the glow of our Christmas Eve and December 29th worship services. If you couldn’t be here, I’m sorry you missed them, and I hope you were able to participate in meaningful worship elsewhere. If you were here, I hope those services were as meaningful for you as they were for me. This is what happened… On Christmas Eve, Gabby, Zaylen, Zhiler, and Grandma Steph did the Advent reading; Judy Gilber’s granddaughter, Nyla, read scripture; and Landry Geiger and his girlfriend, Faith, provided special music. Then on December 29th, Ray Jackson brought some bellringers from the Methodist church to provide us with special music, and he and Stephanie played an organ and piano duet.
Do you know what it does to a pastor’s heart when a college senior offers to play on Christmas Eve while he’s home visiting his folks? Do you know what it does when his girlfriend feels comfortable enough to join him and sing for us, as well? Do you know what it does when a teenage granddaughter arrives for worship and asks if there is some way she can participate in the service? Do you know what it does to have an hour of worship that is so full of beautiful music that you can hardly contain yourself? Do you know what it does when out-of-town family members join their parents and grandparents for worship or go to the effort to make a recording from a great-granddaughter with a special message for you? Well, for this particular pastor, it warms her heart – it melts it, in fact – and it bears witness to how our loving God has drawn us together in sacred and life-giving ways.
2024 was a hard year for a lot of us. We lost four beloved members; some of us have had a decline in our mobility; some of us had to give up driving; some of us had surgery; some of us faced serious illnesses; we dealt with the aftermath of a destructive hailstorm; and all of us experienced challenges. Yet, week after week, we kept coming together to worship God, to experience God’s love, and to find ways to share that love with others. We’ve always done that, but it has never been more apparent than this past year and these past two weeks, and I pray it will continue in the new year that stands before us. There will be difficult times, of course, but there will be joyous ones as well, and this first month of 2025 has a lot of important things happening in it.
On January 5th, at the end of worship, we will once again go outside and chalk the front door. That’s our annual tradition that reminds us to look for God in everyone who enters these doors, and it gives voice to our hope that they will see God’s love shine through us. It’s a symbol that conveys that everyone is welcome, and it reflects our willingness to be warm and welcoming. After we’re done with that, we’re coming back inside to have pizza for lunch and take down all the Christmas decorations. It will be a meaningful, fun, and productive time, and I hope you will join us.
On January 12th, we are going to remember our baptisms and have a refresher course on what baptism means; we are going to celebrate the sacrament of Communion; and we are going to remember more of our saints and record their names on our tablecloth. It will be a full service that reminds us that, in life and in death, we belong to God and God’s love is what connects us all.
Looking ahead, on January 19th, the class of 2027 Ruling Elders will be installed; on February 9th we will hold our Annual Meeting of the Congregation and Corporation; and on March 5th, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.
All this is to say that the life of the church continues, we have a lot of work and worship ahead of us, and you – yes YOU! – have a place in it. So, let’s make 2025 a year to remember and let’s make it a year that glorifies God. Happy New Year, everyone. It is a joy to be on this journey alongside you.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jill