Usually, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is a great time for preachers to catch their breath. After the big push to Christmas, there is a few days when things slow down. It’s a time for looking at “The Best of …” lists for best books, movies, tv shows and music for the year. It’s a time for looking back over what been accomplished and looking ahead with hope and optimism for what lies ahead. We set new goals and some of us take on new year’s resolutions.
I am grateful for my family and friends, for my home and for the many wonderful people at Calvary Church. We’ve all come to deeply appreciate the connections we have with others. I did lots of reading this year. I enjoyed more home cooked meals and watched lots of tv that I would not have seen otherwise. I’ve learned that many of the things I took for granted or never thought about need to be examined. Some things need to be rejected, some need to be fixed and some need to be confessed. I hope that I have learned to be a better person, at least in some ways, through all that we’ve gone through this year. But I am just ready to turn the page. My 2020 calendar wasn’t very useful and most of my plans were thrown out the window back in March. I am ready to move on, and I am sure most of you would agree.
Tragedy and loss have a way change us. Hope and love have a way to push us forward. We don’t get to choose our circumstances, but we can choose what we make of them. My prayer at the end of 2020 is that I will be more of the person God calls me to be and less of the person driven by fear or the need to prove myself. That seems like a good project that we work on together as a community of faith.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Steve