January 2012
Here we stand at the beginning of another New Year. Many, if not all of us, have engaged in the self assessment or family assessment exercises that go hand in hand with the calendar winding down to the end of one year, and the turning of the page to another year filled with hope and promise.
That assessment usually includes setting some priorities for the coming year. We look ahead to the New Year, and we decide it would be a good thing to: lose weight; pay off a credit card; study more; organize our closets/basement/garage/home office; spend more time with the kids; spend less time on-line; walk every day.
Once our assessment’s done, the prioritizing begins. For example, if exercising’s so important, then when does it fit into the schedule and what becomes less important now that exercising’s become more important. If spending time with the family jumps a few notches higher on the list of priorities in your life, what can we afford to drop from the upper echelons of our scheduled priorities?
Making all these decisions about priorities and use of time can be perplexing—even vexing. How do we arrange our lives individually and as a family, so we can accomplish all that we need to do in a way that’s timely, rewarding, fun? At times, it may seem that figuring it out might be too difficult. Other times, we may just give up on achieving new goals. Other times we may take a run at achieving the New Year’s goals we’ve established, and have some success.
As we engage in this annual exercise where we prioritize and reprioritize and shuffle and reschedule and try to accomplish and achieve, I think God and the all the hosts of heaven might just have a chuckle at our expense. Why? Because we make prioritizing and goal setting way too difficult. I think if God would offer a word of counsel, he’d tell us that figuring out what’s important in life is really easy when we start with a basic assumption—loving him and loving neighbor always should be our #1 priority. Loving him should be top priority because we’re his top priority. He’s blessed and loved and given and sacrificed and forgiven and shown mercy more times than we can imagine and more times than we deserve. He is crazy in love with us, and doesn’t such love deserve a full-fledged, grateful and whole-hearted response? Doesn’t he deserve to be #1 in our lives?
In the month of January, at the starting line of another new year, we’re going to take some time, as a congregation, to think on this amazing love God has for us, and we’ll also think about the ways we can make responding to that love our priority. We’ll be using the devotional booklet, Practicing Extravagant Generosity: Daily Readings on the Grace of Giving as our guide to thinking and talking about our generous God.
We’ll dig deeper, exploring our relationship with God, the blessings of God, and our response to all of that abundant love, on Sunday mornings. From January 8 through 29, a Bible study will be held in the elevator room, from 8:45-9:45 am for those who really want to spend some “quality time” reflecting on the grandeur of our God. During worship services, we’ll also think about the ways we respond to God’s love.
During these January Sunday mornings, we’ll hear stories about how God’s love has touched the lives, the hearts, the minds of Faith members. We’ll also have the chance to share our stories of experiencing God’s love by using the heart cards we receive with the weekly letters. We’d love to hear your stories. All you need to do is bring those cards back each week and give them to Amy, Greg, or JJ. They’ll be stationed in the narthex and will be happy to take your card that shares your story. Please know that you’re welcome to share that information anonymously if you wish.
Even the kids of the church will have the chance to explore the ways God’s shown love to them. The Senior Highs will be participating in the Bible study on Sundays while the KFC kids’ January opening worship will focus on the theme for the week. Children and youth will have their own special heart cards they can share with everyone.
You’ll have the opportunity to make a response to God and Christ’s body, the church, later in the month, through completing Time and Talent and Estimate of Giving cards. And then, on January 29, we’ll join hearts and voices to praise God and celebrate his love during Consecration Sunday events. Worship will be a celebration of God’s blessings, and his love and presence in our midst, as well as the joy that’s ours when we commit ourselves, again, to loving and serving him and our neighbors near and far. A hearty lunch of chili with all the fixin’s will be served following worship that day.
I hope you’ll join me, and other members of Faith, in starting the New Year in this unique way. My prayer is that this month of devotion and discussion, prayer and praise, will be a joyful and faith-deepening time for us all!
Pastor Sharon